Does anyone know of a photographer who has used a tilt-shift lens underwater,
or a housing that accommodates a tilt-shift lens?

Usually they are not wide enough for underwater usage and also there is little need to control perspective in a world without striaght lines!

I'm sure someone has had a go. But I don't know anyone. I would be very interested to hear how you get on.

Alex

Hi!

I wonder if it's worth the effort to house a tilt/shift lens. First, the crop with digital housings reduces the angle and the effect of the shift and tilt. Second, shifting is mostly used to achieve a higher point of view without moving the camera (because you're not able to, in most cases). Diving is a 3D sport so going up a bit to get a better view position usually doesn't cause a problem. Most topside shots involving shift and tilt are made with a tripod for exact adjustment. Could be tricky UW to keep the camera as steady. Next, you need a huge dome to allow the movements of the lens. For shift you would have to shift the dome too, for tilt it should work with a larger angle of the glass. A fixed dome in front of a shifting lens would cause severe loss in image quality. Sealing a shift dome would be a pain. Can't imagine that somebody did it already.

Helge ;-)=)

I've seen a hand made underwater medium format camera (not housing) with a fixed tilted lens and framer, the purpose was to take full advantage of the scheimflug principle see following link if your not familliar with it :
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/movements.shtml

The whole set-up was a fixed lens / fixed distance / 12 exposure max affair, basically a Nikonos from hell.

I see no use for wide lens with tilt or shift underwater, but a macro tilt lens like the 85mm Micro Nikkor inside a dome mmmh... now you got me thinking, I have the lens in store and a measuring tape . my only concern is the damm thing has knob sticking out of it like a porcupine and they move along also, accessing those will be the hurdle if at all possible, wow! and its a manual focus lens with focus ring that's never in the same place due to the tilting and shifing, I'm feeling dizzy and nauseated already.

Click to view attachment

i'm sure it could be done in some way but it would be NASA kind of expensive, i'd rather get a nice sport sedan for that money

O.K. here is the verdict, no can do, at least at a reasonable price, which is a relative term in underwater photography . The only way out would be to built a "one off" housing around the lens and body, frankly I would rather reenginneer a nuclear sub than design that beast

BTW this lens is also a stop down lens, whoopy! add's to the chalenge

On the plus side, the optical axis position is a no brainer and there is really only one control to access (the tilt) and the movement is side way only so a rack and pinion should adress that problem.

The focus and aperture ring are quite a chalenge with the axial swing, the only obvious way would be a rack and pinion collar mounted to the aperture and focus ring on which flexible cables would be attached. Unless the millitary show up with their 3000.00 $ a toilet seat budget, it's not going to happen. too bad what a nerdy rig that would have been


Cheers

O.K., I've got a 24 TS/E on the shopping list. When/if I get it, I'll see if it fits in the EWA-marine bag and take it for a dive. Just because I can, and to keep you happy. But I'm still not sure of the purpose??? Because diving with a manual focus 24mm lens is fun?

Thanks everyone. It's definitely beyond my budget.

I was mainly asking out of curosity.

Close-focus wide angle shots of a fish under a jetty often look wrong to me because the jetty pylons appear curved and tapered. I wondered if it might look better with a TS lens. But I guess the distortion of a fixed lens can be undone in Photoshop anyway.

A composition containing a large flat surface (e.g. stingrays on a sandy bottom; a sloping reef; the deck of a shipwreck) might benefit from the Scheimflug effect in a TS lens which would allow the photographer to align the plane of sharp focus with the flat surface of interest.

quote "I once thought of switching to Canon EOS so that I could own all three of there fine TS lenses for land work to take advantage of wide apertures on windy days"

Have you been reading John Shaw ,

The lens would have to be behind a dome to take full advantage of the tilt, you need those rays to concentrate at an exact spot and since these lens tilt on a precise axis its possible, when you shift a lens it goes off its axis and there you need a flat port, beside been useless to have lens capable of raise/shift it would be quite a complex affair added to a already complex thingamajing

I did check the old Aquatica A3 housing port series and they would be wide enough for a project like this, so I have the lens, the port and a housing I could canibalize, all I need now is a roll of duct tape, 5 years project time and a lawier for my wife

You know I heard rumor the bugger actually modified Canon lens to put on a Nikon, Blasphemy, heresy, tar and feather...

The old Canon FL Tilt shift lens has been converted to work on Nikon Bodies. worked fine because it has an manual aperture ring. the new TSE tilt shift lenses have electronic aperture controlled by the camera body and would be VERY DIFFICULT to convert to nikon.

While the Nikon 85mm T/E is a very nice lens it would be VERY difficult to use UW. The lens is NOT stopped down by the body. to use the lens, you have to focus at wide open, press a button on the lens to stop down, then shoot the photo. OK on a tripod, but pretty difficult UW, IMHO The Canon TSE lenses have the aperture fully coupled to the camera body, electronically.

one of the justifications for switching to Canon was to use the TSE lens - I own all three (24, 45 and 90 mm) and love them. I frequently use the 90mm to shoot butterflies from different angles and still have the whole critter in focus. with a normal macro lens you can only shoot from a 90 deg angle.

I would love to use UW for macro. the ability to shift the focal plane (Scheimflug movement) would be great for macro. imaging shooting a nudibranch from a 45 deg angle and having the whole body in focus!

the only way I can imagine making it work would be to use the lens in a large dome port with some sort of flexible cable connecting the body controls to the lens knobs.

Rich