In my case, I have been had a lust for a tilt/shift lens for landscape and architectural photography. I had thought that getting a Lensbaby Composer for my Nikon D300 would have been enough to cover specific landscape and architectural compositions; but, it only made it worse. The Lensbaby Composer lens allows a photographer to selectively focus on an object by way of the tilt mechanism. Another property of a Lensbaby kit is the ability to choose one of many creative optics to exaggerate the selective focusing or to change the overall composition. For me, the kit does an absolutely fantastic job filling in the niche it was designed to fill, but left me wanting something else for architectural and stitching together landscape shots.

So, after over a year of lusting over a tilt/shift lens, I caved and purchased a Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E lens, which arrived Friday afternoon. The lens is very much a specialty lens that carries a price to match, and it shows in both the build quality and optics. From the factory, the lens is configured so that the tilt mechanism is perpendicular to the shift mechanism; meaning that you can tilt up or down while shifting left or right, or swing left or right while shifting up or down. For landscape use, this may not be optimal, but can be resolved by sending in the lens to Nikon to reconfigure the lens to allow tilt and shift along the same axis. Unfortunately, that service is not a free service and doing this yourself can void the warranty on the lens. I haven’t had the lens for long enough to determine whether the default configuration would be an issue.

Hopefully, I will have some time in the coming weeks to go out, learn the ways of the lens and take some pictures. As with the Lensbaby Composer, there is a relatively steep learning curve and I’m definitely for for the challenge.

A tilt-shift lens allows a photographer to not only change the depth of field and focus area, but also correct for converging lines. Instead of trying to mangle the purpose of tilting and shifting, there are two informative articles on the topic (perspective control and depth of field). The tilt-shift lens that I have been thinking about is Nikon’s 24mm f/3.5D PC-E (which has two macro relatives, a 45mm f/2.8D PC-E and an 85mm f/2.8D PC-E). Due to the complex mechanics, specific purpose and low volume, the lens is quite expensive.

Before I decide to pick up the lens, I still need to get a better ball head for my tripod, as well as an L-bracket so that I can mount the camera in either portrait or landscape without having to re-frame. While my tripod isn’t great, it will still provide me with a pretty sturdy platform for framing and (manually) focusing in on to my target. I also have a cable release and a mirror-up function to reduce the amount of camera shake when I’m ready to take a picture.

Now that my current lens needs have been fulfilled and I have gotten most of my lens envy under control, my focus is now on upgrading the supporting equipment for the times where hand-holding is not feasible or doable (say, for those super long exposures, or for shots that should be focused manually).

For quick and simple support, I have an Induro carbon fiber monopod with deployable metal legs. The monopod works quite well with my Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II (and that’s the shortened version of its official name) or when I don’t want to lug around my tripod and ballhead. As far as my current tripod and ballhead, I have a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod and a Manfrotto 488RC4 ballhead.

The tripod, while versatile, is a real pain to setup and adjust due to the leg clamps and lever mechanism used to adjust the position of the legs. Once deployed, it does what it needs to do and is stable. The ballhead can be a real pain to use as well, mostly when trying to remove and secure the “quick-release” plate. The lever that locks in the plate doesn’t always want to click into place nor does it engage smoothly. The rubber padding on the plate is supposed to provide grip and reduces scuffing on cameras that do not already have a rubber or rubber-like base. With my Nikon D300, it just makes it wiggle around and adds to the play involved with the plate and ball portion of the ballhead.

Over the next couple of months, I will be saving up to replace the ballhead with either a Really Right Stuff BH-55 with a knob release (I’m done with clamps, if you haven’t already figured out), an L-plate for my camera body and a replacement foot for my (current) beast of a lens. Maybe next year, I’ll be able to pull off a short-column or column-less carbon fiber tripod that can handle around 35-40 pounds (conservatively). Both may seem overkill for my setup, but will be able to handle additional flash and rail kits for macro and step up to a 150mm or 200mm macro lens.

As mentioned in my last blog post, I have taken a step into the world of manual focus lenses (not only for cost, but also for the capability of both lenses). I have taken it a step further and picked up a Lensbaby Composer for my D300.

I have always been fascinated with macro and architectural photography, even more so by pictures with unique exposures and compositions that focused on only the subject. Of those photos, some were taken with various Lensbaby lenses and optics… so when the opportunity arose, I decided to order the Composer and the Lensbaby Accessory Kit. The Accessory Kit includes a macro kit, a telephoto/wide-angle kit.

I am currently learning how to use the lens and will hopefully have some fruitful pictures that I’ll post online. I will hopefully be able to get the Soft Focus Optic and the Lensbaby Optic Kit, once I am comfortable with the Composer.

All of the lenses that I have purchased and used so far have been auto-focus lenses, but I got the fancy of getting and using manual focus lenses. I usually check the used equipment page of a local photography store and several online sites and found a used AI 135mm f/3.5 lens for under $80. I did some research on the lens and found that the lens has almost no distortion when used on a DX body. So, I decided to try out the lens in the store and checked to make sure that there was nothing wrong with the optics and casing. The exterior of the lens had a bit of wear, but the glass and diaphragm was still perfect. I purchased the lens at that point. The lens will never match the beauty of the AF 135mm f/2 DC, but considering the cost and optical quality, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed; not to mention, I could still opt to get the AF version at a later date.

Later during the week, I located an AI-s 24mm f/2.0 lens on eBay for $350, which was listed in mint condition and had both caps. I had already been considering getting an AF 24mm f/2.8, but wasn’t really impressed with the plastic casing (akin to the AF 85mm f/1.8). Since the AI-s lens was one-stop faster, had a metal case and was slightly cheaper than the AF, I opted for the AI-s lens. It arrived and it was in fact in mint condition, zoom ring was butter-smooth and optically beautiful.

These purchases will not supplant the need for auto-focus lenses, but will help round out my prime lens collection and hold me over until I can afford an AF 180mm f/2.8 and an AF-S 300mm f/4.