NikonGear'23

The NikonGear Office => Help Desk => Topic started by: CardBoardBoxProcessor on June 24, 2017, 06:13:36

Title: Looking into tilt shifts
Post by: CardBoardBoxProcessor on June 24, 2017, 06:13:36
I really like the idea of a Tilt shift. I have 2 PC lenses and they are quite nice.

I was wondering if a 85mm TS PC would be worthy of landscapes? I've sort of been wanting to dabble with telephoto landscapes and I feel TS would allow me to get things in focus as I'd enjoy.

There is also those hartblei super rotator

what would be a good focal length? and are they really worth the price?
Title: Re: Looking into tilt shifts
Post by: David H. Hartman on June 24, 2017, 14:21:32
As far as focal length what focal lengths do you use for landscape in non-TS lenses? Nikon makes a 19mm, 24mm and 85mm. Naturally I'd want the most expensive one. :(

I feel any focal length from super wide to super telephoto is suitable for landscape. You need to think of what kind of photograph you envision taking and specifically how and why you would use the TS feature.

I've used 75mm, 90mm, 210mm and 300mm on 4x5" with shift and tilt but not any TS lenses on 35mm/FX. I'm not the one to tell you if the Nikkor TS lenses are worth the money.

Dave
Title: Re: Looking into tilt shifts
Post by: CardBoardBoxProcessor on June 24, 2017, 15:53:37
I'd suppose I;d like the foreground to be in focus as much as the background. those shots where a flower is in focus as the same time as th far off mountain peak. I likethe telephoto appeal but the shorter DOF is hard t deal with. and plants and flowers rarely hold still enough to get enoguh consistent exposures to stack easily or flawelessly.
Title: Re: Looking into tilt shifts
Post by: Matthew Currie on June 24, 2017, 16:24:35
I have the older D version of the 85/2.8, and it's certainly a very nice lens, and grand fun to have, but it's not likely the lens to rach for for landscapes unless one is doing a panorama.  For this, the newer style shift lenses (which go both left and right without rotating) are quite nice.  The old 35 mm. PC must be flipped to shift to both sides, making it a little harder to keep steady.  On a tripod, it's quite easy to do a three shot panorama, giving the effect of an 85 in height and about 40 in width.  If you can shift the tripod mount a little, you can extend it a little more without inducing a lot of distortion.  If there's nothing near, parallax is no issue, and the shot looks nice and straight.

But I rather doubt the 85 would work well for the kind of near/far depth of field you are speaking of.  It's fine for scenes with little or no foreground.  I've never tried focus stacking, so I don't know how it would work for that, but if you're doing that kind of shot i don't suppose the tilt and shift would make much difference.  As for whether it's worth the price, who can say?  I got mine used for less than half the price of a new one, and probably still don't use it as much as that cost warrants, but I'd hate to lose it.  It's a beautiful piece of work, but also rather difficult to use well.  I must confess that part of my reason for wanting it at all was the "gee whiz" factor.  I use the 35 mm. shift lens much more often with a DX camera, where the ability to shift adds some useful features to a normal perspective, cutting the photographer and his shadow out of low light shots, mirrors and windows.

Here's a long ago experiment in stitching with the 85 (resolution of course awful because I reduced it to a total of 700 pixels for the old photo.net forum).  This is a five shot stitch, using the lens shift for the center three and a sliding tripod mount for the outer two, and in its original form it was pretty sharp.  I liked the effect, but cannot say I do it very often.

Title: Re: Looking into tilt shifts
Post by: David H. Hartman on June 25, 2017, 01:06:27
I had hoped if I played the dither fish and posted something others would follow. Where is everybody?

Dave

Matthew, thank you for stopping in.

Cardboard, try searching the archives here. I think there are a few here who own the 19mm TS Nikkor and probably others who own the 24 and 85mm TS.

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I'd probably be interested in near to far and I love my 20mm Nikkors so a 19mm TS Nikkor would be great! Please send FREE money! :) :) :)
Title: Re: Looking into tilt shifts
Post by: CardBoardBoxProcessor on June 25, 2017, 19:10:20
I see. thank you all for the Advice. I suppose I'll save up for the 24 or 45 then. 19mm seesm quite expensive for my tastes