1
\$\begingroup\$

I use the Olympus micro four thirds (MFT) system. One of the problems with this is that there are no shift lenses for this format, so taking landscape photos with buildings is problematic. I can kind of get around it by taking panoramas if there is no motion in the scene. The photo below shows the typical problem:

enter image description here

I don't really want to get into morphing in post production, although for the photo above, it might be a feasible solution since the resulting pixel stretching would be limited.

My preferred approach would be to adapt a shift or PC lens to the Olympus, but I am not sure whether this will be possible. For example, Voigtlander makes a series of rectilinear lenses such as its heliar hyper wide 10mm for E-mounts, but the Sony E-mount has an 18mm flange focal distance while MFT has a 19.24mm flange focal distance and from what I understand you can't shorten the flange distance. Also, I am dealing with converting a full frame lens to a 4/3rds sensor, so there might be problems with that if a shift lens is being used. Is a mounting like this even possible?

A different option might be to use the Canon EF to MFT Metabones speedbooster adapter. I am not a big fan of Canon's shift lens, the TSE 17mm, but if that is the only option, so be it. Should I basically try to make this work, or are the Voigtlander lenses possible?

Improve this question
\$\endgroup\$
10
  • \$\begingroup\$ Why would you not 'be a fan' of the TS-E 17mm other than the cost? The newer Canon TS-E lenses with their ability to rotate the axis between the shift and tilt movements anywhere from 0°-90°on the fly gives those lenses capabilities no one else offers. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Aug 29, 2018 at 19:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ Is there a reason you aren't willing to use software perspective correction? \$\endgroup\$
    – inkista
    Aug 30, 2018 at 2:01
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @MichaelClark You use Canon lenses, I suspect. \$\endgroup\$
    – Clickety Ricket
    Aug 30, 2018 at 14:48
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @MichaelClark Right, we should tell all those Leica guys to throw away their overpriced lenses, just use Canon lenses and apply a "Leica style" filter. No need for expensive German glass. \$\endgroup\$
    – Clickety Ricket
    Aug 30, 2018 at 15:14
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @ClicketyRicket There's a difference between color and acuity. There's even a difference between what one usually means by 'contrast' when comparing lenses from different manufacturers regarding how each renders a scene in terms of 'color and contrast' and what one means by 'contrast' when talking about line pairs per millimeter. As for expensive German glass, most Leica lenses aren't nearly as good as everyone makes them out to be. Zeiss lenses, such as the Milvus line, on the other hand... \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Aug 30, 2018 at 15:19

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
6
\$\begingroup\$

I would suggest looking into a shift or tilt-shift adapter, to mount say a wide-angle Canon EF or Nikon AF-S lens. This way, you have a much wider selection of regular lenses to choose from than just looking at tilt-shift only lenses. And you will likely be able to achieve what you want much cheaper as well.

  • Edit: I specifically recommended full frame lenses as opposed to lenses made for crop-sensor bodies because they the full frame lenses (such as Canon EF and Nikon FX) are designed to project a larger image circle than lenses designed for crop-sensor cameras (such as the Canon EF-S and Nikon DX lenses). The larger image circles of EF/FX lenses allows for more shift than the image circles projected by EF-S/DX lenses when adapted to shorter flange-focal-distance cameras like MFT and Sony E-mount bodies.

Resources and suggestions:

Also, I am dealing with converting a full frame lens to a 4/3rds sensor, so there might be problems with that if a shift lens is being used.

Other than perhaps loss of sharpness near the edge of the image circle (depending on the lens), you shouldn't have any problems adapting full frame lenses to MFT. Your sensor is just going to use the middle 1/2 of the full frame lens's projected area (before shifting, of course). Really, the only problem you'll have, as it sounds like you've realized, is that due to the crop factor, you're going to need a fairly wide full frame lens so that its angle of view isn't too narrow when mounted on the MFT body.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
3
  • \$\begingroup\$ When adapting canon or nikon dslr glas, their apc c lenses could also be interesting given that there might be wider lenses for reasonable prices for aps c \$\endgroup\$
    – lijat
    Jun 9, 2019 at 7:43
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @lijat That's generally a good point. However, in the context of using a shift or tilt-shift adapter, I'd be inclined to focus on FX or EF lenses, because when shifted, they will probably not hard-vignette because they project a larger image circle than APS-C lenses. \$\endgroup\$
    – scottbb ♦
    Jun 10, 2019 at 0:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ I was thinking as the apcs still has an image with double the area of mft it would be enough bigger. But maybe not \$\endgroup\$
    – lijat
    Jun 10, 2019 at 6:01
1
\$\begingroup\$

Be aware that some sophisticated wide angle lenses (floating element primes, wide angle zooms) are extremely sensitive to flange distance mismatches, so be sure that any adapter you use is precise in that regard. A mismatch of fractions of a mm that would merely throw off infinity focus with a normal prime can wreck havoc on the corrections and thus the image quality of an ultrawide.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
0
\$\begingroup\$

There is one tilt-shift lens with an MFT mount: the Samyang 24mm f/3.5.

But no, you can't adapt E-mount. But you can find shift adapters (and tilt-shift adapters) for full frame lenses to MFT. Kipon and Fotodiox are two companies that make them, with a lot of cheaper varieties available on eBay.

You want to start with a full frame lens because you need a lens with an image circle large enough to be shifted without losing sensor coverage (this is typically why the cheaper dSLR tilt-shift lenses are old Russian medium-format lenses on tilt/shift mounts). But the main problem will be finding a lens to adapt that is wide on MFT, due to the crop factor.

Personally, I'd say you might be better off with post-processing to do perspective correction, until Panasonic or Olympus build a tilt-shift.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.