Roland W
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My local dealer called today, and I picked up my TS-E 17mm f/4L at the end of the day. They only ordered one pre order in to their shop, and I got my name assigned to that order about a month ago. The serial number looks like it is in the first 700 made, but you never know for sure how Canon does them. The date code is UX0500. No photos taken yet with it, but I thought I would list some first impressions and features of the lens its self. Much of this information has been presented before, but I will still list all the key things I think are important to know.
It is a pretty big lens, especially with the deep front cap on it. The cap has a locking button that must be pushed, and then you rotate the whole cap on the bayonet mounting until it will come off. The bayonet is a two lug variety, made in the form like would hold a bayonet hood on other lenses, but with the added locking feature. The manual confirms exactly what has been mentioned before, "A hood is not available for TS-E17mm f/4L". Any hood would be very large, and always getting in the way of the field of view when shifting, so I guess it is back to the old hat trick for shading this lens. Because the front element sticks out almost 3/4" into the cap, you are going to want to make sure you move the cap forward to take it off, rather than sliding it sideways. I am going to need to learn that skill, and will be very careful removing and installing the cap, probably for a long time.
The focus scale has less rotation to cover the full focus travel than I would have liked, at about 45 degrees, but I am sure it will work fine. Depth of field marks are of course there, as they have been on other Canon TS lenses. The marks indicate a focus distance range of about 1.7 feet to infinity for f/22 when set to the hyperfocal distance of about 3 feet. The minimum focus distance is about 10 inches, and that comes out to about 4 inches in front of the front element. The specification says that is a magnification of 0.14x. The manual says that even the 12mm extension tube is not to be used, and indeed, if you mount the lens on one, the point of focus is almost touching the front element. The manual also says not to use either the 1.4x or 2.0x extenders, all thought there is plenty of room in the back for a Canon extender to fit in. Others have indicated good performance with a 1.4x extender on this lens, so I am not sure why Canon has the statement in the manual that extenders "cannot be used."
The tilt control is a nice reasonable sized knob, and allows good control of the tilt function. There is a positive lock that can be engaged at zero tilt, which should prevent the accidental tilt that can happen with the older TS series lenses. Accidental tilt really can sneak up on you when you least want it, so the lock is great. The tilt section can rotate a maximum of 90 degrees with respect to the shift section. It has a release lever that will lock to keep it at either end of rotation, and a detent at 45 degrees of rotation. There is still a variable friction screw lock knob available to keep the lens where ever you want it at intermediate positions.
The shift knob that comes installed on the lens is a little small, but a larger one is shipped in a bag that can be installed over the small knob, making it similar in size to the tilt knob. The small knob is needed so that it will not hit parts of the body on cameras with built in flash. But the larger knob is fine on the 1 series and 5D series cameras. The shift is also easy to control well. There is no positive lock at zero shift, but the variable friction screw lock knob is still available in the style of the previous TS lenses. The whole lens can rotate 180 degrees with respect to the camera body, and the release lever gives a positive lock at each of 0, 90, and 180 degree rotation positions. Intermediate easily felt detents also are present at the remaining 30 degree intervals of rotation.
There is a set of figures in the manual that indicate when vignetting will occur at various combinations of tilt an shift, and there are plenty of combinations shown that will vignette. But the figures show roughly 11mm of shift with no tilt, or 6 degrees of tilt with no shift, as the limits with no vignetting. I believe that gives quite a large image circle to work with on a 17mm lens.
The general build seems very good, well worthy of an L lens. The red ring indicating L status is of course present, near the front of the lens. Looking in to the front of the lens is kind of surreal, with the large round front being very impressive, and the low reflection coating making is hard to count element surfaces much beyond about 3. The manual indicates construction of 12 groups and 18 elements, which is a lot of glass.
It may be a few days before I can take any shots that are worthy of posting, but I will try to add to the mix of this thread with some photos when I can. I am very impressed with the physical characteristics of the lens, and I expect the optical quality will also live up to my high expectations. Thank you Canon.
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