TSE lens query

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;"]Has anyone got hands-on experience they would like to share with a TSE lens on a FF? Thanks to Bryan&rsquo;s excellent lens reviews (as usual), I believe a TSE would better serve my purpose for cityscapes. Now that I have a FF, I&rsquo;m leaning towards the TSE 45 f/2.8 because I need sharp, but any additional experience would be most welcome. Specifically, pros and cons of a TSE vs. DxO&rsquo;s perspective correction (which doesn&rsquo;t yet work with a 5D mk2 yet, anyway). Your input might save me over &euro;1,000 so I'd really appreciate it!
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;"]Bryan seems to equate TSE's with lens babies in many ways. I was thinking above all about correcting building perspective in the choked, dense andnarrow streets of Athens. I always shoot architecture with a tripod, soI can afford to work at narrow apertures. My 10-22 on a 40D and my 24-70 and 17-40 on a FF all create more problems (perspective, distortion, etc.) than they solve.
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;"]Thanks in advance.

I routinely fix up perspective in Photoshop or DxO. DxO in particular makes this a breeze and combined with the other correction features makes it better than TSE lenses for this purpose. I had good results with my 30D, and expect improvements with FF if for no other reason than the image will be denser and will be less subject ot breakdown under high magnification. I'm more interested in the TSE lens for the tilt and panorama functions. I would recommend chosing the TSE by the focal length, not by the reputation for sharpness. If you must use it to correct for converging verticals in crowded streets, chances are that you will want the 24mm one. But do experiment with PS and/or DxO when the 5D2 version is available before buying the lens. It may be more than adequate!

Thanks for your input, Ken. As you know, DxO doesn't include TSE lenses in their list of modules and hasn't yet released a 5D mk2 compatible upgrade (promised for January...).


I bought the 45 after a quick and dirty test with the 24 (sales guy knows me), but really for the speed and sharpness which are important, IMO, in macros. I also have a 40D, so the 45 covered more of my bases.


What do you mean by 'panorama' functions? I do panos with the sharpest possible prime I have. How do you stitch images with variable focal planes? I'd quite intrigued and would appreciate your insights.

You can use the shift to make panoramas. Rather than trying to rotate the camera around its lens' nodal point to get multiple shots, you shift. I haven't tried this myself, but the examples I've seen using this technique are very good.


Congratulations on your 45! It's a lens with such fascinating potential. Please do post what you are able to do with it.

I don't think 24 &amp; 45 mm TSE lenses make sense for digital, since there're a lot of software that can correct the perspective with just a bit of loss of IQ, and you can get a really superb lens like 24-70 2,8L with better IQ and the price of just one lens.
A very different stuff is the 90 TSE. I use this lens for portraits, with the tilt focusing feature, that make your work apart from the competition. I also use it for product catalog, no other lens can make it better but view cameras. And finally, I find this lens being a nice macro lens, as good as 100 mm macro, but with the tilt feature that allows you to compose your picture unaligned with the center of the subject.

I think you&rsquo;ve raised some interesting points (which is a polite way of saying &ldquo;I disagree&rdquo; [;)]). I own both the 45 TSE and the 24-70 and I find the TSE equal to the zoom at comparable focal lengths and apertures in IQ terms, with the added bonus of extra creative latitude. My 5D mkII demands serious glass if only because there are a lot of pixels to deal with (resolving power) and the copies of the 24 TSE I used just weren&rsquo;t good enough. Maybe I was unlucky.
I&rsquo;d rather not use PP to correct more than I have to, however good the software, because this is yet another step in the workflow which introduces additional variables. Remember the KISS approach?
I&rsquo; m not sure how you can compare maximum magnification values of the 100 macro (which I also own) against those of 90 TSE. As Bryan&rsquo;s reviews show, MM values for the 90 are 0.29 (0.43 with a 12 mm extension tube), compared to 1.00 and 1.19 respectively with the 100 mm macro using the same body. Maximum magnification is not the only factor, of course, but it must rate pretty high in macros, surely? That said, it&rsquo;s a lot of fun to shoot macro with a TSE. The 45 model works best for me because I own both a FF and crop sensor bodies.

Hi Stefan,


thanks for your words, first of all, please excuse my poor english, I am in Spain. I beg your pardon, maybe I did say it the wrong way, I didn't want to mean that 24 &amp; 45 are bad lenses in absolute terms, they surely are good, as Bryan&rsquo;s reviews show, but in a position to make the best choice to buy, I simply find the 24-70 more suitable for different porpouses, with superb performance, and even after software perspective correction, I think the IQ is good enough for my 1Ds mk III, not the best desirable, but enough thinking 24-70 is also useful for many kinds of work.
Yes 90 TSE does not magnifies a lot, but I find it very good with extension tubes, maybe 100 macro has better IQ in larger magnification, but the flexibility to compose with tilt focus made me to take the decision to sell my 100 macro and get this one. Now I own a really superb lens for 3 different kind of work.
One more curious thing: I'm waiting for an Hasselblad lens to Canon EOS body adapter to arrive from Ebay, just to test how my 120 mm macro Planar performs in my 1DSIII. I'll show you the results.

Your English is fine. No problems. I look forward to seeing your Planar work.

From time to time I use my 24 mm TS-E when shooting product pictures. The type of product is printed circuit boards of different sizes (from the tiny one in mobile phones PCBs with the size as a graphic card for a PC). The is the tilt feature that I use most. Great for this purpose, but somethime I wonder if a 45 og 90 mm would do a better job.