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A question to all you lens experts out there, who I am sure are far more intelligent about these sort of things than I am!
I am trying to get myself a cheap tilt shift lens set up for my D3. Would it be possible to buy a realtivley cheap cannon 35mm manual focus T&S lens (I think they were designated "FD"?) and put a Canon lens to Nikon body adapter on it???
I presume if I get an adapter with an infinity focus lens in it, I should be able to focus at either end of the scale. But will this affect the image circle when the lens is shifted/tilted??
I am assuming this would be a better lens set up than buying one of the cheap MC/Arax/Arsat Ukrainian Arsenal factory lenses?
The Nikon PC-E lenses are just off the scale, as surprisingly are the Hartblei?
Thanks in advance,
Colin.
It will be a compromise. As electronics are not needed (AF meter / coupling) I'm seeing more and more lenses that have been customised. The competent owner takes the existing mount off and replaces it with a mount of their choice - or gets a local camera repairer to do the job for them. There are more and more picture sets showing how to do this appearing in blogs over the internet these days. Here's a company who even sell parts to do the conversion: Leitax
I'd suggest getting a lens converted to screw mount, then it will be compatible with Pentax, Nikon and any other brands that have an infinity focus M42 to their bayonet adaptor. So the lens has a wider resell value should it become and unwanted item.
Have to say that lens adapters with optics in them really are not the way to go. Not only will there be a small teleconverter making the 35mm into something like a 45mm (quit a nice perspective actually but not wide...) but the quality is generally really awfu - no good until acouple of stops down. I suspect that the canon fd 35mm TS is not going to be the best possible option for digital capture, it's a 1973 design, so i'd be very surprised if CA and vignetting were not major problems.
More constructively, There are medium format adapters out there as well, and it's something I'm considering as an option to get a longer lens on my eos (I have a mk1 24mm TS-E). Also, if you want perspective control rather than tilt there are older nikon shift lenses out there and they are more plentiful than the FD 35.
" cheap tilt shift lens " is where your whole idea falls over.
The very nature of a good tilt shift makes them expensive. However, it is fairly simple to make your own with minimal effort.
Get a Nikon body cap. - Hollow it out with a lathe, or sharp stick.
Obtain small rubber plunger (ribbed kind) - cut it into desired bellows shape.
Create a backing ring from suitable materials. - if you want a "proper" set up, apply screw threaded lock joints into this backing ring. (a la lensbaby)
Buy a cheap ass manual aperture old lens - fit into "bellows".
Tie/wrap/cable/glue together.
Walla, tilt shift lens.
Im sure with some degree of engineering skill you could further improve the design by "locking" the lens with a bayonet ring. - if you really wanted too. But at that point getting some bellows would be way easier.
If you have access to a lathe creating mounts is incredibly easy - because you have that excellent base of the camera caps.
Yeah, I had considered the tilt adapter option, but really wanted tilt and shift - obviously you could buy a tilt adapter and a shift adapter - just seemed a bit complicated?
I just thought the Canon lens (being tilt shift) should have created a large enough image circle to cover a 35mm film frame and therefore should be OK to use on a full frame digital SLR, even when shifted. My original concern was that the Canon lens to Nikon body adapter would make this image circle smaller in some way, rendering the lens movements usless? As you say the coatings on the glass will be a bit prestoric compared to a modern day lens but at around a £1000 cheaper I thought it may be worth the chance?
The Russian lenses seem to have mixed reviews, particularly concerning build quality?
It seems whatever way you turn with this there's only a very expensive answer?
lol. - I'll wait for your brain to engage before I tell you how it shifts.
So just get bellows?
Here's one I made earlier, sans plunger.
The plunger is exactly the same, just substitute for a bayonet ring and bit o metal...
But alas you shoot it down.
Obviously you have never used large format, that a "lightweight" semi-open rig. - specificity stripped down for product photography.
And here is a better design for the V tilt lock.
I think at most this is a 4mm threaded rod and coupling job. Probably about £5 worth of pre cut rod.
30mins in a workshop could whip it up for you.
Ah yes, I see, but were not talking a plunger now are we, we now need half of the local ironmonger shop as well as the sanitary equipment?
So I simply need a lump of rubber, £5 worth of pre cut rod, a small garage, some welding equipment, Hannibal Smith & B.A.Baracus & I should be able to put this rig together?
In answer to your question when I was a young man and Valentino was still on every Sunday at the Gaumont, I used to work in a photography lab. Part of my work was making "dupe's and copy neg's" some of these were 35mm, some medium format, some 5x4, some half plate, some full plate and some 10x8, we also had a larger camera which pointed horizontaly at a wall (but I was never let loose on that), so I have dabbled with belows and larger format film cameras.
Swwills your obviously a genius of design and engineering and I bow down to your superior knowledge of all things mechanical & optical, however its not really what I'm looking for. What I want is a relatively small lens with tilt shift capability and a reasonably wide field of view. if you look at my original question, the bit I'm unsure of is the lens to camera adapter - will it reduce the image circle of the lens???
Thanks anyway - its been inspirational!
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