Home > Blogs > Margaret Hokkanen > Carlsbad Real Estate and Market Updates → EncinitasCarlsbad.com

Anyone try the Canon TS-E 17mm Lens Yet?

By Margaret Hokkanen

Real Estate Agent with SurfTheTurf.com, Inc.

December 16, 2009 05:23 PM

We're thinking about buying Canon's new addition to the tilt/shift lens category. They now have a 17mm tilt/shift lens. This means that we could take near-panoramic, 40 megapixel images in our real estate photography using our new Canon 5D Mark II camera body. We've used the TS-E 24mm lens for years, and love the low amount of distortion and super-sharp images that it gives. We bought their 14mm f2.8 lens last year in an effort to avoid using the shift lens for every image. Then lens is good and sharp and low distortion, but 14mm tends to start making stuff look weird out at the edges.

If you've had a chance to test the TS-E 17mm lens, please let me know. Our local rental department hasn't even gotten a copy of the lens yet, and it's available at only some of the online stores. The online reviews have been good, but I would be curious to hear from some folks that are not in the photography business.

Margaret Hokkanen, Carlsbad Real Estate

Comments(8)

Comment

Show All Comments Sort:

Lee Jinks

Jinks Realty - McAllen, TX

Margaret, I doubt there is anyone here besides you and John who would even consider the TS-E 17mm. Well, I've considered it, but I shoot Nikon now and Nikon's PC lenses don't go that wide. They do have a really nice 14-24mm though.

I realize 40 megapixels is with two photos, so can't you just take two photos with the 14mm and let CS4 stitch and maneuver the photo to get the look you wanted? I've made some pretty good looking prints as big as 8"X10" with 5 megapixels. I've got 12.1 megapixels to work with now so I could go to 20"X30", but most places I use the photos don't need more than 800X600 pixels. So, do you really need all 40 megapixels? What I've learned is that many of the effects that used to require specialized lenses, filters and camera features can now be accomplished in Photoshop. I bet for no more effort, you can create the look you want with what you have right now.

Dec 18, 2009 02:45 AM

Margaret Hokkanen

SurfTheTurf.com, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA

→ Carlsbad Real Estate

Hi Lee, Thanks for writing, and we hope all is well in Texas.

We lay out our brochures at 400 DPI, and that makes an 11x17 brochure about 30M pixels, I think. With the new 5D camera body, using the shift lens (either 17 or 24mm) gives you a 40M pixel image, which means that you can be full-size, i.e., one pixel of photo to one pixel on the brochure layout. We've even started doing 11x25.5 brochures (trifolds), and with the old 5D, the 25.5 inch wide photo on the newest brochure went a little soft. With the new camera back, it'll be really sharp. So we fixed that problem, and now we can generate Hasselblad-sized photos and not have to spend $40K on a camera body.

You are correct, though, in most circumstances. Usually all but two of our brochure images can be taken with just the 5D and the 14mm lens. No one is complaining about the softness of the one image on the last brochure, but I like that razor sharp look. Our printers are using Staccato press making (down in the 20-30 micron range), and that means that they can print the super-sharp images. I'll send you a brochure and you'll see what I mean.

As for letting Canon stitch it together...Well, the results that you get from the TS-E lens mean that you don't have any aberrations in the final image. I haven't tried the stitch program lately, but maybe I should give it a run to see what it can do now.

Dec 18, 2009 03:02 AM

Eric Lee

Realty Executives - Phoenix, AZ

e-PRO, SFR - Phoenix, AZ

Lee - I think you'd find that you can print quite a bit bigger than you think. I've got a 12x18" print on my wall from a 3MP camera (actually I had to crop it to get 3:2 so it is probably 2.5MP or so) and it looks just fine for a family snapshot hanging on a wall. It probably isn't the level of sharpness Margaret is looking for but good for its purpose. Just an FYI. Oh and I've seen Margaret's brochures and they are top-notch as you might imagine.

Margaret - if you're going to do some stitching, I can whole-heartedly recommend Microsoft's ICE software. I've used both it and Canon Photostitch and I much prefer the ICE. I've been thinking of doing a post on how to use it and stitching in general since I did a lot of that for a while before getting my Sigma 10-20. It even has additonal uses that you might find interesting - it will do HDView which as I understand it (I haven't tried it yet) is an advanced image compositing algorithm that let's the user do gigapixel HD images. I just use it as a general panoramic stitching program and it works great - much more automatic than Canon's software and generally more accurate too. Oh and best of all it's free.

Dec 18, 2009 04:14 AM

Eric, I too have seen Margaret's brochures and I agree they are quite good.

Margaret, I do know there are some in the PFRE group on Flickr who have the lens. You might check there.

Dec 18, 2009 04:54 AM

Eric/Lee, Thanks for the kind remarks. I will check out the ICE and give it a test run. Maybe I should post the results from the test! I hope it doesn't do a better job. ;) Lee, I put my most recent brochure in the mail to you, so you should get it in a few days. If anyone else would like to see one, I'll be happy to send one.

Margaret

Dec 18, 2009 06:16 AM

Sam Miller

RE/MAX Stars Realty - Howard, OH

Knox County Ohio Real Estate Specialist

I am very interested in knowing how this Canon TS-E 17mm lens works out. We have been focusing on improving the quality of our listing photos and continue to invest into higher grade technology. We chose the Canon platform and we couldn't be happier.

Dec 25, 2009 06:31 AM

Peter - Toronto Real Estate Photo & Video

StoneHome Photo & Video - Toronto, ON

The 17mm is $2500! For that money, I'd stick with your excellent 14mm wide-angle and simply use photoshop to correct perspective and ptlens to fix barrel distortion, and instead invest in lights or wireless triggers. Unless you have money to burn or are shooting serious architectural photography and getting paid thousands of dollars per photo, save your money.

Dec 29, 2009 04:29 AM

Lizette Fitzpatrick

Lizette Realty - Richmond KY - Lexington, KY

Lizette Realty, Lexington KY MLS - Kentucky Homes

It sounds like an awesome lens! There's always something new to purchase and BTW your pictures are always fabulous!

Feb 02, 2010 02:09 PM

Anyone try the Canon TS-E 17mm Lens Yet?

Comments(8)

Margaret Hokkanen

Recent Posts

Additional Information