Using a Fotodiox shift adapter

[addieleman]

Some weeks ago I ordered a Fotodiox shift adapter to use Nikon F mount lenses on my MFT cameras. Tonight I set out to find out if it's any use and mounted it with my best lens, the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5. :smile:

First off, some remarks on its usage.

The adapter's tripod mount is more of a nuisance than anything else. It gets in the way when mounting the camera on a tripod and it's too small to fit really tightly on a tripod itself. I used it in the latter fashion anyway because I'm using flash so no great worries about vibration.

You can rotate the adapter to vary the direction of shifting. This rotation movement is rather stiff, it almost feels like forcing anything. The lens mount itself is loose, but I didn't see any movement on the display.

The G1's "prism" hump gets in the way of the fixing screw and also of the tripod mount. A GF1-type of camera would be more convenient, although the articulating display of the G1 is quite comfortable in these situations.

This is the adapter itself.

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Here's a picture without shift. Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 at f/5.6.

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This one with 5mm shift to the right. Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 at f/5.6.

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And this one with 10mm shift to the right. Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 at f/5.6. The center is still sharp, the Micro-Nikkor puts in a remarkable performance!

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[f6cvalkyrie]

To anybody who might consider buying one of these "pro" adapters :

Please be aware that they do not allow for focusing to infinity !!!

Communicated with (great) difficulty about this to Fotodiox, but they could not give a satisfactory solution. They just sent a replacement item, that was no better than the original one

Also, as Ad states, the tripod fixation is not really useful. It is not solid enough and the fixation surface is too small. I wanted to use it with my Nikkor 180/2.8 ED, but it is of little help

Fazit : definitely not the product that I would advice you to buy !

Have a nice sunday,
Rafael

 

[Michael]

I have had a bad experience with a Fotodiox adapter, the machining on mine is just plain sloppy...
A Leica R to EOS adapter I have skips its locking pin when one changes the aperture on the lens causing the lens and body to part company!!! I am sure there are other good manufacture's out there but the only one I have absolutely no fault with is Novoflex.
With regards to tilt and shift, the Lensbaby is very well made perhaps a bit lightly built I would imagine that their current offering would serve quite well with a Nikkor lens attached. It may not be as precise as a Canon or Nikon T&S but from experience it would not have any slack in it or fall off the camera.

 

[addieleman]

Please be aware that they do not allow for focusing to infinity !!!

No problems here, my combo's infinity focus is spot on.

I agree with Michael that the precision with which it is produced, leaves much to be desired. Indeed, when I need another adapter I'll probably get it from Novoflex again. I have the MFT-> Nik adapter and it's excellent.

 

[addieleman]

With regards to tilt and shift, the Lensbaby ...

As far as I could find out, Lensbaby offers a tilt adapter with no significant shift capabilities. A shift adapter doesn't seem to be in their programme.

 

[f6cvalkyrie]

No problems here, my combo's infinity focus is spot on.

Which lenses do you use, Ad ?
I was told by Fotodiox (in the end) that infinity was missed with lenses opening wider than f2.8 which is about my whole lens collection.
And, my personal tests showed that even lenses opening at f4.5 did miss infinity, although to a lesser extend.

C U,
Rafael

 

[addieleman]

Which lenses do you use, Ad?

My previous infinity test was done with the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5.

I checked with my 2 fastest lenses, a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2. Both did not attain perfect focus on infinity, the farthest distance which could be sharp was about 30m for both lenses. I double-checked with my Novoflex adapter, both lenses could focus on infinity with that one.

So it seems indeed that the Fotodiox adapter is a bit too long, about 0.08mm from the figures mentioned before.

 

[Sammyboy]

Mine is for an OM mount, I found it to be .3mm SHORT and would not focus to infinity, so I had to take off the flange (the one on the lens side of the adapter) and add the shim. It will now focus to infinity without a problem.

 

[Sammyboy]

Just to clarify, I could focus beyond infinity. In other words, when I focused on an object lets say at 300 meters, the lens scale indicated a distance less than infinity. Hope I didn't confuse anyone.

 

[ascherjim]

My previous infinity test was done with the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5.

I checked with my 2 fastest lenses, a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2. Both did not attain perfect focus on infinity, the farthest distance which could be sharp was about 30m for both lenses. I double-checked with my Novoflex adapter, both lenses could focus on infinity with that one.

So it seems indeed that the Fotodiox adapter is a bit too long, about 0.08mm from the figures mentioned before.

I'll jump into this thread half a year later to report that Jeff Holland of Fotofiax informed me today, in answer to my query regarding the reported inability for some lenses to focus at infinity with this mount, that "We are aware of the problem and our next batch of the shift adapters is going to be made slightly thinner to allow for full infinity."

 

[PeterB666]

Just a note, if the lens is focussed at infinity and the scale says something like 30m or 10m, it isn't an issue. The real problem is when you cannot get sharp focus for objects at long disances at any position on the focus scale. That is a difficult situation to solve as you would have to remove metal to get proper focus.

 

[addieleman]

I'll jump into this thread half a year later to report that Jeff Holland of Fotofiax informed me today, in answer to my query regarding the reported inability for some lenses to focus at infinity with this mount, that "We are aware of the problem and our next batch of the shift adapters is going to be made slightly thinner to allow for full infinity."

Good to know that they're reacting to the problem. Meanwhile my Fotodiox adapter has developed so much play that I don't want to rely on it any further, so I won't order another one unless the general quality will be improved.

 

[DekHog]

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is the purpose of this? I can see the slight difference in the photos, but............... shift without the tilt or something?

 

[addieleman]

It's indeed a shift-only device. I used it with a macro lens to avoid reflections or just to get a different perspective. It's much more useful with architecture shots where you can keep vertical lines straight and the horizon low at the same time. You can just tilt the camera and straighten later in PP, but to me that's not the same.

 

[tradesmith45]

I'm late to this party but have learned so much from reading about these adapter I wanted to say thinks for the posts.

Here's my 2¢ worth. A shift adapter would have some stiching/panorama uses in a couple ways. I own old film Widelux & an Xpan & having a shift lens I could use on my OM-D would be a good substitute.

Full frame 20mm & 40mm w/ the camera in portrait orientation & shifting horizontally could yield 105 & 54 deg. horizontal FOV (if I did the math right) with 3-4 stitched frames. Not bad. The advantage of this approach over rotating around the nodal point is fewer restrictions about keeping the camera level to prevent having a curved horizon.

Alternatively you could use the shift to raise or lower the lens vertically w/ nodal rotation horizontally to get a larger FOV.

Now if Fotodiox will just improve the tolerances & make the shift adapter for Pentax lens I'd be set. Pentax has several small legacy wides (which I own) + the current 15mm Limited that would be terrific for this kind of setup.