Does anyone have any experience with, comparisons of, or recommendations for tilt/shift lenses suitible for the A99? The rest of my alpha glass is Zeiss, so are there high quality options?
There is the old Schneider 28mm shift lens, for which there is a Leica version. That one needs about f/8 to reach excellence. Then there are the new Schneiders, very expensive and huge. Other than that there might be some older Olympus or Nikkor lenses which are adaptable, but I am not sure which are good.
If you want to stick with Zeiss lenses, then there are the Hartblei conversions of Zeiss lenses. They are not cheap. www.hartblei.de/en/optics-by-carl-zeiss.htm
The Hartblei/Zeiss f/4 40 mm IF should be good given the lens it is based on, probably better than the 50 mm Schneider, but it is the most expensive of the bunch at over $7000. The Hartblei 80 mm is just over $3000. These are not to be confused with the cheaper lenses of the same name, but not with Zeiss components. The Hartbleis are available with Sony mounts.
The Mirex adapter can use Mamiya or Hasselblad medium format lenses. The adapter is very well made, brilliantly engineered, easy to use. I've been using it with the Hasselblad 60/3.5 & 80/2.8 that have fantastic IQ. I've heard nothing but good things about the Mamiya lenses. Add an extension tube for close-up / macro-ish work or look at the 120mm macro(s) available.
Use a T/S adapter is a smartest way.
Hasselblad 40mm f/4 with T/S adapter # 2,5 K.
Hasselblad 40mm f/4 IF with T/S adapter # 6 K.
Don't mess with "German" Hartblei.At least 3 companies own this name :
hartblei.com; hartblei.de;hartbleilens.com, they had an old relationship but now run bussinesses separatelly.
I'm using the Mirex adapter with a Sony a850. It shouldn't be any different on the a99. I already owned a set of Mamiya lenses, so I went with that option. I also use the ZA 24-70 f/2.8 zoom and find that the Mamiya lenses aren't quite at the same level, but they're not far off. The combination is class-leading cheap, though, if you don't mind the wait for the adapter to ship to you. I primarily use the 35mm, 55mm, and 80mm Mamiya lenses. All are good enough that focusing errors are more likely to be a problem than lens flaws. I own the Mamiya 45mm as well, but prefer the 35/55 options to carry instead.
