(Guest Post) T/S photography by lb_supertec.

T/S photography by  lb_supertec.

Hi,
since my first m4/3 camera i was waiting for a super wide angle shift lenses for architecture photography. In post processing it is easy to make perspective corrections. But sharpness and resolution goes down and it is always a risk if you do not see the final image while shooting.

Therefore I decided to go for a T/S adapter. The optic should be a sharp super wide angle zoom with a large image circle for a wide rang of shifting. Furthermore I wanted to have control over the aperture.

My choice went for the [shoplink 53979 ebay]Sigma 8-16mm for Nikon[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 53980 ebay]Kipon T/S Adapter for Nikon G Mount Lens to M4/3[/shoplink]. This is one of the rare combinations which allows you to handle the aperture manually on a contemporary lens. The built quality of the kipon T/S adapter is good. it allows tilt, shift and 360° rotation, and there are 5 operation buttons positioned around the adapter. For a comfortable handling it’s recommended to use a lightweight and front side flat camera like the GM1. All the pro grade bodies with front side sticking out flash or EFV will cause problems. Some can not even be mounted (EM1, EM5…) others operate only with limitations (GH3). An other problem of this pro bodies is the large weight compared to the compact M4/3 cameras.

The 8-16mm is a super wide angle zoom and therefore ideal for architecture photography, and it is sharp. The cons of this lens (CA, distortion and vignetting) can be solved with some clicks in post processing and aren’t a issue for me. Out of the box the 8-16mm offers only limited shifting due to the built in lens hood. Therefore I decided to cut off the lens hood to get access to the entire image circle of the lens. trough this it is possible to shift unrestricted in any direction until the border of the image circle. Shifting of my sigma is now on par with the canon 17mm T/S and even better than the canon 24mm T/S!

Furthermore i built a tripod ring mount for the lens. This way it’s the body which moves and not the lens, and obligation if you are planning to stick panorama images out of two or more shots. And its much easier to move a 203g camera (GM1) instead of the 555g lens. the last piece i built was a kind of compendium. That’s highly recommended since the front lens sticks out that much.

Compared to the heroes in the T/S world (canon 17mm and 24mm T/S) this solution is lightweight (928g), relatively compact and much cheaper (1’000 bucks plus one day in the workshop).

During the last weeks i did two city walks and two jobs with this T/S lens and i am thrilled. in short: i own now a easy to use and sharp super wide angle M4/3 T/S zoom lens!

Attached a detailed description and some sample images. the images were shot in RAW and they passed post processing in Bridge. means WB, CA, distortion and vignetting are corrected.
enjoy!