New Laowa 55mm macro tilt/shift lens for 35mm and Medium Format. Overview and features

[@KeithCooper]

My tilt/shift book is available from the publisher [in the UK] www.crowood.com/products/photography-with-tilt-and-shift-lenses-by-keith-cooper Or search any good book shop for: ISBN: 9781785007712 How to use 50mm tilt/shift? read my detailed TS-E50 review www.northlight-images.co.uk/ts-e-50mm-f-2-8l-macro-review/ If you'd like to make a small donation, I have a Kofi page: "Buy me a coffee" ko-fi.com/keithcooper

[@jpdj2715]

You answered my question about the subject angle you can get with this lens. My professional, large format, and photography school (in the 10 years before academia) background no need to read a book. If we go back to Scheimpflug's Law (pronounce shime-pfloog) then we would need to find the lens's nodal point for the distance setting we want to use. That may be quite forward. Then we need to find the intersection between sensor plane and nodal point plane, and now at the sensor to subject distance we have a plane of sharpness that should intersect with the previous two. In short, your video camera that shows the T/S camera/lens from above already gave it away. Question then is if a Cambo "camera" using the digital camera as back and special lens for the Cambo would give more degrees of freedom. The camera mount may get in the way and prevent more tilt that way. As the lens here with 45mm focal length seems a kind of retrofocus design that places the elements far away from the sensor, that restricts the current design, as the backend (tube) makes the vignetting come closer (less T/S freedom). We had interchangeable lens cameras long time ago that kept an optical backend on the camera (IIRC Zeiss had something like that) and with these T/S lenses that might give a better starting point. With today's GPU adapter cards doing ray tracing with dedicated instructions, simulation reviews of lens designs should be a piece of cake (assuming the review software exists). The problem shifts to the "generation" of a design. Seems like design facilitating humans must ask better questions to their generative AI ;) Your move :) - there's enough in here to treat like AMA

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - quite correct, the book is indeed not for the likes of you :-) There will rarely be any more than passing references to the principles of Theodor Scheimpflug [check your spelling?] in my tilt/shift related work. I almost put some red lines on the shot from above, but I thought I'd leave it as an exercise for someone else to demonstrate their expertise...

[@jpdj2715]

@@KeithCooper - thank you. Yes, spelling corrected. "typo". I would maybe reference old Theo once, probably, but the lines/planes all the time, if I wrote such a book. It's a really handy mental tool. That said, for those who want/need to learn this I would recommend your book wholeheartedly.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - it was always aimed at those coming to these lenses as their first encounter with 'movements'.

[@poni7373]

SInce you bring so much usefull information to us, I decided to give something back and so I ordered your book. Thanks for all your hard work and Merry Christmas and a wonderfull 2025!

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks! That's really appreciated!

[@robertdyson76]

Got the book for Christmas is great highly recommended

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks you! I've two tilt/shift lenses here to test, so if you've any questions please just email me?

[@ushren]

Hi Keith, love your simple to understand videos! I am suprised you have never done a video on the Laowa MSC (Magic Shift Converter) I've seen a few youtubers use this converter with different types of lenses with great success. What are your thought of using the Laowa MSC with different types of lenses?

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks Thought about it when it first came out - it has no electrical contacts, which limits it somewhat. Also it was originally only in converting to Sony E I've never used a Sony camera - they are the only camera maker who've never responded to me in all my years of testing [long before I started doing the videos in 2020] I see that they are expanding the range of mounts - I may come back to this once I've tested all the actual shift lenses I have here at the moment

[@ushren]

@@KeithCooper Keith thanks so much for responding! You are the man!

[@sgroadie6367]

Looking forward to your 100mm version. Also, do you find the tripod foot to be wobbly?

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - May be a while until I do the 100. I've quite a backlog of stuff to test... With the foot, I got a big, but thin bladed screwdriver and made sure the screws properly were tight. I also applied the tiniest bit of rubber solution glue to the mounting face of the foot/lens beforehand to ensure that when I tightened the screws there would be a firm even connection. If you wanted to regularly change the foot, I can see the threads could be an issue... Not my lens, so I resisted the temptation to use LocTite on the screws ;-)

[@sgroadie6367]

@ thanks. I am quite keen on this lens. But Dustin Abbot’s review show that there was significant shake on the foot. I am also a big fan of foot like this. Especially when it locks the lens and movements are applied to the camera. Like rear movements on a large format camera. I use my GFX on my Sinar. But for a more portable solution, feel this Laowa might be better with my Leica SL setup.

[@KeithCooper]

@@sgroadie6367 Yes - I'll have to disagree somewhat with DA. There is no significant shake on this particular lens. Now, I do query a few of the minor mechanical aspects, but it's a nice lens - one I'm happy to use hand held as well, on my GFX. I'll be doing a full written review of the lens as well as the supplementary video. It is optically superb

[@sgroadie6367]

@ thanks. Please compare to the GF T/S. I tried it, and loved it. And hope for a less expensive solution. Really thinking of the Laowa.

[@KeithCooper]

@@sgroadie6367 That's tricky in anything but broad terms - the difference in focal length and aperture is too much. A fairer comparison is with the TS-E50 - both it and the 55 are f/2.8 '35mm' lenses used on medium format with similar limitations on shift. The 30 and 50 are mechanically superior - the 30 in particular feels smoother in the controls. The foot of the 30 is easily detachable for when I'm shooting hand held ...heresy I know, but I sometimes work in places where tripods are not allowed or practical .That and I regard the 30+GFX100S as a walk-round solution [R5/5DS and TS-E24 in 'less safe' environments] The 30TS has more geometric distortion than the 55mm - but it is unique in have the lens supply shift info to the camera. At the moment, only C1 supports corrections, doubly irksome, because I've never greatly liked the software very much, even before they went into what I'm minded to call 'money extracting mode' as a company. The dropping of the custom Fujifilm version was most unwelcome...

[@meececa]

I remember using the focal plane adjustments on a 4x5 camera. There must be something similar for DSLR/mirrorless that could give us the some of the movements. Maybe a bag bellows. Wouldn’t likely work for distance photography but my use case is tabletop work. I already have my non-TS lenses. Wouldn’t a short bellows do the trick?

[@meececa]

Looking on YT, I don’t see any video covering the bag bellows topic and very few (none) on mirrorless. I don’t like making requests like this. But I suspect that you have something like this make for a unique video. :) I’ve ordered your book too

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - the problems with close-up use of tilt [and I emphasise close] is that to get useful movement of the focal plane, you need far more physical tilt of the lens than you can get in this style of lens - the lens barrel and lens mount get in the way. As you move further from the camera, the plane of focus can indeed swing all over the place, the problem I was alluding to is that I've had lots of people asking about the use of lens tilt in macro work, where it doesn't give the amount of movement of the plane people hoped for. I do have quite a few video examples in the tilt/shift section of my videos index: www.northlight-images.co.uk/keith-cooper-photography-videos-index/#ts1 Hope you enjoy the book! - if you think of a specific topic I've missed, please do feel free to email me, since I'm always looking for ideas for new videos.

[@CalebAllenPhoto]

Looking forward to your review Keith. I have a few questions about this lens. Some other reviewer have said it’s lens foot is a bit wobbly, which concerns me for something you need to used with precision. What are your thoughts on this? Second question. Is it sharper than the Canon 50mm TSE? Especially shifted and stopped down? I own the Canon 17mm TS and new 90mm TS macro. I use an adapted Pentax 45-85 645 lens on a shift tilt adapter. Which is ok, but I don’t use it that much due ergonomics.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks. The foot is attached with two screws. Whilst they are knurled for finger tightening, I found that to get the base really firmly attached I needed a good screwdriver [thinnish blade at least 6mm wide]. I'll do some direct comparisons with the TS-E50 [35mm crop and MF] - price would suggest the TS-E, but that's not always so ;-)

[@alexandrelimacarneiro5671]

Let us know how it performs. Fuji should have released this focal length before the 110. It has more use cases for most people. Best regards Alex

[@KeithCooper]

Will do. I suspect the next TS example from Fuji will be around this focal length. I believe they wanted a longer focal length more for some studio uses, to go with the wide 30mm. If I had to put a bet on it, the next two TS lenses will be 50-60mm and 18-20mm. The 20 will likely be the really expensive one ;-) I've used the Laowa 15mm and 20mm on the GFX, and they are really wide...