Koelnmesse (Translation here) reports that the German company Big Photo will announce a shift lens for the Micro Four Thirds system! This is an ideal lens for architecture and product photography.
Actualy this is not the first lens you can get for m43. There is a Tilt Shift lens from [shoplink 33341 ebay]Goshotcamera California (Click here to see it)[/shoplink].
98 Responses
great.. but pls in black;-)!!
seems to be a kind of OEM from Asia, lets wait for the first tests.
but interestingly none of the bigger companies even thought about such a great lens..
Why is it important to have such a lens in black?
Are you afraid people think you look like an amateur because of a silver lens.
Then probably you ARE an amateur.
Beacuse… Oh well, I had to do this:
http://i.imgur.com/mc13Q.jpg
I want the 12mm in black, but why must it be a special edition only? Same way to milk us like with hoods?
BTW, if this lens was a little wider (14 or 12mm) I’d absolutely get it.
because it looks so pseudo, so “as if” luxury… i just want tools. no decoration objects, that pretend to be “shining”.. the other things are the.. 50 shades of grey ;-))))))
great pic/link, you made my day!
+1000
I can’t understand why do so many care about lens color. For me the stealth argument
just doesn’t fly. I think approach and distance have more to do with successful stealthy photographs than lens barrel color. And the silver lenses look fine on a black body
Try shooting through glass with a black versus with a white or silver lens especially in low-light conditions. Then you’ll find out why black is preferable and why many blacken out the white brand name on the camera body.
I usually try to avoid shooting through glass since it has more issues then reflections, but at times you don’t get much of a choice in that. If possible I try to get as close as possible to the glass and use an old-fashioned rubber screw-in hood to shield the part of the glass that I’m shooting through from any stray light.
I’m talking only about a reflection of a silver-bodies lens or camera, or white brand name lettering reflecting in glass, be it a window pane an aquarium, or any other highly reflective surface, for example water.
I understand totally what you are talking about, but don’t agree with it because:
– there typically are many things reflecting in the window or glass, the camera or lens is just one of them.
– the technique I described deals with all reflections not just one of them
What I described doesn’t work for reflective surfaces, but there the camera + lens is still only one of the potential causes of reflections.
In other words, yes, a black camera + lens may help a bit in this, and in some specific situations may help a lot, but generally, the reflection of the camera is only one of the worries about reflection, and in most situations by far not the most problematic one.
It’s the specific situations where those easily avoidable reflections are avoidable.
What color is your car’s dashboard? I picked black. 😉
If those situations are specific or not rather depends on your photography. I don’t sit around in darkened cars to shoot pictures of the surroundings, but I can imagine that a silvery camera is a bigger concern then typical in that case.
But, do you wear black clothes and gloves? have your face painted black? Because even when the camera doesn’t affect the reflections much, those hands holding it, and the face behind it still do.
And even then, shielding the glass from stray light really works better then trying to eliminate all stray light. The later may be possible in those circumstances where you have full control over light in the area you are in (such as your car) but its really not that usual to have such control.
Yeah and a tilt and shift is not particularly made to shoot people, so who cares.
Tell that to Jeff Newsom who uses a tilt/shift ALL the time, and extremely well I might add…
http://www.voltronofawesomeness.com
Wow, so people here who disagree with you are:
low lifes
unscrupulous
dishonest
peddle propaganda
You crack me up. As opposed to people complaining about slight differences in a shade of grey being obsessive??
I will tell you a secret, as one of my clients is one of the big two camera companies. You description of their marketing teams is so far off base you have no idea. You seem to be one of those people who like conspiracies, and hey I have a few of my own, but camera companies selling products you dont have to buy is nowhere near top of my list 😛
Now, want to know why a black lens would cost a bit more? Because when they consider how many they will sell after having sold say 75% of their expected sales with the silver, how will setting up production of a new lens colour affect their bottom line… it will cost more. They will not manufacture the same number they did in silver hence costs are slightly higher. The nub who DEMANDS a black lens pays the premium.
As for Olympus not getting your money, they didnt notice. If they honestly thought that ensuring a perfect match of grey in two different materials possibly manufactured in two parts of the word was going to lose them your money they may have thought twice. However because it isnt always logistically feasible, financially feasible or time feasible to match plastic perfectly to metal they probably decided to just focus on the glass inside the lens 🙂
Ab
Wow. unbelievable, but then again maybe not so much. I rest my case and thanks for the prime example.
Oh hey, the master of absurd assumptions is back!
Did you even realize this lens isn’t made by Olympus? or was that little detail invisible from your high-horse position?
Most people who actually seriously care about the pictures they take couldn’t care less about what their camera looks like. Its generally people like you who need the camera to look in a specific way to feel ‘pro’ who are not just vocal about their desire, but feel this urge to throw insults at anyone who happens to be of a different opinion.
Go get a life.
Awesome, thanks guys, you fed the trolls now the thread is dead…
Can we get back on topic now ?
At some point this site had somewhat of a friendly communication flow with SLR magic, any chance those guy might come up with a wider Shift lens too ? although reviewing their latest offerings that would be a more expensive proposition than this announcement.
The black is not always more than the silver. Silver Voigtlanders are currently more than the black. I have been hunting silver versions at a reasonable price, maybe the silver are old stock and the sellers are not willing to reduce the price to that of the more current black versions.
The Voigtlander M series only comes in black. Pity, I am looking for LTM39 versions in silver. They are smaller as well as silver and can be used on almost any CSC camera. As well as M mount with a cheap coded adapter.
They have a great advantage over Oly silver, they are all the same shade of silver, some one set a standard which Oly forgot to do.
Because silver lens on a black body looks stupid, it make you look like a clown or a pervert, and of course we are amateurs, pro guys use FF DSLR
You have some strange ideas.
+1
Hmm, I’d think the results matter, not the tool.
Someone like TheEye brought up a situation in which silver or otherwise bright items can matter for pictures, and surely for some situations that can be a concern, but that is a different story then what you are bringing up really.
I bet: It’s a Voigtländer 15 mm Super Wide Heliar – rebuilt in Ukraine.
+1 Ha ha!
It sure looks like one of the Voigtländer 15mm M mount lenses. I’d love one of them if it wasn’t f4.5!
http://cameraquest.com/voigt_15m.htm
Yes 😉
So we can wait for the 12mm-version – next year – PMA in january?
I bet it’s rebuilt in China. We can’t even make a decent copies anymore, alas…
SURPRISE! I Couldn’t care less.
It seems black to me. The image looks like an Illustrator file with a gradient fill. Black always looks more grey than black.
When I do 3D modeling, I never make objects that are supposed to be black black, because all the detail disappears and things just look like big black blobs. So, grey = black.
I bet it’s black!
Perhaps Olympus will make a lens that shifts from silver to black!
oh you 😀
Or maybe, something like from the hotwheels toys, that changes from silver to black or vice-versa when the lens is sprayed w/ water. Just make sure it’s weathered sealed. =)
No kidding: http://i.imgur.com/mc13Q.jpg
With matching lens hood…. 🙂
perhaps, this is from 15 mm heliar for leica m
maybe a great lens… we´ll see…
There’s also the Arax line from Ukrainia for Four Thirds (and as such, with an adapter suitable for µ4/3rds). BJP reported about these a while ago at http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/technical-report/2082054/technical-perspective-tilt-shift-lenses
Thanks for the link!!
The Arax, at 80mm (=160mm) and the Hartblis a little long for M43.
The HARTBLEI Digital 45mm Super-Rotator Tilt Shift Lens Small Format (=90mm) is the perfect length for Tabletop Product Photography but it Isn’t available with a M43 mount.
LOL,
shift lens for tiny sensor.
Adriaantie you troll, go and find Bassie …!!!
Won’t work, his depth of field is way too shallow for that.
hahahaha 🙂
I”M IN! I’M IN !!! DAMN !!!!!!!!!!!
So sweet this PhotoKina. It will empty out my bank account 🙂 If the optic is apochromatic and near focus optimized, The still life world is about to shift!
what camera are you currently using?
I use a lot of different cameras. D800 on the back of a Sinar P2 with 50mm Apo Rodagon up front, to Nikon Coolpix cameras ( which I love for macro)
I’m trying to avoid buying a Horseman CVCC Pro, Even if this Big Photo shift lens is in the $2,000 range it will be worth it.VCC Pro has all those darn bellows in the way!
Am I mistaken or are none of these micro four thirds? Thought u were going to say Gh2 or some Olympus cam 🙂
Any one that knows me knows I’m tops at handicapping technology. That means I am the quintessential MID STREAM adopter. I run my gear INTO THE GROUND to the point that it’s screaming, and that takes YEARS! I’ve only just started to be interested in M43. The big holdback? Sever lack of bokeh or shallow depth of field, making many shots impossible. Unless someone pulls a $2,000 S35 sensor camera out of the ‘The Hat’ this month, I’m likely to make my next camera the GH3. GH2 is too amateur and fussy and needy for me in my work. GH3 promises Pro features so that’s when I jump in. I also know that 2013 will bring us pint sized Pro M43 cameras.
I am waiting for the GH3 too.. You seem to know the technical stuff so would love to hear ur feedback in here when the final specs of the cam are posted 🙂
With all the new cams being announced I am lost lol
Sure. I also started a group in Facebook. Search under > Panasonic GH3 <
that one from ghostcam is useless. 50mm t/s for m43???
Never understood what the shift lens can do what you cannot do with Photoshop. I even own an OM 35 mm shift lens and it made sense in those days. Nevertheless in our days…
In terms of perspective control Photoshop largely eliminates the need for the “shift” part of a tilt/shift lens, IMHO. But Photoshop can’t really help you compensate for a focus plane that’s not parallel to the sensor – that’s a job for the “tilt” part of the lens.
OK,that’s a point, but most shift lenses are about 35 equivalent and for architecturals needs, so this again isn’t an argugment..
Apart from it: Is the focus plane ever in parallel to the sensor? Or is it more spherical according to the radius of the lens(especially for shorter focal lengths…)? I always wonder about this when I see the results of lens tests. Isn’t it totally clear that the corners of flat subjects cannot be sharp due to the spherical nature of focus?
For architectural work the subject is far enough away that you don’t need to worry about the focus plane. Tilting is useful when you’re working at close distances with an oblique subject.
PS doesn’t eliminate the need of shift : software shift spoils the corners which are often already soft in mft. So shift is a need, but 15mm is too wide for architecture.
I think you are forgetting about the 2x crop factor, so this is equivalent to a 30mm on full frame, seems ok to me?
…but it doesn’t look like this lens has a “tilt” capability, does it?
When Photoshop 2.0 came out, I flipped out! Oh how cool, now I can shoot 35mm and fix my perspective distortion in post. Oh how cool, now I can sell my view cameras and create forced perspective still life shots in post.
Well, sort of, but not really.
Shift lenses bridge the gap between Photoshop and a proper Asymmetrical T/S View Camera. Here’s a 1 minute primer:
1) Shift only is ideal for architecture but only partially useful for tabletop both at typical angles, 45º and Straight down.
2) Tilt only is ideal for Tabletop at angles from 20º and higher and only partially useful in architecture.
3) Both T & S in one are ideal for both architecture and Tabletop. In my case, the shift capability will assist SOME in keeping front to back focus, though tilt would be better. For NEAR straight down shots it will allow me to avoid camera reflections in my subject.
We really need a dedicated bag bellows T&S front standard. Forget the TS lenses.
Hmmm, unfortunately B.I.G. isn´t known as manufacturer of high quality products.
So I hope the lens will have a better iq than the lensbabies.
B.I.G. isn’t a manufacturer. It’s a German shop that deals with all sorts of photography related products, among them a lot of very special items that you don’t find easily in other shops.
They do design and have some things made for them, for example, their line of Kalahari photo bags (Which are nice – I have several of them).
When I still lived in Bavaria, I would drive to Foto Brenner every couple weeks and get some more or less obscure gear. I bought a Chinese 120 Seagull Twin-Eye reflex camera, which still oozes a strange chemical smell, for about 125 DM. I also bought my first enlarger, an LPL CL7700 there. Foto Brenner has become pretty large over the years. In terms of price they can’t compete with the online here in the US (because of the VAT), but I still get my photo bags from them.
Ebay also lists a 20mm tilt/shift for micro-4/3, search for “MC 2.8/20mm TILT/SHIFT lens Micro 4/3”.
Surely it’s adapted. MC generally refers to a particular lens mount.
If this is priced reasonably, I would love it. I’d really like a 12mm shift, though. If it were high quality and sharp to the shifted edges, I’d even pay about $800 for it. (I’d swap my Oly 12/2 for it to be honest, as much as I love that lens).
I think it will cost 999,- Euro or obove. The Voigtländer Heliar 15mm costs about 550 Euro, the rest for the rebuilding-process and advertising – yes – and they want to earn a little bit.
Admin gave an ebay-link: The russian Helios 2.0 50mm cost about 50 Euro, but the Shift-Helios-version nearly 300$ by most dealers.
They do not need to do much work. Its only a glorified permanent lens adapter that replaces the M mount. As long as the thickness is correct it should be quite good. The 15mm Voigtlander has a very good reputation, though not a fast lens. But many Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander slow lenses are better than their fast counterparts, though no cheaper and often costing more.
If the price is right, I may be game. Need a shift lens at some point.
Does anyone have experience with the OM Zuiko 24mm Shift lens on m43?
B.I.G: I know this company for about 20 years. They imported interesting stuff from China and the former USSR. Like Kiev Cameras or Seagull TLRs. They also imported Uniloc – tripods from UK.
Later they sold KIEV 88 Cams under their Brand BIG – improved with Pentacon-Six Mount. There was also a Seagull TLR with a Tessar-Type lens.
So: Nice to hear, that they are back!
Voigtländer: I think, the lens is based on the well known Voigtländer 15 mm Super Wide Heliar.
That means: A Cosina-Lens – handcrafted in Ukraine 🙂
A 30mm lens is perfect for product photography? Interesting take. at 30mm equiv. it’s something of an architectural lens, although wider would be preferable. 10-12mm and excellent quality and I’d probably buy one to create a viable D800/24mm PC-E alternative for architecture. It would be nice to travel light for shoots… but realistically it’ll be at least a D800/14-24/24-70/24PC-E combo for the foreseeable future. It’s really the tripod and lighting that take up all the room for larger shoots though.
I would really like a lens with at least shift functionality for my Olympus m4/3. This is the first one that looks promising. Anxious to learn more.
I’d like a shift lens too, but at 15mm (aka 30mm in 35mm equivalent), it is really too long for architecture, so I’m not interested in that one. I need a 10-12mm at least., perhaps a 13mm would do it too, but 15mm is way too long for what I need it.
I had a Nikon 35mm tilt lens for full frame. It’s very niche, seldom used it. 35mm is mildly effective for tilt, 30mm (15mm x 2) would be better, but ultimately a 12mm (24mm equivalent) would be ideal, especially for indoors.
The California 50mm (100mm) on eBay isn’t useful. At that focal length on M43 you’re already far from the building that there won’t be much tilt.
Anyway, using a tilt lens is very slow, and they’re usually manual focus and manual aperture, and takes time to adjust the tilt and shift. Occasionally I overdid it, the building bent backwards.
I would like one if the optics are good. I refuse to buy slow zooms and mediocre primes.
Ken Rockwell says.
“This Voigtländer 15mm isn’t merely “good enough” or “almost as good” or “decent for the price” compared to Leica. This Voigtländer 15mm lens is superior to the Leica ultrawide lenses because it’s sharper and has less distortion than the Leica 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.”
http://kenrockwell.com/voigtlander/15mm.htm
Am I the only one who thinks it looks like a transformer? 😉
It does appear to be more than meets the eye.
I’m a former 5D2 + TS-E 24/3.5L II shooter focused on nature and architecture. “Slow shooting” is what I enjoy most, and having made the switch to m43, I’d love to see a comparable T/S lens with professional build and image quality…like a m43 Schneider Kreuznach PC lens. I’d be willing to pay significantly such a lens in a native format.
Plus one, or plus 100 times that. As a 5D mk1 and 24TS Of the first generation, I’m in the same boat and agree with all what you said !
MFT lenses from Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Cosina, Zeiss, and now Big Photo, not to mention the availability of adapted lenses (I use five Nikon AIS lenses on my Olympus PEN bodies)! There is a lesson here: third party lens manufacturers obviously see the viability of the MFT concept (mirrorless and small offering a complete system of accessories and interchangeable lenses) even if the major camera companies do not. Don’t think Nikon, Canon, or Sony will kill off MFT anytime soon.
Zeiss didn’t say that they will make any mft lenses, they just announced “mirrorless” lenses; it could be for APSC, rather than mft, or directed at both formats like Sigma lenses. I hope that they will make something specially for mft, but nothing is sure yet.
Wow, I’m always surprised at the amount of frustrated a$$h-l-s that roam this site, what is wrong with you people ? are you hoping to get an award for this year most pathetic troll ?
Aren’t you happy that more and more companies are doing new stuff for m4/3? I don’t care whether it’s an adapted voightlander from russia (somehow I doubt that) or whatever, this kind of product pushes Oly and Pany to pay attention (if successful) and that’s awesome.
I’m in need of a TS lens for my M4/3 kit, particularly shift, and this sounds great, or at least better than the ebay alternatives. I would’ve preferred a 12mm but I’m guessing such an effort would have an impact in quality (and/or price), just imagine a Oly 12mm shift lens, if the regular one is that expensive I cannot fathom what a shift version would cost, so any effort from other companies are welcome.
He, he. I don’t mind a silver lens on my black OM-D (or PEN) body; in my view, it looks stylish. I don’t think shades of silver is any worse than shades of black/grey.
—
Btw: I am not an Olympus employee, I’m not even into the camera business — I’m a totally independent amateur.
It would have to be really good optical quality to give you a better end result than simply correcting in Photoshop. With a caveat, there are some special cases of horizontal shift which can’t be duplicated in software, but these are pretty rare.
Personally I’d love to have a tilt lens for 4/3, around 12mm. But I’m not holding my breath…
Well, like I said before, Bart, before I was so rudely deleted. Scurry on back to the bowels of Olympus from wince you came.
I guess I’m unable to respond to you Bart, in an appropriate way, without being deleted, so I guess you are right about everything and I’m wrong. You are everything and I’m nothing, so I’ll try to get a life now.
Now i’ve been undeleted. What’s up with that?
Perhaps you were not deleted nor undeleted? Perhaps just an IT error? My comment on liking the silver lens didn’t come out in the right thread…
—
Anyway, Zuiko’s silver lenses even appear in the popular culture: “High-ho Silver, tit for tat, and I love you for that” 🙂
Guys, can`t you take your personal flame war elsewhere ?
What the f%&k does this lens have to do with Olympus color preferences ? Can we go back to topic on this shift lens ?
Before this announcement I was considering buying a shift adapter and a WA lens, does anyone have an idea of what mounts are more convenient for doing this ? I guess it depends in the final cost of this lens vs an adapter+WA lens combo, tough 30mm is a bit limiting for architectural work.
Whatever happened to those Tilt + Shift (i.e. both functions in one adapter) adapters ? at some point there were many alternatives, some italian manufacturer and other ebay adapters went on sale at some point but now there’s very few alternatives…
The problem is that there aren’t so many wide legacy lenses available to mount on these adapters, you need at least 12-13mm for architecture, even 15mm is too long for that. There is a13mm Nikon, but it cost a fortune, so there are few on the market and few shift adapters for it. Those using a Nex with 1.5 crop factor instead of 2 are better served here. A 16mm or 18mm produce a 24mm, or 27mm equivalent and you can find that kind of legacy lenses. I don’t know whether they give you magenta color shift in the corners however, r whether they are sarp.
As Ken Rockwell says of this lens.
“This Voigtländer 15mm isn’t merely “good enough” or “almost as good” or “decent for the price” compared to Leica. This Voigtländer 15mm lens is superior to the Leica ultrawide lenses because it’s sharper and has less distortion than the Leica 21mm f/2.8 ASPH.”
Also check results on flickr some nice shots.
Why there’s so little news from 4/3 or m4/3 side….? With all excitement from Sony with their FF mirrorless and FF NEX camcorder…..all we got as a loyal supporter of 4/3 and m4/3 is just a few prototype lens, new expensive lens, mysterious PEN (with ugly teaser ad’s) and no leaked pictures of GH-3….looks like the m4/3 producer lost their confidence at Photo Kina…..:-(
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15mm ? Is that sure ? That makes a 30mm full frame equivalent, not that usefull in architecture ! We need a 24 or 21mm equivalent !
Zörk?
Having looked at the link, I’m not convinced it is based on the Voigtlander lens – unless the “2,4 / 15mm” means something other than 15mm f2.4, that’s much faster than the f4.5 aperture of the SW Heliar.
I do hope we learn more about this soon!