Laowa 15mm F4.5 Shift Lens Review: What is a shift lens, and when is it useful?

We review the Laowa 15mm F4.5 Shift lens, explain what a shift lens is, and what it can be used for. We also compare the Laowa to the well-regarded Canon 17mm TS-E F4 L.
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[@BryceEdwardBrown]

Had no idea what a shift lens was, so glad I watched this

[@RichardHurd]

Me too!

[@salmanul_fares]

Yeah. I'd really love to see what you all do with tilt lenses

[@keeperofthecheese]

Er, architectural photography? What it's made for?

[@nrice3623]

Killing me with the camera rarely being level, but you definitely pointed out some interesting other uses I wouldn't have thought of!

[@KevinCharlebois]

Thanks for another great review. I received mine mid November with the plan to use it for real estate. Just a FYI, my Laowa 100mm filter holder that fits my Laowa 12mm f2.8 Zero-D also fits this 15mm f4.5 Shift Lens. Picked up a 100mm square polarizer for it, and it serves a double purpose, to get rid of reflections and to protect that huge front element from scratches!

[@matthewmarshall4534]

Hi Kevin. How has this lens been working out for REP?

[@KevinCharlebois]

@@matthewmarshall4534 It has been a great lens, it stays on the A7R3 that I use for interior photos 100 percent of the time now. I 3D printed a square lens filter protector/cover for the Laowa filter holder and it stays on the lens as well. Pull it out of my Pelican case, straight onto the tripod, and I'm ready to shoot. I use a separate A7R4 with a different lens for the exterior and highlight photos.

[@KevinCharlebois]

Forgot to mention, I grabbed the Canon EF version and use an adapter to adapt it to my Sony cameras, just for the compatibility with a larger range of cameras.

[@matthewmarshall4534]

@@KevinCharlebois thanks for the info. One more question if you don’t mind...how does it handle flare from interior overhead lights, and sunlight outdoors? That cover you created sounds great, I’d love to see that.

[@KevinCharlebois]

@@matthewmarshall4534 I only really use the lens specifically for real estate interiors and rarely use it outside, I prefer my Sigma 14-24mm for the exterior shots because of it's auto focus, sharpness, and weather sealing. When you're shooting into the sun outside with the Laowa, you'll get some 5 bladed flare, and it's usually accompanied with a great looking sun star. When shooting interiors, now and then I'll change the position/angle of my shot slightly to minimize flare from any lights coming in on the side of the shot, but I don’t find much issue with the overhead lights and that may be due to the polarizing glass and filter holder that I have in front of that huge element. The lens serves the purpose I purchased it for, giving me the wider angle with shift capabilities, for tight spaces indoors and shifting to show less ceiling, especially as my RE clients crop 4x3 for MLS and sacrifice the overall width of the photos for their purposes.

[@DickDeVillers]

Another excellent, informational video. I always learn something new from these guys. Thank you!

[@tonyjedioftheforest1364]

Great video. I have fancied the Canon 17mm for ages for my Church and building photography but can’t justify the price . This may be a good alternative for me for the few occasions it’s going to get used in a year. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

[@jlwilliams]

As someone who used to do a lot of product and food photography, I have to say that having shift but not tilt kills more than half the utility of a lens like this. Shift-only may be helpful for real estate photography. But tilt also gives you the ability to angle the plane of best focus, which is hugely useful for shooting at closer distances -- you can put one plane of a subject fully in focus, or have only a narrow slice in focus. In answer to Chris's rhetorical question, yes, this would be a good subject for a video...

[@ScottJWaldron]

Cool video! I enjoyed your focus on shift rather than all about the lens.

[@someone_at_large]

please shoot a video to demonstrate how tilt shift lens works and how to use it exactly~ great work as always :)

[@Grymskit]

This is exactly what this video is about...

[@Ildskalli]

@@Grymskit I think the OP is thinking more along the lines of a tutorial, and I couldn't agree more. Considering that Chris is quite adept at using lens movements, it'd be great to have a little step by step guide from him and Jordan.

[@icogicog8287]

I think you are right on. I did try it on the GFX 50 and it is passable but not as sharp as the Canon 24 TS lens that I have. Interestingly it seems to work well with the XT4 at it still has a pretty wide angle. I suspect it will end up being the preferred use. More file testing needed. Thank you for your work

[@guilhermeamaral3014]

hey, did you tested it? I'm planning on buying one for my fuji hx2s. Can you tell me what are your thoughts? thanks

[@icogicog8287]

Not sure I can help. As stated above it seems to work with the XT4. But I don’t have the lens anymore so I don’t have more information

[@guilhermeamaral3014]

@@icogicog8287 thank you for your time!!

[@pmc7105]

Yes, I would like to see a video on tilt-shift lenses. Not too interested in the miniature effect, more on the ability to get crazy depth of field using the tilt. And also the trials and tribulations of using them (saw Darwin Wiggett talking about how focusing can be tricky with many adjustments needed).

[@fightingmink]

I was checking out the specs on another shift lens and something intrigued me. The Laowa 15mm Wide Angle Macro Lens with Shift has an 1:1. I’d love to see a review for that!! Wide-angle macro photography seems awesome!

[@lensbrew]

I love the perspective shift photography. The miniature look is cool in my opinion and would love to the best way to get them.

[@Theothermarc]

Great insightful video, as always! Loved the portrayal of all the possibilities you have with this mechanism and the comparison with the canon t/s.

[@TheTS1205]

6:00 valid point! Glad that also my Nikon D5200 has a rotating and swiveling screen ;)

[@BULLSHXTYT]

I use Canon 11-24 + Laowa MSC, you can have 11-24mm and 15.4-33.6mm Shift, amazing combo

[@KevinCharlebois]

I also use the Laowa MSC on my Sony Full Frame with the Laowa 12mm f2.8 Zero-D (Canon Mount) for the 17mm shift equivalent. It's a great adapter!

[@60p]

Have a suggestion, if you could include close up of the lens while Chris was tilting it left right, someone like me who has no idea about tilt shift could easily understand what tilt shift lens means. Like you included the close up while rotating 15 Degrees.

[@shang-hsienyang1284]

If you adapt the Laowa on a Sony, you can get a tilt adapter from Fotodiox.

[@billtheleg]

great to see the poppies , thank you for another great review gentlemen

[@franjeans]

There is a review of this lens from a Hong Kong youtuber, saying the sharpness result is different between R5 and 5DsR when comparing the Laowa and 17TSE. It has something to do with the EF-RF adapter.

[@robertlaubach6957]

It would be great for you to do a comprehensive tilt-shift lens review, comparing it to the good old view camera movements of rise/fall, shifts, and tilts to control focus plane in product shots as well as the popular opposite tilt-shift application to create toy-like scenes

[@asaisastrangechild]

I would love to see yall play around with the Tilts and Shifts on the canon 17mm

[@aukisun]

Thanks, guys! Amazing review!

[@tkermi]

Interesting to see how the Canon RF 14mm TS-R will perform and if it will really have the AF.

[@tahoeturk]

waiting on that one.

[@tahoeturk]

@@neilvan don't you know it!

[@tkermi]

@@neilvan 😂💀

[@Anonymous-mn3td]

As someone who's shot on Sony for years, I'm dreading that lens -- gonna make me sell all my stuff and switch to Canon...

[@aldobelenda907]

Great review, just 1 question, Is it difricult to manual focus?

[@HwL01]

I can never get around how to control the tilt and shift thing to get those unbelievable food or cityscape photos

[@stefan_becker]

It's as easy as 1-2-3: First point the camera on a tripid to the right direction. Then align the camera exactly horizontally (ignoring the vertical framing completely) using a mechanic's level. Now shift the lens vertically until the vertical framing is right. Now focus with open aperture. Then close aperture to f11 and take the picture. That's it. And forget about using such a lens without a tripod. The results will look awful and srangely distorted.

[@jlwilliams]

The Laowa lens doesn't have tilt, so it's an academic question here. For a lens that both shifts and tilts, though, just remember that the tilt control is actually tilting the plane of best focus -- it doesn't have to be parallel to the sensor plane anymore, you can angle it however you want it. For example, for work I used to shoot a lot of plates of food sitting on tables. If I wanted the whole plate in focus, I'd start by framing up the shot roughly the way I wanted... then I'd tilt the top of the lens forward to angle the focus plane so it matched the plane of the plate. Then I'd use the shift to re-center the framing the way I wanted it. I could shoot at full aperture (or close to it) so I'd get nice out-of-focus backgrounds, but everything on the plate would be sharp, because the plane of focus was aligned with the plane of the plate. To do the opposite -- if we wanted the photo to feature just one item of food, for example -- I could tilt the opposite way, so only the plane of the featured item would be in focus and everything else would be soft. You also can do the same thing with vertical planes -- for example, if you have a wall angling away from the camera with pictures on it, you can angle the plane of focus so all the pictures will be in focus, but the rest of the room will be out-of-focus as much as you want. To do this, you rotate the lens so the shift and tilt axes are vertical instead of horizontal -- most t/s lenses have rotating mounts, so you can do this without having to re-orient the camera.

[@stefan_becker]

@@jlwilliams The question is what "unbelievable food or cityscape photos" are. If's minature look then it's impossible with this lens because it doesn't support tilt. It could also mean cityscapes with corrected perspective. This can be achieved the way I explained above.

[@peppercorn8451]

Great sample pics

[@bobvila1010]

Très bien fait! Well done.

[@AgnostosGnostos]

The specific Laowa lens is new but is designed for dSLR cameras which one way or another will be obsolete soon. In the roadmap of Canon RF lenses there are autofocus tilt-shift lenses which is an achievement because until now all shift or tilt shift lenses are manual focus. Shift lenses fix the perspective distortion which is much stronger with wide lenses than normal lenses and is irrelevant to the geometric distortion (pincushion or barrel distortion). Shift or tilt-sift have much larger image circle than the image sensor. That usually reduces significantly their optical quality. Lenses with front bulbous element can't take easily a protective filter and are very prone to scratches. However recently many ultra wide lenses have appeared with filter thread like the Laowa 15mm f/2, the Nikon 14-30mm f/4 Z etc.

[@Veptis]

A great demonstration. Could you make a video on tilt/swing as well? Maybe even with macro bellows?

[@supermo7505]

You should mention of course that you can correct lines in lightroom

[@andreasbuder4417]

Next year, Canon will release the first AF Tilt&Shift lenses for RF mount. These will be exciting!

[@victorvectorinspector]

these will probably cost 3000 euros... :(

[@chouandsherrie]

Please talk more of the tilt shift lenses!

[@antonhei2443]

Very informative and refreshing!

[@dpc4548]

If it's used on m43 bodies you can use nd and other adapter filters if you need to.

[@SteveDeWaelephotography]

thanks for the video greetings love the laowa lenses

[@ccardona54]

I would love a video on Tilt, I know I’m not using my Canon T/S 24mm to its fullest in the tilt dimension.

[@MUSTDOS]

3:45 Jordan smiling in a camera non-video review? 2020 broke him.

[@swagonman]

Camera bodies with IBIS already include shift/tilt, but they haven't taken advantage of it outside of stabilization. But they could in the future. Obviously not to the amount of shift/tilt a dedicated lens has, but a little in-body shift or tilt for composition purposes could be an awesome feature. Can you guys tell the camera makers my idea? Maybe it could be a firmware update for Fuji? P.S. We know it can make some difference because we often see "wobble" in their stabilization. So even today's amount of IBIS shift/tilt is enough to matter.

[@markhardycreative]

5:54 😂 you use a vertical view finder attachment strangely I feel the opposite I can’t stand the lag in on the tilt screens in low light and switching to bulb is more faff than simply looking down the vertical viewfinder which also eliminates real world light polluting the screen whilst composing, but totally respect each other own

[@akivabernstein4723]

Okay so can we get some cinematic B roll shots from Jordan with this because shift video sounds amazing.

[@CodyCha]

Please level your camera when using or reviewing a shift lens!

[@gyrovague]

5:50 but there's the marvellous device called an angle finder..but they are fixed.

[@jan-hendrikbussmann4644]

Great video! Thank you very much. Now, on to the next lesson, please make a video about tilt lenses😀😉.

[@themagicallandscape]

Light going to "shift." clicked like right after that, Lol

[@sholky]

Same here :D

[@fatheadmediapro]

Man the S1H looks great 😊

[@drewtate5334]

Can this prevent the distortion created on faces when shooting portraits of people's faces? Great video by the way!

[@okaro6595]

No, yo need to shoot further way and use a longer focal length. For a face you should use something like 200 mm (130 mm in crop).

[@drewtate5334]

@@okaro6595 I get what you mean by using a longer focal length. However, this type of lens setup corrects the distortion on using wider lenses tho. Thanks for your reply!

[@mcelliot]

How is the camera tripod combo wobbling around at 5.50

[@anxiousappliance]

Really interesting review - nicely done! I have T/s 17mm, and it may be twice the price, but it's also twice the weight LOL. Seriously though - I'm thinking the softness at the edges you see, may have more to do with field curvature as I haven't noticed it in 3D scenes. Te laowa seems great though for travel etc.. If they came out with a 35 shift - I'd be all over it like wrinkles on cheap.

[@aldobelenda907]

How is the compatibility with live view in apps or in an ipad? I use a lot this apps for my footage, I'm an architectural photographer, and I really need it to work with live view

[@kostasrestas]

hallo from Greece!!! did you have some slow prosesing with upload this 4k video at youtube ??? i mean , some videos these days are 4k but youtube show them at 1080 as higher resolution... the prosesing for 4k is at background many many hours.... did you have this problem??

[@amirneshati4839]

Thanks for a great review and image quality comparison next to the Canon 17mm TS....That's what I wanted to see. Not sure I caught it, but are the images shown for comparison straight out of camera, specifically any sharpness adjustments made?

[@dpreview]

All our lens comparisons are done with Adobe Lightroom raw conversions, sharpening at 25 and lens corrections disabled.

[@kenanderson1124]

Great info. Thanks.

[@CardBoardBoxPro]

Wish they'd add tilt. it has the image circle for it.

[@smashexentertainment676]

Samyang also makes 3rd party tilt-shift lenses, but with unacceptable image quality. Even 30 year old Canon TS-E outperform them. Canon 50mm f2.8 macro is on my list. That's such a fun lens to play with.

[@GiovanniApreaCapri]

What's the bag is Chris using here?

[@orshanti]

hey Chris! we are still waiting for the R6 vs Z6 mk2 comparison video to arive, are you guys working on it or what? its been a long time already... also 5 vs 7 will be welcome of course

[@okaro6595]

The perspective error caused by tilting camera is not the same as what the eye sees. Normal perspective is caused by the fact that some parts of the scene are further away. The perspective error is not related to that. It is caused by the fact that the sensor is flat unlike the human retina. You can test this by taking a photo of a building from the same point tilting the camera up, down and keeping it straight. Do not worry of the framing, it is not the issue. The distance to any point is same but you get the perspective error depending n the tilt direction. It looks like the building is tilting instead of the camera. In fact relating to the camera it is tilting.

[@sramabadran]

What tripod are you using ?

[@Jim-gr2xc]

Please teach us how to Tilt in a future video!

[@rialbb]

I’d be interested in seeing some Calgary T&S

[@thedarkslide]

2:46 Technically, that's not correct. There will be a slight parallax error when shifting the lens and stitching the frames together. Shifting the lens = changing perspective. To maintain perspective, you need to fixate the lens to the tripod and shift the camera (sensor) behind the lens.

[@ThomasHalways]

Actually the reviewer forgot to mention and demo the other important feature of a shift lens, which I used so often: Avoiding own reflection in windows. Just stand on a side and shift side-wards.

[@6rimR3ap3r]

What's your opinion on this vs. Laowa's own 15mm f/2 Zero-D? I'm debating with myself how to replace my aps-c Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D for my new Canon R6. Drop in filter adapter is on the way, so filter's not an issue :-)

[@intheblues]

3:53? 😳🤣 Canada appears to be broken

[@Crispy_Bee]

Well, Canada is the American Australia: They barely speak English (,eh?) and instead of venomous spiders and snakes you have the angry elk and bears that want to kill you. (yes, I'm kidding, I love Canada)

[@Theothermarc]

When you hire an Aussie architect.

[@Crispy_Bee]

@weeb jail A Møøse once bit my sister...

[@slevinshafel9395]

what you use to record this video? i Like the colors and small and hard bokeh efect on it. post edition color aswell? Chers from Spain.

[@JBubbs]

"DSLR tilt and shifters must have been the most miserable people out there" xD Oh boy I can relate. I shoot architecture with Nikon D750, But my ultimate circle of shifting misery is shooting slide film with Pentax 6x7 and 75 mm Takumar. We choose to shift not because it's easy, but because it's HARD!

[@VALERYAN581]

Lawoa make 24 mm f mount,with what lens did you film this video?

[@mikaelpuhakka1961]

I've used a 15mm-e UWA before; I think a 15 mm with shift capabilities makes 100% more sense.

[@PhotoTrekr]

That's a very interesting lens.

[@ditto1958]

Olympus used to make one for the old OM system Always wanted one Could never afford it

[@wolfganglienbacher]

You guys may want to adjust the title, I watched the video to learn about the properties of this specific lens, but it really is just a (really good) introduction into shift lenses. Sorry for the critique, but this really is not a review of the Lens in any way, especially not in the way I'm used to from dpreview. ♥

[@bobuk5722]

That upside down building is disconcerting. I'd also like to vote for some tilt. With the 'L' ! BobUK.

[@heritageimaging7768]

Looking at that upward tilt @ 6:05 all I can think about is pigeons.

[@NiazMahmood1977]

Is there any Tilt effect in this lens like Tilt Shift lens?

[@shang-hsienyang1284]

You need to use a tilt adapter.

[@Ildskalli]

Me before the video: Pfft, lenses with movements are for pros with more money than sense, or for old codgers still stuck on 4x5 film. Me after the video: Holy f*** I need that Laowa lens NOW!

[@robertlaubach6957]

Too bad you didn’t have the $150 Laowa Shift lens support to shoot with so you could keep the front of the lens position unchanged, while shifting the lens and having only the rear part of the lens and camera body and sensor move. This would let you do the unshifted and shifted exposures from the exactly same perspective allowing easier and undistorted image merges.

[@2handsomeforlaw]

Keep the sensor parallel to face of the building! I can't believe you guys don't know that.

[@stevec3526]

Sounds like they have never used a view camera.

[@mralexlex]

This!

[@paologiordano.photos]

This made me so much mad at this review

[@mixeddrinks8100]

I bet Panasonic backs the Brinks truck into their studio for that S1H intro every-time.

[@lorenzogattaldo3764]

Good review, but I would have appreciated a more thorough analysis of image quality.

[@keeperofthecheese]

With regards to image quality, we have no image quality.

[@mijnheertenhave]

What is going on with the voice around 3:25

[@keeperofthecheese]

I've got this lens. It's fun, but don't expect it to be crispy sharp. It's not. In fact it can be aggravating in its lack of sharpness. You have to do some work in photoshop to get it up to spec.

[@Stop-All-War]

Laowa Lens not tilting can be partially solved by geared tripod head & focus stacking. Not ideal.

[@JonInLondon]

For the person below who asked about how to use Tilt/Shift lenses can I recommend Keith Cooper's Northlight Images site, as he does lots of stuff on T/S and explains it at length. www.northlight-images.co.uk/video-tilt-shift-lens-basics-horizontal-shift/ www.northlight-images.co.uk/using-lens-tilt-on-your-digital-slr/ Also: www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-lenses1.htm Using the Canon drop-in filter adaptor with T/S: www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-filter-adapter-with-tilt-shift/ "...the filter assembly does not contribute any significant vignetting..." Personally I think having tilt is important, as it gives you something you can't do in post, however nearly everyone I know who uses one professionally just uses Shift, so this might be interesting to them. Also I find if I'm fixing verticals in post you need a lot of coverage, as distorting the image requires image data well away from the subject - the biggest mistake is not to go wide enough and have no detail available for parts of your final image. Not a problem with a shift lens (which you can also tweak a bit more in post if you decide it isn't quite right). Another option is you can buy adaptors that use MF (Medium Format) lenses (as you need a large image circle). Buy one of the adaptors and an old MF lens from E-Bay, or similar, and you're in at the cheap end. www.northlight-images.co.uk/fotodiox-tilt-shift-lens-adapter/ I don't think I'd get one of the Canon 17mm lenses, as I don't think it's one of their best efforts, the 24mm is perhaps a better choice (but not comparable here).

[@leokimvideo]

Photoshop is a tad cheaper and far more versatile Vs a very fancy lens

[@83442handle]

*Show 8K video recording using a tilt shift*

[@chandreo]

Your camera should be parallel to your subject and straight to the horizon then and ONLY then you shift or tilt for perspective correction, I never seen your camera straight in this video. Granted tilt shift lenses can be used creatively, but that’s not what you tried to do! Love my Nikon 19mm PC!

[@ColinRobertson_LLAP]

JORDAN-WHERE'S THE VIDEO TEST??? 😂

[@Leptospirosi]

The problem with Dslr lenses like this is that you probably can get cheaper better glass and put them on a mirrorless body with a tilt shift adapter... for less... for any lens you own...

[@shang-hsienyang1284]

The image circle usually isn't big enough.

[@23Scadu]

@@shang-hsienyang1284 You could use medium/large format lenses to get around that, but then it's not gonna be cheap anymore.

[@Leptospirosi]

@@23Scadu mamiya Sekor C are pretty cheap

[@dimanKu]

I always wanted a Shift lens, $1200 is still expensive but I think it's as cheap as it goes

[@QuickQuips]

Rokinon/Bower have more affordable models.

[@jprieu]

Hello and thank you for this great video. I recently have this Nikon F mount lens and I am surprised by one thing and would like to know if you have noticed too or if you have the explanation. When I modify the aperture setting (F4.5 / 22) I see the consequence directly in the viewfinder (the image darkens). I have another manuel lens and it is not the same problem. This is annoying when taking a photo in a dark place. thank you in advance

[@DustinBKerensky97]

5:50 Nikon! Are you listening?

[@alexsystems2001]

I would want to watch a video about a tilt shift lens, but I probably wouldn’t ever buy one.

[@lnewbyliveca]

So that’s where “rooting out evil” ended up......cool

[@studiodl334]

that is a really wrong way to use a tilt shift. the camera body should not be tilted.

[@TomaszBrodecki]

It's Laowa, not Lawoa :)

[@iddeegee]

Vanilla Banana! )

[@tonyzhu403]

Didn't Promote the Nikon Pronunciation Today…

[@wolfgangvogt3482]

For GFX 100 it's not sharp enough. Take care. I bought it and sent it back.

[@just_eirik]

It looks so weird and wrong though then you “correct” it this way. It gives a feeling that the building is leaning towards you at the top. I don’t like it.

[@akaydogan]

It depends on how one uses it. It's more about subtlety rather than the exagerated demonstration Chris used to illustrate what shift is all about. Overuse can be unsettling, but judicious use can give that something extra to an image to take it to the next level.

[@pedroprietolopez330]

You can do it on lightroom. Thanks!!

[@mralexlex]

Penalty on resolution and sharpness is severe!