HCam Master TSII on the Sony A7rII

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

I just got my HCam Master TSII that I intend to use with my Sony A7rII and my existing Hasselblad lenses. This is intended to be a rolling review, with new experiences added on occasion.

So what is the HCam Master TSII? It is a tilt and shift adapter for mirrorless cameras. Right now, it is available for Sony FE/E mount, but other mirrorless mounts will probably added later.

On the front side the Master TS has a Canon EF mount, but without the 'E' stuff. Behind the EOS type mount there is a Mirex tilt and shift adapter and a rotating plate for the camera with an FE mount.

The Mirex adapter allows for 15 mm shift and 11 degrees of tilt. How much of this can be utilised depends on the lens.

So far, I have found it quite usable. It is a lot of mechanics, stuffed in very little place. So it is a bit complex to use. But, it is remarkably flexible in the field.

On the first day of shooting with the Hasselblad lenses I forgot to stop down. Stopping down is manual of course, and so is anything else, but aperture priority autoexposure can be used and it works well.

Can I recommend it? I don't know yet and I guess it may depend on wants and needs. But so far I feel it holds some great promise.

Please note that I don't talk about image quality, this far. I need to make some proper images before drawing conclusions. Also the HCam Master TS is just a platform. The image quality depends on other factors, like lens, sensor, tripod and photographer.

Best regards
Erik

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Just adding two images. The first one shows maximum tilt. Note that tilt is on the camera. Lens and tripod mount is not moved. I think this is pretty ideal.

The second one shows available horisontal shift. In this case, it is also the camera that moves while lens is fixed. This is pretty ideal for shift panos.

These images show the HCam Master TSII with the Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII, while the previous ones used Hasselblad lenses. The Canon mount is a very flexible one, enabling the Master TSII to take great many lenses.

According to Stefan Steib, the owner of HCam, it works very well with the Canon 11-24/4 L zoom lens, which leaves ample room for shifting. HCam offers a special version with lens hood removed.

Best regards
Erik

 

[chkproductions]

Erik - thank you very much for taking the time to post your initial reactions to the HCam Master as I am very interested in it and you have already answered my question about whether the sensor plane shifted and not the lens plane. So that is a big plus for me. Look forward to more images as you collect them and enjoy.

Cheers

chk

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Re: HCam Master TSII on the Sony A7rII a better sample

Hi,

Added three images demonstrating tilt. This is a case that works well. Samples on the left side are with tilt and on the right side without tilt.
The lens used here was the Hasselblad Planar 100/3.5 at f/11. It offers good sharpness corner to corner on the A7rII.

Just keep in mind, with tilt we tilt the focal plane. Everything in that tilted plane will be sharp, but everything outside it will be unsharp. That also applies to very distant subjects.



Whole image

A crop at top:

A crop at center

A crop from the bottom.


Best regards
Erik

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi Chiek,

It is a very well constructed design. But, it is a bit cramped. Lens release buttons on camera and TS adapter can be hard to reach for instance.
The device is also tiny. I have Hasselblad Flexbody, and it seems small but takes a lot of place. This one is small.

The lens can be rotated in the tripod mount, and the camera mounter also rotates 360 degrees. Shift is +/- 15 mm (AFAIK) but tilt is 0- -11 degrees. So to get positive tilt, you rotate the lens 180 degrees in one and compensate by rotating the camera 180 degrees.

Peaking is quite helpful. I just focus at the center and adjust tilt so I get as much peaking as possible in the tilted plane of sharpness.

Best regards
Erik

Erik - thank you very much for taking the time to post your initial reactions to the HCam Master as I am very interested in it and you have already answered my question about whether the sensor plane shifted and not the lens plane. So that is a big plus for me. Look forward to more images as you collect them and enjoy.

Cheers

chk

 

[Alan]

Thanks for posting! Can tilt & shift directions be adjusted with respect to each other, or are they fixed at 90˚?

 

[Antonio Chagin]

Erik thanks for the posting.

One question. How are you calculating the amount of tilt.
i have a Kippon adapter which is similar in some ways but find myself hunting the tilt amount.

ACH

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi Alan,

I am pretty sure they are fixed at 90°.

Best regards
Erik

Thanks for posting! Can tilt & shift directions be adjusted with respect to each other, or are they fixed at 90˚?

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi Antonio,

I am not an experienced "tilt user". What I normally do is:

• Focus on center, using magnified LV
• Activate peaking (on viewfinder or LCD)
• Tilt until I have peaking indications in the intended plane of focus
• Recheck center with magnified LV
• Check near and far focus with magnified LV

So far, this has worked for me as expected. I have not used tilt and shift together, yet. That may change things.

Best regards
Erik

Erik thanks for the posting.

One question. How are you calculating the amount of tilt.
i have a Kippon adapter which is similar in some ways but find myself hunting the tilt amount.

ACH

 

[Antonio Chagin]

Erik the idea of using focus peaking sounds very good, it didn't actually occur to me of using focus peaking. I'm going to give it a try.
Thanks!

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi Antonio,

Just keep in mind that "peaking" is an indication. It is just based on edge contrast on the viewfinder image, as far as I can guess. So correct focusing in magnified LV may be necessary.

I feel that stopping down to say f/11 is often needed when using Scheimpflug. In most cases there is little degradation of image quality at f/11 and it helps with small focusing errors.

Best regards
Erik

Erik the idea of using focus peaking sounds very good, it didn't actually occur to me of using focus peaking. I'm going to give it a try.
Thanks!

 

[Arne Hvaring]

The aperture in Canon lenses is controlled electronically. How do you adjust aperture with this adapter?

 

[Alan]

I am pretty sure they are fixed at 90°.

Thanks Eric

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Good question!

My understanding is that the Canon mount has been chosen as it is very wide and has a short flange distance. A recommended (by others) workaround is to stop down the lens on a Canon body or a Metabones adapter and remove it during exposure. Personally, I am using it with Hasselblad V-series lenses, so it is no issue with me. I own a Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII, but I don't think I will use it on HCam Master TSII a lot.

Best regards
Erik

The aperture in Canon lenses is controlled electronically. How do you adjust aperture with this adapter?

 

[Arne Hvaring]

Hi Erik,
yes, I thought as much. Probably a Nikon mount would be more useful in my case. I suppose they can be ordered in various mounts. Thanks for the pictures!

Cheers
Arne

 

[Antonio Chagin]

Hi Antonio,

Just keep in mind that "peaking" is an indication. It is just based on edge contrast on the viewfinder image, as far as I can guess. So correct focusing in magnified LV may be necessary.

I feel that stopping down to say f/11 is often needed when using Scheimpflug. In most cases there is little degradation of image quality at f/11 and it helps with small focusing errors.

Best regards
Erik

Got it. Thanks Erik. Enjoy it!

 

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi Arne,

As it works, front side mount is always Canon EF. The reason is that the EF mount is very wide and has a short flange distance, so it can be adopted to many lenses, Nikon, Contax and Leica R for instance.

For Nikon, Novoflex makes an adapter with some kind of aperture. So the HCam Master TSII was originally presented with the Nikon 14-24/2.8. Nowdays Stefan Steib, who makes them, prefers the Canon 11-24/4.

The Nikon adapter is called EOS/NIK NT: http://www.novoflex.com/en/products/adapters/adapter-finder/+/camera_id/1/lense_id/5/

Best regards
Erik

Hi Erik,
yes, I thought as much. Probably a Nikon mount would be more useful in my case. I suppose they can be ordered in various mounts. Thanks for the pictures!

Cheers
Arne