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Any 24-PC users?

Chris C

Member
I believed that the introduction of the new perspective control 24mm lens was a a long overdue and significant addition to the Nikon lens line. Surprisingly, there is little about the lens available on the 'net. Can anyone here give some hands-on feedback about the lens' handling and imaging. Anyone using the PC on a D300 - how easy is focusing and setting plane of focus? [I have extensive view-camera experience if that helps you 'pitch' your replies].

I'd value your user experiences.

.............. Chris
 

David K

Workshop Member
I use this lens on the D3 and Guy had it for a while on the D300. Great lens for my application which is stitching via shift left and right. Gives an equivalent FOV of about 14mm lens on the D3. Sharp, great color, easy as pie to focus using Live View. Hope this helps.
 

Chris C

Member
... easy as pie to focus using Live View.....
David and Woody - Thank you for replying.

The 24mm focal length is an excellent one for D3 and D300 users needing 'shift', but initially my concern is it's use on the D300. If anyone can answer my query about it's manual in-viewfinder focusing ease on the D300 I'd be grateful. I gather that the D3 viewfinder is better than the D300, so I need someone's experience of setting tilt to change plane-of-focus [Scheimpflug - that spelling looks wrong] often the theory of plane-of-focus and the practice can be at odds because of the camera screen being used. Can tilt for plane-of-focus be accurately set with the D300 screen?

The tilt option, factory set as it is has little use for landscape photographers shooting in 'landscape mode', has anyone had the tilt option re-set by 90 degrees for landscape shooting?

Mr. Bjorn will no doubt eventually publish his review of the 24 PC, but until then I would welcome more user information from forum members.

.................. Chris
 

David K

Workshop Member
Chris,
Can't help you with the D300 screen issue. With regard to resetting the tilt option, the lens has this feature built in.
 

woodyspedden

New member
Chris

I also have a D300 so when I come home this evening I will take a look to see the finder differences from the D3

Woody
 

Chris C

Member
Can't help you with the D300 screen issue. With regard to resetting the tilt option, the lens has this feature built in.
David - Are you absolutely sure? From the reading I have done so far it is has always, to my knowledge, been reported that the tilt axis is factory-fixed [tilting around a vertical axis when the camera is in 'landscape' mode] and is not user-changeable. I hope you are right and I am wrong [I'm a landscape and architecture photographer] - can you please expand on your user experience?

Woody - Thanks, I would appreciate you checking the lens on the D300. All contributions gratefully received.

................. Chris.
 
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kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
I have this lens. Once on the camera, via a small lever on the LHS, the entire lens can be rotated L and R, 90 degrees in both directions on the lens mount. This means you can choose to change the plane of focus in a horizontal or vertical sense. Shifting is similarly flexible. I have only tested this lens so far on the D3 (is it very sharp, and very low distortion).

It's spelled "Scheimpflug", as you had it.

It behaves like a 35mm TS lens on the D300, of course. This may be very useful for either very deep, or very shallow DOF for products. I may get a chance to shoot something with the D300 today and can report back on the capacity to see when the plane of focus is achieved. Stay tuned.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
kit:
i think he is talking about changing the tilt axis with respect to the shift axis, something that on the canon TS lenses you could do by unscrewing the flange mount and rotating it 90 degrees. for architecture, you would probably want shift up and down and tilt r/l, but for landscapes or products, shift up and down but tilt forward and back
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Aha; thanks for that Jim. The fastest way to have that question answered would be for him to contact Nikon tech. The present setup work well for me, but it it were able to be changed easily, that would be even better.

To DavidK: are you shifting the camera or the lens? I am making suitable marks on my Jasper Pano head that will allow the body to be shifted the right amount L and R as I shift the lens, so the lens axis does not change. Is this how you are doing it?
 

David K

Workshop Member
Kit,
With the Nikon I am shifting the lens as this seems sufficient for my purpose... architectural interiors. One shift left, one right gives me an adequate FOV. When I'm shooting landscape I break out the MFDB and the RRS pano kit, find the lens nodal point (there's a tutorial on the RRS website IIRC) and go from there.
 
S

Sean_Reid

Guest
I haven't used this lens yet but I'm very interested in testing it on the D3. The D3 is primed to be a great architecture camera with this lens as well as the Zeiss primes.

Cheers,

Sean
 

Chris C

Member
Vivek - I followed the link and found; "Shift and tilt movement are at right angles" but "can be modified for a surcharge". I find myself struggling with this awkward description but still take it to be as in the example I gave earlier; that the axis of tilt and plane of shift are factory fixed to the disadvantage of landscape photographers wanting near-to-far Scheimpflug correction when shooting with the camera in 'landscape' orientation.

.....via a small lever on the LHS, the entire lens can be rotated L and R, 90 degrees in both directions on the lens mount. This means you can choose to change the plane of focus in a horizontal or vertical sense........may get a chance to shoot something with the D300 today....Stay tuned.
Kit - But surely the the tilt axis, and the shift plane rotate equally and together? The tilt axis and shift plane surely cannot be rotated independently of one another? I will indeed stay tuned!

Jim - Correct. I wasn't aware that with the Canon 24 shift the user could choose the orientation of tilt axis and shift plane; one would hope that it should have been a design prerequisite for Nikon - unless serious shifters are expected to have two versions of the lens.

Sean - Perhaps like you, I was astonished that Nikon gave away the shift lens side of SLR photography for so many years to Canon. I think your speculation on the D3 and 24 PC-[E] may well prove to be correct and I would be very interested to read your review when you manage to test the combination.

Thank you to all, but I'm still hungry for more information...........

............... Chris
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Chris, If you think that the Nikon site gives an awkward description..

..the lens manual will shock you to the core. :ROTFL:

The short answer to your original question is that the the shift/tilt axis orientations can be be changed to suit your needs as is the case with the 85mm f/2.8 PC Nikkor.
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Chris, yes:
But surely the the tilt axis, and the shift plane rotate equally and together? The tilt axis and shift plane surely cannot be rotated independently of one another? I will indeed stay tuned!
This is the case, as the lens comes to you. I really don't understand why, as a landscape photographer, you'd want to alter the shift and tilt axes—or does the architectural part come into play here? have to go now; let's explore this more later. cheers, KL
 

David K

Workshop Member
Well I've got the lens and you guys have me confused. There must be something more to the equation than I understand. Let's get David Farkas involved in this discussion, he should know. I'll send him an email.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
to clarify: the shift and tilt axes are set at 90 degrees as shipped, but could be altered (by Nikon for a surcharge) to be co-axial.

the setup can be rotated in 15 degree increments about the lens axis, so you can have front/back tilt for portrait-landscape orientation and in betweeen. (the shift will also rotate, staying at 90 degrees to the tilt axis)

so if i am shooting a building facade, not straight on, i can rotate the lens to make the tilt L/R, and swing it to bring the facade into focus, then shift down to capture the upper part of the building, keeping the camera level.

if it is a landscape shot, (either L or P orientation), set the tilt to front/ back to get near-far focus. then if you want to stitch or do image centering, you can only do it l to r.

for some product shots same orientation of tilt as for landscapes; image centering by shift though is limited to L/R, more limited than a view camera, where you could shift both ways.
for some product shots, tilt might instead be l/r, then shift would be up/down.

not sure why anyone would want to set the axes of shift and tilt to be co-axial.
 
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Chris C

Member
....if it is a landscape shot, (either L or P orientation), set the tilt to front/ back to get near-far focus. then if you want to stitch or do image centering, you can only do it l to r..

.....not sure why anyone would want to set the axes of shift and tilt to be co-axial.
Jlm - Thanks. Regarding the 'co-axial' speculation, how about a fairly typical landscape scene needing to be shot in 'landscape format' with a levelled camera:

A fairly close object/flower/rock [whatever], a required redistribution of the DOF from the 'whatever' to far ground [by Scheimpflug tilt around a horizontal axis], and a required lens shift downwards [as in lens-drop] to reframe the shot. In this example, distant trees or buildings will retain their verticality with the correct plane of focus selected.

How's the focus on a D300....anyone?

.............. Chris
 

woodyspedden

New member
I use this lens on the D3 and Guy had it for a while on the D300. Great lens for my application which is stitching via shift left and right. Gives an equivalent FOV of about 14mm lens on the D3. Sharp, great color, easy as pie to focus using Live View. Hope this helps.
One thing I noted with the D300 is that if you have the lens oriented for left to right shift the adjustment screw prevents the lens from being mounted! The prism overhang is not tall enough relative to the mount for the screw to clear.

Woody
 
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