Mamiya Tilt/Shift Adapter for RZ 67- anyone have experience with it?

[MarkoMijailovic]

I've been looking to go the large format route for some time now and while I still intend on doing so at some point, it's just not financially feasible for me at the moment. That said, I still would really like to fool around with movements and have a camera/lens that can do tilt/shift. Having a Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II it only makes sense to be interested in Mamiya's T/S adapter and just wanted to see if anyone has had experience with it- if so, how was it?

I saw a couple on eBay a few months back at about $500, but see them listed new for almost $2k- what's up with that?!

[MarkoMijailovic]

...or perhaps, and I just thought of this, getting a Nikon T/S lens would be the more sensible option for the D800 when I get it?

...though I would probably prefer the overall character I'd get from the film using the Mamiya...

What I'm ideally looking to do is take some artistic portraits, done in a very renaissance painting style with a twist (the tilt/shift, which would blur and help isolate my point of focus).

Decisions, decisions...

[Mr. Rib]

Mamiya's RZ tilt/shift adapter works perfectly fine, but remember that you won't be able to focus at infinity- you'll be limited to a few to ten feet (depending on focal length) which is ok if you're into product photography. You'll need short barrel lenses for your tilt/shift adapter to be able to focus at infinity. There is a 75mm short barrel lens and a 180mm short barrel. Both can be used without the adapter with extension ring no. 1 (this extension ring has the same width as the tilt/shift adapter). As for price- Mamiya RZ stuff, when new, is not that cheap, but the re-sale rate is very low. That's why you can find an adapter for $500 while new ones go for $2k.

[mjon]

done in a very renaissance painting style with a twist (the tilt/shift, which would blur and help isolate my point of focus).

If (!) I remember it correctly, using the RZ T/S-adapter you get only tilt. If you rotate the camera body you can change it to swing but this isn't comfortable if you use the waist level finder :-) That is, you can't 'turn' the focus plane which may or may not be major limitation for you work.