tell a friend about
this article
 

	Introduction
	Shift & tilt basics
	A powerful lens
»	Handling & tests
	More tests ...
	Resolving power
	Field tets
	Specs & Conclusions

Through the viewfinder it is immediately apparent the cleanliness of the image and the high resolution of lines this lens captures and transmits. It is rumored to be the Nikkor with the highest clearness.

 

The great massive lens

Despite its obtrusive appearance, the lens is not difficult to operate, once you gain confidence and learn to operate it. It certainly is not a lens for action photography but for the studio or in exteriors with a tripod. Needing a tripod for macrophotography should not be anything new for those wanting crispness from any lens.

The only difficulty resides in the impossibility to use the metering system when shifting and tilting are in use, because it was designed for an image coming into the mirror in a straight line. The electronic telemeter is also inexact when the lens is either shifted or tilted.

So the workflow begins facing the subject with the lens wide open. Then meter in manual mode. After the aperture is dialed in for the selected shutter speed, then shifting and tilting come in, implying an exposure compensation. Here is where the tricky part really begins; the exposure compensation requires experience. Even when we know that shifting will not exceed one f/stop and that in shifting is always bigger than in tilting. Finally, the diaphragm iris is closed to its desired (and at first, guessed) aperture, press the button to close down the lens and then action the cameras shutter release.

The procedure above is the suggested by the manufacturer but it is also possible to do the movements as required with the lens closed down; then, in aperture priority mode the exposure is almost always correct, eliminating the need to guess. The only problem would be the darkened viewfinder.

LABORATORY TESTS: DEPTH OF FIELD

Given the potential of this lens for macro photography, it became interesting to study the DOF and to compare it with that of the 105mm Micro Nikkor. So we first visualized it by performing the classic ruler test, photographed at 70º of the lenses' optical axis. Working distance was 39 cm or 1.3ft, meaning a reproduction ratio of 1:2 for both lenses.

Three apertures were tested in three series: the 85mm PC in normal position, fully tilted and the 105mm. The 85mm PC without tilting rendered similar results to the 105mm so there is no point to present those images here.

.