New gear

[Manfred M]

I got the surprise of my life when my new Nikkor f/3.5 24mm PC-e lens showed up in the mail today.

It had been on order for a few weeks and I was told by the dealer on Friday that Nikon Canada was still out of stock and were awaiting information from Nikon Japan regarding the ETA of shipments of this lens to Canada. This shipment schedule (rather than the lens) would be available sometime in March.

Now, all I have to do is get rid of this damn virus so that I can get out to do some shooting; mainly architecture and some two-level panos for now. I have a feeling that this lens is going to have a bit of a learning curve...

[NorthernFocus]

Congrats on the new gear. Looks tricky.

Our local Nikon dealer says they are a real pain to work with. He's got a real small, low volume shop and says Nikon pretty much sends him what they want, when they want to. That said he always gets at least one or two of every new camera body right on release day just like the big boys.

[lukaswerth]

Manfred,

Congratulations! I have this lens, I use it all the time; on many trips the lens I use most often.

I am thinking in these days about the 45 PC-E - the big question is the budget, of course.

If I may, I'd like to give two advices:
1) my own lens needed some centering, and, from what I have heard from others about this lens, it is not too uncommon. So check carefully the - non-shifted - fringes of some trial frames, if the image gets noticeably soft at 100%, you should get the lens centered by Nikon.
2) Regarding the tilt: very easy to overdo it. If you are not heading for some special effects - only a bloke's face in focus, everything else thrown out - most often the tilt for non-macro images should be less than one degree. For most scenes, if I need tilt at all, I try to adjust it with as little tilt as possible.
If you want to read into this, try Harold Merklinger's "focussing the view camera" - not such an easy read, but for all I know the best on the subject. Download available from here:
http://www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/

Lukas

[Mike Buckley]

Enjoy the new lens, Manfred, and get well soon!

I tried using a tilt-shift lens a few times and never got the hang of it. Part of the problem was that not all of the shift could be used due to the camera's built-in flash getting in the way. Even so, I suspect that the larger part of the problem was operator error. Considering your technical understanding of things, I'm sure you'll do fine.

[William W]

Very nice.

Have fun.

[AB26]

Congrats Manfred.
I am sure you will master this lens in no time and we can expect to see some really good architectural images coming from you.

[John 2]

If nothing else, it will look good on the camera, but I'm sure you will master it. Look forward to some posts. Hope the virus departs soon.

[deetheturk]

Congrats on the new bit of kit Manfred,the sooner you get the hang of it the better,I think your verticals are out here,get well soon bud!

[IzzieK]

Nice gear.....Get well soon, Manfred!

[GrahamS]

Wow! Nice one, Manfred. Enjoy!

[inkista]

Happy new glass! Shift is easy--doesn't take very long to figure out what it does and how it does it, and what situations it'll be fun for. Tilt, otoh, is kind of a bear, even when you think you've got your head wrapped around it. But in that good way. Maybe start out with some macro/near-macro shots attempting to increase DoF with the tilt? That's something you could do from the sickbed, maybe.

I disagree with Lukas about the less-than-one-degree bit, as I was often in the 2-4 degree range with macro work and my cheap Russian 80mm T/S, so how you angle the camera relative to the scene makes a difference, but do agree the adjustments often require a light touch. Liveview may be your best friend for this, since I found my biggest issue was how the viewfinder lied a little about where the DoF was actually placed in the final image.

[Manfred M]

Thanks Lukas / Kathy

I did manage to put it on the camera and tripod (that almost looks like a mandatory step, although I'm sure for the shift part, one should be able to handhold). I tried a couple of shots in the bedroom, sitting on the bed.

Shift looks easy enough. Focus in the neutral position (no shift or tilt) and take light readings ; adjust the shift and lock it into place and shoot on manual. As long as things were level in the setup, no keystoning in the image (which is what I primarily bought it for). If the lighting is significantly different, bracketing the shots seems in order, as a light ceiling was a bit overexposed and a dark floor came out a bit darker. I was expecting this, so no real surprise.

As for the tilt, this looks a touch trickier. Figuring out what is and is not in focus, even when stopping the lens down is not terribly accurate. Live View seems to help and I suspect shooting tethered might be the optimal way to go; I'll have to try that. Metering in the neutral position before tilting and shooting on manual look like the right way to go here too.

Shifting and tilting at the same time; that looks even trickier. The clearance on the camera body means I can only orient one way without ramming the adjustment knobs into the camera body.

I love all the warnings on the lens (it had a warning label wrapped on it) and the ones in the manual regarding pinch points. The Nikon lawyers must have gotten involved...

[shreds]

Nice bit of kit.... get well soon! (Can you get them on prescription)?

[lukaswerth]

I disagree with Lukas about the less-than-one-degree bit, as I was often in the 2-4 degree range with macro work and my cheap Russian 80mm T/S, so how you angle the camera relative to the scene makes a difference, but do agree the adjustments often require a light touch.

Kathy,

I mentioned I was talking about non-macro images. Also, the longer the focal length, the more tilt you need to get the plane of sharp focus where you want it to be. It doubles with the focal length, so if you need 1/2 degree for 24mm, you need roughly 1 degree for 50mm.
The book I referred to explains this: the author specifies in addition to the well-known Scheimpflug rule the hinge rule which tells, provided the film/sensor plane of your camera is vertical, at what distance below your camera the plane of sharp focus runs through (the more tilt, the smaller the distance, and the smaller the area of reasonable sharp focus below and above that plane). You will find also a table with different tilts for different focal lengths.

Manfred,

don't you have a D800? I seem to remember that, and if yes, your knobs won't get anywhere in way of the camera.
What I do is: first shift, then, if necessary, tilt (you must likely won't need it with upward shift when near objects get out of the frame anyway), and adjust manual focus before adjusting the movements.
I have never found tethered shooting anywhere necessary, just life view for image control.

I hope this helps,

Lukas

[inkista]

Kathy, ...the longer the focal length, the more tilt you need to get the plane of sharp focus where you want it to be. It doubles with the focal length, so if you need 1/2 degree for 24mm, you need roughly 1 degree for 50mm....

Ah, that would explain the difference, then. Thanks! I missed the non-macro part, and I forgot that a shorter lens would have a completely different DoF view characteristic. I assumed most of the difference would be the macro distances, as well as the fact that my camera wasn't level, the way it would be with landscape/architecture shooting.

[RustBeltRaw]

Keen to see what you crank out with that thing, Manfred. My dad just dusted off his garage-built, wooden, 4x5 camera, so I'm about to start down the tilt-shift road as well. Any lessons you can pass on will be educational.

I've never known you to make a post about new gear before, so I'm guessing you're rather excited. That said, with a 200mm f/2.8L in the mail, I understand the feeling.

[JR1]

never had a use for them, architecture etc, though I did have one in my Nikon F days, on the rare occasion I did shoot architecture it was a nice addition.

[Manfred M]

I find I am shooting more and more buildings, so I thought I might as well bite the bullet, rather than fighting the distortion in post, I would get the appropriate piece of equipment.

I've was sick in bed and unable to get out to shoot on the weekend, when the conditions were just about perfect and now we are digging ouf of a late winter storm. I'm a tad frustrated that I haven't had a chance to get out; but the weather is looking more promising on the weekend, so I'm crossing my fingers...