I am looking at ways of using a dslr basically in the same way as a view camera for shift only...for architectural work and also stitching of higer res single images...but looking at ways of going beyond using 35mm shift lenses or even medium format optics on mirex, zoerk etc.
I'm thinking of large format lenses due to their lack of distortion over medium format optics...especially of course at the wider end.
Cameras like the the gottschalt digi-20 looks very interesting as a shift / stitch set up but is there anything similar that uses large format lenses on helical focus mounts thus allowing the use of the new digital lenses.
So I guess I'm looking for something like the many options available for a medium format back...but for a dslr.
My friend has a 4x5 camera with a moving DSLR adaptor back on it. He can pace the camera anywhere across the 4x5 "film" plane or make many/many images that are easily stitiched together. it is much the same idea as the last post, but he made it himself.
cambo make cameras that allow the use of some large format lenses with dslr's but being bellows based the usable lenses are very limited..i.e. 28mm but then 72mm and upwards...
because of the nature of the intended use, wide lenses from at least 35mm to 80 with options in between are needed...Ideally you could even use the new 28 and 24 digital lenses.
I can of course get this exact set up using mirex /zoerk + a 24mm slr shift lens with but...looking for lenses with less distortion, etc.
Cambo Ultima 35. The downside is the foundation rig runs about $2K used on eBay, and accessories cost a small fortune. And you won't have any luck stitching images with LF lenses shorter than 135mm due to mirror box shadowing, and you can't really go shorter than 90mm due to body-lens interference.
However, with the Mamiya RZ lens panel you have lots of reasonably-priced focal lenth options, and thanks to the retrofocus design RZ/RB67 lenses shorter than 105mm still maintain a 105mm (112mm with the RB series) backfocus dimension for plenty of clearance to shift and tilt.
I have a 65mm RZ67 lens enroute as I write this (100mm usable image circle), can't wait to try it out. The 50mm RZ ULD is said to be outstanding, but the IC shrinks to 80mm.
This is all just wondering anyway but...perhaps my initial post was not clear enough.
SHIFT is main purpose in set up acting like view camera for interiors, exteriors where image needs to be visualised and shot straight on...so no pano heads, etc. (stitching is simply an interesting byproduct of this setup)
WIDE SHIFT so lenses around 28 to 55 are being looked at, as well as longer, so cambo', novoflex, will not work. Yes cambo can work with 28 but that is it until 70 odd so...
Perhaps such a possibility does not exist or the already plentifull solid shift cameras for medium format backs would have been adapted to fit a dslr also.
So I guess it's back to looking at the various medium format lens shift adaptor options, or a altered gottschalt.
I think what you, I and the rest of the architectural photography community need is an updated 24mm TS-E from Canon or an adapter to use the new Nikon 24mm. There are plenty of good 35mm shift lenses out there and Canon's 45mm TS-E is very good by all accounts so thay range is covered IMO. Once you go longer than 50mm I find that the vertical lines do not converge very much whin you move the lens axis away from horizontal and it's easier to just correct any small convergence of verticals in software.
I know, I know...the 35mm shift lens options, and zoerk and mirex etc are well known and there are many great threads about them...I'm wondering about body options using large format lenses...
Wth a DSLR only retrofocus lenses will go as wide as you need, so 99% of LF glass is out. And they don't have the resolution you need either, since the image circle is spread over a 200mm+ diameter.
Other good but pricey DSLR options are the Horseman LD and Cambo X2.
