The Perfect Lens

Those of you who read this rant every so often (all 3 of you), will know that I love using the 24mm tilt/shift lens for architecture and interiors. It’s a specialist lens that demands some in-depth knowledge of certain techniques, and when used correctly it can help produce beautifully composed images. Unfortunately it got clonked in my case one day, and the revolving mount at the back which allows you to switch between landscape and portrait oriented functionality got jammed. This meant that it had to head down to my usual repair dudes in London known as Fixation. The repair was simple, but properly expensive – coming in just short of £300 with the return courier fees and whatever. It had to be done.

While it was away, I knew that I had a couple of special jobs – the first involving shooting for a Cussins Homes new development, and a residential property on one of the most prestigious streets in Newcastle – The Grove in Gosforth. I really needed my lens, and considered hiring a replacement, but eventually decided to rent the newest addition to Nikon’s tilt/shift lineup – The 19mm PC-E.

I was down by another couple of hundred quid for the week, but when it arrived, I knew it was worth every penny of the hire fees. This object is a thing of beauty – well designed, solidly engineered, and has an electronically controlled aperture unlike the 24mm which is a purely manual lens. The front objective sticks right out, rendering it liable to scratches if brushed by anything by accident, so I was careful to fit the (£60!) lens cap between every shot. The lens was insured for it’s retail value of £3300. That’s like getting a car. (well…my shit car anyway) The files it produced were sharp, distortion-free, and had the look I regard as the real-estate standard – not too wide, but with a little more space than the 24mm can tackle.

The following shots were all taken at the job in Gosforth - A £2m house which sold shortly afterwards.