This is probably old hat to all of you experienced macro shooters, but I've just been playing with an old Hartblei 80-mm tilt/rotate (no shift) lens I bought a long time ago as a learning tool. I set it up today with a 12-mm Kenko extension tube and a cheap Phoenix ring flash to play around and get some sense of the effect of the tilt capability.

Here is one of the tests I did. Both shots are at f/8.

Zero degrees of tilt:




Eight degrees of tilt:



I'm not sure why it is that, while the corners of the object are more in-focus in the 8-degree shot, the center is less sharp. Then again, this is not the world's greatest lens, so maybe I'm seeing odd lens aberrations?

-- Jon
Wethersfield, CT, USA
Connecticut High School Sports Photos

Attachment #1, (jpg file)
Attachment #2, (jpg file)

Looks good to me Jon,
Never heard of the lens before, more exoensive than I would have thought
Dont know about the edges in 2, there's always stacking I guess
I'm suspecting that even with tilt, DOF may be playing a part ont the edges?
Great image either way!
Regards
Gary

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Thanks, Gary. Actually, I don't think they make this lens any more. Now they offer tilt-shift lenses that are considerably more expensive than the tilt-only lens I bought a few years ago.

I think I've figured out what's going on with the focus, and you're right to point at DOF. When you tilt the lens, the in-focus region becomes wedge-shaped and widens as you get farther away from the camera. I think the wedge is simply too narrow at the front of the object, passing below the front top of it. I'll have to play with it some more -- interesting stuff!

-- Jon
Wethersfield, CT, USA
Connecticut High School Sports Photos