Nikon Tilt/Shift Lens – Borrow/Rent?
- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated Jan 24, 2008 at 4:52 pm by
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Hey guys –
Does anyone know of a feasible way to borrow or rent one of the 85mm PC f/2.8 Micro-Nikkors?
I think Nikon made a 35 or 28mm shift lens. As I remember there was no tilt. Basically it allows you to keep the camera level and drop the lens to have some foreground and keep your vertical lines straight. In nearly 35 years of shooting I’ve only seen one used once on a shoot for a slide show 30 years ago. Most 35 mm camera lenses produce such a small image circle that swings, tilts and shifts are limited to a few millimeters. I think Canon makes some now and I think Richard B. has a couple in his kit.
If you really want to have some fun rent a 4X5 view camera and use some Polaroid film. The view camera lies at the heart of photography. With the view camera you are forced to slow down and think about camera placement, lens selection, sharpness distribution and exposure etc. A view camera guy named Ted Orland use to say “there is nothing wrong with a 35mm camera that a 4X5 view camera won’t fix”.
Pro Photo Resources in Atlanta has gear for rent and I heard about http://www.lensprotogo.com/ on a podcast. Rental is a good way to try out really radical gear.
David King
David’s right, rent one before you buy – they’re not a cake walk to use.
I have the 24 & 90 Canon tilts and I think they’re great, but not something you would use all that often.
I tried the 85 Nikon a while back as well (out of interest) and it’s a very sharp lens.
If you want good tilt effects you need to go longer rather than wider Zach.Have fun.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
The Lensbaby might be a good option for focus effects. The new lenbaby has locking pins to hold the lens in a adjusted position. zi don’t think the actual lens is all that great but I have seen some nice shots using it.
Lens Babies are cool for the money..
Morsie got some great shots with his on our recent UnZudian adventure – it’s a look you don’t really get from anything else.
They are fiddly to use in my limited experience.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
I saw a Lensbaby at Photoshop World last year it. it seemed like it would be fun to have around and produces some neat effect in camera so you don’t have to do so much post processing. Its either a winner or not! I like to make the photo in camera and polish it in post processing. Sharpness in depth with a 35 style camera is a issue that really can only be dealt with by stopping down or a little forward tilt of the lens if you have a camera that will do it. You might be able to combine exposures of different areas of sharpness into 1 image etc.
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