What Is the Best Shift Lens?

If you want to take greater control over your images, a tilt-shift lens can give you the sort of extra capabilities you are looking for. This awesome video review compares three options from Venus Optics, Nikon, and Canon.

Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this excellent video review compares the Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D ShiftNikon PC NIKKOR 19mm f/4E ED Tilt-Shift, and Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L Tilt-Shift lenses. Tilt-shift lenses are typically favored for being very sharp and offering a high degree of control, including the ability to control depth of field independently of aperture and to correct converging lines, making them highly preferred in genres like architectural photography. With the Canon and Nikon options, you get the tilt capabilities, while with the Laowa version, there is only shift, but it is worth considering that the Laowa is significantly cheaper than the other two options, especially if you only need to correct converging parallels or make panoramas. And of course, do not forget that all such lenses are manual focus only and demand a slow, methodical approach, but will often reward you with top-shelf photos. Check out the video above for Frost's full thoughts on all three lenses. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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1 Comment

sorry, a strange title. The best lens always depend on the object,
it depends, what you want to shoot, for stills for example I use the Nikkor 85mm PC