Canon 17mm TS-E Review by Darren Miles
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- www.DarrenMiles... - Southwest Florida based Wedding, Family, Portrait and Real Estate Photographer based in Bonita Springs.
GET A GREAT DEAL ON THE CANON TS-E 17MM F/4 L LENS FROM B&H HERE: www.bhphotovid...
CONCLUSION: so to wrap up this review we gave the Canon TS-E 17 mm F4L lens a 46/50 and our highly recommended reading
THE FINAL WORD: if you're an architectural or real estate photographer tilt shift lenses are in my opinion a nice supplement to Ultra wide-angle lenses - especially for big wide open scenes that give you a lot of room to straighten out the edges of buildings and or homes. It's a really nice effect, and it does bring more realism to photographs, but in my specific line of work I find that 17 mm is a more significant limitation than the benefit of straightening out edges that these lenses offer. Again this is not to say that these lenses aren't optically excellent, because they are, they just don't work for me often enough in too many situations to justify their steep price points, speaking for myself, I prefer autofocus lenses that are considerably wider, because I'm not 100% sure that I could live with 17 mm being at the widest lens in my camera bag.
Going wider then 20mm in real estate phtography is a no-go and wanting to show "all" of the space you photographing is a beginners error. Good composition and realistic lighting without "poster print" window pulls that brings across an authentic representation of the object are showing the skills of a real pro. So 17mm is more then wide enough, to crazy wide in most cases.
'Beginners error?' Really? I think you missed the point of the video if that's all you got from it. In the 2 bed/2 bath condo market 17mm doesn't cut it in too many situations. Still a great lens, but it's not without its limitations.
Darren Miles - My comment was not intended as personal criticism, I apologise if it came across like that. I know photographers tend to deliver what real estate agents asking for, unfortunately real estate agents in most cases are not educated in the psychology of commercial photography and think the more you see the better it is.....its not....Architectural photography or commercial objects like hotels is a totally different story.
Enjoyed your review never the less.....like your style.
My bad, I misread what you meant. That's the dilemma right? We're not shooting for an art director at architectural digest, we're shooting for an agent or an owner, who often are more interested in the totality of the space... point taken.
Miles i agree with catweazle. I’m a professional photographer since over 10 years and lots of it is commercial and advertising photography for hotels and resorts. That includes a ton of interior images. I think catweazle put it a bit harsh, but even in your sample images, which are all very professionally lit and executed there is a disconnect at times and i found out over the first couple of years that it comes with the superwide focal length. While the ultrawide focal length shows everything, they tend to look soulless and dont engage the viewer emotionally...i hope i make sense here.
We see that disjpint almost on a daily base working with operational and marketing team alike for luxury hotels. While the GMs want to see it all, the marketing teams prefer the tighter framing in favour of the connection to the viewer. In fact some of the photography guidelines we see from hospitality market keaders specifically urge you not to use lenses wider then 20 or 24mm if possible.
While i’m not 100% in agreement with that i would say though that all my 16mm shots get too much floor a d ceiling in the image (can also be seen in your shots at times). Tnis just cimes with the proportions of the frame.
Most of those images can be helped though withcropping top and bottom.
Why all, this bla bla? Because thats the exact reason i have the TS 17, so i can successfully decide with the shifting how much floor or ceiling space i can show. The other is what you briefly mentioned, shooting two images with a horizontal or vertical shift and then stitch them together looks so much more natural then the same image shot ultrawide.
However, if i can possibly avoid it, i still prefer to use a 24mm that definately makes a room look more pleasing.
I use the Sigma 8-16mm f4.5 at 10mm most of the time on a 90D. Thinking in buying this one.
Excellent, thank you.
Most real estate photographers object to any lens under 16mm. I shot with the Canon 11mm x 24mm and even zoomed in to 13mm to 14mm, I had too many complaints with the "distorted look".
I'm back shooting with my 16mm-35mm f4. IMO, sacrificing quality over saving a few hundred buck on a lens isn't pro level.
I'm awaiting my 17 ts e to arrive. I'll be using it as one of my tools for upscale shoots. I'll be interested in finding out if the live corrections will compensate for the time spent post processing. I've also seen some cool shifts that can't be replicated to post processing.That process requires guessing your tile angle knowing you'll be correcting it in post. Unfortunately the 14mm has been discontinued since your review of the TS e17. I'd keep it in my bag and maybe get a tune up before Canon won't do maintenance on it.
As for time management, your point is well taken. After I become familiar with it. I'll only use it on important shoots.
The 16mm will work for drive by's
awesome lens!
It’d be awesome if you reviewed this lens adapted on the eos r with focus peaking.
I own this lens and am very happy with it. It brought my architecture photography to a whole new level! I would recommend that every serious architecture photographer at least tests out this lens. I totally agree, that the manual focus sometimes slows down the work and sometime really sucks. But beside that especially the shift function is very good to use. For more wide shots I also own the Canon EF 11-24mm L USM lens. With both lenses I am prepared for all architecture photography.
For the record, the Canon tilt shift lenses are the best in the business. My real estate photography company is more of a factory than it is a boutique, meaning that productivity is by in large much more important to us than having results that need to be on the front pages of architectural digest. In the end, I do believe the tilt shift images look better, but there is a pretty steep learning curve and a productivity penalty that doesn’t work for the kind of real estate photography that we usually do.
what about the Canon 11-24 f4L lens? that could delliver some interesting results when photographing rooms right?
Yes! In fact, I reviewed that lens, but its even more expensive than the TS-E....
Awesome review. I have been considering a TS lens for my Nikon. One certainly can't question the quality of your images.
Dennis W
If your shooting real estate with production of images on a small scale stick with the 14-24. If you’re shooting architecture don’t waste your time shooting with anything other than a set of Nikon PC glass. Shooting large scale architecture projects is very different to shooting a 2 bed condo and with architecture the workflow is slow and methodical without need for the fast paced turn around of shooting real estate.
Great review...thanks for your time and effort!
Terrific review. Bizarre that anyone who's watched your reviews and seen your work could ever question your professionalism or choice of lens in achieving the result. Keyboard warriors I suspicion. A Nikon shooter I've found the 14-24 has never limited me in any way and also has that very cool, but extremely vulnerable, front lens element that wows the client. In my 40 years of photography, at times as a professional, I've never felt the need for a tilt shift lens, the desire why hell yes, the requirement not so much. That said it would have been fun to see some back to back examples from both lens at 17mm as a direct comparison to quiet those keyboard warriors. Keep up the great work my friend...
Thank you very much!!
I would think in the days of film these would be more necessary than today. Distortion can easily be corrected in post though at the cost of a few pixels.
Man.. those shots are stunning. Nice review (y) I'm a fan
Thank you very much!
Are you using a FF body or a crop body? 17mm should be wide enough on a FF body.
I am - and I agree it usually is fine, but I just prefer to shoot at 14mm - especially in smaller rooms - just a personal preference.
Really enjoy the music on this review. Epic brass section behind the piano. I will never buy this lens, but enjoyed watching. Very nicely done.
Thanks Evan - music was licensed from Premium Beat - appreciate the kind words on the review!
Great review and examples, thanks Darren!
Thanks Pierre!
why don't you just use your iphone if you don't need perfection. Did you rent it as well?
Your photos look great,good angles & timing
but the Post Production( HDR) is letting you down ,images look flat & lifeless.
Excellent. Personally, I use an EF-S 10-18mm on an 80D, and the results are insane for such a cheap piece of glass. At f/5.6-8, the lens is sharp from edge to edge.
I use the 10-18 currently for many of my real estate videos with the C100 Mark ii - it's amazing!
if due to focal length, this 2200$ Canon 17mm is a Big No No, what to say of the new 3300$ Nikkor 19mm at 50% more price, and also, 2mm less width ? seems a bummer. Other than Architectural / Distortion-less / 100% Rectilinear Photography, T-S lenses have 2 advantages : Miniature effect, and Selective-Focus ability, esp. the latter, used for portraits / weddings, where we can control Bokeh-Blur / DoF in selected area of the frame. Thanks for the fantastic review once again. Kudos, Darren.
Chirag, agreed on those other cool aspects of TS-E lenses, most often - at least in my experience - I'm asked the question as to why I don't use them in my real estate photography - so I tried to keep the scope of the review from a real estate shooters perspective. The selective focus throughout the scene and the miniaturization effect are both very cool, and very unique. Thank you for your comments!!
I really like your real estate work, and the review was very informative (although I'm shooting Pentax :). One question - do you stack exposures for hdr in photoshop (via luminosity masks or gradient masks), or in Photomatix/PS or LR hdr module? I tried few different methods just out of curiosity, and struggle to get a natural looking result sometimes.
A lot of masking and layering, specifically not HDR.
However, the HDR module in LR is the best of the bunch - in my opinion.
Thanks for reply! I got the best looking results from just stacking exposures in PS and masking, rather than using hdr methods, never could achieve natural colors and it often introduced a ton of noise.
you shoot at 14mm on your full frame for interiors? that's a big NO. that's not good IMO.
I guess it depends on what you want,. I agree with you though. IMO, 24 is typically wide enough for interior shoots. The 17 is for emergencies inside
Hey darren, what type of ball head do you have on your tripod, thank you!
I usually use the Manfrotto XPro
This is a great lens. I've made a review on it on my channel as well.
I want that lens! But I only use APS-C, so 17mm isn’t wide enough for what I intend to use it for. I wish Canon would make an 10, 11 or 12mm TS-E for crop sensor bodies. (And preferably at a more affordable price).
If you use J or L cuts it won’t be so jarring between your numbered sections.
So interesting that in many of the shots, gorgeous as they are, one senses the photographer’s vision is just yearning for a few more degrees of view, just as he states more than once. Tilt/shift lenses are an obvious area of exploration for those of us who are used to using large-format view cameras, though honestly with a focal length less than half the image diagonal we would never get much shift out of our super-wides anyway. He makes an excellent argument for a lens as short as 14mm, which is only 1/3 the diagonal of a full-frame sensor.
anything wider than 17 mm is atrocious in RE and arch photography. 17 is as wide as you should ever go
Drew Castelhano what are you using for re/architecture?
I Agree. Anything wider is pretty much a special effect
God I hate real estate photography.
Admittedly it’s not Uber creative, but it is a necessary evil and a decent way to make a living from your camera.