TS-E 17mm f/4L
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Amazing Lens
I bought this lens after my extreme satisfaction with EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM. I wanted a lens that corrects the super wide angle distortion effect.
I took this lens with me to Paris and used it to photograph cathedrals and buildings. After few attempts, I was able to control focusing without then need of a tripod and captured tall structures up close with virtually no distortion. In the narrow streets of Paris, it is the only way you can capture the beauty of the Parisian architecture.
As described in the manual, aperture and focusing need to be adjusted after tilt or shift. While this may sound complicated, it really is not. You can still take advantage of the in-focus indicator by manually adjusting focus while half depressing the shutter release. Exposure can be easily corrected by viewing the recorded image. In short, I was able to take crisp and sharp images with virtually no distortion by keeping the aperture relatively small and making successive corrections with few exposures, all without the use of a tripod.
October 29, 2012
Best Lens for me
I have these lens to use it in architectural photography, but the amazing thing it's that you can do a lot of things with it. It gives you a lot of possibilities to expand your imagination.
Now I use it everywhere I go, for example I go to vacations to Las Vegas with family and I take amazing photos from the city and family only with these lens.
Its a little bit hard to get an exact tilted picture without a tripod, but, they are better than if I take it with another lens.
Quality of the pictures are very good, it's my first L lens and I just love it.
February 17, 2012
Must Have in the Camera Bag
I've now owned the 17mm TS mounted on a Canon 5D MarkII for several months shooting home interiors for the Real Estate market. My 'backup' lens is now my 7D with a Canon 10-22mm lens, which is my comparison setup.
I will not go into detail here as many others have already provided that type of excellent feedback. This lens is simply awesome and does what the top-notch 10-22mm lens could not do. When I stand on the sidewalk in front of a building and cannot get back any further due to traffic, the shift capabilities of the lens simply captures all the building while maintaining the straight vertical lines of the building.
The quality is simply amazing. Often when viewing the photo on my computer for the first time, I just sit back and say "Wow" out loud. The build is great and since I always use a tripod, the weight isn't a problem.
Speaking of weight, some have suggested it can be used hand held. This is something I tried and decided I would not attempt again without the tripod. The reason? If I'm outside shooting the exterior of a building or home and it is raining, then it would be much easier to hand hold rather than carrying a tripod.
However, using live view to get focus in addition to trying to keep the camera level both vertically and horizontally is a real challenge. Yes, it can be done, but under an umbrella in the rain, it is a challenge!! Of course, even if not raining all that I mentioned would still be true.
I've also noted a challenge early on with sometimes not getting the focus right. The depth of field for some shots turns out very shallow, which is the opposite of what I need. I'm convinced for an interior shot in a home, I don't need to use the Tilt feature of the lens.
I've also noted that using F8 or F11, F8 seems to give better quality results, so a higher F stop isn't the answer. Perhaps it was just operator error as not all shots have the focus problem.
The bottom line is that if you want to have all the tools at your disposal to produce fantastic results, then spend the money and get this lens. If you can deal with 'bent' vertical lines and crop out much of your shot just to keep verticals straight, then go with the 10-22mm. However, the 10-22mm is made for the EOS line with the 1.6 sensors, which means it effectively is a 27mm lens. It cannot be mounted on my full frame 5DMII.
January 7, 2012
a TS-E lens I dreamed of came true!
I've been an architectural shooter for over 20 years. I've been through several wide lenses starting with the 20mm, then the 17-35, 17-40, 16-35 and I currently have the 16-35 Mark II. While it's the best of the zooms and better than the fixed 20mm, it can't even come close in image quality to the TS-E 17mm. The only thing lacking is the ability to polarize this lens, which is something I do quite often when shooting interiors. So then I need to use the 16-35 instead, but I'm eventually going to get the TS-E 24mm Mark II and then will have that option, albeit not as wide. Otherwise this lens combined with my 5D Mark II creates files that look almost like photo-realistic illustrations. The edge sharpness has always been an issue with other UWA lenses, until this lens. If you think this is an expensive lens, then you're probably not the demographic that should be using it.
November 6, 2011
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