One of the first things I noticed about the Rokinon tilt-shift was how much it threw-off the 5D Mark II's AF metering. I started off shooting on Aperture Priority mode, as I often do, but found the camera over-exposing each image by an average of 3 stops (meaning exposure compensation wasn't going to fix the problem). That said, if you're someone who is afraid of shooting in manual mode, this lens may not be for you. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES). Dan Bracaglia
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Rokinon tilt-shift 2

These friendly horses let me get right up in their faces to test the close-focusing distance of the lens. However, later images will reveal that this lens allows you to get even closer than this, (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 3

Sony shooters will be glad that there’s an A-mount version, bringing true tilt-shift to their cameras. Users of old Minolta cameras are also happy about that. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 4

Another slight challenge I had with this lens was achieving sharp focus, even with the help of the focus-distance scale on the lens barrel. That is not to say that sharp focus can not be obtained, it just meant in my case, bracketing my focus slightly (I shot on average of 3 frames for each image) helped me achieve a sharp frame each time. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 5

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Rokinon tilt-shift 6

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Rokinon tilt-shift 7

The last tilt-shift lens I field tested was Nikon’s 45mm f/2.8; however I found the 24mm focal length in general to lend itself far better to tilt-shift-style photography. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 8

The bowels of Brooklyn look a lot more serene through a tilt-shift lens. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 9

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Rokinon tilt-shift 10

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Rokinon tilt-shift 11

This lens focuses insanely close. See the next image for more proof. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 12

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Rokinon tilt-shift 13

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Rokinon tilt-shift 14

Tilt-shift lenses aren’t ideal for shooting from the hip, but it is possible. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 15

We spent a lot of time getting our tilt on in this gallery. The next 3 images are meant to demonstrate the slightly-less-fun shifting abilities of the lens. This first image shows the stairs with the lens shifted all the way down. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 16

This image shows the stairs with the lens shifted all the way up. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
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Rokinon tilt-shift 17

This final image shows the stairs without any shifting at all. (CLICK FOR FULL-RES)
Dan Bracaglia
Dan Bracaglia

Dan Bracaglia is the News & Features editor at Popular Photography. He has been writing about technology and photography for 12 years and has had work—both written and photographic—appear in places including American Photo magazine, Digital Photography Review, Popular Science magazine, Sound & Vision magazine, and of course, Popular Photography. Contact the author here.

Lens Reviews
Rokinon
Samyang
Tilt-shift

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