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Archive 2014 · PC-E lens choice

  
 
lawa222
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · PC-E lens choice


To other landscape photographers, especially:

I'm looking for a tilt-shift. Which of the Nikon PC-E lenses do you find most useful? I think the 24/3.5 is the obvious answer, but I have some concerns. Much of my photography is not done with a wideangle, although lots of it admittedly is, and I'm worried that the 24/3.5 would be a bit limited. It seems to me that the 45 could do a good wideangle impression by being flipped on it's side and using the shift to create a panorama image. The 45 also seems slightly more commonly available used and a bit cheaper.

Or maybe I am overthinking it. The 24/3.5 does seem to be widely used by pros who know much, much more about it than me.

For what it's worth, I rarely carry more than two lenses. Right now I normally use a 16-35/4 and a 70-200/4. I'm planning on using this with the 70-200/4 on shorter trips where I have the time and space to be very thorough (meaning, planned shots always on a tripod).

As a second question, have most of you switched yours over to tilt/shift on the same axis? It seems to me that tilting down and shifting left/right (for panoramas, and the factory setting) would be my most common usage of both tilt-shift at the same time. Wouldn't any subject tall enough to require a shift up be way outside of the plane of focus if you were also tilting down?

Edited on Oct 27, 2014 at 06:56 PM · View previous versions



Oct 27, 2014 at 04:30 PM
ckcarr
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · PC-E lens choice


What body are we talking about?


Oct 27, 2014 at 05:49 PM
Two23
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · PC-E lens choice


Check the EXIF on your favorite shots. If you mostly use the 16-35mm, mostly at the wider end, there's your answer. I just bought a 24mm PC-E and have so far left the tilt orientation at factory setting. I bought the lens to do more architecture, and maybe some landscape though.


Kent in SD



Oct 27, 2014 at 06:04 PM
lawa222
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · PC-E lens choice


On a D600. I'll probably move to a D8xx eventually.


Oct 27, 2014 at 06:54 PM
ckcarr
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · PC-E lens choice


I cannot say this 100% because I've never used on a D600 but on my D800e and D7100 the 24mm PC-E lens will hit the big securing screw on the flash at a certain amount of rotation (one way). So you may have to rotate the other way when needed. It's no biggie, but sometimes the lens feels upside down. The 45mm & 85mm PC-E lenses don't have this problem.

As far as having the tilt & shift on the same axis, many landscape photographers do this. I did it myself, or to avoid any potential warranty issues Nikon will do it for around $100.

Some people (who I don't think own the lens) state "why bother" as far as the same axis, as the depth of field is great enough with the 24mm lens that no tilt is necessary. I've found that's not true, the more you use the lens the more useful it becomes, and particularly with the new higher resolution Nikon sensors, you generally don't want to exceed f/11-f/13 or so due to diffraction. And, this misses the point, particularly when shooting a landscape where you want everything sharply in focus, from the near to the far (perhaps a nice foreground element right in your face - inches away), which is to create a plane of sharp focus at a low aperture, like f/3.5 - f/5.6 or so, avoid diffraction, and maintain a lower ISO in your images. Usually anything I shoot now with my tilt-shifts is at f/3.5 or f/5.6. An interesting fact also is the amount of tilt needed is fact dependent on how close you have the lens to the ground. Being set up for a shot one foot off the ground requires completely different, and more aggressive tilt than a shot taken five feet off the ground. For fun practice, mount the lens on your camera, on a tabletop tripod and experiment using a ruler, or playing cards across the table. Practice bringing everything into sharp focus... Or vice versa, tilt upwards and isolate one small detail...

They are fun yet expensive lenses, and take a little patience & practice to work with. I ALWAYS use live view on my D800e and often zoomed 100% focusing far/then near/far/then near again.... The 24mm and 45mm PC-E lenses are my "goto" lenses for landscapes anymore. Almost everything I shoot, as far as a landscape photography now is with one of them. Don't forget, they are manual focus.

Which one is better? The 24mm is good for single shots. The 45mm is also good for single shots, but I also use it when building a pano. I don't do many panos with the 24mm. They are kind of exotics as far as Nikon lenses though, usually bought when everything is in order and focal lengths are already covered. So for some it will be fun, and others it will be a nightmare...



Oct 27, 2014 at 09:02 PM
pr4photos
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · PC-E lens choice


I use the older 28mm PC lens on my D800. No snagging problems, but I would like a wider view a lot of the time


Oct 28, 2014 at 06:41 AM
lxdesign
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · PC-E lens choice


I had a 24mm... I regret selling it. But then again, I don't - because it partially funded me getting the Df... and I was really excited when I first got it, but then after a time, I found that unless I was really dedicated to landscape, I hardly ever used it, and even when I did landscape, I used my 24-70 or 14-24 more often than I would the PC-E.... so in the end... we parted ways.

But if you were going to get one of the PC-E lenses -- I recommend the 24mm.... it is a great lens.



Oct 28, 2014 at 11:35 AM
lawa222
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · PC-E lens choice


After looking at my EXIF's, I think I'm settling on the 45. Most of my best shots are at the very extremes of my current setup 16-18, 35 (2nd), 70 (1st), and 200. I think lots of the 70's would have been 40-60's if I carried a mid-range zoom or normal.

45 closely approximates 35 and 70 (in the normal range I think 'zoom with your feet' is valid). It also should be quite a bit more useful than the 24 for pano and macro shots.

But, alas!, there are none for sale right now and a bunch of 24's available. Ugh.

Edited on Oct 28, 2014 at 06:59 PM · View previous versions



Oct 28, 2014 at 02:51 PM
Two23
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · PC-E lens choice


The 45mm is the least common of the three. Many who buy one have a specific reason for it, and tend to hang on to them. Being patient will pay off though.


Kent in SD



Oct 28, 2014 at 04:33 PM





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