To tilt or not to tilt

[btaylor]

Hey guys,

I'm considering purchasing either the 17mm or 24mm tilt shift lens. I like the idea of perspective control and also the ability to better control depth of field. This would pretty much be a dedicated landscape lens, not so much architecture but maybe a few cityscapes here and there.

At the moment I'm swaying toward the 24mm because I think that's wide enough on full frame to be an effective landscape lens without being too wide. The other, and main, reason I'm swaying toward the 24mm is that I'm also going to invest in a good filter system. I have seen some modified lens cap setups to allow the lee system to work with the 17mm but tilt and shift functions are severely hampered.

I've been doing a lot of research of late and I think I like the Lee system. It seems to be the general consensus that Lee filters are superior to Cokin or Hitech but not without additional cost.

I'm also a little confused about which parts I'd need to buy to get set up. I assume you need the foundation kit (4"x6"?) and from there I'm thinking a 0.6 soft grad ND, a circular polariser (which appears to need another clamp setup so it can be rotated if used in conjunction with other filters), a normal ND filter (10 stop if possible but the Lee big stopper appears to be on constant backorder), and a reverse ND like this one http://singh-ray.com/reversegrads.html

So after all that, the advice I'm chasing is basically:

1) TS-E 24mm or 17mm - pros and cons?
2) Lee/Cokin/Hitech holder system and what size?
3) Am I choosing the right filters (e.g. is a 0.6 a good choice for, say, sunsets)
4) Hard grad or soft grad

Thanks in advance guys, this would be a significant investment for me so I'd like to be sure I'm making the right choice. Probably won't happen for another couple of months.

Cheers,

Ben