Adapting Canon tilt/shift lens for Sony a900- will it work?

[andyptak]

Sony nor Zeiss make a tilt shift lens for the Alpha mount. I can get a Super Rotator for about $5500, which is not only a lot of money, it's also a 40mm - bit wide for me.

The Canon 24mm tilt/shift seems to be a lovely lens that has set a standard, so I'm wondering if I can adapt it? Various adaptors are available from Hong Kong manufacturers, which doesn't give me too much confidence. I assume the metal pieces will fit alright, but there is also a piece of glass in there and I would shudder to think what the quality might be.

Anybody know of a quality source of adaptors, and if the tilt/shift will work properly when adapted?

Thanks

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Canon has shorter flange distance than Sony, so it will not work. Nikon may be possible. A company called Leitax makes replacement bayonets for Nikon lenses to fit on Sony.

It is possible to fit medium format lenses to Sony, check here: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/29-handling-the-dof-trap?start=3

There are different adapters from Zörk, Novoflex and others.

Best regards
Erik

Sony nor Zeiss make a tilt shift lens for the Alpha mount. I can get a Super Rotator for about $5500, which is not only a lot of money, it's also a 40mm - bit wide for me.

The Canon 24mm tilt/shift seems to be a lovely lens that has set a standard, so I'm wondering if I can adapt it? Various adaptors are available from Hong Kong manufacturers, which doesn't give me too much confidence. I assume the metal pieces will fit alright, but there is also a piece of glass in there and I would shudder to think what the quality might be.

Anybody know of a quality source of adaptors, and if the tilt/shift will work properly when adapted?

Thanks

[JeffKohn]

Sony nor Zeiss make a tilt shift lens for the Alpha mount. I can get a Super Rotator for about $5500, which is not only a lot of money, it's also a 40mm - bit wide for me.

The Canon 24mm tilt/shift seems to be a lovely lens that has set a standard, so I'm wondering if I can adapt it?

If 40mm is too wide, how is 24mm a better choice?

[CptZar]

I do have all three Hartblei Zeiss lenses on my A850. They are as good as a lens can get. Check also http://diglloyd.com/index-dap.html.

As you can shift the lenses you can get 6x6 square or 2.3x1 panorama images, which again covers approx. the image area of on a 28mm lens. There is no shorter TS lens you can use, however I also use the Schneider PC 28 which is only a shift lens and this gives you perspective control.

I do most of my images with the Zeiss Hartblei 4/40mm as its is an incredible flexible lens, and I rarely use a wider lens. The only problem on the Sony Alpha is the missing live view, which makes the lens hard to focus, especially in low light. I changed the focusing screen therefore to a brightscreen split image with microprism colar. Still some of my shoots are out of focus. I tried the new A77 EVF and this is just the best viewfinder you can think about for manual focusing. That is the future.  So what you could do is add a Sony Nex 7, there will be a Canon to Nex adapter by Conurus with full aperture control, and the Canon  17mm TS if you really need tilt as well. This combination would have the same field of view as a 26mm on a 135 camera. This would give as well the possibility to use your 4/40 as a 60mm on the Nex 7. Lighter than any extra lens. You can see, I am one of those waiting for the Nex 7.

You can not use the Leitax adapters with Canon or Nikon TS lenses, as they do not have manual aperture control, which is required for the adapter.

Have fun

Jan
www.340-600.com

[andyptak]

@jeff - sorry, meant to say too long. (duh)

@cptczar - I love my a900 and the associated Zeiss glass that I have, so I don't want to switch. Sony is supposed to be replacing it early next year with a full frame monster in the Leica S2 category as far as megapixels go, and I presume it will be mirrorless and with Liveview. A further incentive to stick with Sony.

When I look at the price of the Hartblei, I could buy both the 17mm and 24mm Canons for less money than one Hertblei. Sobering thought. I'm told the issue with using Canon tilt/shifts with Sony mount is that the Canons use AF and there is no way to manually focus when mounted on a Sony A mount - and obviously, the AF won't work either. Not sure if the NEX E mount has the same issue or not, but I really don't want yet another camera body - may as well just go to a Canon body and be done with it.

I want this for architecture and although I do a reasonable job in Photoshop of correcting the perspective, I loose too much of the original frame in doing so.

[sbay]

When I look at the price of the Hartblei, I could buy both the 17mm and 24mm Canons for less money than one Hertblei. Sobering thought. I'm told the issue with using Canon tilt/shifts with Sony mount is that the Canons use AF and there is no way to manually focus when mounted on a Sony A mount - and obviously, the AF won't work either. Not sure if the NEX E mount has the same issue or not, but I really don't want yet another camera body - may as well just go to a Canon body and be done with it.

On the canon TS you set the focus, shift, tilt all manually so that part should still work. However, as others have mentioned the aperture is set electronically so you would need an adapter that handles that part of the communication protocol (not sure if these even exist). The nikon lens might be a better choice as it looks like it has a manual aperture ring.

[CptZar]

On the canon TS you set the focus, shift, tilt all manually so that part should still work. However, as others have mentioned the aperture is set electronically so you would need an adapter that handles that part of the communication protocol (not sure if these even exist). The nikon lens might be a better choice as it looks like it has a manual aperture ring.

I think I heard it doesn't work too. Further on the Nikon won't even fit on the A900 due to the large mirror house of the Sony. It would again fit on the Nex!

By the way, very annoying that there is no 24 mm shift lens by Sony/Zeiss.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

It would not focus at infinity...

Best regards
Erik

On the canon TS you set the focus, shift, tilt all manually so that part should still work. However, as others have mentioned the aperture is set electronically so you would need an adapter that handles that part of the communication protocol (not sure if these even exist). The nikon lens might be a better choice as it looks like it has a manual aperture ring.

[K.C.]

.. very annoying that there is no 24 mm shift lens by Sony/Zeiss.

I think it's only a matter of time until there are TS lenses for SONY.

I bought a 5DII just to be able to use the TS-E 17 and 24.