Kipon shift adapter

[PerryM]

I am interested in the Kipon shift adapter for OM lenses:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kipon-Shift-Adapter-for-Olympus-OM-Lens-to-Micro-Four-Thirds-M4-3-MFT-Camera-/121077090532?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item1c30c1c8e4

I have been trying to find some information from China but I have run into a language problem! Perhaps somebody here will know or will be able to work it out from the product picture.

If I have the adapter on my GH3 and I am taking a landscape view of a building, and I am moving the shift knob as I look at the image; then what position on the camera will the knob be? How about for a portrait view? I am trying to ensure that the camera grip will not be interfering with access to the knob (Kipon call it the 'button')

Any feedback about this adapter, and/or the sister tilt adapter would be well received.

 

[Rudy]

Looking at the red dot, the knob would be on the opposite side of the grip.
They also mention that it won't fit the OM-D, most likely because it's tto wide and interferes with the "prism" hump.
The tilt transformer has the same issue...
Rudy

 

[Petrochemist]

The Ad mentions 360° rotation, which would be similar to my tilt adapter (hopefully better made though, on mine the rotation makes things very difficult when I'm trying to get the adapter off the camera). Once mounted the adapter will rotate all they way round so that you can shift in any direction.
Effectively you can have the knob in any position want as long as the camera doesn't foul it.

 

[vm666]

Is this kind of adapter really useful? Shift lens had short focal length, like the Zuiko 24 mm.
The shortest lens I had with my OM cameras was a 17 mm Tamron. With the x2 crop factor, this is equivalent to a 34 mm, a not-so-wide angle.

 

[PerryM]

Is this kind of adapter really useful? Shift lens had short focal length, like the Zuiko 24 mm.
The shortest lens I had with my OM cameras was a 17 mm Tamron. With the x2 crop factor, this is equivalent to a 34 mm, a not-so-wide angle.

I get the drift - I've since read several folks saying that perspective correction is adequately done in PS so a shift lens is largely redundant.
So how about the tilt adapter? I have a 19mm Vivitar but I'm more interested in my 24mm Zuiko - would that work well with a tilt adapter?

 

[dhazeghi]

Is this kind of adapter really useful? Shift lens had short focal length, like the Zuiko 24 mm.
The shortest lens I had with my OM cameras was a 17 mm Tamron. With the x2 crop factor, this is equivalent to a 34 mm, a not-so-wide angle.

For OM mount, I agree - there's not much use. But for Nikon F mount, it could be used with the Samyang 10/2.8, 12/2.0 or 14/2.8, or with any of a variety of APS-C zoom lenses like the Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 or the Tokina 11-16/2.8, though in the second case you'd lose control of the aperture. Still, pretty wide.

 

[PerryM]

For OM mount, I agree - there's not much use. But for Nikon F mount, it could be used with the Samyang 10/2.8, 12/2.0 or 14/2.8, or with any of a variety of APS-C zoom lenses like the Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 or the Tokina 11-16/2.8, though in the second case you'd lose control of the aperture. Still, pretty wide.

mmm . . . now as I understand it - one of the fundamental requirements of a tilt or shift lens is that the image covers far more than the sensor size, otherwise you will suffer severe vignetting. With an OM to MFT there is a 200%+ inherent coverage so probably more than adequate. Using APS-C and similar format lenses seems to me far more marginal - in practice (perhaps) it will depend on the excess coverage available in the lens itself. This will maybe be set by the lens manufacturing story since some will perhaps have full frame origins.
Anyways - this is all very interesting but irrelevant for my photography. I am a hobbyist who happens to have a pile of OM lenses from 35mm film days. I have been delighted to use them on my Lumix GH3 with appropriate adapters (with and without a 'speed-booster') but the opportunity to use a 'trick' adapter to boost my range of photo tools is very tempting. I am willing to take a punt on $100 for a shift adapter but needing to buy extra lenses is not in the plan!

 

[dhazeghi]

mmm . . . now as I understand it - one of the fundamental requirements of a tilt or shift lens is that the image covers far more than the sensor size, otherwise you will suffer severe vignetting. With an OM to MFT there is a 200%+ inherent coverage so probably more than adequate. Using APS-C and similar format lenses seems to me far more marginal - in practice (perhaps) it will depend on the excess coverage available in the lens itself. This will maybe be set by the lens manufacturing story since some will perhaps have full frame origins.

It depends an enormous amount on the lens. The actual image circle for full frame and APS-C lenses vary widely - some barely cover the specified frame, others cover significantly beyond.

Anyways - this is all very interesting but irrelevant for my photography. I am a hobbyist who happens to have a pile of OM lenses from 35mm film days. I have been delighted to use them on my Lumix GH3 with appropriate adapters (with and without a 'speed-booster') but the opportunity to use a 'trick' adapter to boost my range of photo tools is very tempting. I am willing to take a punt on $100 for a shift adapter but needing to buy extra lenses is not in the plan!

Fair enough. In any case, shift lenses are falling out of fashion because their original purpose - correcting perspective distortion - is fairly easy to tackle in software these days. That wasn't the case with film. The only major use these days is for perfectly stitched panoramas, but there too you need a precise assembly to allow you to shift the camera by the opposite amount of the lens shift.

I'd say a more interesting option for your lenses would be a focal reducer for a wider view, or a tilt adapter for selective DoF. I've got a cheap Nikon tilt adapter and it's a fun thing to use on occasion, though I went for the cheaper clone ($60) rather than the Kipon.