I'm looking for the very best tilt/shift lens for my Leica R9. I'm not thrilled with the softness of Hartblei lenses and have liked Canon TS in the past but never used one on my Leica. As I've sold all my Canon gear (1dsMkII along with my TS lenses) I find myself in need of addressing this hole in my system bag. Any suggestions that might live up to Leica standards and offer both tilt and shift? A modification wouldn't be out of the question- but which lens to mod and where to mod it?

Which Hartblei did you have?

Doug

SK Grimes will modify Canon 35mm t/s lenses (FD mount) for EOS mount. They'll probably modify Canon lenses to Leica mounts. You should ask. My recollection is that they quoted $450 to modify a 35mm t/s FD mount to Canon EOS mount to retain infinity focus without using of any adapter.

How about the Novoflex BALPRO T/S ?

There is a Leica R option available.

Can be fitted with one of the Schneider Bad Kreuznach lenses:
Componon 4,0/80mm Bestellcode: PRO 80
- Componon 4,0/100mm Bestellcode: PRO 100
- Componon 4,0/150mm Bestellcode: PRO 150

And it looks cool.

There is an online manual available at:
http://www.novoflex.com/html_d/produkte.htm

Yes, but aren't you back to using large format lenses with this? Ever try focusing an f5.6 lens on a DSLR?

I couldn't agree more. Trying to focus Large format on 35mm is a bear @ best. But, if I was going to bother...I wonder if a better (Rodenstock HR or Schneider Digitar) vs. a lesser lens might a better way to go? Still, I'd much rather have a dedicated 35mm tilt/shift from Leica.
ARE YOU LISTENING LEICA?

Guy,

You need this with the 80mm.

http://www.horsemanusa.com/vcc_SpAc.html

Here's an option if you happen to like Hasselblad lenses:

http://www.mirex-adapter.de/tilt_shift_adapter.htm

The mamiya version won't work with Leica (or Nikon) but the Hasselblad will:

http://www.mirex-adapter.de/preisliste.htm

I've got a few questions in to them myself but from what I've learned so far it is setup similar to the Canon TS-Es with tilt 90 degrees from shift and the whole works rotates together, unlike the super-rotator which rotates independantly. 15mm shift each direction and 10 degrees fall (1 direction).

Doug

Guy:

I've been emailing back and forth in English and am currently waiting on a couple questions regarding shipping.

It looks to me though like the posted prices are correct -- 298 Euro + 34.50 for the T2 adapter (leica edition) and they were charging 55 euros to ship to Canada so it should be similar to the states.

1.2548 is the current exchange rate according to XE so the adapter itself would be $380, for example. Substantially cheaper than something like the Zoerk through the North American distributer. And it tilts!

Note that from the last trip to Europe I believe there would be no VAT if it is shipped out of the EU (same as Canada with GST).

I happened across an older used 50mm F4 T* yesterday and was thinking that might work well with this.

Doug

Guy:

I'll email you the initial response I got from them. At the moment our email server appears to be down and there is no support until 8am.

The email address is info@mirex-adapter.de and the individual that contacted me was Markus Michelberger.

Doug

Guy Mancuso wrote:
Doug that looks pretty interesting. I have no issues with using a hassy lens . I would be very interested to hear what they say and costs. But if it did tilt and shift than that would be a solution that I have been looking for . I would sell my D200 and 85 pc lens in a minute if i can use a similar setup on the DMR. wish i could read there language.

Don't let the language stop you, Guy. I can translate German for you, if needed. For correspondence, try English. Most German speak English well enough for short bursts.

Carsten:

What time is it in Germany right now? They are in Weikersheim-Laudenbach if there is more than one time zone.

Thanks
Doug

All of Germany is in the +1 timezone. For reference, EST is -5, I think. In other words, add 6 hours if you are in Toronto, and so on. Right now it is 21.00.

Guy, since you have had both the canon 90mm TSE and the nikon 85mm PC. Which one do you think is better and by how much. I have heard good things about both.

Swing 10 degrees
Shift 15mm
360 degreees rotation
325€ with T2

Guy:

Which 50 are you looking at? I was originally going to go for a mamiya mount and look for a lens but happened upon a local 50 F4 Distagon T* as well as a 100 F3.5 Planar T*. I've read good things about the 100mm but is this a good, sharp-in-to-the-corner 50mm?

Also -- what's the country code for Germany?

Thanks
Doug

take the Zeiss 4/50FLE, best hassy lens there is

Andi:

How much better is that than the older 50mm F4 I'm looking at? Keeping mind that I do not own a Hasselblad camera and probably never will -- in other words it will always be a manual focus, manual aperture, and with the lens shutter locked open.

Doug

I do not know how much, but I owned the old 40 and then the T lenses 50FLE, 60, 80, 120, 135, 150 and this one was my best hasselblad lens toghether with the 135 Makro for close up.

On a 5D I tested the 50 80 and 150 and the 50 again was the best, performed closer to a 35mm lens than the others

Hmmmmmm --- now I have a bird in the hand problem -- take the one that's available local or look around for a better one at twice the cost.

Thanks.
Doug

Check the price on ebay - take the one available, try it, sell it if you are not happy with it for the price it goes normaly. if you want to remember your threads title my suggestion would be this one

here a crop of the 50 on the 5D at f8, I cant compare it to other shift lenses myself

I can see that the Mirex shifts, but cannot see the tilt function shown. Can some German-language member confirm that it tilts AND by how many degrees? I have the 50 CF and I could be interested in this solution, too (on the 5D). Most of my work is products. cheers, KL

Thanks --

I've already negotiated an ebay-derived price (good point Andi!) for the older 50mm so if I want to sell it I should be able to do so for minimal loss. Having a local source takes a lot of the risk out of the transaction at any rate.

So the 38mm biogon is kind of buy the lens get a permanently attached camera for free? Almost a point and shoot Hasselblad.

Doug

The email I recieved confirmed the tilt but they also have both a tilting and non-tilting version (at least for the mamiya).

I believe you can see the tilt scale on the Hassleblad version (left hand side) below the "Mirex" name plate. My guess would be that the arrow, "5" and "10" refer to the amount of tilt so it must tilt away from the viewer into the screen, otherwise it would obscure the scale. The shift scale is more visible on the right hand version but it looks like there is a similar pointer on the Hasselblad side it's just that the graduations are harder to make out.

In any event I'm calling them tomorrow morning. I assume someone will speak enough english to figure things out. Otherwise it's spanish and I'm more likely to end up with food than camera equipment.

Doug

cheers, thanks Doug.