Hasselblad has announced the HTS 1.5 tilt and shift adapter, which will work to extend the tilt and shift capabilities in its lenses.

Originally designed for its HCD28mm, HC35mm, HC50mm and HC80mm lenses, to work with both its HC 2.2/100mm lens and its set of 13mm, 26mm and 52mm HE extension rings, Hasselblad has also introduced digital feedback to the H3D camera.

On the H3D camera this feedback adds on-line control of the exact tilt and shift movements, and it enables the automatic execution of Hasselblad’s digital lens correction to optimise image quality, eliminating color aberration, distortion and vignetting.

When photographers subsequently browse through the metadata, they can see the exact tilt, shift and rotation that was applied for each shot.

Christian Poulsen, Hasselblad CEO, said, "We are extremely excited about this product. Thanks to its extreme portability, the HTS 1.5 will not only bring creative image control to demanding applications such as architecture and landscape photography, but opens the doors to a wide range of exciting new creative application areas.

"This means more creativity for all photographers in their current shooting style as well as the opportunity to enter into new areas of photography."

The HTS 1.5 also works as a telephoto converter, extending the focal length of a mounted lens by a factor of 1.5. The lens’s image circle is enlarged by that same factor. This creates a big enough margin for tilting and shifting, while also preserving the character of the lens.

The HTS 1.5 is also equipped with sensors on all axes that tell the camera exactly where the lens is positioned and what its optical axis point is, so that correct perspective and lens alignment are obtained automatically within the camera. Certain lens movements require that the image be re-focused, and with the HTS 1.5 solution, this occurs automatically too. .

The Hasselblad HTS 1.5 adapter is priced at £2,950 excluding tax and will be available from January 2009.