Anyone spotted any reviews of the new Canon 17mm TSE yet?

[Josh-H]

From memory it is out this month - havent seen any write ups yet though.

[keithcooper]

From memory it is out this month - havent seen any write ups yet though.

There are some samples now doing the rounds of some photography magazines.  Given the lead times for print magazines, don't expect anything in a hurry.

I was sent some sample images recently that look very good.

For myself I've got both 24 and 17 due later this month (I'm told - we'll see) so will be writing up my thoughts on them as soon as I can. I've still got my original TS-E24, so I'll do some comparisons there. As to the 17, it's an all new area, but I've got the 14 2.8L II to try against it.

For the time being I'm putting any 17mm info I get or find at Canon TS-E 17 f/4 info

[francois]

From memory it is out this month - havent seen any write ups yet though.

I've purchased all the local mags and still no test  

[ARD]

http://www.gadgetvenue.com/canon-tse-17mm-...eview-03113958/

Not much about

[francois]

http://www.gadgetvenue.com/canon-tse-17mm-...eview-03113958/

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/427-canon_1740_4_5d

A couple but not much about

Thanks for the links, however your second link points to the 17-40 f/4.0 and not for the TS-E 17.

[BernardLanguillier]

From memory it is out this month - havent seen any write ups yet though.

It was announced months ago, but the lens will only become officially available end of May.

I played with one back in March at the PIE in Tokyo and it is a splendid design, now I have no idea how that translates in terms of image quality.

Cheers,
Bernard

[ARD]

Thanks for the links, however your second link points to the 17-40 f/4.0 and not for the TS-E 17.

Whoops, I'll edit it lol

[ARD]

Quite  lengthy discussion going off over on Fred Miranda

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/741101/0

Quite a good review of the 24mm

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/canon_24_3p5_tse_c10/

[keithcooper]

Quite a good review of the 24mm
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/canon_24_3p5_tse_c10/

Interesting read, but I think 'review' is stretching it a tad, given they were not allowed to actually cover the one thing people want to know about - the image quality - the rest of the stuff you could get from Canon's published info ;-)

[Kirk Gittings]

Interesting read, but I think 'review' is stretching it a tad, given they were not allowed to actually cover the one thing people want to know about - the image quality - the rest of the stuff you could get from Canon's published info ;-)

I completely agree.

[Harold Clark]

From memory it is out this month - havent seen any write ups yet though.

I did a short test of the 17 TSE last week and I was extremely impressed. The 17 displayed absolutely straight lines, absence of vignetting and very little CA, even shifted the full 12 mm. The construction & finish also were of a much higher standard than the previous TSE lenses. I had hoped to test the 24 mm as well, but it had already been packed up for a trade show. I use the original 24 TSE and there is no comparison with this lens, it is a different animal altogether. Personally I could do without the tilt function, but for some it would no doubt be useful.

[EdRosch]

.......... Personally I could do without the tilt function, but for some it would no doubt be useful.

I'm the opposite as I find the ability to tip the plane of focus to be essential.  In the attached, the only way to get the composition I wanted was to shoot at an angle to the window with the droplets.  Without the 90 TS-E only a small number of drops in the center of the frame would have been in focus but, as you can see by tilting the lens I was able to hold the focus across the entire frame.  On the otherhand, I rarely use the shift, though I would not be without it, and the the really interesting thing on these new Canon TS-E's is the fact that the shift and tilt can be adjusted independently.

Ed[attachment=13451:Sundrops_5.jpg]

[Harold Clark]

I'm the opposite as I find the ability to tip the plane of focus to be essential.  In the attached, the only way to get the composition I wanted was to shoot at an angle to the window with the droplets.  Without the 90 TS-E only a small number of drops in the center of the frame would have been in focus but, as you can see by tilting the lens I was able to hold the focus across the entire frame.  On the otherhand, I rarely use the shift, though I would not be without it, and the the really interesting thing on these new Canon TS-E's is the fact that the shift and tilt can be adjusted independently.

Ed[attachment=13451:Sundrops_5.jpg]

You are correct, and this photo shows it to good effect. I find the tilt function is very useful on normal to longer focal lengths, but less necessary on extreme wide angles because of the inherent depth of field. I use shift lenses for architecture, but I did use tilt on my 24mm once for an industrial close up. Of course there are also people who use tilt to limit depth of field for special effects.

[keithcooper]

Like previous comments, I find that I use tilt on longer focal lengths a lot more than shorter ones.

The amounts of tilt for some effects on the 17mm will be quite small.

I recalculated my tilt tables to include a 17mm focal length and find that if you were to stand a camera on a book on a table, so that the lens axis was 5 inches above the table top, and then tilt to 8 degrees (down), the plane of focus would run along the table surface...

Also, at a typical tripod height of say 5 feet, just 0.6 degrees are needed for the (level) ground to be the focal plane (once again focused at infinity) this would be 0.8 degree at 24mm, 1.6@45mm, and 3.1@90mm

The 'one degree' tilt distances are
17mm 1.0m
24mm 1.3m
45mm 2.5m
90mm 5m
150mm 9m

I did a spreadsheet some time ago (based on Harold Merklinger's work - read his excellent book if this stuff is unfamiliar ;-) I use it to print out a small sheet with a table of values for lenses I have, at normal focal lengths and with teleconverters.