TS-E 17mm or 24mm

[privatebydesign]

The real value of the TS-E's only comes out when you start to reproduce your images at decent sizes. The truth is if you are only going to post online and small printing then hyperfocal focusing and fixing keystone in post will normally work fine. If you start to demand better results and what to print 12"x18" and above then the TS-E's will make a big difference.

 

[TrumpetPower!]

By tilting, you can achieve a deep DOF from front to back and by shifting, you can overcome the keystone effect/converging verticals.

It's not just squared-off manmade structures that benefit from movements, of course, though that's where it's the most instantly obvious.

This attached shot was also made with both tilt and shift on the TS-E 24. The flowers were just a foot or two away from the camera. The Superstition Mountains in the background are a mile or so away...and yet the flowers, the cliffs from base to peak, and the meadow between are all in sharp focus.

This is very close to straight out of the camera, too. No cropping. It's a colorimetric rendition, or very close; I had to dial back the sky by about a stop to bring back some of the color, but that's it.

I haven't made a print of this yet, but I've got plans for at least a 24" x 36" print, or I might even go all the way to 36" x 54.

Cheers,

b&

 

[romanr74]

so i understand from reviews the in-focus indicator will be working with this lens. is this also true when shifted or do you better work with liveview? i am currently using a 5dIII.

 

[MarkII]

so i understand from reviews the in-focus indicator will be working with this lens. is this also true when shifted or do you better work with liveview? i am currently using a 5dIII.

I only focus my TS-E 17 and 24 via LiveView at 5x and 10x. This is the case whether I am using the tilt, shift, both, or neither.

+1

The viewfinder focus points work for focus-confirm (i.e. they beep as you move the focus manually), but usually they are only reliable when the lens is not tilted or shifted.

Similarly, the camera exposure metering becomes unpredictable (well, probably not, but I've still not figured out how to predict it...), so live-view and/or exposure bracketing are often important.

FWIW, using a tilt-shift lens is a lot more time consuming than any conventional lens. As others have pointed out, you can correct perspective for conventional images, albeit with a loss of resolution.

If your subject is not moving and you don't mind a ton of time in photoshop etc you can pretty much eliminate the need for TS if, for example. you shoot a high-res panorama before applying software corrections (thereby offsetting the resolution loss), or using focus stacking to increase DOF. Unless you shoot a lot of images that would benefit from TS, these might be viable options. I have actually done this for some images shot at 200mm, though it is pain to process.

 

[infared]

For somebody who uses 16mm as often as you do get the 17TS-E. If you want a bit more flexibility with minimal loss in IQ then get a 1.4TC MkIII.

Questions:
You can use the 1.4TC MKIII on the 17mm TS-E?
What is the IQ like?

 

[shutterwideshut]

By tilting, you can achieve a deep DOF from front to back and by shifting, you can overcome the keystone effect/converging verticals.

It's not just squared-off manmade structures that benefit from movements, of course, though that's where it's the most instantly obvious.

This attached shot was also made with both tilt and shift on the TS-E 24. The flowers were just a foot or two away from the camera. The Superstition Mountains in the background are a mile or so away...and yet the flowers, the cliffs from base to peak, and the meadow between are all in sharp focus.

Yes indeed. Here's another example wherein the foreground is less than two feet away. Another benefit of a TS-E lens is that, due to its larger image circle, the corners are also sharp.

The Dome
Canon EOS 5D Mark III ı Canon TS-E24mm f/3.5L II ı Lee 0.9 Soft ND Grad Filter ı 24mm ı 2.5s ı f/16 ı ISO 100
The Dome by shutterwideshut on Flickr

so i understand from reviews the in-focus indicator will be working with this lens. is this also true when shifted or do you better work with liveview? i am currently using a 5dIII.

I only focus my TS-E 17 and 24 via LiveView at 5x and 10x. This is the case whether I am using the tilt, shift, both, or neither.

+1. This is always the way to go to achieve a more precise focussing.

 

[charlesa]

The 24 mm version II, sharper and wide enough for my needs.

 

[privatebydesign]

For somebody who uses 16mm as often as you do get the 17TS-E. If you want a bit more flexibility with minimal loss in IQ then get a 1.4TC MkIII.

Questions:
You can use the 1.4TC MKIII on the 17mm TS-E?
What is the IQ like?

Answers:
Yes.
Very high.


I only post what I personally do. I have found the 17 and 1.4 MkIII to be very high quality, if you are concerned about any miniscule distortion introduced then you can make your own lens profile with the free Adobe software. I haven't found it enough of an issue to bother.

I even found the 17 TS-E and 2x TC MkII to be higher IQ than the 24mm TS-E MkI, and the newer combo has much better functionality.

If you need/want the fov the 17 is the only way to go, but it has great flexibility as a 24mm and a 34mm. If you want to use filters (easily) don't need/want the wider fov or have the time to stitch with the 24 then get the 24 MkII, it is slightly sharper, it does take filters, it doesn't have the crazy front element.

I got mine principally for interiors (that is what paid for it) but it is such a good lens that I use it all over the place. With a little pre-visualisation you can even use shift and tilt handheld to good effect.

 

[rumorzmonger]

I have both the 17mm f4L and 24mm f3.5L II TS-E lenses, although the 24mm has mostly been sitting in the camera bag since I got the 17mm (even thought the 24mm is the sharper of the two, by a tiny margin).

I like the 17mm TS-E lens because it's sharper and has less distortion than any other lens of comparable focal length (with the possible exception of the Zeiss 15mm f2.8, but it won't accept graduated filters). The tilt and shift features are just nice bonuses, and I use the lens shifted more often than not. I also like that I can use the same Lee and Singh-Ray filters on both TS-E lenses, and both lenses work surprisingly well with the Canon extenders.

 

[infared]

For somebody who uses 16mm as often as you do get the 17TS-E. If you want a bit more flexibility with minimal loss in IQ then get a 1.4TC MkIII.

Questions:
You can use the 1.4TC MKIII on the 17mm TS-E?
What is the IQ like?

Answers:
Yes.
Very high.

WOW!....I have a 1.4TC MKIII....for my 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II...
I say WOW because...I have been saving for the new Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 ZE...and then..I got to thinking I could buy a Canon 17mm TSE, save $700-$800, have the tilt and shift, comparable image quality (right?) and the 1.4x set up would just be a bonus. (I never thought a 'tele' converter would work well on a SWlens.
hmmmmm....I will have to think about this more....DAMN!!!! LOL!

 

[privatebydesign]

WOW!....I have a 1.4TC MKIII....for my 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II...
I say WOW because...I have been saving for the new Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 ZE...and then..I got to thinking I could buy a Canon 17mm TSE, save $700-$800, have the tilt and shift, comparable image quality (right?) and the 1.4x set up would just be a bonus. (I never thought a 'tele' converter would work well on a SWlens.
hmmmmm....I will have to think about this more....DAMN!!!! LOL!

I have never used the Zeiss 15mm, but I regularly print 3 foot panoramas from a single shot from the 17mm TS-E and the IQ is as good as your technique. Of course the Canon lens does offer vastly more functionality than the Zeiss, not least of which is the shift stitching option which ends up giving you an 11mm lens fov on a 50mm x 24mm sensor, or the ability to use your 5D MkIII as a medium format equaling 44MP 36mm x 48mm sensor.

 

[infared]

WOW!....I have a 1.4TC MKIII....for my 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II...
I say WOW because...I have been saving for the new Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 ZE...and then..I got to thinking I could buy a Canon 17mm TSE, save $700-$800, have the tilt and shift, comparable image quality (right?) and the 1.4x set up would just be a bonus. (I never thought a 'tele' converter would work well on a SWlens.
hmmmmm....I will have to think about this more....DAMN!!!! LOL!

I have never used the Zeiss 15mm, but I regularly print 3 foot panoramas from a single shot from the 17mm TS-E and the IQ is as good as your technique. Of course the Canon lens does offer vastly more functionality than the Zeiss, not least of which is the shift stitching option which ends up giving you an 11mm lens fov on a 50mm x 24mm sensor, or the ability to use your 5D MkIII as a medium format equaling 44MP 36mm x 48mm sensor.

Yes...I am aware of that...when I started to compare the Zeiss to the 17mm I came across the 11mm "bonus".
How well does that crazy front element hold up???

 

[privatebydesign]

I am not particularly careful with my gear, but I do put the lens cap on the 17 TS-E much more often than my other lenses. Having said that I often don't cover it, it has proven as robust as any other element, it has had several good cleans with my own mix of lens cleaner and all marks and blemishes have come off with no marks to the coatings. If I was going to use it as a true walk around lens I'd get a second lens cap and cut the top off to make a custom hood, this won't vignette if you don't shift, if you do shift you have the time to take the "hood" off.

The other really nice thing about lenses like this is despite the high purchase price the depreciation is very low. This means you can get one and use it for a few months and if you really don't like it sell it, this ends up costing surprisingly little money.

 

[infared]

I am not particularly careful with my gear, but I do put the lens cap on the 17 TS-E much more often than my other lenses. Having said that I often don't cover it, it has proven as robust as any other element, it has had several good cleans with my own mix of lens cleaner and all marks and blemishes have come off with no marks to the coatings. If I was going to use it as a true walk around lens I'd get a second lens cap and cut the top off to make a custom hood, this won't vignette if you don't shift, if you do shift you have the time to take the "hood" off.

The other really nice thing about lenses like this is despite the high purchase price the depreciation is very low. This means you can get one and use it for a few months and if you really don't like it sell it, this ends up costing surprisingly little money.

PBD.. Thanks for all the inteligent input...I have time before I make my purchase and I an going to weigh all of this info before I make my decision....the TSE is an impressive and useful piece of glass!

 

[romanr74]

thanks everybody, this helped...

 

[rumorzmonger]

If I was going to use it as a true walk around lens I'd get a second lens cap and cut the top off to make a custom hood, this won't vignette if you don't shift, if you do shift you have the time to take the "hood" off.

Using the bottom of the lens cap converted to a Lee filter holder does cut down on flare when you just use it as a hood (as I do), although it doesn't really offer very much lens protection. You can shift about 7mm on the short axis and about 5mm on the long axis before you run into vignetting, and tilting doesn't cause any vignetting from the hood.

 

[PixelReaper]

+1 for 17 TS-E + 1.4 TC

This is an amazingly versatile lens despite the wide field of view due to the almost complete lack of distortion.

As mentioned it is not quite as sharp as the 24 but from an owner of the 17 who is also a pixel peaper, I can tell you this lenses will satisfy most anyone's need for sharpness, especially in terms of corner performance.

I also love that I can get really close to my subject if desire / required. Great for indoor work and if you really want the 24mm just add the TC for only a marginal IQ penalty. But I can promise you will love the 17mm FOV!

Oh, and BTW, As you will see from the sample below you can definitly use ND / CPL / Grads on this lens. Fotodiox makes a great filter system I have been using for a few months now that allows for both Screw on filters, ie CPL / ND, and Grads. It's called the Wonderpana and it is built like a tank. Very high quality materials and it is made specifically for the 17 TS-E. I actually never take it off the lens, as it also protects the front element.

 

[romanr74]

A few samples with the TS-E 17mm...

2920: Tilted downwards to have the focal plane equal the floor thus that the latter is sharp foreground to Background.

3365: Most classical usecase (in my opinion), shifted upwards to preserve parallel lines.

3208: Less obvious usecase (in my opinion), shifted downwards to have more water and thus reflection in the picture while maintaining vertical lines.

All pictures were taken with camera handheld. Shifting is not so much of a problem handheld, the electronic gauge helps altough you can also control the parallel lines quite well trough the viewfinder.