Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L tilt shift lens

introduction

the 24mm shift lens is the traditional architectural lens for a 35mm full frame camera, but this lens is the first 17mm tilt-shift lens ever produced.

introduced in 2009;
+/- 6.5° Tilt and ±12mm Shift
18 elements in 12 groups
Tilt and shift mechanism rotates +/-90° allowing shift in any direction
Tilt mechanism rotates +/-90° allowing tilt in any direction relative to the shift
SWC Sub-wavelength structure and super-spectra coatings minimise ghosting and flare
8 blade circular aperture
104deg angle of view
- on APS-H cameras, it gives equivalent of a 22mm field of view
close focus 0.28m; (maximum close-up magnification: 0.14x)
filter is not possible as protruding convex lens
can be used with 1.4x teleconverter to give 24mm field of view but camera may not display adjusted aperture reading and it adds a touch of barrel distortion
820g, 107mm long x 89mm wide.

the tilt mechanism enables one to get all the scene in focus without resorting to extremely small apertures

place the camera on a tripod and use the shift mechanism to take 3 separate images which can then be stitched to create a panorama
you may want to investigate using a lens-based tripod mount to prevent the lens entrance pupil from moving when shifting
- Rogeti TS-E Frame adapter costs $US300

derived from http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-lenses2.htm
J point is the distance below the camera that will be in focus (although this point will not be in the field of view of the lens)
- J = lens focal length / sin(tilt angle)
for landscapes, where nearly everything is in focus one usually selects a tilt and focus distance that changes the focus plane to horizontal (ie. 90deg) with the camera still aimed horizontally but placed at the J point above the ground.
- thus determine how far you want to be from the ground (based on tripod, perspective, etc), then determine from the tables what tilt you will need and the focus distance to achieve close to 90deg focus plane.
camera sensor size and aperture have NO effect on the angle of the focus plane BUT do alter the total angular depth of field, and thus the calculations should apply whether you use it on a full frame dSLR or a 2x crop Micro Four Thirds system

tilt amount (degrees)	untilted focus distance (m)	angle of plane of sharpest focus (degrees)	J point
6 degrees	0.3m	63.9 deg	0.2m
6 degrees	1m	83.7 deg	0.2m
6 degrees	1.5m	86.8 deg	0.2m
6 degrees	2m	88.3 deg	0.2m
6 degrees	5m	91.1 deg	0.2m
4 degrees	0.3m	52.1 deg	0.2m
4 degrees	1m	78.2 deg	0.2m
4 degrees	1.5m	82.7 deg	0.2m
4 degrees	2m	85 deg	0.2m
4 degrees	5m	89.2 deg	0.2m
4 degrees	10m	90.6 deg	0.2m
2 degrees	0.3m	31.9 deg	0.5m
2 degrees	1m	64.8 deg	0.5m
2 degrees	1.5m	72.9 deg	0.5m
2 degrees	2m	77.3 deg	0.5m
2 degrees	5m	85.4 deg	0.5m
2 degrees	10m	88.2 deg	0.5m
2 degrees	20m	89.6 deg	0.5m
2 degrees	60m	90.5 deg	0.5m

derived from Barnack's calculator using 35mm full frame equivalence to COC of 0.03mm

lowest light level handheld at ISO 3200 and 1/25th second as no IS available: -1 EV
hyperfocal distance 3m (ie. set focus at that point and you will have most of the scene in soft but perhaps acceptable sharpness from 1.5m onwards)
BUT you can't get the out of focus areas as sharp when used wide open, so this will be an issue for low light handheld scenes, to achieve that you will have to stop the aperture down and this means long shutter speeds, subject blurring and need for a sturdy tripod.

focus distance	near DOF	far DOF	blur circle at far DOF range	blur circle at 4m
1m	0.2m	0.5m	24nm	55nm
2m	0.8m	3.8m	24nm	18nm
3m	1.5m	226m	23nm	6nm
50m	47.1m	infinity	0nm	17nm

see more examples:

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/485-canontse17f4ff
- only slight barrel barrel distortion of just over 1.1% albeit based on a somewhat wavy subfrequency. This is highly impressive for a lens in this class, although does increase to 2% with 12mm shift
- 1.3EV vignetting wide open (3.3EV at 12mm shift) reducing to 0.44EV at f/8 (1.3EV at 12mm shift)
- centre sharpness peaks at f/5.6, edge and corner peaks at f/5.6-f/8, but overall peaks at f/8 when shifted 12mm
http://www.ronscheffler.com/techtalk/?page_id=37
https://luminous-landscape.com/canon-17mm-tse-review/
- best at f/5.6-f/11
- CA seems to be minimal to non-existent