what does PC mean?

In looking at photo magazines where nikon lenses are concerned, i

have often seen in the manual focus section lenses designated 'PC'and

are more expensive than similar non-PC lenses. What are 'PC' lenses?

Thanks BH...

Perspective control = shift lenses

Hi. There are two possibilities.

 

One. PC stands for politically correct. These are the newer lenses that have been made without lead in the glass, so that when the lens is junked it doesn't hurt the environment ;-)

 

Two (and more likely). PC stands for perspective correction. You can shift lens elements so that architectural and other photos look better. If you want to take a photo of a building and bend backwards to get it in the frame, then the vertical lines of the building converge upwards - like / instead of |. A PC lens gets around this.

 

Do a search on perspective correction in photo.net - there is a much better explanation than I can write, somewhere on the site.

 

Regards, Ross

Hi Benjamin

 

The PC lens is onw that allows you to change the perspective of you subject by altering the the position of psrt of the lens. In a ways, very minor way, it's similar to the way a view camera works. You can raise of lower the plain of view and tilt the angle to change DOF of certain parts of your photo. I own and have used the 85mm. Nikon also makes a 28mm and did make a 35mm PC. Only the 85mm is a "D" lens.

 

The 85mm is a great lens, very sharp (a macro lens), and allows you to create a unique perspective that normal lens won't. But they are a bear to play with, they take lots of practice, and I'm still learning. the 85mm will accept the extension tubes, which will allow you to do 1:1 macro, but you must then use stop down metering. I use my 85 on my D100, so I can see immediate results, but with the extension tubes it won't work on the D100

 

Hope that helps a little. They are great and their results, in the right hands -not mine yet-, are most impressive

 

 

Rob

It is the opposite of the Mac.

Prontor-Compur (shutter makes) on a PC synch.

Hey Ian

I think regarding Nikon and this question, it probably refers to the lens that Rob and those guys describe. You know there really "queer" looking ones. Man those things freak me out, they don't look normal. I saw one and thought it was broken (LOL).

 

Later Josh

Thanks Ian.. you have answered another PC question that I did not know about and never thought to ask.Knowledge is power and I know I have just built a Power Connection with you guys at photo.net. PC-power connection...get it.

Josh, okay, okay, I'll stop giving smart answers, then!

<P>

Benjamin, <a href="http://www.uscoles.com/pclens.htm">this page</a> will show you the effects of a PC lens (there was a static article on photo.net, but I can't find it, plenty of threads, though). If you see one in a shop, it will look broken. On display, half the lens will be ratcheted to one side like a, what, stack of coins?

Joshua, not Josh - sorry.

 

Benjamin, glad I could help, even inadvertently. And don't forget Police Constable, Privy Council etc!

Hi Benjamin and others

 

If I'm not mistaken, Rob has posted several photos taken with his PC lens. I just bought a few, very very used examples from a local shop, to use with my F3. My first attempts were, shall we say not inspiring. In fact, when I put on the extension rings and "shifted", the photos were all black. They are weird lens

 

Abbie

Hey Ian

 

No problem. I'll answer to either. Plus you did have a good answer.

Abbie, are you sure you removed the lens cap?

 

Josh

"PC" stands for "Perspective Control". The PC Nikkors are shift lenses. the way this

works is that you can move the optics of the lens relative to the film plane. With non

shift lenses theaxis of the lens intersects the center of the film plane (or imaging

sensor) at a right angle. With Shift lenses you can movethe point of this intersection.

There are two reasons you might want to do this. The primary one is for when you are

photographing architecture and and need the imaging plane vertical so that the

buiding does not appearto be tilting over. A shift lens lets you move the optical

center of the image so that you see the upper portion of the building an leave out the

area at the bottom. The second reason is also reltaed to composition: you set up

ypour shot and then shiftthe lens to fine tune the composition.<P>Nikon also makes

a tilt/Shift lens, the 85mm f/2.8D Tilt-Shift Micro Nikkor. the tilt mechanism allows

you to tilt the optical axis of the lens away from a perpendicular angle to the imaging

plane s othat you can extend the apparent depth of field. The basics ofthis are known

as the Scheimpflug Theorem , briefly this bit ofgeometry states that when the the

plane of the lens (parallel with the front of the lens), the iamging plane, and the

subject plane all intersect in a line, every point in that subject plane will be in focus at

any f-stop. There is also an "anti-Scheimpflug" way of working which is to tilt the

lens plane relative to the imaging plane and subject plane so that only one line in the

subject plane is clearly in focus andeverything is way, way, way out of focus. View

camera users use these two tricks of the trade a lot, and with a lot more possibility as

with a view camera you can tilt, swing, and shift both the image plane and the lens

plane.

The PC-Nikkors are for photographing architecture, when time/budget/choice dictates 35mm instead of 4x5. To use one properly you need a tripod and a level, to get the camera back vertical. This allows you to shift the lens to get the desired composition, while keeping parralel lines in the subject parallel. A quite specialized piece of gear, very useful when you have to have it, no advantage at any other time.

Here's another couple interesting uses of PC lenses:

 

Using shift to get unwanted junk out of a picture, while still mintaining the same apparent composition. For example, you want to take a picture of a statue in front of a nice wall, but there's a tree right next to the statue. No problem, step to the side so the tree isn't in the picture anymore, and shift the lens to create the same composition, but without the tree.

 

They can also be cleverly used to teke pictures with mirrors in them, and cleverly avoid having the reflected image of the photographer in the mirror. Same idea as above. Set up the composition (But you see yourself in the mirror - no good). Step to the side, and shift the lens. Voila, same composition, but no reflection of you in the mirror.

Any experience with Schneider 28mm tilt/shift superangulon for 35mm cameras? http://www.schneideroptics.com/photography/pc-super-angulon/

Funny rejoinder, Ross. In addition, PC lenses distort images of white males to make them look bad.

In a 4x5 camera; the 35mm F2.8 PC Nikkor just makes a big round image; no reason to use any shifts!<BR><BR><A HREF=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-298.jpg target = "_blank">

<IMG SRC=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/thumbs/tripods-298-thumb.jpg BORDER=0></A>