This will be the last summary post in my review of the Fujifilm 30mm f/5.6 GF tilt/shift lens. It’s not about the lens in particular, but about how to handle tilt and focusing when using the GFX cameras with any tilt/shift lens.
- Examine the scene and decide where you want to place the focal plane. For the purposes of this discussion, let’s imagine that the lens must be tilted down to make the focal plane where you want it.
- Rotate the lens mechanism until the tilt axis is horizontal, so that when you twist the tilt knob, and lens will be tilting up or down.
- Lock the tilt mechanism rotation.
- Decide how much shift you want and in what direction.
- Set up the right amount of shift in the right direction, and lock that down.
- Then pick two places in the intended focal plane, one near to the bottom of the finder, and one near the top of the finder.
- In your mind, associate the top place with either tilt or focus, and the bottom place with the movement you didn’t pick for the top place. For example, associate the top place with tilt, and the bottom place with focus. I’ll assume that choice as I go on.
- Frame the image.
- Using the focus ring and magnified focusing with peaking, focus on the bottom place in the focal plane.
- Using the tilt knob and magnified focusing with peaking, focus on the top place in the focal plane.
- Repeat the two steps immediately above this one until the image is in focus in both places. At first, don’t bother trying to get the focus perfect, but as you iterate, toward the end get more picky. Stop iterating when you are satisfied that both areas are in focus.
- Check the framing again, and adjust if necessary.
- Double check the focus accuracy of the two areas you used above, and repeat the iteration if necessary.
- Check a few other places in your intended focal plane to make sure they’re in focus.
- Take the picture.
Don’t get in a rush. At first, this will seem painfully slow. After a while, it will get faster, but let that happen organically with experience.
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