The First 17mm Tilt-Shift shots

I have been testing Canon’s new 17mm tilt-shift lens. I figured I would have absolutely no use for this lens because it is nearly impossible to filter… but like always, my preconceptions have proven me wrong! More on that in a future post.

This lens is really fun with a super wide 17mm field of view but with the ability to correct perspective and to tilt for infinite depth-of-field at the same time. I have been using tilt-shift lenses for years in my landscape photography but to be able to add a super-wide lens is really exciting. I also really love the ability to rotate tilt and shift independantly in this lens.

One of my pet peeves of using a wide-angle lens is the distortion you get when pointing the lens up or down; trees fall over, buildings lean in – in short the world looks wonky. In the photo below, I had to point the camera and lens up to take in this view of an aspen grove. As expected, I got wide angle distorion with leaning trees:

17mm with no perspective correction

To correct perspective I simply kept the camera back level to the trees and shifted the lens up to take in the aspen grove. The result is a wide angle view but without the leaning trees:

17mm lens perspective corrected

In the next photo of Johnson Lake in Banff I used the shift feature to give me an image wider than 17mm. I made two images; one of the clouds and mountains, and then another of the rocky foreground. I simply shifted my lens up and down to record both views and then in post-production I placed the two components together into one frame.

Two image stitch using shift

In the image below I took two verticals images by shifting the lens left and right to make a square finished image. This photo was taken in the serac of the Columbia Icefields. I highly recommend an Ice Walk anytime you are in the Icefields area

Two vertical shifts stitched together

In the next image, I took two vertical images; one shifted left, and one right. I then made a big square of image of this scene of Bow Lake in Banff. I also tilted for great depth-of-field across the scene from the small rock in the foreground to the mountain in the backdrop.

Two verticals made using shift and tilt for DOF

The next image I tilted for maximum depth-of-field and shifted the lens down to correct perspective so that the trees did not lean in.

Tilt for DOF, shift for perspective control

Stay tuned for a complete article on this lens in terms of sharpness, performance, and flare control but for now look at this last photo of Abraham Lake with this ultrawide lens. No wide angle distortion at all! How refreshing.

Tilted for DOF