First shift (rise) lens, could use some tips

[xkaes]

$150 is a great price.

On EBAY, three Minolta 35mm SHIFT lenses have sold in the last 3 months -- from $450 to $800. There are several currently available starting at $900 and up!

The Minolta lacks swing, but it does have VFC (Variable Field Curvature) -- but WAY out of my budget.

 

[loccdor]

Variable field curvature sounds quite cool! First I've heard of that as a lens feature.

I took this lens out with the Pen F today, and it's interacting in an interesting way with the mirror system. You can see the little dark triangles in the corners of the mirror, and also shifting it darkens the viewfinder by a few stops and causes additional corner vignetting mainly on one side (even when stopped down to f/11). I hope it's just something going on with the viewing system and not going to show on the film - I can't imagine why it would, as the image circle should be offering plenty of coverage.

 

[xkaes]

The larger image circle means that the closer you get to the edge of the circle, the dimmer the light. You'll have to figure out if you need to adjust the exposure a little. Given that you are using a half-frame format, I would not think that you would run out of image circle, but you might. You'll find out. If you have BLACK corners in the viewfinder, you might be hitting the limit..

 

[reddesert]

With a shift lens fairly far off-axis, it is possible (or likely) that the reflex mirror will vignette the viewfinder. It is also possible that the OM-to-PenF adapter and/or the smaller diameter of the Pen F mount throat will vignette the beam, which would show up on film as well as in the VF. You can check for vignetting when the camera is unloaded, by holding the shutter open on B and looking through each corner of the film gate from the back through the lens. It should be apparent if something is in the way. You can also check vignetting from a hood or filter.

This is also how large format photographers check it (one of the reasons that some ground glasses have the corners nipped out, so you can look through from the back).

 

[loccdor]

I finally processed and digitized some of the shift lens images.

The lens is usably sharp shifted up to 6mm or so on the Pen F. At the full 12mm shift, resolution drops on one side of the image. There is some vignetting but not anywhere near as badly as is shown in the viewfinder. I only used it stopped down to f/8-f/11 where these problems will be minimal.

This image was taken at around 4-6mm of vertical shift to get the bridge supports parallel. At this level of shift resolution is acceptable for small prints, though lagging behind the 40mm f/1.4 lens in comparison. Provia 100F film was used.

 

[loccdor]

Here is another Pen F shot at f/11 where both horizontal and vertical shift were employed to get the background and foreground in positional harmony. The focus was on the chain link fence. This helped hide any slight unsharpness toward the top of the image near the edge of the image circle. Using this lens is fun because it gives you additional choices without slowing you down too much.