First experience with Nikon 24mm PC-E Lens

I am receiving a Nikon 24mm PC-E or tilt shift lens for Christmas. But before it is wrapped I am having a play with it.
The Nikon lens, unlike the Canon equivalent, comes with the tilt and shift function set at 90˚. I have read that the lens needs to be sent back to Nikon for reconfiguring so that the two functions are aligned, but I was not sure what this meant. After a little use in the last two weeks I am beginning to understand the limitations without this adjustment. Let me first say that I am primarily a landscape photographer, although I am planning on doing more architectural work, for which the shift function is more useful.

Here is a picture taken when I first had the lens. I tilted it by about 1˚ to try and get in focus the very foreground and the books in the extreme background, while keeping the aperture at f/8


This has resulted in a narrow wedge of focus between the book on the table and the books in the far bookcase, through the door. Things on the left and right of that, and even the orange leaflet are not in focus, and I believe I would have to apply some shift as well to try and encompass the whole scene.
Here is another taken at f/8.0 outside. The bush was a little further away and allowed for a tilt of 1˚ to get that and the far horizon in focus. Again the wedge of focus does not take in the righthand side of the picture where the grass is not focussed.


Using a more extreme tilt of around 8˚, as I was within 5 inches of the Christmas tree, here I have attempted to get the gold cracker and the books (concentrating on the Stalingrad title) in focus together but again the top branches of the tree are out of focus. There are tables of how much tilt to use according to the distance of the camera from the nearest object and the focal length.



I am sending the lens off to Nikon after Christmas and hope that once it is aligned properly that I can use the shift function in tandem with the tilt to get a better overall focus.
I have looking at a number of articles on tilt shift lenses and the best ones I have found is on the Northlight site
 http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/using_tilt.html

and also Cambridge in Colour
 http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-lenses2.htm

Finally here is a picture taken using the lens as a 'straight' lens with no tilt or shift at f/6.7.







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