Fujifilm GF 110mm TS f/5.6 Macro tilt/shift review

Fujifilm medium format tilt/shift lens

Macro to 0.5x

Keith Cooper looks at the Fujifilm GF 110mm TS f/5.6 Macro G mount tilt/shift lens.

This Fujifilm G mount ‘perspective control’ lens gives up to 10º of tilt and ±15mm of shift.

The lens was tested on Fuji GFX100S and GFX 100 II medium format cameras [~102MP 33mm x 44mm sensor]

It gives a similar field of view to a ~85mm lens such as the Canon TS-E90mm F2.8 or Nikon PC-E85mm on 35mm ‘FF’ sensors.

Note that Keith has also a detailed review of the Fuji GF 30mm TS 5.6 lens as well.

Keith’s book about using tilt/shift lenses is now available.
If not in the UK check for import issues and just try any good local bookshop.
Publisher info: ISBN: 9781785007712

This review is one of over 100 articles and videos on this site by Keith about tilt/shift lenses. There is also an index page specifically devoted to the subject, including all Keith’s articles, reviews and videos.

• All about tilt/shift – index page
• Videos about Tilt/shift lenses and their uses

Review: functionality and features

Review: initial testing – examples of use

Initial lens overview

Review: Fujifilm GF 110mm TS F5.6 tilt and shift lens

The Fujifilm 110mm TS lens was launched in September 2023. This review should be seen along with the three videos.

Due to only having the lens for a limited time, this review is not quite as detailed as some of my other T/S lens reviews, but I feel it does address the main features of what is an extremely good quality lens.

Some vertical shift with the 110mm TS and image detail [f/8]. [Most images click to enlarge]

The TS 110mm f/5.6 gives a field of view broadly equivalent to 87mm on 35mm ‘full frame’ and a large enough image circle to allow for ±15mm of shift on a 33mm x 44mm medium format sensor.

Click on images to see larger versions.

I’m testing the GF 110mm TS lens with the Fujifilm GFX100S camera.

It’s a hefty lens.

In the shot above you can see the lens is tilted towards the camera [by about 10º].

The mechanism tilts about the axis of the control knob [ a good size] which minimises image shift through tilt and makes the tilt of the lens elements more symmetrical.

Tilt/shift/swing/rise/fall

In all my articles I refer just to lens shift or tilt along with the direction it is in. You may sometimes see vertical up/down shift referred to as rise or fall, and left/right tilt as swing. These terms are familiar to anyone coming at lenses like the GF 110mm TS lens from a view camera background, but I prefer to be more consistent for readers coming from a 35mm camera background. My apologies if you’re a long time large format camera user, but you should already know all this stuff ;-)

GF 110mm TS f/5.6: Basic specifications

The GF 110mm TS f/5.6 is a solidly built lens. The inside of the front of the lens moves with focus as the lens extends.

110mm close focus

110mm TS infinity focus

The lens has a 9 blade aperture. It is decidedly circular looking. which means that sunstars are definitely not a prominent feature.

Here’s the GF 110mm TS lens internal construction detail. There is a lot of glass inside it.

The GF 110mm TS lens is designed to give a huge 85mm image circle

MFT at 10/20/40 lpm [figures from Fujifilm].

The focus throw is ~100 degrees, giving a good range for both near and far focus. The focus is direct.

The focus of the GF 110mm TS seems to extend just a bit past infinity*. This is a good thing since it gives an increased flexibility in setting the plane of focus when using tilt. It does however mean that you do have to focus on objects rather than just trust the focus end stop.

*Note that the lens was loaned to me for a few weeks and went back to Fuji before I was able to test this in more detail, so it needs further testing to be sure.

As a fully manual lens the focus peaking [set at minimum] and ability to zoom in via the EVF or screen is very useful. In testing the new GFX100 II, with its high res EVF, I didn’t notice it making focusing any easier, but that could be my eyesight and the fact that I use a lot of manual focus lenses.

The lens requires careful focusing if you want to get the very best out of it. Even some basic testing showed its immediate quality besting many a tilt/shift lens I’ve looked at. However, good as it is, the difference between it and say the Canon TS-E90mm F2.8L Macro and the TS-E135mm is nowhere near as obvious as between the TS30mm and the Canon TS-E24mm II [a 2007 lens BTW]

The red focus peaking is visible here.

The camera records focus distance as well as the amount of lens shift and the direction of lens shift. In the view above, you can see it’s shifted 15mm [the maximum] downwards. The 0º shows the mount rotation at zero [up/down].

Note that older GFX cameras need a firmware update to show/record the shift data. Tilt angle is not recorded.

GF 110mm TS f/5.6: Lens movements

The shift and tilt are controlled by small knobs, with locking knobs on the opposite side. The tilt axis also has a ‘no tilt’ lock for shift only use. There is a detent at the zero settings making it easier to feel when movements are zeroed. This is quite a ‘soft’ detent so get used to checking that it’s properly at zero.

The shift knob [R] and smaller tilt lock knob [L] can be seen as with the lock for tilt. Get used to the feel of these locks – more damage is caused to rental tilt/shift lenses by careless use of the locks than any other cause, I’m told…

The knobs can be close in some set-ups but I didn’t notice any significant issues in using the lens, but I do have long thin fingers, so YMMV.

Getting used to the GF 110mm TS lens

The complexity of the adjustments can feel daunting, but in my teaching I always start with shift and no tilt. First vertical, then horizontal and then mixing them for diagonal shifting.

• How to use shift
• Keith’s 1-2-1 tilt/shift training

Once shift is mastered, it’s time to work through the basics of tilt, such as how to run the plane of focus along the ground or a wall.

• Focusing the tilted lens

I’ll have some examples later…

Tripod collar?

Unlike the GF 30mm TS lens, this lens does not come with a tripod collar.

GF 110mm TS f/5.6: Flare – Distortion – Aberrations

A sunwards shot – no bright colours, just an excess of light…

With this vertically shifted view, opened up for processing and with a grid overlay, I can see a bit of barrel distortion.

However, this is a shifted view making any ‘fixing’ more difficult than applying a simple correction.

If you need absolute precision then the recorded shift info. can be utilised by Capture One lens correction. Not enough to get over my personal dislike of C1 though, especially since the ‘lite’ versions for some camera makes were killed off in 2024.

GF 110mm TS f/5.6: Vignetting

All lenses exhibit some vignetting – it’s basic optics. However, some show it far more and some introduce secondary vignetting from the lens/camera mount.

To test for vignetting in more detail I photograph an old light box. The focus is set at infinity and I step through apertures.

Just to be clear this is very much a qualitative test – wait long enough and someone will publish detailed charts and numbers for this lens. However I have not the kit for carrying out such testing and, this is important, I don’t have the patience to do it either ;-)

These are shots of the rear screen showing some example lens settings.

That shift/direction data is very helpful…

Here’s an annotated screen shot showing much less fall-off of vignetting than I normally see when doing this test. The second version has been posterised to give a better view of the fall-off.

This suggests that the lens vignetting is much more the result of fundamental optics than design/cost/mount constraints.

Unlike the 30mm TS I notice slight secondary vignetting caused by the mount shadowing in the opposite direction to the shift.

I should note that the 30mm is the only tilt/shift lens I’ve ever tested that doesn’t show this effect.

The ‘shadow’ vignetting is at the bottom, and becomes sharper as you reduce aperture. This is shadowing caused somehwere in the optical path – most likely the lens mount.

Here’s a view from the back at 15mm shift – I’m looking straight into the rear of the lens.

Auto correction for the GF 110mm TS f/5.6?

With the EXIF data including shift and direction, it should be possible to automate lens corrections, since all that the software needs to do is offset the assumed optical axis by the shift amount.

Ah, I say ‘all that’ in the way one of my past careers in software development immediately spots as potentially non-trivial…

Developers for raw file processing software could comfortably assume that the optical axis was in the centre of the frame and apply corrections accordingly. The only raw processors which allowed for image shift were Phocus [which I tested with the Hasselblad HTS T/S adapter] and Capture One [C1].

My two raw processors of choice ACR and DxO PhotoLab [ex. DxO Optics Pro] do not support offset corrections. I have been asking DxO about this since 2008, so I’m hopeful that with the two Fujifilm TS lenses including shift info, we may see movement there…

ACR – well I hope it works soon. The CA correction in ACR has long worked with shifted images.

I’d just note that when Canon and Nikon finally bring out T/S lenses for their mirrorless systems, they will include shift and maybe even tilt in EXIF.

GF 110mm TS: Aperture selection

When testing lenses I normally produce a set of images showing the lens sharpness at differing apertures and where the sweet spot in performance lies. For lenses with obvious fall-off in performance, this can be helpful, but I’m strongly of the view that a series of web images shows nothing of genuine value for an excellent lens like this.

Once again those wanting charts and number will need look elsewhere ;-) If you are that bothered by absolute critical sharpness, hire a lens to test for your own needs, or perhaps try and be less bothered over ‘lens performance’ ;-) 

The lens is great at f/5.6 in the central area, f/8 gives a wider area of sharpness and the very slight vignetting at f/5.6 is much reduced. The better overall sharpness is more noticeable if you have much shift.

Above this, the effects of diffraction start to set in a little more obviously, but if you need the small aperture for DOF purposes, then you need it…

A simple example at f/8, and why for a lens like this there should be more than enough detail…

Full vertical shift

The window at the top corner.

Detail of the Aircon vents.

Magnified [300%] view of the parking sign at the bottom left of the frame.

GF 110mm TS lens image quality

The lens EXIF data is not [yet] used internally in the camera to provide vignetting and other corrections.

For many images though, it’s just not an issue. You can see the vignetting in the lightbox examples above.

Flare and the like were difficult to see, with this example [f/8 shifted upwards], showing little ‘sunstar’ effects, CA or other general aberrations in the image.

Night and day – some vertical shift.

Fine detail – Multishot?

Whilst you’ll have to wait for someone else to work out meaningful, detailed resolution numbers for this lens/sensor combination, finest detail suggests that if the GFX multishot super resolution mode was a little more usable, you would definitely see benefits from it.

Given the testing I did with the Panasonic S1R high resolution mode a few years ago, using the TS-E24 II and TS-E50, I’d love to be able to get 600MP+ stitched images for some super size prints. As ever though, the biggest problem with such prints is finding a wall for them to go on [I still have a 46 foot long canvas rolled in a tube].

110mm TS ‘Macro’

The lens says ‘Macro’ in its name. However it only goes to a basic magnification of 0.5x. However to me, ‘macro’ starts at 1:1 0.5x is just ‘close-up’. I note that Canon was also similarly loose with the Macro designation of its most recent T/S lenses [50/90/135mm].

The lens will work with extension tubes, getting you closer, but I’m afraid I didn’t have any such tubes for the period I had the lens to test.

This data from Fujifilm covers the 30mm TS and the 110mm TS [click to enlarge]

A 45mm tube gives ~1:1, with a 160mm working distance. Note too, how the 30mm TS works with tubes, but the working distance is hardly practical.

Important note…

I should point out however, for people not experienced in using lens tilt, the maximum tilt of the focal plane is much reduced as the subject gets closer to the camera. If you were thinking that the 110mm TS was going to let you tilt the plane a lot whilst close, do have a look at the detailed examples in my Canon TS-E90 and Canon TS-E135 lens reviews

See also this short video with a 100mm tilt lens

This example shows just how much tilt of the plane of focus 10º of tilt gives you at the minimum focus distance

Shift

My own most common use of shift is a simple vertical shift.

A view showing vertical shift [and a detail from the shot].

Fine detail abounds in the image, as you’d expect from 100MP.

Another view, with detail showing lack of fringing and longitudinal CA.

The shift is only a few mm, but enough to keep verticals true.

Tilting the lens

The 110mm TS is a lens which I think is going to be used with an amount of tilt, far more often than a wide lens like the 30mm TS.

Whilst I’ve found that most photographers pick up the idea of a shifted lens quite readily, the same is not so with tilt.

My personal explanation is that with shift you can focus as normal, and then just add some shift for composition.

With tilt, the effect is given by a combination of the lens tilt angle and the lens focus setting. This places the plane of focus in a certain position and orientation in space. The distance markings on the lens/screen have no direct meaning and the amount the plane of focus is tilted doesn’t seem to relate to the physical amount the lens is tilted.

Now, I’ve written quite a lot about using tilt in quite a few articles (and my book) so don’t worry if it’s not clear to you here. The best place to start is with some of my introductory articles on the tilt/shift index page

• The tilt/shift article and reviews index

One simple way to see the effect of tilt is to tilt the lens fully left or right and then adjust the focus setting. The plane of focus will be a vertical plane that runs beside you and out into the distance. Focus peaking does help here, as does setting the aperture as wide as it will go.

In these views, the lens is tilted to the right, I’m running the (vertical) plane of focus through the plane of the bike.

First – about 6 degrees of tilt

Second, about 8 degrees of tilt

This is at f/8

If you want to produce massively soft out of focus areas, this f/5.6 lens really isn’t for you.

Tilted right at f/5.6

At f/8, once again with rightwards tilt [aka swing]

How do I know the value of tilt to set to get the plane of focus along the wall, or bike?

I have a simple printed/laminated sheet in my camera bag with tilt tables. These are discussed in more detail elsewhere, but they allow you to set your plane of focus knowing just the ‘J’ distance of your camera.

This is a full tilt table for all the TS lenses I’ve got or have been testing.

Note the column for 110mm

Full Tilt Table

The table shows that with for the GF 110mm TS lens, and a tilt of 10º, the plane of focus passes just over 60cm from the camera.

If you have a level camera about 150cm above the ground, a tilt of around four degrees downwards is all that’s needed to run the plane of focus along the ground [lens at ∞].

Before you get too carried away with setting the tilt to such accuracy, remember the mechanism you are adjusting. If you can get to within half a degree you would be doing well. If you use phone apps for data like that above, be very wary of spurious precision in distances or tilt amounts.

In the explanatory articles and videos there are downloads and a spreadsheet you can use to create your own version

• Focusing the tilted lens [includes Keith’s tilt table spreadsheet (zipped file)]

The tilted plan can be used for subject isolation or to give the impression of more DOF – or both.

An example running the plane to the left of me.

Cropping exacerbates the effect

Running the plane along the wall.

Running the plane to the right of me emphasises the shading and its fittings.

Close up and with strong tilt upwards and to the left produces a mix of sharp and out of focus areas at different distances.

The tilted plane of focus

Don’t forget that when you tilt the plane of focus, its thickness, [DOF] varies, being thinner close to the camera.

In this example, I’m wanting to get both window ornaments in focus, so I’ve tilted the lens to the right [~6º] and set focus to achieve this. You can see from the red focus peaking.

The view at f/5.6

The view at f/8

Closer still…

Some views of a cactus flower. This is at an oblique angle, so the first three shots just show the different DOF at different apertures, whilst the last two add some tilt.. The differences can be quite subtle.

110mm f/5.6

110mm f/8

110mm f/11

110mm f/5.6 + tilt

110mm f/8 + tilt

Miniature world?

If you’re looking for the ‘miniature world’ look, then try strong upwards tilt and then use the focus setting to place the plane of focus through the view in front. Use a wide aperture and try and look down on the subject. 110mm is perhaps a bit long for this, and the f/5.6 widest aperture of the GF 110mm TS doesn’t give a massive blur.

It’s very much an experiment as to what it comes out like – personally I’ve tried it a few times, ticked the ‘Done that’ box and moved on. It’s very dependent of the material in the scene as to whether the miniature look is convincing. I keep it in the range of effects I can do, but no-one has ever commercially asked me for that look ;-)

Conclusions: Fujifilm GF 110mm TS F5.6 tilt and shift lens

Another impressive lens.

This lens shows just how much optical design has advanced in recent years. The general level of sharpness and lack of aberrations, combined with the large image circle make for an excellent lens.

There is some basic vignetting and a slight overall distortion – mainly a slight barrel type. Sharpness falls away a bit in extremely shifted corners, but it’s very amenable to improving with modern sharpening tools. It’s also not noticeable with many images.

Some have asked about the relatively small maximum aperture of f/5.6 – my feeling is that this allowed the lens to be optimised towards overall performance. These lenses tend to be used at smaller apertures – making the lens f/4 or even wider would have introduced a lot of extra glass [expense and weight] at apertures you don’t use much.

But, unlike the TS 30mm, we have some direct competitors in the form of the Canon TS-E90mm F2.8L Macro and TS-E135mm F4L Macro. These can work well on my GFX100S via adapters and are of distinctly better image quality than the TS-E24 I mentioned in my GF 30mm TF review. [they are newer and it is ‘easier’ to design high quality lenses at these longer focal lengths].

The inclusion of EXIF data for shift and direction should allow for easy correction of geometry and vignetting, once more raw processing software developers get round to supporting it.

Tilt, with this lens, feels like it’s really meant for the purpose of placing a sharp plane of focus where you want it, not for ‘creative’ out of focus ‘miniature world’ effects. The lens feels made for studio use – ideal for some types of product photography.  I note the lack of a support bracket. For the 30mm TS, I can see the bracket’s use for stitching. I’ve never missed one on any of my longer T/S lenses, but I have seen some people concerned at its lack.

Fujifilm GF 110mm TS f/5.6 image quality?

Always a tricky one since you’re seeing processed photos on a web site. I’ve already seen some ultra-picky people dismiss the lens as showing too much distortion and fall off for ‘serious use’ – you wonder just who these people are and what, and at what cost, they normally use to take photos.  As I’ve said, if you want numbers, look elsewhere, I can’t offer charts and such data.

If you are seriously looking at spending nearly £4000 on a lens, then try and hire one to check how it matches your own standards.

For myself it is ‘just’ an excellent medium telephoto tilt/shift. Longer lenses like this are somewhat less exacting than wide ones. Given I still get good results with my adapted Canon tilt/shift lenses, there is much less of a clear benefit for the 110mm TS than the 30mm TS for my work.  The 30mm TS is in a league of its own, the 110mm TS is ‘just’ around the top of its league.

A manual lens like this is, I’d suggest, a good choice for anyone looking to develop the ‘slower’ side of their photography – it’s not a choice for sport/action shots but one where the creative use of shift and tilt can teach a lot.

Is it worth it for you? Depends on the depth of your pockets and what you want to use it for…

I hope the review has been of interest – please do feel free to ask (email, YouTube or the comments below) if you’ve any specific questions. Thanks to Fujifilm UK for the loan of lens.

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