Customer reviews from usa.canon.com
Canon - TS-E17mm F4L Tilt-Shift Lens - Black
Average customer rating
5
(12 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 12 reviews
5 Stars
12
4 Stars
0
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Star
0
100%of customers recommend this product.
(
10 out of
10)
Customer Reviews for Canon - TS-E17mm F4L Tilt-Shift Lens - Black
Customer Rating
5
Amazing Lens
on October 29, 2012
Posted by: Jay
from Chicago
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.
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.
Pros: Superior build quality, Super-sharp images
Cons: no auto focus
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
SUPER!!! Canon 17 TS
on November 29, 2014
Posted by: photobymike
from Seattle, WA
I am a professional photographer in Seattle. I shoot interiors for both commercial and residential builders, architects, and interior designers. I also shoot many yacht interiors for builders, brokers, and dealers. I have had the 16-35 zoom… and it worked OK but you lose a lot of both quality and image when you straighten out the lines with software. So far the 17mm tilt shift along with the 24mm tilt shift and numerous other lenses I have are the way I shoot. The 17mm is clearly the best lens Canon has ever made. Maybe you could argue about the 24mm too? I have an aftermarket lens hood and a 145mm circular polarizer for the lens…. which is quite useful. My only beef is the knobs hide the adjustment lines and you really need a flashlight in your hand to work the lens in a dark restaurant or yacht environment… relatively a small problem.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Excellent Architectural Photography Lens
on March 23, 2020
Posted by: THESHOOTERDIDITAGAIN
from New York
These two photos was taken in one frame shot - not in five frames then stitch later. It was taken around 5:30PM in Long Island NY. I am challenging myself into taking my photographs AS IS, without heavy editing in the end of the shot (only touched contrast, exposure and thats it). This lens performs well for me, and in the long run this lens will save me a lot of time editing for i can correct distortions in the field immediately. I heard there are people using this lens for portraitures and landscape and they produced amazing work. The price will compensate the use in the long run and the lens was built to last. I advise people to have external monitor for composing for the built-in camera monitor is getting smaller every year. The lens is a prime lens, a mechanical equipment manual all the time, i consider this a machine built with metal and glass - not automatic/electronic lens. This lens moves in three different directions, tilt, shift, and rotate --X, Y and Z axis, in aviation roll, pitch and yaw. The thing negative is it doesnt come with hood for protection in the field you have to be very extra-careful for the glass protrudes out of the barrel. When i go out for shoot the positive effect is the lens is so obviously protrudes and the people respect you immediately for they think you are a living legend in photography, LoL. You can actually hear people from the background say "shht move back the guy is serious look at the lens. Is that a lens?" the bleeding wallet will heal right away. The lens cap was poorly designed for an expensive lens. The lens is remarkably beautiful, engineered and well-built to last.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Mind-boggling quality and technology - and photos
on March 4, 2016
Posted by: Agachado
from San Antonio, TX, United States
This lens takes some work to understand, but there's no other piece of equipment at any price that makes the near-perfect pictures this lens takes. Panoramic vistas, distortion-free architectural shots, expanded or shortened DOF shots - all from one lens. And it is hideously cool looking in and of itself - a masterpiece of optical sculpture. If any of those types of photos are in your sights, there's no substitute. It's worth every penny.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
The lens I have been waiting for
on February 10, 2011
Posted by: Aginbyte
from Falmouth, Massachusetts
This is simply a magnificent piece of glass. Can be used as a 17mm prime lens and performs better than any other wide angle prime in the Canon lineup. Great quality, no chromatic aberration, solid build. As an architectural lens, it cannot be matched. Shooting European cathedrals and basilicas is very challenging and this lens changes the game. Top to bottom, front to back captures, both portrait and landscape. Replaced the old 24mm standby and the improvement is enormous. Pricey, both worth it.
Pros: Superior build quality, Super-sharp images
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Reason Alone to Switch to Canon
on December 30, 2010
Posted by: YMHARNC
from Central Oregon
Canon has hit a home run with this lens. Setting aside the tilt-shift functions for a moment, it is a fundamentally stellar optic: incredibly sharp; minimal flare despite its bulbous front element; minimal chromatic aberration; and NO corner softness or vignetting in an unshifted, untilted configuration. As a standard prime, I've never used a higher quality 17mm lens.
But this isn't a standard prime. It is a tilt-shift - a 17mm (!) tilt-shift with a huge image circle that enables users to shift farther with less vignetting than ever before with any 35mm-format tilt-shift lens. To be clear, I'm talking about two different and very important characteristics: the 17mm angle of view; and the larger image circle. This last characteristic is particularly important because the primary benefit of this 17mm lens is its ability to shift. A larger image circle enables you to shift farther while maintaining a high level of image quality.
In my experience, a 24mm lens is, more often than not, simply not wide enough to photograph architectural interior and exteriors; a 17mm lens is. This 17mm lens allows you to do so while maintaining straight vertical lines that prevents the need for resolution-robbing, time consuming correction to compensate for the keystone distortion that occurs whenever you point any standard wide angle lens up. This translates into significantly higher image quality and a huge savings in time spent post-processing. For me, the time savings alone justifies the not-insigificant cost of this lens.
The lens is not just for architecture either. Anyone who has tried to shoot a grove of giant Sequoia trees has experienced the same thing. The trees are all leaning in toward the center of the frame. Sometimes this effect can be an artistic element in a composition but most of the time it's just a problem -- a problem that the TS-E 17 solves beautifully.
It is worth noting that the 17 -- indeed, any t/s lens -- offers this ability without the need for a tripod. Tripods are essential when tilting; for shifting, the lens can be hand held in any situation where a regular lens can be hand held. So feel free to imagine yourself using this lens in situations where tripods are either not allowed or not appropriate.
When it comes to tilting, this lens produces stellar results as well. I use tilt often with my landscapes. Having said that, any 17mm lens has an inherently large depth-of-field making the need to shift the plane of focus to expand depth-of-field less necessary while, at the same time, reducing this lens' ability to achieve selective focus as compared to tilt-shift lenses with longer focal lengths.
Like all tilt-shift lenses, the TS-E 17 is manual focus only. Given that this lens is best suited to a very deliberate style of photography, I don't consider this a con even though I list it as one. The focusing action is buttery smooth. Anyone who has never used a manual focus lens will find that it is not the hardship one might imagine, however live view is definitely your friend when it comes to using the tilt function.
By now it's obvious how much I like this lens. It's heavy compared to other primes; it's [beautifully smooth] manual focus only; it's scary with that front element sticking out; but it does things NO other lens can do and with a level of image quality that is unsurpassed in a 17mm lens. If you shoot landscapes and/or architecture and can afford it, the TS-E 17mm f/4L is a great addition to your photographic tool set.
Pros: Superior build quality, Super-sharp images
Cons: heavy vs. other primes, expen$ive, necessarily manual focus only, scary exposed front element
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Best digital solution vs 4x5
on March 4, 2011
Posted by: Lock,Load & Shoot
from Birmingham, AL
I'm a professional architectural photographer and a semi-pro landscape photographer. With extensive 4x5 film experience, this lens gets me back to 99% of the capability of a 55mm lens on 4x5 using film.
Some people on other forums have suggested that the bulging front element would cause endless flare problems. It doesn't. I'm often required to shoot interiors with light cans recessed in the ceiling overhead. There is a certain angle approximately 20 to 30 degrees in front of the camera, and 5 or so degrees behind, that will occasionally cause minor flare. In every instance so far I've been able to shade the lens with my hand and eliminate the flare completely. Setting the camera up with illumination directly overhead has never been a problem. I've had extensive experience with the Canon 17-40mm zoom and it has far worse flare issues regardless of the focal length used. I suspect having to tilt that lens up when shooting exteriors contributes to this problem.
Others have suggested that there is a steep learning curve in using this lens effectively. Without 4x5 experience you will have to spend some time getting familiar with the Scheimflug principle in order to use the tilt feature correctly, but the shift feature alone will be usable right out of the box. In shooting architecture, shift (Rise & Fall) is all you will use 95% of the time. Product, tabletop and landscape shots will benefit the most from using tilt. There are abundant resources to help understand the whys and wherefores of using tilt to manipulate the plane of sharpest focus if you don't have experience.
Quite honestly, until this lens came along, I had little inclination to invest in a 35mm or digital solution that got no wider than 24mm. My specialty has always been architectural interiors and too often 24mm just isn't wide enough. That being said, the Canon 24mm Tilt-Shift will be in my gear case very soon because it is a very necessary focal length also. In fact, I just upgraded to a larger rolling case to accommodate the additional Canon Tilt-Shift lenses I will soon own.
Some have suggested that the lens is heavy, bulky and therefore difficult to use handheld. If you are planning to shoot without a tripod this is not your lens. Hiking long distances to shoot scenery and carrying the bare minimum of weight might eliminate this lens, but be aware that there are many landscape photographers willing to carry extra gear to ensure the best possible image. With the lightweight carbon fiber tripods available today, taking the handheld approach simply doesn't make sense to me. There are many light weight zooms available for a handheld approach and I think would be better tools for the job if you want to shoot this way. For the landscape photographer willing to carry the additional weight of this lens, the benefits will be astounding. Employing tilt to ensure sharp detail from foreground to infinity using f/8, as opposed to stopping down to f/16 or f/22, will yield far superior images. Image sharpness gained with using the 17mm Tilt-Shift lens this way will far surpass any conventional lens on the market.
If you ever look at the cross section of a conventional 4x5 wide-angle lens designed without the constraints of a mirror box and lens flange, you will be further amazed at what this lens is capable of. 4x5 wide-angles typically do very well with just 8 elements arranged symmetrically as opposed to the retro focus design employed for SLR cameras. And yet, there is near zero barrel distortion or chromatic aberration. This eliminates at least three steps in post production.
I haven't talked about keeping verticals vertical, but the gain in image quality by doing this in camera is reason enough for me to own this lens.
Last but not least, to suggest that the price/value is less than 5 stars due to the high price tag requires that you don't take into account the amount of gear required to set-up and shoot conventional 4x5. If you compare this len's capability shooting digitally as opposed to using a digital view camera solution, your savings in weight and cost are measured by several pounds and tens of thousands of dollars. Looked at in this light, this lens (along with the Canon 5D Mk II) is at least 10 stars!
Pros: Superior build quality, Super-sharp images, ease of use
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Simply Amazing
on December 23, 2014
Posted by: Mr. B
from Nashville, Tennessee
This lens is technically flawless and simply amazing. I shoot landscape and architectural photography. This lens handles both so well. Of course, it's main application will be architectural photography. But it shines in landscape as well, especially if you would like to look up towards the sky at a 45 degree angle and not have all the trees vertically converging toward the center of the photograph! So, if you are wondering is it worth the money, it is for me. And if you are a serious landscape or architectural photographer, it will be for you as well.
And yes, there is a third party filter and pinch cap attachment that allows full movement with no vignetting, contrary to what other reviewers say. So, have your cake and eat it too!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com