A Very Particular Set of Skills - Laowa 55mm f/2.8 Tilt-shift 1X Macro Review

[@JonathanXLVII]

I kept my old Canon 90 TSE for this kind of work on an adapter mounted on a Sony body. And although that's tethered - we are just replacing the 4x5 rail view camera (and holders!) in my studio back in the day. So manual is almost expected. And doesn't slow us any further because in view camera days we were swapping holders and marking them for "no change", "+1/3", and "-1/3" so the lab would pull and push on the E-6 line. For each set-up. Yes, your score isn't a good fit here. But here's a thought about cost: if you can do this work you differentiate yourself from other photographers who don't have the patience or imagination to create in this way. If I was not retired I'd buy the much-updated Canon 50TSE and 100TSE for jewelry, etc. No jewelry creator/manufacturer is going to accept the images from those other tilt optics you mentioned. And sometimes you still need shift in small-object photography. I was with Canon for years and years, and used all their TSE lenses. My copy of the 45mmTSE was not great. It appeared that the amount of tilt was too limited and you called that out a *bit* so I would have needed to test the amount of adjustment before buying this lens. Thank you for the review!

[@oldpothead420Photography]

Question have every used the Nikon TS? If so how would you say these compare to say 45mm PC-E & 85 PC-E. I must say I laughed when you score focus, I all must never use AF, with exception of sport work. Thinking of adding the Canon 135 TS have you every used? Merry Christmas

[@ChaitanyaShukla2503]

6.5 for value is under valuing that lens, Tilt - shift lenses are for a niche and there is a reason why Sony never made one while Nikon, Canon, and others offered tilt shift lenses even for Medium(true medium formats) format systems back in the day.

[@WesPerry]

@@ChaitanyaShukla2503 yeah that one was a tough one for me. But the existence of the tilt astrhori throws off the whole game. If someone needed All the features of this lens, it does become an excellent value for sure.

[@WesPerry]

@@ChaitanyaShukla2503 and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if this lens worked pretty well on medium format as well… is there a way of adapting it to Fuji? 🤔

[@ChaitanyaShukla2503]

@@WesPerry I have found AstrHori lenses a bit of hit and miss also they generally have some compromises especially with QA control which Venus Optics lenses generally don't come with.

[@ChaitanyaShukla2503]

@@WesPerry If that lens were made for DSLR mount then it would have been possible to adopt to Fuji system. Its a odd decision indeed to omit Fuji Medium format system. Edit: I checked B&H and 100 is the only one thats being released for Medium format as well as FF mounts while 55mm isnt which indeed would have been a good option for landscape photographers on Medium format systems.

[@renestaempfli1071]

​@@WesPerrywhat focal length was the astrhori?