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LizzieShepherd
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Registered: Mar 24, 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 34
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Review Date: May 20, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Outstanding IQ from close to far distance subjects. Amazed by the detail this lens can capture compared to my previous UWA Canon (16-35ii)
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Cons:
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Unnerving at first with so much glass and so little protection - but you get used to it and just need to be a little careful. Cost is high!
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I thought long and hard before purchasing this lens and sold a lot of gear to get it. It's very hard to 'try out' lenses here in the UK so I bought it after just a very brief trial at a CPS event locally.
After a month or so of use, I'm amazed by the IQ of this lens - that's the first thing that strikes me, having been a bit frustrated by the 16-35 I used to own - itself a very good lens but with the 17TSE I can get amazing detail with subjects near or far. And that's before you consider the ability to tilt/shift. So far I've had little need for much tilt as the DOF is brilliant as is. Shift is much talked about for architectural work but it can also be invaluable for landscapes - particularly where towering cliffs are involved.
I've been pleasantly surprised by how little I've needed to clean the glass to date and also how controllable flare seems to be with a little shading from your had, a bit of cardboard or similar.
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 May 20, 2010
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Rajan Parrikar
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Registered: Sep 9, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 380
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Review Date: Apr 16, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,499.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Superb optical performance (contrast, colour, sharpness, minimal distortion), Outstanding mechanical construction, Ability to Tilt and Shift
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Cons:
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Cost, Not amenable to filters
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This lens makes possible images that were hitherto difficult to score. It is an indispensable tool for architectural and landscape work. This is not a lens for the casual shooter. Optimal use and mastery of it take practice and time. The end result - the images it helps create - is pure joy.
TS-E 17 has a bulging front element that protrudes out, so care in handling is called for.
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Apr 16, 2010
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Alan Goldstein
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Registered: Aug 20, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 29
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Review Date: Apr 2, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,399.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Incredible
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Cons:
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None - worth the price. This is big and heavy but well worth the size and weight for what it does.
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I can't add anything to the other reviews. I can only say that as a long time architectural and interior photographer, this and the series II 24mm TSE lenses are a dream come true. Both are just very very amazing lenses and I really can't think of any way they could be better. (Unless technology some day allows them to be made smaller and lighter without compromising the image quality.)
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Apr 2, 2010
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ViscaB
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Registered: Sep 9, 2009
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 158
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Review Date: Mar 16, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Amazingly wide, hardly any CA, good sharpness acceptable even when fully shifting, very little distortion.
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Cons:
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Does not accept filters. Does not accept a lens hood. With night images lights sometimes cause some minor flaring.
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I love this lens. My only quibble is that I wish I had it earlier. Living in Hong Kong this lens allows me to take architectural images I could only dream of. I already owned Canon lenses. And if I didn't this lens would make me switch to Canon.
Very often I combine different shifts to come to very sharp 40+ Megapixels super high resolution images on my 5D mark II. I have not been using the tilt ability yet.
My flickr stream has many images taken with this lens.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavibarca/
I also posted 2 slightly higher res samples.
Full shift up:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavibarca/4423334715/
A pano of two images. Neutral and full upward shift.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavibarca/4424080792/
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Mar 16, 2010
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nkanellopoulos
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Registered: Feb 23, 2010
Location: Greece
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Feb 23, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp, excellent flare control
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Cons:
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Protruding front element, oversized front cap
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I expected this lens to be really good.
It performs better than I expected!
Sometimes I have to double check the EXIF, to convince myself that I am looking at a photo taken with a super wide-angle lens. The shift function does wonders, and the ability to rotate the shifting mechanism is very useful.
I have made some large prints, and the details I can discern does not stop to amaze me.
The build quality is stellar. Believe me, I have dropped the lens (sigh).
My advice: only remove the cap to take a shot and replace it soon after.
This is my favorite, out of many L lenses I own.
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Feb 23, 2010
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perpera
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Registered: Mar 11, 2005
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Feb 9, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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VERY best wideangle I've ever used. Sharp from corner to corner at every aperture. Flare and ghosting very well controlled.
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Cons:
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You can't use filters! Pricey!
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Sets new standards for Canon wideangles!
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Feb 9, 2010
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cathpah
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Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Jan 28, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 660
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Review Date: Feb 3, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,300.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp as can be, non-existant CA, shift, shift, shift, have I said shift yet?
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Cons:
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Expensive, bulbous front element, relative inability to use filters
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This lens is truly astounding. I've owned/played with other ts-e's (mostly the 24mm ts-e mkI), and this lens just blows it out of the water. Before you even get to the shifting/tilting advantageous, the unshifted/untilted 17mm is just incredibly sharp.
Now, add in the ts-e factor, and this lens is redefining what a lens can do. Tilt shifts certainly existed before, but given how wide this lens is....it's truly amazing what one can do with this lens. Everyone always talks about how one can fix perspective in processing, but one cannot mimic some of the things this lens can do in processing (shifting out of the way of mirrors, creating an incredibly usable shot out of camera/elminating the need to frame large and then crop, etc)
Now, I bought this lens to use it....and I will certainly do so. However I must admit, that this lens is just as sexy/appealing on a shelf/mounted on the camera as the 85mm L (which I always considered the purtiest lens out there). This lens is CERTAINLY not meant to be collected, but rather used.....however, you certainly won't be dissapointed by the looks or build quality of this lens.
I'll be buried with this lens.
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Feb 3, 2010
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berni123
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Registered: Dec 25, 2009
Location: Croatia
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Jan 16, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,320.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp, wide and excellent for architecture and landscape. Tilt and shift similar to what was only possible with Sinar / Cambo etc. EXCELLENT !!
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Cons:
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Price, but worth every cent, no filter or hood. You must be carefull with lens
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Because of TS-E 17mm, TS-E 24mm and EF 14mm, I bought the Canon (before was a Nikon fan) and start shooting architecture in "leica" format. Before I was using Cambo and Hasselblad. If you shot architecture or landscape that's for you and you would not regret!! My Hass. is waiting for "normal" priced ful format digital Back. Hope it will come in 2-4 years.
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Jan 16, 2010
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wimg
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Registered: May 8, 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 122
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Review Date: Dec 4, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp right into the extreme corners, sharper fully shifted than 17-40L, very little vignetting wide open for a 17 mm lens, very little CA.
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Cons:
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The bulging front element, or rather, not being able to use a filter, no lens hood.
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I compared this lens to a Sigma 12-24 EX, 17-40L, Nikkor 14-24 G ED with G-EOS adapter, and pictures on the internet taken with the Zeiss ZE 21. IOW, lenses roughly covering a similar AoV.
A cropped centre from the Sigma at any aperture or FL doesn't even come close to the unshifted corners of the TS-E 17. And let's not talk about vignetting or CA. The 17-40L is not sharp in the corners from 17-20 mm, which is where the TS-E 17 easily beats it. No competition in CA or distortion either. The Nikkor 14-24 is not as sharp in the corners, not even with the TS-E shifted partly - vertical panos (12.8 mm comparable AoV) look at least as good in the corners. CA is slightly less with the TS-E, flare is better controlled in the TS-E. Vignetting is a little worse with the Nikkor than it is with the TS-E at the saem f-stops, and the latter is significantly lighter and less top heavy. The 5D II seems to struggle a little with the Nikkor and light metering, which it doesn't with the TS-E unshifted and/or untilted.
The Zeiss ZE 21 I haven't tried personally, yet, but based on photographs studied on the internet, it clearly vignettes a lot more than the TS-E, could be slightly sharper in the centre, but loses in the corners. Considering the TS-E is considerably wider, this is no mean feat.
Of the best (U)WA lenses on the market today, which can be used on a Canon body (TS-E 24L II, TS-E 17L, 24L Mk II, Zeis ZE 21, Nikkor 14-24), currently 3 are made by Canon, which is quite the landmark shift - pun intended.
The TS-E 17 is in a class of its own, not in the least because of its performance when shifted and/or tilted. It is one of those rare UWA lenses, which amaze one over and over again, due to its IQ from corner to corner, essentially at any aperture. Contrast, colour, sharpness, and yes, even bokeh are all contributing to the Wow!-factor of the images rendered by this lens. Add to this the tilt-shift possibilities and creative freedom this provides - what more can one want? Ok, F/2.8 at the same size and price would hav been nice  .
Very highly recommended.
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Dec 4, 2009
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Mac D.
Offline
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Registered: Apr 9, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 352
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Nov 6, 2009
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AGeoJO
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Registered: Jul 8, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 8331
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Review Date: Oct 17, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,500.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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The abundance of sharpness :D, pretty flare resistant (must be the new SWC coating), allowing plenty of movement, more so than the other older TS-E design, the ability to change the direction to be parallel or perpendicular to each other done by yourself.
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Cons:
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The lens cap is bulky but I couldn't think of any better design with such a bulging front element like that. I wish Canon would put in a simple gelatine filter holder at the rear, more for ND filter but I realized that this lens was designed more with architecture in mind rather than landscape. I don't care about the polarizing effect on an UWA lens anyway. So, that it doesn't accomodate any filter doesn't bother me much.
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This has taken the first place of my favorite TS-E lens lineup formerly occupied by the TS-E 90mm. Granted, the two are completely different beasts but nonetheless :D.
Prior to this lens, I felt that Canon was lagging behind in the (ultra) wide angle arena, not only compared to Zeiss and Leica but even to Nikon. This lens has definitely changed my view about Canon's ability to produce great wide angle lenses. Canon must have felt the heat and finally came up with this unique and truly amazing lens. I gladly said good-bye to my 16-35 Mark II. In my book, this TS-E lens is comparable to my continued to be used Nikon 14-24, which is impressive being a zoom lens but this lens, with its tilting and shifting action, can do some tricks on its own.
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Oct 17, 2009
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John Mills
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Registered: Aug 23, 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 206
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Review Date: Oct 11, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness, rectilinear, flare control is good without hood, build quality, good contrast and colour, big shift movements.
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Cons:
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No lenshood.
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This lens is just so sharp and straight. I rate it with the Schneider 90mm XL and my Rodenstock 90mm Grandagon. Thank you Canon worth every dollar paid.
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Oct 11, 2009
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