Dantes Architectural Inferno

[gmfotografie]

Hi guys - greetings from Austria!

Since 5 years I do some commercial work for architects or hotels and love this side job!

I´m working with a Canon 5DIV and my 2 TSE II lenses (17mm and the 24mm) - of course those lenses are great I don´t like to look through the Canon eye and see the building lines bending... even in the RAW Converter those linse are distorted - very little - but they are distorted.
Positioning the camera and the lenses before the capture - is my driving force. I love this procedure!
90% I do shifting - 10% tilting; using the 24mm about 70%; 17mm 30% (Canon 5DIV)

Last year I also bought a X1D which I sold three weeks ago waiting for the new X1DII or the 907x !
I bought this camera because it was my first step into medium format. I love the pictures, love the colors, love the slow process - and love the style of this baby!
Actual I have 3 lenses - 45mm , 65mm and 90mm. I use the cam for my landscape pictures and I love it.


And here is my problem - after using the X1D I want to have this look also for my commercial architectural work. For some customers I need also to crop my pictures for details - resolution is my friend!

On the one hand I have 2 great lenses - TSE 17 and 24mm which I cannot use on my X1D - on the other hand I have a great mediumformat camera.

Which solution should I focus for my photographical future?

Selling my whole Canon equipment for an Alpa or Cambosystem with the 907x in combination with Rodenstock lenses - this sounds ultimate; but expensive.

Do you have other solutions for me?
(Oh yes - I have forgot to say that I also use my broncolor system for some interior shoots - therefore the ES on my X1D with third party lens are a problem for me)


Thank you

 

[siddhaarta]

Hi guys - greetings from Austria!



On the one hand I have 2 great lenses - TSE 17 and 24mm which I cannot use on my X1D - on the other hand I have a great mediumformat camera.

But you can use the TSE 17 and 24 on the X1D. There are several adapters around, especially the new TechartPro Adapter seems nice.

The limitations are discussed here:

http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/index.php?topic=6355.0

Another option (using only a simple adapter) would be the Fotodiox Rokr Tilt-Shift Adapter which allows use of Hasselblad-Zeiss lenses (large image circle) with the X1D. Your best bet would be the very good Distagon 40mm IF which is still available used. That gives you around 31mm FoV-FF.

 

[Shashin]

If you are just going to a tech cam to correct verticals, you can also use a software solution. That way you can still use your Hasselblad.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

But the Alpa and Cambo solutions are so nice.

 

[Audii-Dudii]

If you are just going to a tech cam to correct verticals, you can also use a software solution.

True, but to make the software solution look as identical to the in-camera optical solution as possible -- i.e., to correct the converging verticals and maintain the original proportions of the structure -- requires a considerable amount of post-processing work, which dwarfs the additional amount of time it takes to optically correct the converging verticals in-camera, pre-exposure.

And then there is the issue that correcting converging verticals with software -- or at least any commercially available software I'm aware of! -- cannot restore the plane of focus to a perfectly vertical orientation. While this may not matter much for some purposes, there are many picky architects who will spot this and reject such photos accordingly.

As ever, you pays your money, etc.

 

[GrahamWelland]

But the Alpa and Cambo solutions are so nice.

Exactly. Go large or go home :thumbs::thumbs:

 

[Shashin]

True, but to make the software solution look as identical to the in-camera optical solution as possible -- i.e., to correct the converging verticals and maintain the original proportions of the structure -- requires a considerable amount of post-processing work, which dwarfs the additional amount of time it takes to optically correct the converging verticals in-camera, pre-exposure.

And then there is the issue that correcting converging verticals with software -- or at least any commercially available software I'm aware of! -- cannot restore the plane of focus to a perfectly vertical orientation. While this may not matter much for some purposes, there are many picky architects who will spot this and reject such photos accordingly.

As ever, you pays your money, etc.

I guess I am not having the same problems. I don't find the post processing that difficult. And the plane of focus has not been an issue in my work.

Naturally, an optical solution is not without its own efforts either.

 

[Audii-Dudii]

I guess I am not having the same problems. I don't find the post processing that difficult. And the plane of focus has not been an issue in my work.

Naturally, an optical solution is not without its own efforts either.

Hey, if your approach works for you, that's great!

I was just pointing out there's a reason why cameras that have tilt and shift movements built-in still exist and why some photographers choose to use them, that's all.

P.S.: I checked out your website and you have some very nice work there!

 

[Hausen]

I love my X1D and Cambo Actus. I don't do Architecture, mainly LE Panoramic landscapes. My only concern for using that combination for architecture would be getting a wide enough lens to gain the rise you need. I will likely get the AC-375 tilt base to gain a little more rise. I mainly use the SK72XL which isn't that wide but but offers huge shift movements.

 

[Audii-Dudii]

I love my X1D and Cambo Actus. I don't do Architecture, mainly LE Panoramic landscapes. My only concern for using that combination for architecture would be getting a wide enough lens to gain the rise you need. I will likely get the AC-375 tilt base to gain a little more rise. I mainly use the SK72XL which isn't that wide but but offers huge shift movements.

FYI, this is one of the main reasons why I typically use 35 mm format lenses and 35 mm and APS-C format camera bodies with my Actus and various FrankenKameras. Because it's the only easy and/or affordable way to achieve the wide and ultra-wide fields of view I prefer for my late-night photos of urban and suburban scenes and have finely geared in-camera movements available as well.

The other reason is that to achieve similar DoF with medium-format sensors requires lens apertures to be stopped-down further, increasing the length of the exposures, sometimes dramatically, which in turn causes all sorts of grief, from increased noise to photos ruined by objects passing through the scenes while the shutter is open for sometimes several minutes.