I would like to enquire if anyone has tried matching the Nikon PC-E lenses to the Canon bodies? I must say I am quite tempted by the new Canon 5DMII ( I am not too willing to part my monthly paycheck on a D3X )
I have an old PC 85mm which I do not think will have issues since the stopping down knob is entirely manual, but the PC-E from what i understand needs an electric current to operate the electronic stopdown button. Nevermind if I do not have the auto aperture control, but at least I can have manual aperture control.
I have mailed mark from 16:9 and is awaiting his reply if his adaptor can support it.
I'm also wondering if the new 85 is optically any different from the older one. I think it just has new coatings, but the old one with the aperture ring is already a well respected lens.
The PC-E lenses use power to run the aperture, there is no manual aperture control whatsoever (the aperture ring is just an encoder like on the Leica 14-50 f2.8-3.5 D OIS for 4/3rds mount)
gasrocks wrote:
Yes, any Nikon G lens and ytou need a special adapter (see Mark at 6-9.net.) And, how could the Nikon be any better than the Canon TS-E 90/2.8?
The PC-E lenses are NOT G lenses. They do have an aperture ring, but they need power to engage the aperture (the ring simply controls the lens's electronics on bodies which don't support E-type apertures). There is no linkage for the hubsand adaptor to engage. They are plain F mount (as all PC-Nikkors are, there's no mechanical linkages to the body on any PC-Nikkor) with CPU coupling and an electronic aperture
And the PC-Nikkor 85mm f2.8D (the pre-PC-E version which can be used on Canon's) has one advantage over the TS-E 90/2.8. The Nikkor is capable of 1:2 magnification (the Canon can get close, but not that close. That said, the two are essentially similar in performance. It;s the 45 and particularly the 24 where the Nikkors are distinctly superior (the Nikon 45 also focuses to 1:2 magnification, much closer than the 45 TS-E, and the 24mm Nikkor is superior in all regards to the TS-E).
Hi gasrocks, i have read that the 90mm TS is a great performer amongst the 3 TS. But I started out with Nikon and would not be getting another duplicate and even so not another similar focal length.
Saw another thread where Hubsand replied that the PCE will not work with the 16:9 adapter.
I guess pretty much I will still have my PC 85mm and my Schneider PC 28mm to do panorama work if i get the 5DMII. The alternatives highlighted by some forumers it seemed would be to preset the aperture of the PCE on a Nikon body and transferring the lens along with the aperture settings onto the Canon adapter / body.
mawz,
Do you know what the voltage needed is?
Is the camera communication to the lens digital pulses?
I would like to make some special docking adapter which the lens could be plugged into out in the field in order to change the aperture.
Not convenient, but would work ok for landscapes where I wanted tilt.
Anybody tried this lens?
I'm sure the new 85 outperforms the Canon 90 TS-E, but probably not dramatically. I'm interest in the two longer focal lengths (85 and 45?). If the voltage is correct the Canon might be able to power it. If not perhaps an external battery.
The three new Nikkor PC-E lenses plus the 14-24 are superior to what Canon offers.
As is stated above hubsand's adapter is mechanical and we need is simply power. I assume all three of these new lenses have the same interface.
I'm sure the pin patterns of both Nikon and Canon are documented. Anyone have links?
wayne seltzer wrote:
mawz,
Do you know what the voltage needed is?
Is the camera communication to the lens digital pulses?
I would like to make some special docking adapter which the lens could be plugged into out in the field in order to change the aperture.
Not convenient, but would work ok for landscapes where I wanted tilt.
Anybody tried this lens?
I'm interested in investigating this . . . how far did you get, Wayne?
Mark,
I haven't started, see my commnets in the other 24 PC-E thread.
Let me know how you want to go about this. I am excited that others want
to pursue this, that is great.
I just bought a Sony-Zeiss 135 f1.8 lens which I am going to send to SK Grimes after I look at it to see if it can be converted. That lens is so sharp wide open and has the usual nice Zeiss micro-contrast, and excellent bokeh from pictures I have seen on the Dyxum website. I know people will think that this is more crazy than the PC-E stuff since Canon 135L is pretty good.
wayne seltzer wrote:
mawz,
Do you know what the voltage needed is?
Is the camera communication to the lens digital pulses?
I would like to make some special docking adapter which the lens could be plugged into out in the field in order to change the aperture.
Not convenient, but would work ok for landscapes where I wanted tilt.
Anybody tried this lens?
No, I'm not sure what the signaling and voltage requirements for the PC-E lenses are. From what I understand a spare F65 or F75 body would be sufficient to stop down the aperture in the field and can be had for ~$50. You'd just need to stop-down the aperture and remove the lens fram the body while stopped down.
The Nikon brochure for this lens on the website states that only a D300, D700, D3, or D3x can control the aperture control with electromagnetic diaphragm.
I have also tried to find a local camera store which has a floor model which I could take a look at to confirm that the shift and tilt controls have enough room on a 1ds3 and not hit things like the mirror box.
Anyone have this lens and could do some of these measurements for us?
I have tested the Nikon 24 PCE on a D700 and compared it to the Canon 24 TS. The Nikons image circle is slightly smaller but distortion in the extreme corners is almost zero. The Canon has severe distortion in the corners when shifted to the max. The most significant improvement is the lack of CA in the Nikon. My Canon has a lot of CA. The distortion can be corrected with a little 'warp' in Photoshop, the CA takes a lot of tricks and time to get rid off. And sometimes when you desaturate al those red and cyan lines, you still have grey outlines that shouldn't be there in the first place. They hurt the outstanding IQ of the 5DII.
So, the Nikon 24 PCE will definitely be worth it. It will save time and give a better end result. It will even fit better on the 5D then on a D700, where the shift knob occasionally bumps into the flash. The 5D and 1Ds are almost flat on the front, so that should be easier.
I contacted several repairshops to ask if they could fix the Nikon 24 so that the aperture would get stuck at f8 or f11. With live view and exposure simulation on the 5DII that would work just fine for me. So far nobody wants to try this. So, just like some of you, I have to wait until somebody comes up with a powered adapterring. That shouldn't be to hard? Two small contacts with the right amount of power coming from a small externel battery with an on-off switch? I would be willing to pay up to 300 euro for it. I know it will be a small market, but if we all lobby for it, maybe someone at Photodiox, Novoflex or Zorg will answer the call?
I have no problem correcting distortion and CA on the TS-E with PTlens so it's not an issue fro me - my main problem with the TS-E is it's poor corner and edge resolution - how does the Nikon perform?
I just got PTlens, and yes, it does get rid of some of the CA of the 24. Not all of it, but it sure helps. But the Nikon PCE is still cleaner (although it is helped by in-camera corrections..)
But in the end, maybe it was a good thing that the Nikon PCE did not fit. Otherwise I would have bought it and got stuck with a manual everything lens, just like using an old 28 PC-Nikkor. Now I just have to wait for the new 24 TSE to become available. All new design, tilt and shift no longer coupled, new coatings. I sure hope it's good.
wayne seltzer wrote:
The Nikon brochure for this lens on the website states that only a D300, D700, D3, or D3x can control the aperture control with electromagnetic diaphragm.
Those bodies you list can control aperture and stopping down from the body (And the lenses operate like any other lens). On all other VR-capable bodies (And apparently the F4) you have to have to control aperture and stop-down manually from the lens. Bodies which are neither VR capable nor an F4 cannot power the aperture mechanism and thus the aperture mechanism is non-functional on those bodies.
Here's a really horrible solution. It is possible to use the nikon PC-E lenses on a canon with just a standard adapter. However --- as it has been noted, you will not have aperture control. If you were really determined (and possibly stupid), you could purchase a D300, and mount the PC-E lens on the body. Next, set the aperture to whatever you want, then press the black button on the lens which will stop down to the desired aperture. Next, remove the lens, and mount it on the canon. The aperture will stay stopped down. Stupid, yes. But it works.
It would be awesome if someone was smart enough to design an adapter that works with these lenses. It would have to power the lens, and give it the proper communication. However, by the time such an adapter would ever be made, I bet we'll have a new 45MM and 90mm TS-E from canon just like their new 17 and 24.
