A TS-E lens with tilt and shift capabilities enables the correction of perspective distortion and Depth of field. A large-diameter ground and polished glass Aspherical lens is used for the front element, correcting distortion and coma that tends to occur on tilt and shift movements. It provides a large Image circle necessary for tilt/shift coverage. A floating design provides sharp and high-Contrast images from the closest focusing distance of 0.3m to infinity. Electronic control of diaphragm by EMD (Electromagnetic Diaphragm) enables AE (Auto-Exposure) photography even in a tilt/shift lens. Manual focusing only. There are two more TS-E lenses in EF mount lens series.
I had this lens for close to a year now, and have had many opportunities to use it. It's a great specialty lens if you frequently shoot what it is best at, and those type of shots are worth the money you spend on the lens.
There are two separate purposes for this lens: Shifting the field or shifting the plane of focus. The shifting the field applies to architectural and landscape photography. Tilting plane of focus is among other things an interesting and unique portrait style.
I've found that I use the shift 95% of the time on both architecture and landscape. I've found the tilt to be marginally usable on this lens, mostly because at 24mm this is not a great portrait lens - you would go for the 90mm version. The facial distortions at 24mm (particularly on full frame bodies) are just plain hideous and overpower any benefit gained from the tilted depth of field.
Any time you photograph a building this lens is exceptional in allowing you to retain the proper perspective. That's what tilt-shift lenses are famous for.
However, I've also found it helpful in landscape shots where I want to the move the horizon up or down to avoid a 50/50 split without introducing curvature on the horizon due to the wide angle. That can be particularly helpful when shooting canyons from the rim in Arizona, or wide angle beach scenes, both of which have strong horizon lines.
The two challenges to master with this lens are that it is manual focus only, which many of us are not as used to anymore with today's cameras, and the fact that a significant shift plays games with the camera's exposure meter. I've found that I either have to meter the scene with a light meter, or meter in camera unshifted, then switch to manual mode and shift the lens. Both workable, but extra steps forcing this to be a lens for very deliberate shooting.
People interested in selective focus may want to check out the Lensbaby lenses, which are purely artistic, but allow a lot more play with selective focus then this lens, which will only tilt in one direction.
In summary, I enjoy having this lens, and it has served me well. But it takes some time to get used to and to know which scenes it will help and which ones it will not work with.
Was this review helpful to you?
Report this review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Lens, more manual skills needed, Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
4.5
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
I have had this lens for a few days. I ordered it since I was tired of stitching bad photos by hand, and finding everything out of alignment. I do mostly indoor and outdoor architecture, and nature scenes, so needed something with both a panoramic sweep, and to maintain parallelism in my subjects.
The lens allows 11 degrees of shift to either side of center, and it rotates, so shift is either left/right, or up/down. Out to 5 degrees of shift, I am finding the auto settings are not too perturbed. After 5 degrees, some manual setting skill is needed. I will develop more of those soon, I can tell. The lens also allows tilt capabilities, which produce a nice selective focus effect, not unlike a lensbaby. I don't use much of that, but may do some portrait work with it.
The build quality of this lens is rock solid. The optics are very nice. I got a Hoya UV filter, and there is not much light loss, although I think there is some peripheral CA.
Straight through photos (no tilt/shift) are very sharp out to the edge, but this is a manual focus lens. For my work, I set it to infinity and that is no problem. For closer subjects, this could be challenging for someone with old eyes. A focusing screen is next.
I attached a photo above of the US Capitol. This was hand stutched in PhotoShop from two images shot 5 degrees left and right off center. ON A TRIPOD, of course. Note that there is no misalignment of the vertical lines in the Capitol building. In fact, the blend line goes between the first and second bays next to center on the left side of the center section of the building. Even knowing where this line was, I couldn't see it. The alignment and metering is so good that there is a couple along the curb in the lower left, and the woman turns between shots, and there is some double exposure effect, but she is right where she is supposed to be from the previous shot 10 degrees to the other side. The original image was more than 5' wide, so I had to shrink this one down for posting.
Definitely a special purpose lens, but if you want to do good architectural shots (to preserve paralellism) this is the best you can do without going to medium format. IMHO.
