Canon TS-E 17mm f/4 L

[I @ M]

Photozone have a review of what is obviously an extremely good bit of gear for anyone considering that lens.

It is also a very good read (with pictorial examples) for anyone wanting to know how TS lenses operate.

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/485-canontse17f4ff

[James Axford]

Yeah had a look at this review a few days ago.
It's good and good to know the sweat spot is actually at f8.
I was shooting at f11 mostly.

[Helen S]

The review on this lens is also on the-digital-picture.com and was where I went looking first, for the comparison between it and the TS-E 24mm f3.5L. Both lenses get a great thumbs up from the gent that does the reviews there (almost always seems to be the first to get his hands on to review a new Canon lens).

I'll be very interested to see the review on the TS-E 24mm when photozone.de get one to play with... right now I'm still very torn between the two.

[fhphoto]

the lens (TS-E) is so unique that even if it performs badly, there will still be people using them, just like lensbabies...

I would get one if they come with auto focus...

[James Axford]

the lens (TS-E) is so unique that even if it performs badly, there will still be people using them, just like lensbabies...

I would get one if they come with auto focus...

sadly for you I don't think it'll ever come with AF.
it doesn't need it

[arthurking83]

I can't think of any TS lens that has autofocus, or even if the two features are compatible!?
(I highly doubt it).

the unique feature of the TS lens is that the barrel is distorted to undistort the image(directly to the sensor plane). If the lens barrel is able to distort(bend, stretch and slide), I guess it makes it hard to add internal hardware to automatically move lens elements about for the purpose of focusing. Of course not impossible, but considering the size of the lens as is, adding more girth and weight simply for the sake of focusing automatically, appears to be a low priority(as it should).

[Xenedis]

I've seen some great cityscape images captured with tilt/shift lenses, and indeed the TS-E 17/4L would be a very nice lens to own; but it is such a niche lens that it would rarely get used.

I don't see the lack of AF in these as a big drama.

[dbm305]

There is a good thoroguh review of teh 24mm TSE Mk II in DPR

I got mine the other day; still testing it but it is amazing. Unshifted it's the sharpest 24mm I've ever used. Shifted to the extreme there is of course a little softening at the edges, but MUCH better sharpness than an unshifted shot with perspective correction (including sharpening) in Photoshop or PTLens.

[TimCz]

A landscape photographer mate of mine has the 24mm and it almost never leaves his camera now. He uses it to take 3 pics (normal, max shift left, max shift right) for pretty easy panos!

Id be interested to try the 17mm, especially now that you can get a Lee filter adapter for lenses with protruding glass now.

[Xenedis]

Id be interested to try the 17mm, especially now that you can get a Lee filter adapter for lenses with protruding glass now.

Oh, I wasn't aware Lee had introduced a new holder.

I wonder how it would work with the 14/2.8L II. I should hop onto Lee's site to investigate.

[TimCz]

http://www.leefilters.com/camera/news/articles/ref:N4BA0A7EB613CC/

is the link for the new holder.