Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8

A while ago I had rented the Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 lens. Why? I wanted something fun to play with, and had always been curious about the TS/E lenses. The 90mm also had a reputation for being very sharp (which it was!) and it had a high maximum magnification as well.

The tilting mechanism was what I was most interested in, and was also the weirdest thing about the lens. The plane of focus does *not* stay parallel to the lens as you tilt it. It also moves as you focus the lens in addition to as you tilt it. It’s still usable hand-held but when it’s absolutely critical you nail the plane of focus, a tripod is in your future. A good explanation of how tilt works can be found here from Northlight Images.

When you abuse the tilt, you can blur the heck out of an image like so:

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Originally posted on my blog at: http://starkindler.us/blog/2009/12/canon-ts-e-90mm/

OT: Some thoughts on the Nokia N900

Admittedly this is a bit off-topic, but I am still a little bit of a geek (forgive me).

In the not-too-distant past, Nokia announced their N900 “mobile computer” and it was an immediately enticing device: a large & very high resolution touch screen, a physical slide-out keyboard, 3G frequencies that will work with my carrier (T-Mobile), and oh, it runs a relatively-unmolested Linux too.

Frustration with my blackberry peaked a week or so ago and I ordered an N900 from Nokia, admittedly with a slight amount of trepidation – unsubsidized phones are expensive and this is their flagship! It arrived the next business day and I’ve been getting settled into it since.

In a nutshell, it’s almost exactly as I expected: gorgeous hardware, software that’s still a little rough around the edges but lots of potential for improvement. Interested in details, including some talk of the phone’s camera? Read on.

Otherwise, my next post will likely be waxing poetic about the utterly enchanting Canon 24mm f/1.4L II lens!

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Originally posted on my blog at: http://starkindler.us/blog/2009/12/thoughts-on-the-n900/