Broke something in my Nikkor 85 mm PC (Tilt Shift)

Hey guys,

 

The lever inside the lens that controls the closing of the aperture (manual)

snapped at a jewelry shoot. I finished out with a backup 18-55 in my bag.

 

Question - has this happened to anyone before and is it readily repaired? It's

just a little piece of plastic that snapped; I probably tilted or shifted when I

wasn't supposed to and busted the darn thing.

 

I'm going to take it to a Nikon repair place to have them look it over but any

thoughts or other's experience would be helpful.

Used the 85 PC for 10 years and never had any similar experience.

Just curious, but did you modify the lens mount so that it would tilt and shift in the same plane? I noticed that in modifying it if I had rotated the mount 90 degrees in one direction there was a hang-up at or near the tilt limit. Redoing it to 90 degrees in the other direction alleviated this problem and there was no restriction the amount of tilt or shift up to the limit shown on the mount.

I convert my 85 PC on the fly in the field to have either parallel or 90 degrees angle between tilt and shift. The operation takes 1-2 minutes so isn't that difficult. I haven't noticed any operational differences apart from the obvious one of tilt vs shift direction.

Thanks for the responses. Alex, I did modify the T/S axis by 90 degrees so they coincided - Bjorn's posts were correct on how simple that process is to do at home with a screwdriver. And yes, there was a spot at the extreme end where it rubbed or hung on something internal - that item, a plastic slide, linked the Aperture Button to the actual aperture...which snapped.

 

I may have been tilting/shifting and it was a bit stuck and then just broke. I had the Aperture engaged (button pushed in) at the time. Maybe I should disengage the Aperture when tilting shifting to the end of the range and then re-engage.

 

Anyway, waiting for a reply from Nikon, as well, will drop off the lens today at a local certified Nikon Repair Shop.

 

I'll keep you gents posted.

 

Michael

Well, the Nikon tech (two blocks from me in NYC) can fix it. The Aperture Control Lever and Lens Chip and Misc. Parts will run $85 and labor $165 - takes 10-14 business days. But they say it'll be good as new after that.

 

Maybe I should get that 60mm Micro...

I haven't tried the conversion yet but, a happy owner of the lens, I guess that it can be

done in four different ways. The lens is made of three different parts and there are two

sets of four screws securing the two proximal parts to the middle one. The conversion can

be done with the inner four screws turning the detached part (1) clock-wise or (2)

counter-clock-wise or with the outer ones turning (3) clock-wise or (4) counter-clock-

wise.

 

Maybe Michael and Björn used different approaches? I can imagine that playing with the

four outer screws might interfere with the functioning of the stop-down button (in

addition, nothing changes optically, I think) and the other main solution might interfere

with switching between landscape/portrait orientation. Which way did you do it, gents?

 

Does anyone have any arguments about the clock-wise/counter-clock-wise alternatives?

It seems that having the main (bigger) knobs at the same side would ease operating

except that the knobs might eventually come into a direct contact.

 

Björn, do you use a screwdriver in the field or have you replaced the screws with

something that could be hand-operated? Maybe you might also want to explain us when

you use the _original_ orientation in nature photography, anyway.

 

Kari Karhu

I'm using a small screwdriver in the field, yes. It fits the slots in the heads perfectly so the screw is captivated. Takes me 1-2 minutes at most to reconfigure the lens on the fly.

 

I use the "original" configuration mainly for stitched panoramas where I need a fairly square framing, otherwise I use my converted 85PC for tightly framed landscapes, portraits, and details.