Recommendations for Inexpensive Tilt Lens

I'm interested in TS photography, particularly portraits, but have been put off by the price of Canon's offerings. I've read that it's possible to use medium-format lenses as such with an appropriate adapter.

I'm looking for something between 75 and 150mm in focal lengths (medium telephoto/portrait), preferably faster than f/4, and easily adaptable to EOS with a tilt-adapter. So far that seems to limit me to Pentacon Six mount lenses, but I'm not even sure of that. From what I've read tilt isn't as taxing as shift in terms of edge IQ/vignetting, and my 1DsII sensor isn't too terribly demanding of lines/mm either.

I'm wondering if it's possible to still create the 'miniature' effect to some extent with only tilt, as well as what other effects I'm missing by ignoring shift.

Unfortunately, I'm not well-versed on the old P6 mount lenses. I would ideally like to keep the cost of lens+adapter below 400$. Which means the lens should be below ~300. I'm fine with waiting to catch a deal on ebay.

Thanks in advance!

It is unfortunate that someone ever posted "miniature" pix, IMO. T/S lenses are about so much more. Yes, only tilt was used for that effect. P6 are worth looking into. But, be reasonable. $300 budget just might not get you what you want.

Yeah, miniatures are only a small part of what I hope to use it for. I'm thinking portraits with both eyes in focus as well as some more creative still life/macro shots.

Any recommendations? I know you're the local guru on manual focus setups.

Some people use lens babies as a somewhat quasi tilt shift.

P6 and a tilt adapter.

Any specific models or sites to conduct research on?

Google, eBay. No, no particular places come to mind.

ebay does have an 80mm tilt shift that might work in your price range, but I don't know the quality?
http://cgi.ebay.com …enses&hash=item​19c2ef28db this might work for your price range and needs? good luck

Those are OK, not great but another way to get into the T/S world.

New thought - I let my students use my T/S lenses (used to have 3, now only 1) and after 1/2 hour they have nothing. T/S takes some learning and some just never get there. Seems a shame to waste a lot on a lens that you never are happy with, eh? Why not rent the 90/2.8 TS-E first? See if T/S and you get along.

Pretty much the best Tilt-Shift adapter available in several medium format mounts (Hasselblad, Mamiya, and the Pentacon 6) is made by Zork. In some cases, the adapter will cost you more than the lens.

Here's the link...pricing isn't available, you'd have yo email them for a quote. They're very well made, but expensive. I planned on using one with a Mamiya 645 35mm lens, but instead opted for a Canon 45 TSE...it was less expensive in the long run.

Zork Pro Shift Adapter

Zork may be the best but here's someone trying to keep the price down.

Precisely. I think I 'get' how the tilt function works, but I'd certainly not be adverse to renting one for a bit to check it out.

My research seems to suggest my options in this price range are CZJ 2.8 Biometars or Sonnars , either of 80 or 120mm flavors. It seems that the 80/2.8 Biometar has excellent contrast and above average sharpness, so that'd be a strong IQ option as it's available for less than 300$ on ebay. The Sonnars reportedly are much more variable, but have nicer bokeh.

So, unless I've been completely off in my research, I think this will net me a solid (85 1.8 quality) tilt-shift for less than 400$.

I had the Zeiss 180 on a tilt adapter and it was cool but kinda long. Stay with 80mm. Or, there is a 50/4 P6 lens I believe. And, both the lens and the tilt adapter have good resale value, so it will not cost you much in the long run.

Actually, looks like I can buy both the tilt adapter and the Biometar for less than 300$ anyway, so I may be looking at the Flektagon in addition at some point.

I am being tempted by a more expensive Tessar for their swirly bokeh....

How was the 180 tilt? I imagine with the thin DoF at that focal length it must've been difficult to work with.