PC Lenses v. Photoshop/Lightroom: We are about to go on a vacation which will feature a lot of photographs of architectural art (buildings). Does anyone have a view on whether...

Lighthouse51

We are about to go on a vacation which will feature a lot of photographs of architectural art (buildings). Does anyone have a view on whether Lightroom/Photoshop deals adequately with removing the distortion (of objects "leaning in" if they are off to the side) or one should invest in a rackable, "perspective correction" lens? I will be shooting a Nikon D850.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

There is nothing like taking care of the issue with the camera, as opposed to "fixing" it in processing. My personal preference is a perspective correction at the camera level. "Fixing" the problem leads to warping pixels and changing the perceived dimensions of the buildings.
--Bob

Lighthouse51 wrote:

We are about to go on a vacation which will feature a lot of photographs of architectural art (buildings). Does anyone have a view on whether Lightroom/Photoshop deals adequately with removing the distortion (of objects "leaning in" if they are off to the side) or one should invest in a rackable, "perspective correction" lens? I will be shooting a Nikon D850.

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

If you are specifically going for architectural shots, then a tilt-shift lens will yield great results. I usually don't use PSS or LR for PC control, rather running through DXO Viewpoint for any corrections using a non TS lens. However, when I want to shoot architecturally, I use the proper TS lens for the field of view with which I am working. And I use a tripod leveled for shifting the lens levelly.

One major difference between using a TS lens vs post processing, is the un-natural elongation of objects in the foreground and edges. PSCC or LR cannot fix that problem with a simple click in software. So the question to you is what are you comfortable accepting with deformation?

bleirer

You are going to spend your vacation learning the scheimpflug principle? It's not an automatic put the lens on and voila kind of thing. You have to know which way to tilt and which way to shift, or do a lot of trial and error. If you keep the camera level and parallel to a building it will be pretty straight.

Did you see this thread? It gets into t/s after a few pages https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-599398-8.html

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Lighthouse51 wrote:

We are about to go on a vacation which will feature a lot of photographs of architectural art (buildings). Does anyone have a view on whether Lightroom/Photoshop deals adequately with removing the distortion (of objects "leaning in" if they are off to the side) or one should invest in a rackable, "perspective correction" lens? I will be shooting a Nikon D850.

You will always get better results and a full sized image when you use a shift lens. Using corrections in software result in considerable image cropping, more if you tilt the camera more. The choice to invest in a manual focus, ultra-sharp PC-E lens or lenses is entirely up to you. I use a 24 PC-E (infrequently) 45 and 85 PC-E a lot. Mostly for landscape, but also for interior and architectural.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Lighthouse51 wrote:

We are about to go on a vacation which will feature a lot of photographs of architectural art (buildings). Does anyone have a view on whether Lightroom/Photoshop deals adequately with removing the distortion (of objects "leaning in" if they are off to the side) or one should invest in a rackable, "perspective correction" lens? I will be shooting a Nikon D850.

If I am not mistaken LR will fill the areas that Photoshop would crop so maybe LR would be the better program, if you have the photography package you can just try both and see which you prefer.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The Scheimpflug Principle is not really applicable for architectural work, such as mentioned here. It would work for photographing the side of a building.
--Bob

bleirer wrote:

You are going to spend your vacation learning the scheimpflug principle? It's not an automatic put the lens on and voila kind of thing. You have to know which way to tilt and which way to shift, or do a lot of trial and error. If you keep the camera level and parallel to a building it will be pretty straight.

Did you see this thread? It gets into t/s after a few pages https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-599398-8.html

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Blurryeyed wrote:

If I am not mistaken LR will fill the areas that Photoshop would crop so maybe LR would be the better program, if you have the photography package you can just try both and see which you prefer.

I think you may be mistaken. I am pretty sure that Photoshop will do some content aware fill - Lightroom will only constrain the crop after adjustment.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

bleirer wrote:

You are going to spend your vacation learning the scheimpflug principle? It's not an automatic put the lens on and voila kind of thing. You have to know which way to tilt and which way to shift, or do a lot of trial and error. If you keep the camera level and parallel to a building it will be pretty straight.

Did you see this thread? It gets into t/s after a few pages https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-599398-8.html

Scheimpflug has nothing to do with lens shift. I am guessing you haven't learned it yourself just yet. Tilting a PC-E lens does involve understanding the Scheimpflug Principle, but titling a lens is not a way to fix keystoning. Shifting the lens is how its done.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

--Bob

Gene51 wrote:

Scheimpflug has nothing to do with lens shift. I am guessing you haven't learned it yourself just yet. Tilting a PC-E lens does involve understanding the Scheimpflug Principle, but titling a lens is not a way to fix keystoning. Shifting the lens is how its done.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

Gene51 wrote:

Scheimpflug has nothing to do with lens shift. I am guessing you haven't learned it yourself just yet. Tilting a PC-E lens does involve understanding the Scheimpflug Principle, but titling a lens is not a way to fix keystoning. Shifting the lens is how its done.

Well said!!! As they say..."A little knowledge is a dangerous thing".

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

A shifting lens is the way to go. Tilting is rarely needed for architecture, particularly if you can use a tripod for long exposures at small aperture for great depth of field. PP does not do as well as on camera physical shift of the lens.
A wide angle tilt-shift would be my choice in most cases. At times you may be forced to use panorama PP when you are too close to the subject. I've used vertical pano a few times successfully, and multi-directional pano may be needed. I've never tried it with a tilt shift multi directional PP pano, but I don't see why it shouldn't work.

anotherview Loc: California

Adobe Camera Raw has the Transform Tool that corrects for keystoning and plumbs a photograph. I've found that it does a very good job of automatic correction. It has a manual mode, too.

Lighthouse51 wrote:

We are about to go on a vacation which will feature a lot of photographs of architectural art (buildings). Does anyone have a view on whether Lightroom/Photoshop deals adequately with removing the distortion (of objects "leaning in" if they are off to the side) or one should invest in a rackable, "perspective correction" lens? I will be shooting a Nikon D850.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Lighthouse51 wrote:

We are about to go on a vacation which will feature a lot of photographs of architectural art (buildings). Does anyone have a view on whether Lightroom/Photoshop deals adequately with removing the distortion (of objects "leaning in" if they are off to the side) or one should invest in a rackable, "perspective correction" lens? I will be shooting a Nikon D850.

Unless your going professional with it, the purchase is so limited it might not be worth it.
The Nikon camera can do a great job. I have used lightroom and photoshop to finish up without major issues.

bleirer

Gene51 wrote:

Scheimpflug has nothing to do with lens shift. I am guessing you haven't learned it yourself just yet. Tilting a PC-E lens does involve understanding the Scheimpflug Principle, but titling a lens is not a way to fix keystoning. Shifting the lens is how its done.

While I was trying to make the point that it could be distracting to their vacation by learning how to use the t/s lens, there was a time when I could quote chapter and verse from The Camera, so yes I do understand it. Remembering is another matter of course. But why would someone own such a lens and not want to know the effect on the focal plane for every possible movement? The op mentioned shooting from the side. What if there is a long front facade that they want to keep in super sharp focus? Scheimpfflug has an app for that. Or dramatic stairs rising to a low building? Or formal gardens?