Perspective Control Lens - Available Lenses

Available Lenses

The earliest perspective control and tilt/shift lenses for 35 mm format were 35 mm focal length, which is now considered too long for many architectural photography applications. With advances in optical design, lenses of 28 mm and then 24 mm became available and were quickly adopted by photographers working in close proximity to their subjects, such as in urban settings.

The Arri motion-picture camera company offers a shift and tilt bellows system that provides movements for PL-mount lenses on motion-picture cameras.

Canon currently offers four lenses with tilt and shift functions: the TS-E 17 mm f/4, the TS-E 24 mm f/3.5L II, the TS-E 45 mm f/2.8, and the TS-E 90 mm f/2.8. On the 45 mm and 90 mm lenses, the mechanisms providing the tilt and shift functions can be rotated 90° to the left or right so that they operate horizontally, vertically, or at intermediate orientations. The lenses are supplied with the tilt and shift movements at right angles to each other; they can be modified so that the movements operate in the same direction. The 17 mm and the 24 mm version II lenses allow independent rotation of the tilt and shift movements. The 90 mm lens gives 0.29 magnification, making it usable for moderate close-up work. All four lenses provide automatic aperture control.

Hartblei makes tilt-and-shift lenses to fit various manufacturers’ camera bodies. It currently offers four Super-Rotator Tilt/Shift lenses for 35 mm bodies: the TS-PC Hartblei 35 mm f/2.8, the TS-PC Hartblei 65 mm f/3.5, the TS-PC Hartblei 80 mm f/2.8, and the TS-PC Hartblei 120 mm f/2.8. It also offers the TS-PC Hartblei 45 mm f/3.5 to fit several medium-format camera bodies. The tilt and shift movements can be independently rotated in any direction.

Hasselblad offers a tilt-and-shift adapter, the HTS 1.5, for use with the HCD 28 mm f/4, HC 35 mm f/3.5, HC 50 mm f/3.5, HC 80 mm f/2.8 and HC 100 mm f/2.2 lenses on H-System cameras. To allow infinity focus, the adapter includes optics that multiply the lens focal lengths by 1.5. Autofocus and focus confirmation are disabled when using the adapter.

On September 22, 2008, Leica announced a 30 mm tilt-and-shift lens for its new S-System of digital SLRs.

Nikon currently offers three PC lenses, all of which feature tilt and shift functions: PC-E Nikkor 24 mm f/3.5D ED, PC-E Micro-Nikkor 45 mm f/2.8D ED, and PC-E Micro Nikkor 85 mm f/2.8D ED. The 45 mm and 85 mm “Micro” lenses offer close focus (0.5 magnification) for macrophotography. The PC-E lenses offer automatic aperture control with the Nikon D3, D300, and D700 cameras. With some earlier camera models, a PC-E lens operates like a regular Nikon PC (non-E) lens, with preset aperture control by means of a pushbutton; with other earlier models, no aperture control is provided, and the lens is not usable. The mechanisms providing the tilt and shift functions can be rotated 90° to the left or right so that they operate horizontally, vertically, or at intermediate orientations. The lenses are supplied with the tilt and shift movements at right angles to each other; they can be modified so that the movements operate in the same direction.

In Pentax high-end DSLRs (K-7, K-5, K-5 II, K-5 IIs and K-30) the shake reduction hardware unit can be manually adjusted in the X/Y direction to achieve a shift effect with any lens using the Composition Adjust function in the menu system. Although available for any lens that fits the camera body, this adjustment can not fully replace regular shift lenses as those may provide a larger shift movement.

Schneider-Kreuznach offers the PC-Super Angulon 28 mm f/2.8 lens that provides shift movements, with preset aperture control. The lens is available with mounts to fit cameras by various manufacturers, and also with 42 mm screw mount.

The Sinar arTec camera offers tilt and shift with the full range of Sinaron digital lenses.

All perspective control and tilt/shift lenses are manual-focus prime lenses; most are quite expensive compared to regular prime lenses. Some medium format camera makers, such as Mamiya, have addressed this problem by offering shift adapters that work with the maker’s other prime lenses.