Do it yourself Tilt/shift lens?

[alexander_strbac]

Hi all!

 

I am thinking of playing arround with tilt and shift lens but cannot really

afford one (nor do I really need it) so I was thinking of making it myself.

 

I have a Canon 350D, and would fit the bellows to it (sorta like from

viewcamera) with one rail below it and some lens at the end.

 

What lens would you recommend (I know it has something to do with the circle it

draws, It needs to cover sensor right?), what format lens and what lens for

macro work?

 

Also, what will happen to infinity focus?

 

thanx

[denisgermain]

get a Lensbabies!

[ben conover]

"but cannot really afford one (nor do I really need it)"

 

In that case why do you want one?

 

You could buy an old view camera with a lens for $200.

[zacker]

Here ya go Alex, dont say I never gave you anything..lol Im still looking for a plunger.

http://www.dennisonbertram.com/hackmaster/2005/02/tilt-shift-pc-lens.htm

[michael_madio]

Use a 75+mm enlarger lens. This will work well for macro too.

[denisbergeron]

<i><b>Denis Germain wrote at sep 27, 2006; 01:58 p.m.</b><br>

get a Lensbabies!</i><br><p>

 

Well, a Lensbabies it arround 150$ (version 2) and 270$ (version 3)<br>

The Araxfoto PCS MC ARSAT 35mm Shift lens. is $297<br>

And the superb MC ARAX 35mm Tilt & Shift lens [with rotator mecanism] is $398<br>

A good and solid bellows will cost you arround 300$.<br>

If you can't afford the Arax, you can't afford the Lensbabies neither a good and solid bellows !<br>

With a bellows, you can't reach infinit focus.<br>

[aaron_lam]

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/27/fake_tilt_shift_phot.html<div></div>

[denisgermain]

Lensbabies 1 is available for less than 100$ - most likely not worth building your own.

[stephen hazelton]

The most useful tilt-shift lenses are wide-angles, and it is the wide coverage that is the problem to come up with. Once you set a lens well outside of the camera body, as with a bellows, you automatically have a fairly long focal length (or else extreme macros only) and that limits the usefulness.

 

If you use a normal 35mm lens, you won't have infinity focus once you move it more than a few mm off the body- see how far the lens moves when focusing in and out.

[tommyinca]

You can do this (home made tilt-shift) with a number of swing-shift bellow. The best is use a high quality (resolution) 135 bellow lens. This will give you the room (extension) needed for significant movement as well as infinity focus. One example is Nikon's old 135mm/f4 bellow lens. An cheaper alternative is a good 6 element 135 enlarger lens (e.g: Fujinon 135/f5.6). The most easy to find swing-shift bellow to do this are Minolta's AB3 and Nikon's PB4. To do tilt-shift, you do need to put the bellow on its side. You will need a good heavy duty tripod to do that. There are also (much much harder to find) true 35mm tilt and shift bellow with front and back movements. These bellow don't need the bellow to lie on its side (for tilting). One example is made by Spiratone/Hama (long since discontinued).

 

There are also other more expensive non-bellow solution. e.g. Zork

[tommyinca]

One important item. You will also need an adapter to convert from the tilt-shift bellow to the EOS mount.

[andrew robertson]

Using a Lensbaby isn't 'fake' tilt shift photography, as you are really tilting and shifting! The

degree of precision such as one would get with a 'real' tilt lens isn't as high but ooptically

the effect is identical.

[christian deichert]

Lensbabies don't shift too much before the image starts vignetting -- maybe a millimeter or two of effective shift, which at 50mm isn't all that much. Might be more useful on an APS sensor, but on full frame it leaves a lot to be desired as far as shifting. Tilt and selective focus, you get.

[greg lockrey]

You can do this:<div></div>

[christian deichert]

p.s. New Lensbaby on the market, the 3G. See my post in the "News" forum.

[andrew robertson]

Do you get infinity focus with that rig?

[ilkka]

A few things to consider. You need a lens that has larger image circle than 24x36mm, so it can be shifted. Assuming you want to focus at infinity, you need a bellows assembly that does not extend the lens too far away from the body. This depends on the focal length. All large format lenses work, but only the longer ones, from about 90mm, leave enough space between body and lens for the bellows. Longer lenses would be easier to fit, but who wants a 135 mm shift lens? Longer lenses could also start to vignette from the cameras lens mount. The easiest solution is to get the lensbaby. It is a true t/s lens with quite short focal length. If you want to build your own, I would suggest around 75mm enlarger lens. It is small and light, sharp, has enough coverage, and is about as wide as one can fit without too many problems. It does not extend as far behind the lens board as a wide angle LF lens thus leaving more space for the mount/bellows.

[greg lockrey]

If you are asking about the Canon/Sinar rig, the answer is yes.

[neil cowley - visual artis]

<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/118/316766663_654b6b952f.jpg"

alt="neoprene_bellows_8.JPG" width="500" height="333" border="0" /></a></p>

<p align="center">I have the 90mm TSE and a <a

href="http://flickr.com/photos/53214562@N00/sets/72157594390061726/"

target="_blank"> few lenses I've made myself - which are much cheaper - but harder to

focus.</a> To make one, just buy a lens from a used source, preferably a manual focus

older lens with a metal barrel. You'll be able to take it apart nearly down to the elements,

and then make yourself a bellows for it. Here's a 28mm lens I bought from keh for

$25.</p>

<p align="center"><a href="

title="neoprene_bellows_1.JPG by solecist, on Flickr"><img

src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/105/316766392_b75a1526a4.jpg"

alt="neoprene_bellows_1.JPG" width="500" height="333" border="0" /></a></p>

<p align="center"> Here's an image out of it:</p>

<p align="center"> <a href="http://makelightreal.com"><img

src="http://studionc.com/images/port_37.jpg" alt="tilt shift photography portfolio"

width="700" height="467" border="0" /></a> <br />

<br />

<a href="http://makelightreal.com"><img

src="http://studionc.com/images/port_40.jpg" alt="tilt shift photography portfolio"

width="700" height="466" border="0" /></a> <br />

<br />

50mm 1.8 custom bellows:<br />

<a href="http://makelightreal.com"><img

src="http://studionc.com/images/port_06.jpg" alt="tilt shift photography portfolio"

width="700" height="466" border="0" /></a> <br />

<br />

55mm mamiya:<br />

<a href="http://makelightreal.com"><img

src="http://neilcowley.com/lima/images/01.jpg" alt="tilt shift photography portfolio"

width="700" height="466" border="0" /></a> <br />

<br />

<a href="http://makelightreal.com"><img

src="http://neilcowley.com/lima/images/07.jpg" alt="tilt shift photography portfolio"

width="700" height="466" border="0" /></a><br />

I used the Mamiya 55mm and 35mm lenses from their 645 set and it gives tremendous

depth of field, nearly infinate front to back if you focus it correctly.