Does anyone happen to have any high level advice on what would work best for miniature effect on things like cars, trains, general cityscape?
My kids are captivated by those pictures and I also think it would be fun. I have absolutely no interest in doing any shifting/tilting in post.
Z mount (z8 camera). The Laowa lineup seem most interesting -- 17mm, 35mm, 55mm... Etc.
I was reading the 35mm review at digital camera world and they had this quote:
"You don’t buy a perspective control lens for fun effects. You buy one because your work demands the perspective control"
Which cracked me up as that's my entire use case. I thought the 17mm would be best as it's so wide but it seems 55mm+ are better for the effects (?).
You need tilting, not shifting, to move the plane of focus for the wacky effects.
If you don't want to adapt an older lens like 45 PC-E, then look at the longer focal lengths. I hardly ever tilted the 17 TSE more than 1/2-1 degree or like that since there is plenty of DOF.
A lot depends on what you are using it for. Generally the optical software corrections we are used to with most lenses are not available with shifting and may not be accurate with tilting, so a lens that is sharp and has minimal CA is desirable.
Well basically the quote is accurate, TS lenses serve a special need, I use my 45mm and 85mm for commercial work regularly.
If all you are looking for is miniature effect then look at a Lensbaby Edge Effect optic which does tilt and not shift for substantially less money. The miniature effect is best achieved with focal lengths in the 50 to 85 range from the examples I have seen, I don't use my TS lenses for this.
For city-scape "miniature look" you will need a normal to moderate telephoto focal-length (e.g. 50mm to 85mm) with tilt capability. Wide- and super-wide lenses are better suited to close-up/macro scenarios. The Nikkor PC-E lenses, especially 45mm and 85mm, would be great (if expensive) choices.
Another option is a tilt/shift bellows like the Nikon PB-4 and a 120mm or so medium-format lens. I have the PB-4 and always wanted to try out the sort of photography you are talking about but I found that it wasn't as easy as throwing on a moderate telephoto and playing around. First, the minimum extension of the bellows means you can't focus at infinity unless you have a short-mount lens. Even with a short-mount lens (e.g. a Bellows-Nikkor), you have the problem that the coverage (image circle) of the lens is not adequate to allow tilt/shift without vignetting. Finally, I bought a Nikkor 120/5.6 AM-ED
lens which is designed for medium format, and after adapting the lens to Nikon F-mount I had both the ability to focus at infinity and the needed larger image circle to allow movements.
Frankly, the PB-4/AM-ED setup is pretty bulky/fiddly, so if you really want to try this out, look for a used Nikkor PC-E lens or equivalent (though $$$ alas)
