PC-E NIKKOR 24mm f/3.5D ED

[merock]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

By default, the shift mechanism is on the opposite axis as the tilt mechanism. What this means, is that if you have the lens rotated so that shift is in the up/down direction (say, for correcting perspective), the tilt control will be in the side-to-side direction. This means you cannot also use tilt to increase DOF, because the plane of focus will tilt left/right, which is rarely what you want.

BTW, changing this on the 24 PC-E is a pretty easy DIY project, I did it myself with no problem. The other PC-E's apparently are no so easy and should be sent in for the modification.

Very interesting.... have you found this really useful? I am trying to see myself using both the tilt and shift on the same axis.

[merock]

I did this little write up on this lens:

Nikon 24mm PC-E : Merrick Ales Photography

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by merock

Very interesting.... have you found this really useful? I am trying to see myself using both the tilt and shift on the same axis.

For my shooting, these are the things I most often use the tilt/shift for:

- shift: adjust composition vertically without having to tilt the camera up/down (not just useful for buildings, BTW)
- tilt: increase DOF

So that requires having them on the same axis. The only time having them on the opposite axis has useful to me is when using horizontal shift for stitching, while using tilt for DOF. But I rarely flat-stitch with the 24 PC-E (I do it more often with the 45).

Ideally the tilt/shift axis would be independent of each other like they are on the newer Canon TSE-2's. But given the either/or choice, I prefer having them on the same axis.