Sunday, March 30, 2008

Self-made tilt shift bellows

What you need:
  • a bellows with a wide distance between the rail and the lens mount (the mount can not be in between the handles)
  • two brackets about as wide as the bellows
  • 2 1/4 inch- 20 screws with course thread
  • 4 small screws to attach the brackets to the bellows
  • a iron saw and a round file
  • 2 small ball heads ( I got mine from B&H for $10 a piece)
How to put it together
Saw the bellows off the rail, fit the bracket to the bellows part by sawing and filing a half moon piece out of it, drill holes and attach it to the bellows. My bellows rail already had 2 holes to mount the ball heads, but you might have to cut them yourself. I am still planing to do this on the other side to attach it to a tripod. Use the 2 1/4"-20 screws to attach the bellows to the ball heads on the rail. My ball heads had a rubber ring at the mount which I removed since otherwise the whole construction wiggles. I hope the pictures explain the rest:







7 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow! can you build me one? seriously.

electronbee said...

Awesome. I thought of an idea like this long ago but I never got this far. Ingenious!

Any ways, you may want to look into using enlarger lenses to have the image circle and throw that you need to get the most out of this set-up.

Monica Garrison said...

Hi there,
I am putting together a tilt shift rig based on your pictures and instructions...very cool idea. Did you have any luck with it and/or pictures?
Thanks!

Monica

joel said...

I'd also love some pictures and feedback from the results.

capzicco said...

I made this bellow, but for my canon camer, but I lose the infinity focus. it's ok ?

John A. said...

Interesting. Any way you could post a pic of the unmodified bellows?

Anonymous said...

I'm making one right now :) thanks for the great idea!!!