Tilt Shift lens for under $50

[sleeping]

Ah, yeah, you’re going to need a Non-G lens on the bellows to control the aperture, there’s no way to open and close it manually on a bellows. (the 50/1.8 is good and cheap though).

[orionid]

I’ve bought hong-kong free shipping stuff before and not had problems. My remote trigger/timer is hong-kong, as well as some cheapo things I bought for donor parts. If you browse around, you’ll see various prices with various shipping amounts (including free) that almost always total out within a dollar or so of each other. I’ve also seen 3-5 days shipping for most of the hong-kong stuff – surprisingly fast since they promise two weeks.

[Curious]

Ah, yeah, you’re going to need a Non-G lens on the bellows to control the aperture, there’s no way to open and close it manually on a bellows. (the 50/1.8 is good and cheap though).

well crap, so much for that idea. i’ve probably looked at the lenses i have several dozen times and never thought about or noticed the lack of an aperture ring.

[Curious]

(the 50/1.8 is good and cheap though).

amazon at $125.00 isn’t bad. but for something i’d seldom use …

orionid i’ll keep that in mind.

[CauseISaidSo]

orionid, which remote flash triggers did you get? Are you happy with them? For about 1/8th the cost of a set of PocketWizards, it almost seems too good to be true. I know that you don’t get remote TTL or power control with them, they’re just triggers, but that’s mostly how I’d use them anyway.

[sleeping]

Ah, yeah, you’re going to need a Non-G lens on the bellows to control the aperture, there’s no way to open and close it manually on a bellows. (the 50/1.8 is good and cheap though).

well crap, so much for that idea. i’ve probably looked at the lenses i have several dozen times and never thought about or noticed the lack of an aperture ring.

Come to think of it, you could also try one of these with some old MD glass: http://cgi.ebay.com/PIXCO-Macro-Minolta-MD-Lens-Nikon-AI-Mount-Adapter-/190477298030?pt=Lens_Accessories&hash=item2c5954e96e#ht_1770wt_1139

[nobigdeal]

orionid, which remote flash triggers did you get? Are you happy with them? For about 1/8th the cost of a set of PocketWizards, it almost seems too good to be true. I know that you don’t get remote TTL or power control with them, they’re just triggers, but that’s mostly how I’d use them anyway.

http://farktography.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=2486

[orionid]

orionid, which remote flash triggers did you get? Are you happy with them? For about 1/8th the cost of a set of PocketWizards, it almost seems too good to be true. I know that you don’t get remote TTL or power control with them, they’re just triggers, but that’s mostly how I’d use them anyway.

http://farktography.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=2486

Yeah, NBD got the flash trigger. I got the shutter trigger:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Timer-Remote-Shutter-Release-NIKON-D90-D5000-MC-DC2-/110529050341?pt=Camera_Camcorder_Remotes&hash=item19bc0b76e5#ht_2984wt_1165

It seems like every few weeks, the “brand” changes, but they are physically identical to the nikon at 1/5th the price.

[CauseISaidSo]

http://farktography.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=2486

Completely forgot about that post. Thanks, NBD! Sounds like you can’t go wrong assuming you know what you’re getting into.

I’m tempted to also pickup one of their cheap flashes to use as a slave. Anybody have experience with that?

[Curious]

Ah, yeah, you’re going to need a Non-G lens on the bellows to control the aperture, there’s no way to open and close it manually on a bellows. (the 50/1.8 is good and cheap though).

well crap, so much for that idea. i’ve probably looked at the lenses i have several dozen times and never thought about or noticed the lack of an aperture ring.

Come to think of it, you could also try one of these with some old MD glass: http://cgi.ebay.com/PIXCO-Macro-Minolta-MD-Lens-Nikon-AI-Mount-Adapter-/190477298030?pt=Lens_Accessories&hash=item2c5954e96e#ht_1770wt_1139

so it’s $125 for a nikon 50mm prime or $20 for an adapter for my 50mm MD mount prime. and in either case manual exposure and manual focus using the bellows. guess i need to drag the MD mount lens out and see what kind of shape it’s in.

thanks sleeping.

i really like doing macro and for semi q&d the extension tubes work fine but a bellows has so much more control. yeah i’m talking to myself here, you guys all know this.

[Curious]

If you browse around, you’ll see various prices with various shipping amounts (including free) that almost always total out within a dollar or so of each other.

what i saw browsing around was a lot of the very same stuff offered by different places at the same price. the adapter folks also have the bellows sleeeping linked to earlier.

and i found this same bellows and focusing rail in two places. that side shift focusing rail is pretty neat. my minolta focusing rail is just front and back.

[Elsinore]

Crappy cell phone pic of lens on camera:

Nifty. Your solution looks similar to the Lensbaby 3G:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0609/06092601lensbabies3g.asp . I agree with sleeping that cannibalizing a cheap bellows might be the way to go.

[ravnostic]

Nifty. Your solution looks similar to the Lensbaby 3G:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0609/06092601lensbabies3g.asp . I agree with sleeping that cannibalizing a cheap bellows might be the way to go.

Thanks. I had no idea that’s what constituted an LB.

Now I just need to figure out how to make it shift as well as tilt. I wouldn’t get the range of 11mm I read about, but I might get 5mm.

[Elsinore]

You’ll definitely need some kind of bellows or tubing to get shift. I have the LB 3G, and the tubing for it is kind of like flexible plumbing tubing, somewhat stiff. It has a very little bit of shift capability, but not much, and you can’t really lock that in place. You can lock the tilt in place, though.

[Author]

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