Cambo Actus on Nikon DSLR

<p>I am considering to invest in a "Cambo Actus Technical body" for digital camera's, and i am wondering if anybody here has any experience in using such a device on a Nikon DSLR ?</p>

<p>I have found some reviews on Sony M3/4 camera;'s bij professional writers, but nothing about actually using this on a Nikon DSLR up to now....</p>

<p>This is the device i am considering to buy is described here : <br /> http://www.cambo.com/Html/products_photo/set01/english/internet/Item34298.html</p>

<p>The main issue with these external tilt-shift bellows CPM, is that the amount of shift is limited by vignetting. The depth of a DSLR camera body causes shading when the lens is shifted too far off axis, and you're also limited to using lenses with a long enough back focus to clear the body - if you need infinity focus. That's why they're best used on shallow 2/3rds bodies.</p>

<p>Unfortunately I've only had my hands on such a thing for a very short time at a trade exhibition, and to be honest I wasn't much impressed with its usefulness. But it ought to be possible to work out the amount of useable shift for a given lens mount, register and back focus. Also remembering that stopping down will help.</p>

<p>If it's any use there's a chart of Schneider's Digitar lenses here: http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/uploads/tx_curoproduktdb/optical_mechanical_dimensions___Centerfilters___angle_of_view__image_circles.pdf</p>

<p>Joe,<br /> Thx for your response.<br /> My intention is to utilize some Mamiya RZ/RB lenses, i still own ,on this device giving me room to move around without to much vignetting trouble i guess.<br /> The actus would give me the opportunity to look around for some other lenses when adding one or more of the available lensboards too, maing it a quite versatile device for table top and macro photography, i think.<br /> Since those lenses have quite long registry , they should allow me to get close to infinity if the need arises, but main goal for is "table top" photography, hence no need for infinity mostly..<br /> Thx for the schneider Digitar link, this can prove quite usefull when looking for future lenses , especially the Macro lenses can be quite interresting ( they take some savings moneywise though..:-) )</p>

<p>CPM<br>

I think the throat of the lens mount on the DSLR is going to be your limiting factor on movements</p>

I've shot with two or three of these type of rigs including an earlier Cambo model which was like this one, where the camera

body connects directly to the bellows The vignetteing is caused by the reflex mirror box in a D-SLR. It does not take

much rise /fall/ shift or swing or tilt for the vignetting to start, especially with lenses made for medium format or large

format film cameras.

 

Mirror-less camera designs do not have that limitation.

 

Also, even live view or tethered focusing can be challenging.

 

 

But good luck with your experiments! For still life work I found that the older film era lenses that worked best for still life

work were in the 90 to 180mm range.

 

On the other hand the Schneider and Rodnstock Digitar lenses were very easy to work with, even the 28mm focal length.

<p>I'm a 4x5 shooter who bought the Nikon 24mm PC-E to get movements. So far, I love this lens! A used one might be your best bet if you want movement. Nikon type lenses don't really have much of an image circle.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>If the camera body actually gets in the way, which I had not considered in the past, it is a no starter. However if the body/mount/prism are not in the way you would need 4x5 lenses to even make it worthwhile since most medium format lenses won't even cover the area that is available through the Actus vertical and horizontal shifts.</p>

<p>Funny, it was just a few weeks ago that I had considered a 4x5 body with a rear board to mount a Canon body to, and now this comes out. I have a feeling that configuring your own through used cameras and boards may be lot cheaper than this device. I will have to check and see.</p>

<p>I think there is a new Samyang 24mm tilt/shift available now. From what I read it's not as good as the Nikon, although considerably less $$.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>Where have you been Kent? That 24mm Samyang T/S lens has been available for over a year now. Results seem quite poor from internet reviews, but when I got to actually handle one about 9 months ago the IQ didn't seem too bad at all, even wide open. However, I was stuck indoors under fairly poor lighting and didn't have a tripod to properly test the thing......</p>

<p>I still wouldn't buy one though, because I suspect the demo lens I handled had been cherry-picked. Plus the controls felt very small and fiddly to use. But if I could test the sample I was buying it would be a definite maybe. :-)</p>

<p>CPM, for the price of that Actus + panel and adapter you could get Nikon's 85mm PC-E Micro-Nikkor. Not as flexible maybe, but at least guaranteed to work. A cheap 5x4 monorail and back adapter board would be even more economical. Like, fix a T2 adapter to an old lensboard perhaps? I know that my old DeVere "Devon" monorail has the same front and back standard fittings, and can be fitted with a lensboard at both back and front.<br>

Edit: Oh no! I feel another project coming on.</p>

<p>The RB lenses have been used on view cameras for years and work reasonably well. The RZ is another story since you will have to learn how to cock the aperture and set it to your desired value. Overall I have found it to be a very clumsy system to use. Also you may be disappointed in the resolution of these lenses on a FX sensor.</p>

<p>The Cambo unit looks very cute but also very expensive. You might try the Fotodiox RZ adaptor first before spending a lot of money.</p>

<p>See my thread on Lula:</p>

<p>http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=90136.msg734659#msg734659</p>

<p>Lots of usefull info here, ..<br>

I did not realize that the mirrorbox would prove troublesome in vingetting, but this makes sence becausse of the registry lenght in Nikon DSLR's.<br>

I need to re-think this all , and see if i can test an actus at a photostore using the setup i have in mind and check the (im) possibilities so that i can better Judge wether it is worth th investment to me..</p>

<p>Ian, thx for this link , there is some usefull information on that Luminous landscape site, and i added the site to my favourites to check it out a bit more.</p>

<p>I am aware of the Nikon PC-e lenses , but i was also looking for the "rise" possibilies ( indeed i'd need alarge lenses to utilize that possibillity...) </p>

<p>I currently uses a PB-4 and some odd lenses for tabletop photography , but this setup is limmited to either horizontal , or vertical adjustments depending on the orientation of the combo, whereas the actus is not limited to one direction tilt/shift and allows for larger diameter lenses at the same time too..</p>