I’ve always regarded tilt shift lenses with a sense of awe. The things they are capable of are quite astounding really and to actually get your head around it is quite difficult at first. But once you’ve got the basics sorted, it quickly becomes apparent just how much you’ve been missing out on by using conventional lenses. The Canon TS-E 17mm F/4L is one of the newest additions to the Canon Tilt Shift line up and this, my friends, is a seriously cool lens!

There are focal planes flying all over the place, perspective correction techniques galore and enough dials, nobs, twists and turns to make you queasy. So when I’d decided that the Canon TS-E 17mm F/4L was for me, I did a lot of reading about the net, trying to prepare myself for what I knew was most likely to be a confusing exerience in the beginning.

To be completely honest, a lot of what I read made zero sense. The perspective correction I understood, but the whole focal plane thing was so confusing to me, it took a good couple of reads for it to sink in. I’d seen all the miniaturised stuff that people had shot around the place, it looked cool but seemed a limited application. I had no idea what the actual uses of the effect could be and when I found out I was quite surprised. I’m not going to regurgitate everything I learnt here, but if you’re keen to take a look at some interesting reading on the effect, check this article out.

But I digress, this isn’t supposed to be a post about the basics of tilt shift photography. . .it’s about the lens. . .so without further adieu. . .

Pulling it out of the included little Canon Duffel bag, the first thing I notice, is that this thing is large and pretty heavy. Taking the lens cap off, the huge exposed convex elements on the front make me think of two things – Uncomfortably large repair bills if I ever ding the front of that lovely L series glass and the disappointing realisation that I won’t be able to put a filter on the front. I love my polarisers for landscape shooting, so this is a bit of a sad moment. Holding it though, it’s evident the build quality is as you would expect for an L lens and when it’s mounted on the front of the Canon 5DMKII it looks like a serious piece of kit, kinda tough. . .I like that!

Now at F4 it’s definitely not the fastest lens on the shelf, as a result of that you’d expect that you’d have to sacrifice that lovely depth of field we’ve come to expect from fast lenses on these large sensors. This is somewhat true, but not entirely true at the same time. The tilting ability does allow you to do some pretty crazy things with depth and where and how it’s displayed. being able to adjust the focal plane, selectively focus on or apply blur wherever you like in the frame is a very cool function. You’ll get more apparent depth of field or boken with this wide angle than with any other, this much is certain. This more than makes up for the slower speed of the lens. The minimum focus distance is also dramatically reduced when utilising the tilt effectively. How close, I’m not exactly sure, I’m not a numbers guy, what I can say is that I was able to achieve focus on something so close that when I actually looked to see how close I was, I was too close for comfort and concerned about damaging the front element. Got to watch that one.

Man this thing is sharp! Like seriously, deliciously sharp. Now I was always a fan of my Tokina 11-16 f2.8 on the Canon 7D, and it also did a passable job on the Canon 5DMKII at 15-16mm despite not having been designed for it, but the Canon TS-E 17mm F/4L eats it alive. Fantastic stuff! I’m not much of a pixel peeper, but even at full 21MP on the Canon 5DMKII viewing images at 100% it’s tack sharp. You do see a little softening and vignetting at full shift towards the edge of the frame, but this is to be expected at such an extreme viewing angle. Even wide open at f4, it’s sharp, but by the time you’re down around 8, it’s really impressive. So for the sharps it’s a massive win!

One thing I found really fantastic was the almost imperceptible barrell distortion. I read a review somewhere before I bought it that said there was slight barrel distortion. If it’s there, I can’t see it. . .Lines seem perfectly straight, it all looks great to me. For a lens largely suited to architectural photography, it would have to keep distortion of any kind to an absolute minimum.

Worth mentioning, is that this lens is manual focus lens. There is no auto focus at all. Now for some people I can see this is going to be a pain in the butt. However, ever since having a dodgy 7D that couldn’t focus to save itself, I manage quite well using the Live View and zooming in to check focus. It’s not difficult and for super sharp shots and video, it’s not a bad practise to get into. The focus ring is nice, smooth and has hard stops.

Now at this stage, I begin to look back over what I’ve written and it sounds like this is a shameless plug for Canon. It’s not. This is my honest opinion of this lens. To me, it really is this good, and for the price it had bloody well better be!

What I found to be a huge creative positive to using this lens was that I was no longer restricted to certain framing conventions and tripod heights in order to avoid any perspective distortion. Now I know this can all be done in post, but I’m an in camera guy. Stretch it in post, or do it optically through L series glass on location with no loss of detail – for me it’s a no brainer. Also, perspective correction with DSLR video and it’s limited resolution is not even an option. So now it’s just a matter of setting up your shot at whatever tripod height you want, get your perspective true and then shift away till your hearts content to re frame your shot without introducing any awkward converging lines.

For a lens to give you so much more creative control and freedom is rare. It has given me so many more options when I shoot, so many creative choices, that it’s really exciting. It gets me really motivated to shoot and go out and see what this lens can do. It can create really nice text book shots but the possibilities for throwing out the rule book completely and creating some really abstract effects make this a really versatile lens.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! The Canon TS-E 17mm F/4L is a great wide angle lens before you touch any of the cool tilt shift functions. When you take into account the possibilities they add, it’s a clear winner in it’s class.

The video below and the images here are just a collection of test shots, all have been shifted, some tilted. I’ll post some more examples sometime soon with more detailed explanations.

Until then. . .:)

[Show as slideshow]

Not unlike the Canon 5DMKII was sometime ago, this is a game changer!

Confused? You needn’t be, it’s actually very simple. Facebook has come to the Xbox 360 and it is going to redefine the way we view and interact with Social media!

Now why on earth would I be posting about the XBox 360? Aside from the fact that it has HD capabilities and also plays movies, what does it have to do with camera’s and the usual content on this blog? Well it does have something to do with photo’s and this is how it all started. Allow me to explain. . .

Until now, Facebook, a site based upon Social interaction, has increasingly and somewhat ironically become an anti-social pursuit. It’s habit-forming for many and anybody who has experienced it would agree that despite being a social platform, it all too often removes the user from actual social situations to inform their other ‘friends’ of their doings and current ‘status’.

I see friends posting photo’s of what’s going on, updating their pages, writing messages, all while it’s actually happening. While that’s going on, sure I can see it on my computer or my phone, but that person is completely detached from the actual situation that moments ago, they were actually experiencing. We are seeing average everyday people turning in to voyeuristic documentarians for the benefit of their Facebook following.

When I view this content, like many others, I am alone on my computer logging in to see what’s going on. Katie also reads and sees most of the same content, as we have many mutual friends and we often discuss what we see on there. I never watch her ‘maintain’ her Facebook, nor does she watch me, nor does anybody else I know watch other people on Facebook. It has seemed to me for all intents and purposes to be an individual and anti-social pursuit. . .until now. . .

Recently Katie and I had some friends around and we were all sitting in the living room, chatting away and having a few drinks. I have an XBox 360 connected to the TV that streams my iTunes music from my editing machine over the house wireless connection.

I remembered seeing that Facebook had come to the XBox 360 and after picking some beats and seeing it on the menu, rudely decided I would check it out (It was new and shiny, I just had to have a quick peek!). What ensued was something I have never experienced before and I couldn’t believe it.

There was 8 of us in the room and when they saw their beloved Facebook on the TV, many were quite surprised! All being quite avid Facebooker’s, this was a new and interesting (albeit a little klunky) implementation of the site.

What was intended to be a quick look to see what it was like turned into a full on group session. We went through old photo albums, laughing, telling stories and reminiscing. This quickly led to more searches for ‘that photo’ and in turn, more laughter, discussion and reminiscing. It all happened so fast, before you knew it everybody in that room had had their own photo’s up on the screen, we had all had a great time and 2 hours had flown by.

I looked around me. There had been a radical shift in the dynamic. In that moment the XBox had suddenly and irrevocably changed the way we interact, share and evaluate a Social Media experience. It had taken it out of the office and bedroom and into the living room! A room oft-times designed to comfortably accommodate multiple people for extended periods while they talk, watch TV or a movie. I mean of course you could have always plugged a laptop in and done exactly the same thing, but what I’m really talking about here is accessibility. Heaps of people have laptops and Plasma’s, how man people would actually bothered to hook it up and do that?

The XBox might not be the first to do this, it definitely won’t be the last, but with it’s wireless controls and ability to display on the TV, it sure is a perfectly suited system for that kind of viewing.

So now what? What’s next and where do we go from here? Will Facebook actually begin to promote real life social interaction in the form it did in our lounge room that night? I sure hope so. . .then I won’t have to live with the haunting Social/Anti-Social paradox that is Social media.

More soon. . .