A little free time on a weekend results in my third tilt lens for (D)SLR cameras.

My first Tilt&Shift lens was build ~ 2002 out of a lens back cap and a camera front cap. Both of them were drilled ans rasped to get big holes in the centre. A black balloon (they are hard to find in Germany) was cut and used as the bellow, glued between the caps.
This kind of T/S was usabel for macro, if you use a lens with larger flange back distance than the camera, you could use that for infinity too.

The second Tilt and Shift lens only for Crop-DSLR-cameras (most amatuer cameras) was out of an old Canon FD 28 mm / 2.8 lens. I deattached the mount. Instead of that i glued seal tape (that which could be used for insulating doors or windows). That tape was a kind of bellow and mount too!
The Canon FD has a very high optical quality, so I have not to bother about that.

Canon FD 28 / 2.8 ohne Bajonett und Blendenringe Canon FD 28 / 2.8 Tilt Shift Objektiv

 

The third way:
Sometimes it would be necessary to use the tilt lens with tripod, there you need a self holding lens. Not the ballon way or something like that.
I took a Canon FD 50 mm / 1.8, a halogen spotlight for house installation ( Paulmann Tip Halogen Einbauleuchte 98733) - see pictures, a filter with 58 mm diameter and a retro adapter with the same diamter like the filter (which could be unscrewed from the DIY Tilt Monster lens).
Material cost ~ 50 Euro, ~ 4 hours working.
Tools: Hot glue, some screwdrivers, a file for steel, pliers.

That lens works only for crop cameras, on Full Format cameras the lens would probably vignette, and much more risky: It would probably damage the mirror mechanics. It works well with my Canon EOS 350D. A friend of mine tested it with an EOS 5D Mark II and it works with some vignetting, as long as you don´t focus it to infinity.
After some month of usage I am glad to have used a metal lamp housing - the friction is still ok. Negative is that the outer ring of the lamp housing is often in conflict with the flash of the camera and my fingers. But I am still very happy with this DIY project.

 

Halogenlampenhalter

Thats the ring of the halogen spotlight, without the halogen bulb.
The 2 "noses" on the back, which limit the tilt of the lamp, could be bend away.
Then bend with the pliers the ring on the backside on the height of these noses 90° to the inside. It should afterwards support the filterring. The glas is removed from the filter-mechanics. The filter-ring is attached with hot glue to this bend down metal of the spotlight back-ring. Warning: The filter-ring should be glued that way, that the front of the filter look backwards to the camera. So that the retro adapter could be screwed in, to adapt the camera - and to allow the rotation of the tilt lens.

The shorter the Tiltadapter made out of the filterring and the spotlamp, the better you could focus on infinity and beyond.
All parts of the image should be possible to be focused on infinity.
I had to break parts of the spotlamp metal away, to get a greater tilt range.

Canon FD 50 / 1.8Canon FD 50 / 1.8 Bajonett


Thats the used Canon FD 50 / 1.8 (6 lens elements IMHO).
The mount is deattached, as seen on the pictures.

The lens is diassembled as seen here. We have the lens housing, a threat, and the "nut".

This "nut" fits into the halogen spotlamp housing! As seen on the picture above. Some work with the file is neccessary, so that the nut fits even. Black window insolation tape is used for light trapping.
Here some pictures of my first tiltable spotlamp tilt lens.

And now the quick and dirty Monster-Tilt-Lens is ready - and you know now, why I named it "Monster".

First results: :

First picture with small depth of field - Anti Scheimpflug, and the second one with high depth of field - ~ Scheimpflug movement

Further pictures :


The 28 mm Canon FD has a smaller thread, so it can't be changed.

But you could do the same with a Canon FD 50 mm / 1.4 - I did so and have now one of the fastest tilt lenses. The sharp area is sometimes to small.
This lens could be used on a full frame 24x36 camera for closer work to, but if you tilt to much, or focus to far, the mirror will hit the lens.

Here some pictures made with my Canon FD 50/1.4 DIY tilt lens:



Some pictures that show how one cano work with Scheimpflug for different sharnness planes - lens full open

Now some pictures what one can doe with such a cheap and simple device - when I remember right all wide open. Left hand the neutral position, right side the tilted position to reach a good level of sharpness.



Here very extreme example of tilting, the lens is heavy vignetting, and there is even a color shift.



Please see the white unshaph thing on the left side. With using the iris to get all of the bench more or less shatrp the wide thing would be sharper too.

More of my tilt pictures in my gallery!
For example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9


And now some links to other DIY tilt / shift lenses:

Lowbudgetshooting.de: Tilt / Shift Optic out of an old bellows camera

DSLR-Forum: Tilt Shift shophisticated , here is a fullframe 135 lens for a Crop-DSLR too

Some like the idea from Dennison Bertrams Tilt & Shift optic

Here a more detailed instruction of the same idea, creativepro.com

Some who other ideas of a lose T/S lens , with something like a cloth bellows

Big tilt / shift linklist with links to good images, Hamish D. Grant

A fine looking variation of my way with a LED push light , by Thomas Berndt

A close copy of my DIY Tilt lens, by Jonas Schmid