Tilt shift (mainly tilt) lens or setup for macro/still life

kkx · Nov 10, 2016

I play with a DIY view camera like setup with an enlarger lens a while back:

tilt shift with 80mm enlarging lens

Explore this photo album by little_kingkong on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

The ability to get more in focus is amazing.

For handheld macro (bugs etc in the garden and forest) I am always struggling with getting more DOF. Using the canon 100L mainly. The view camera setup is not really practical for such handheld work with moving life subject. I have the 35mm canon FD tilt/shift lens. I wonder if I add an extension tube to this to get nearer to 1:1 magnification (even 1:2ish is good enough for me, most of the time), it will be a workable solution to do handheld tilt macro.

If anyone have experience with something similar, appreciate your sharing.

-kk

Macro guy · Nov 11, 2016

Tilting bellows is another solution. It might be more flexible because you have greater magnification possibilities and you can attach any lens and tilting capabilities. The tilting bellows were made by Nikon (pb-4), Minolta (Bellows III, I think) and Mamiya bellows for m645 (not the nc-401 version) also has that capability.

D Cox · Nov 11, 2016

Macro guy said:
Tilting bellows is another solution. It might be more flexible because you have greater magnification possibilities and you can attach any lens and tilting capabilities. The tilting bellows were made by Nikon (pb-4), Minolta (Bellows III, I think) and Mamiya bellows for m645 (not the nc-401 version) also has that capability.

The Nikon PB-4 has swing but not tilt, so you would have to hold it on its side to get a tilt effect.

The Cambo Actus bellows does have tilt on the front panel, but it is expensive. (Cambo advertise it as a camera, but it is really a bellows).

Actus Mini View Cameras

www.cambo.com

BBbuilder467 · Nov 11, 2016

kkx said:
I play with a DIY view camera like setup with an enlarger lens a while back:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60192562@N06/albums/72157627176495034/with/5929881752/

The ability to get more in focus is amazing.

For handheld macro (bugs etc in the garden and forest) I am always struggling with getting more DOF. Using the canon 100L mainly. The view camera setup is not really practical for such handheld work with moving life subject. I have the 35mm canon FD tilt/shift lens. I wonder if I add an extension tube to this to get nearer to 1:1 magnification (even 1:2ish is good enough for me, most of the time), it will be a workable solution to do handheld tilt macro.

If anyone have experience with something similar, appreciate your sharing.

-kk

I've used a tilt adapter with a 28mm lens on a micro 4/3 and that worked reasonably well for close-ups and I could manage to do that hand-held.

If I add even a 7mm extension tube, it forces me to be so close to the subject that I can't really manipulate the camera in all the axis at the same time and have any idea what I might get. Tripod mounted with a 3-way head and 4-way macro rails, I still got lost.

I've tried 10mm AF tubes with 25mm and 30mm lenses and that also put me so close to nature subjects at infinity that I don't think I could ever do hand-held photos of live insects.

I use a 30mm f/2.8 macro lens for nature macro and tabletop use, but nobody would want it for live insects.

I think if you add extension tubes, you'll be too close to use the tilt.

Michael Benveniste · Nov 11, 2016

The first thing that comes to mind is something like the 90mm /f.28 TS-E lens. By adding a 250D, you can get to about 0.8x.

I own a PC Micro-NIKKOR 85mm f/2.8D, which gets to 1:2 on its own. I suppose you could use that on adapter as well. I've tried a few options to get to 1:1. The best I've found so far is a 1.4x teleconverter plus 20mm of extension, but a +5 diopter close-up lens also works and is easier to deal with in the field.

kkx · Nov 14, 2016

Macro guy said:
Tilting bellows is another solution. It might be more flexible because you have greater magnification possibilities and you can attach any lens and tilting capabilities. The tilting bellows were made by Nikon (pb-4), Minolta (Bellows III, I think) and Mamiya bellows for m645 (not the nc-401 version) also has that capability.

I have a solidly built (and very heavy) bellow (Minolta, I think, have not use it is ages) that is similar to pb-4 (I think), it swing but not tilt, but I rotate it 90 degree and do tilt with enlarger lens.

It is fun to play with, and I replicate some of the setup with that bellow using some readily available parts and a normal (non tilt) macro bellow.

But both solution is way too heavy for hand held shooting.

kkx · Nov 14, 2016

D Cox said:
Macro guy said:

Tilting bellows is another solution. It might be more flexible because you have greater magnification possibilities and you can attach any lens and tilting capabilities. The tilting bellows were made by Nikon (pb-4), Minolta (Bellows III, I think) and Mamiya bellows for m645 (not the nc-401 version) also has that capability.

Click to expand...

The Nikon PB-4 has swing but not tilt, so you would have to hold it on its side to get a tilt effect.

The Cambo Actus bellows does have tilt on the front panel, but it is expensive. (Cambo advertise it as a camera, but it is really a bellows).

https://www.cambo.com/en/actus-mini/cambo-actus-mini-view-camera/

Yup, I looked at the listing at B&H for this item before I made my OP. Way to expansive for my use case. And maybe too heavy too. But it does looks nice.

kkx · Nov 14, 2016

BBbuilder467 said:
kkx said:

I play with a DIY view camera like setup with an enlarger lens a while back:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60192562@N06/albums/72157627176495034/with/5929881752/

The ability to get more in focus is amazing.

For handheld macro (bugs etc in the garden and forest) I am always struggling with getting more DOF. Using the canon 100L mainly. The view camera setup is not really practical for such handheld work with moving life subject. I have the 35mm canon FD tilt/shift lens. I wonder if I add an extension tube to this to get nearer to 1:1 magnification (even 1:2ish is good enough for me, most of the time), it will be a workable solution to do handheld tilt macro.

If anyone have experience with something similar, appreciate your sharing.

-kk

Click to expand...

I've used a tilt adapter with a 28mm lens on a micro 4/3 and that worked reasonably well for close-ups and I could manage to do that hand-held.

Nice.

BBbuilder467 said:
If I add even a 7mm extension tube, it forces me to be so close to the subject that I can't really manipulate the camera in all the axis at the same time and have any idea what I might get. Tripod mounted with a 3-way head and 4-way macro rails, I still got lost.

I've tried 10mm AF tubes with 25mm and 30mm lenses and that also put me so close to nature subjects at infinity that I don't think I could ever do hand-held photos of live insects.

I use a 30mm f/2.8 macro lens for nature macro and tabletop use, but nobody would want it for live insects.

I think if you add extension tubes, you'll be too close to use the tilt.

I might try to add tube to a 100mm with tilt adaptor. The working distance is not too bad. Might be able to do tilt successfully with that on my APS-C and FF camera.

kkx · Nov 14, 2016

Michael Benveniste said:
The first thing that comes to mind is something like the 90mm /f.28 TS-E lens. By adding a 250D, you can get to about 0.8x.

I own a PC Micro-NIKKOR 85mm f/2.8D, which gets to 1:2 on its own. I suppose you could use that on adapter as well. I've tried a few options to get to 1:1. The best I've found so far is a 1.4x teleconverter plus 20mm of extension, but a +5 diopter close-up lens also works and is easier to deal with in the field.

kkx · Nov 14, 2016

BTW, there are tons of third party tilt adaptor.

Do you know which one is good? For Canon mount?

kkx · Nov 14, 2016

kkx said:
BTW, there are tons of third party tilt adaptor.

Do you know which one is good? For Canon mount?

Forget that, I wasn't thinking carefully just now.

I need a lens with large enough image circle to work, so my idea of testing out a 100MM lens with tilt adaptor on APS-C and FF is not going to work unless I buy a MF (pentacon 6?) lens. Did toy with the idea but not sure if it is the best. Or a 90mm enlarger lens (I might have a 80mm siting around somewhere).

Hmm.....

Maybe trying out the canon 90mm TS-E is the only valid choice.

BBbuilder467 · Nov 14, 2016

kkx said:
BBbuilder467 said:

kkx said:

I play with a DIY view camera like setup with an enlarger lens a while back:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60192562@N06/albums/72157627176495034/with/5929881752/

The ability to get more in focus is amazing.

For handheld macro (bugs etc in the garden and forest) I am always struggling with getting more DOF. Using the canon 100L mainly. The view camera setup is not really practical for such handheld work with moving life subject. I have the 35mm canon FD tilt/shift lens. I wonder if I add an extension tube to this to get nearer to 1:1 magnification (even 1:2ish is good enough for me, most of the time), it will be a workable solution to do handheld tilt macro.

If anyone have experience with something similar, appreciate your sharing.

-kk

Click to expand...

I've used a tilt adapter with a 28mm lens on a micro 4/3 and that worked reasonably well for close-ups and I could manage to do that hand-held.

Click to expand...

Nice.

kkx said:

If I add even a 7mm extension tube, it forces me to be so close to the subject that I can't really manipulate the camera in all the axis at the same time and have any idea what I might get. Tripod mounted with a 3-way head and 4-way macro rails, I still got lost.

I've tried 10mm AF tubes with 25mm and 30mm lenses and that also put me so close to nature subjects at infinity that I don't think I could ever do hand-held photos of live insects.

I use a 30mm f/2.8 macro lens for nature macro and tabletop use, but nobody would want it for live insects.

I think if you add extension tubes, you'll be too close to use the tilt.

Click to expand...

I might try to add tube to a 100mm with tilt adaptor. The working distance is not too bad. Might be able to do tilt successfully with that on my APS-C and FF camera.

I wasn't suggesting that you do this. I was saying I have a combination similar to what you were describing and it isn't practical.

The extension tubes with a 100mm lens makes sense, but forget about the tilt.

petrochemist · Nov 17, 2016

kkx said:
BTW, there are tons of third party tilt adaptor.

Do you know which one is good? For Canon mount?

If you're using on extension the type of tilt adapter doesn't matter too much. The extra enlargement from the extension should be enough to give the coverage you need as well, if you don't have to tile too much.

I've tried using tilt adapters for handheld macro & it's very difficult to get the control right. It might be a little easier with a plunger cam type design (which is a glorified sort of free-lensing). Adjustment for tilt can be done on the fly.

Enlarger lenses are probably the best bet for either approach, some can have coverage greater than MF lenses, and they are generally both lighter & cheaper too.

Search

Tilt shift (mainly tilt) lens or setup for macro/still life

kkx

Forum Enthusiast

tilt shift with 80mm enlarging lens

Macro guy

Veteran Member

D Cox

Forum Pro

Actus Mini View Cameras

BBbuilder467

Veteran Member

Michael Benveniste

Veteran Member

kkx

Forum Enthusiast

kkx

Forum Enthusiast

kkx

Forum Enthusiast

kkx

Forum Enthusiast

kkx

Forum Enthusiast

kkx

Forum Enthusiast

BBbuilder467

Veteran Member

petrochemist

Senior Member

Similar threads

Keyboard shortcuts