Nikon 85mm F/2.8D PC-E

The Nikon 85mm f/2.8D PC-E is a perspective-control lens with full tilt, shift, and rotation capabilities. Key features include:

• Superb for product, architectural, and panorama photography

• Full tilt, shift, and rotation capabilities

• Excellent sharpness

• Automatic aperture control on FX cameras

High-Quality Tilt-Shift Lens. The Nikon 85mm f/2.8D PC-E offers a shift range of +/- 11.5mm, a tilt range of +/- 8.5mm, and a rotation capability of 90°. These adjustments provide superb perspective correction for architectural shots, panoramic shots, and special effects. It has automatic aperture control on FX cameras like the and .

Please note:

• If you’re not familiar with perspective-control lenses, you can’t master them in a couple of hours. You’ll need a day or two of practice with the manual before tackling an important assignment.

• The shift-lock knob must be locked down before focusing the shot, otherwise there is a bit of sag at the shift plate that will allow the lens to be out of alignment.

It’s true that mastering a tilt-shift takes a lot of practice. I’m not sure how much yet. But doing useful things with one (like using tilt-to-control depth of field) is simple, and it gives you th…

It’s true that mastering a tilt-shift takes a lot of practice. I’m not sure how much yet. But doing useful things with one (like using tilt-to-control depth of field) is simple, and it gives you those images where everything from the camera to infinity appears in focus.

This lens is commonly used for product photography because it keeps the entire area of interest in equally sharp focus without stopping down to f/16 and getting diffraction softness.

By the way, that last sentence was an entrance exam — if you didn’t understand it, you can’t rent this lens. Seriously, this is a big-boy toy, and I don’t want anyone else giving us a bad review because the PC-E lens they rented doesn’t autofocus very well (understandable because they are all manual focus).

Using the shift function to alter perspective for architectural photos is child’s play for those who once shot view cameras. The rest of us just play with the darn thing and chimp away until we get what you want. (For those who don’t know what chimping is, it’s when you look at the shot on the camera’s LCD and go “ooh, oooh, oooh!”).

Sometimes you’ll nail it right away. Sometimes you’ll get something with enough distorted reality to use as a “Don’t Do Drugs” poster. You can either throw those away or pretend that’s what you meant to do because you’re considering a career in fine art photography. I know. I shouldn’t use “fine art photography” and “career” in the same sentence—they have no common ground.