Final version: HCam Master TS 14-24mm

[daf]

Of course no FE lenses adaptable due to focalflange...if You only need tilt then the 35art is a good candidat, shooting it at 4 or 5,6 with 1degree tilt can make all the landscape Sharp Sharp
but unfortunatly no room for shift(possible but soft corner).
If You need shift the contax 35pc distagon is really good @5,6 straight @f8 up to 8mm shift @f11 up to 12mm @f16 up to 15mm/20mm if You remove latéral ca.

 

[joelorbita]

Daf,
Nice idea with regards to having a spare "Sony Nex" body to change the aperture.. I have been doing what you have been doing and keeping the lens at a set aperture (f16) but to change, I have been putting it back on the A7R/metabones which is a little bit more of a hassle..

Are you using your 24mm TS-E for exteriors only? Does using f11 give you enough front to back sharpness? Does the same apply for interiors or do you need to stop down a bit more?

Do you use the Canon 17mm TS-E in your work at all?




Stefan,
You mention using the Canon FD 50mm 1.2 L and it having 10mm of shift, is this area a "sharp" part of the image circle (useable)?

I have seen a few lenses that have much bigger image circles than what they are advertised but that area is not sharp enough to be used?

I would love to see some examples with the Canon 50mm FD 1.2 L

I was looking at getting the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art in Nikon mount (so that I would still have basic aperture control with an adapter) as I know that has the ability for a small amount of "useable shift".

If the Canon FD 50mm 1.2 L was close to being as sharp as the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art and it allowed for much more movement, I would be in for sure...


Thanks again, look forward to hearing some more

 

[wallpaperviking]

So I am very close to ordering one of these adapters I think..

One question I did have, is whether or not there might be any issues with internal reflection from the adapter when using it with lenses with large image circles (Nikon 14-24mm, Canon TS-E's, Medium Format).

I know this was an issue with the Metabones adapter when using the Canon TS-E lenses and something that has been covered in depth..

Sony A7 and A7r Full Frame with Canon Lenses - FM Forums

so am just thinking, if this was an issue with the Metabones and the solution was to "flock it" with material, might we be expected to have to do the same? As far as I can see, this would be much harder to do due to the moving parts in this adapter..

Any thoughts?


Am looking forward to your review Jack..

Thanks a lot.

 

[daf]

So I am very close to ordering one of these adapters I think..

One question I did have, is whether or not there might be any issues with internal reflection from the adapter when using it with lenses with large image circles (Nikon 14-24mm, Canon TS-E's, Medium Format).

I know this was an issue with the Metabones adapter when using the Canon TS-E lenses and something that has been covered in depth..

Sony A7 and A7r Full Frame with Canon Lenses - FM Forums

so am just thinking, if this was an issue with the Metabones and the solution was to "flock it" with material, might we be expected to have to do the same? As far as I can see, this would be much harder to do due to the moving parts in this adapter..

Any thoughts?


Am looking forward to your review Jack..

Thanks a lot.

You are right, i have seen some of the same kind of flare as with the metabones 3...but only when no lenshood mounted. I always shoot with a leefilter widelenshood, and then i have not encontoured any problem! Even Just a flag or your hand can remove it, but i'm often working in interior with multidirectional lights so the leefilter lenshood is a quicker safer option...

 

[wallpaperviking]

Hi Daf,
Are you saying that you have seen flare issues with the Metabones V3 as well as your newly acquired "Hcam Master" adapter?

Or just the Metabones V3 so far?

Thanks again, much appreciated!

 

[joe_leads]

In my test above, I think I made a fatal mistake: I didn't care for the exact flange distance from the Nikon mount to the Sony sensor. I repeated my test today, pre-focussed the 14-24 on my Nikon camera, carefully mounted the lens to the Cambo Actus, focussed the Sony on the rail, and – voila! – I got some decent sharp results all over the image circle.

The HCam adapter is a lot more foolproof in that regard, of course. Nevertheless I guess the Actus will give even more possibilities. E.g. I can use a broader range of MF and LF lenses without own focussing mechnisms, and I plan to mount ND and polarizer filters on the back side of the lens, that'll substitute those huge and expensive filter solutions for the 14-24. Screw-in ND-grads should also be possible and adjustable.

 

[daf]

Hi Daf,
Are you saying that you have seen flare issues with the Metabones V3 as well as your newly acquired "Hcam Master" adapter?

Or just the Metabones V3 so far?

Thanks again, much appreciated!

With all of them
(the metabones 4 is the more resistant one from my experience)

I've only seen this happened when no hood on the lens, with large shift, and a strong light on the side of the lens at approx 80degree from the shooting axe.
And i've been shooting with all of them in interior (shop/hotel) with many multidirectional lights, even with very strong front light, and i've never encontoured any issue that could not be removed by just shading the lens

In fact, i've learn photography as a studio assistant, so i always take a big care of flare, by cuting all the possible light entry to the front of the lens ...

A simple flag, your hands, or a lenshood remove it totally, that why i have never worry about it...

 

[Stefan Steib]

Daf,

Stefan,
You mention using the Canon FD 50mm 1.2 L and it having 10mm of shift, is this area a "sharp" part of the image circle (useable)?

I have seen a few lenses that have much bigger image circles than what they are advertised but that area is not sharp enough to be used?

I would love to see some examples with the Canon 50mm FD 1.2 L

I was looking at getting the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art in Nikon mount (so that I would still have basic aperture control with an adapter) as I know that has the ability for a small amount of "useable shift".

If the Canon FD 50mm 1.2 L was close to being as sharp as the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art and it allowed for much more movement, I would be in for sure...


Thanks again, look forward to hearing some more

I have a 1,2/85mm Canon FD-L and a 1,2/55mm.
Both are very sharp, if as sharp or sharper than the ART I can´t say.
Overall: my theory is the bigger the f stop and the larger the lenses are , the better the chance for additional movements with good quality.

Regards
Stefan

 

[Vivek]

I have a 1,2/85mm Canon FD-L and a 1,2/55mm.
Both are very sharp, if as sharp or sharper than the ART I can´t say.
Overall: my theory is the bigger the f stop and the larger the lenses are , the better the chance for additional movements with good quality.

Regards
Stefan

Wow! All the samples I have seen from the ART series appear to show them very sharp while those of the FD lenses fuzzy.

Any samples to share, Stefan?

 

[Stefan Steib]

Hi Vivek

sure - here is a portrait I did - this is open aperture 1,2/85mm FD-L
A7R 36Mpix.On the right there is a 100% cutout from the suit´s fabric.
I think that is pretty good for a 30 years old lens.

 

[BJNY]

Which lenses would work well with the HCam Master TS

in the 60-80mm range?
Stefan mentions the Nikon 60mm AF-D,
but how about Leica-R 60mm or Sigma 70mm macro lenses?

in the 35-40mm range?

Any zooms with large enough image circles?

 

[Jack]

BJ, let's be clear -- they'll ALL work. The question is how well, or more accurately, how much of the IC is acceptable? The issue here is everybody's needs and expectations are going to be different.

I think the only tenable solution is that one needs to try specific lenses for themselves and hopefully they report honestly about findings. In my case, the 17-35 has an impressive useful IC, but actual IQ drops notably outside the normal IC. If there's nothing noteworthy in that part of the image -- ie; blue sky -- then it's not an issue. But if that area of the image contains important detail like critical foreground elements, then this lens probably won't satisfy.

The big "however" is that subject distance matters; or stated differently, useful IC typically grows at closer focus distances.

 

[joe_leads]

I have the AF 55/2.8 Micro. The image circle ends after 5mm shift sideways. I have tried a friend's AF 60/2.8 D Micro, it was very similar, but is optically a bit less impressive than the 55. I also use the great Zeiss 100/2 ZF Makro.

They are all great if you're after some tilt action e.g. for product shots, but imho useless for shift. MF, LF or enlarger lenses are the way to go, if you want that.

I also use a Schneider Apo-Digitar 90/4.5 with great results and a big image circle, but that's not for the HCam adapter. ;-)

 

[daf]

I had m'y first very bad flare experience yesterday....
Indoor shot, 24tseii, hcam adapter set to +10mmright, leefiler widelenshood.
Ambiant light coming from a large window on the left, and présent in the image....
Impossible to get rid of This very important flare by adjusting the hood, not even by puting some flags.

the only way i've found was to reset the adapter to zéro and shift on the lens instead, i also tried with metabones4 and got the same result (in both case it was much better but yet not perfect)
So clearly in some condition, the flare is coming from réflexion inside the adapter.

 

[wallpaperviking]

Hi Daf,
Thanks for reporting that issue, much appreciated!

I actually thought this might be the case, as was the case with my older Mirex
Mamiya 645-Canon Eos adapter, as the material is somewhat reflective..

It was rare to run into this situation but it was there

Is there any room at all to apply flocking material to the adapter? I know that this is an issue due to all the moving parts but am pretty sure that there are some areas that can have this applied?

With regards to your example above, are you saying that just by using the Canon 24mmtseII that there was no issue with flare?

Was using the Hcam Master (unshifted) the same as using the Metabones V4?

Have you flocked your Metabones V4? If not, I have some left over Edmund Optics flocking material if you would like me to send you some...

Thanks so much once again, much appreciated!

 

[Stefan Steib]

In some configurations you may also run into flare from the lenses inside.
When we develloped the Hartblei Zeiss lenses, we had to find out that the original Zeiss Lenskits were of course never planned to be shifted or tilted, so there were internal flare prone parts we needed to cover. That was the reason why we develloped addional light traps for these lenses and also covered the complete TS mechanism of the 40,80 and 120mm with a fixed "Capsule" which moves with the mechanism completely eliminating the flare.
In fact, that makes our 12 bladed aperture and the light traps on the lenses more effectively flare limited than the original Zeiss V Lens versions.

About the HCam Master TS, there is always a way to improve, we permanently work on this. Stay tuned.

Regards
Stefan

 

[Jack]

Just an update. My review is done, but we're in the midst of a site migration -- one we hope to accomplish seamlessly for our users. As such, it may be a few more days before the article is posted on the frontpage.

 

[Jack]

It's live -- finally. Front Page

 

[Vivek]

Not a regular gear review, it is nice! Very nice, Jack! :thumbs:

 

[Jack]

Not a regular gear review, it is nice! Very nice, Jack! :thumbs:

Thank you sir. I tried to keep it short, direct and to the point -- which is that this is a very cool photographer's tool!