August 10, 2011
Sunset Cloud in Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming, and the Canon TS-E 17mm f4 L

We recently moved into the Shoshone National Forest along the Beartooth Highway in Wyoming between Red Lodge and Cooke City, Montana. The Beartooth Pass, at 10,947 ft or 3,337m, is in a wonderful Alpine environment above tree line with stunning views. Nearby, and at slightly lower elevations, there are many lakes within easy walking/hiking distance from the highway. I made the image above at one such lake right by the highway. The fantastic clouds in the sky called for using my new Canon TS-E 17mm f4 L, aka "17 TS", to capture the wide view. I made three exposures to capture the range of light from the bright highlights in the clouds to the dark foreground and then combined them by hand in Photoshop.

Canon TS-E 17mm f4 L

I've started to use my new Canon TS-E 17mm f4 L, and I love it! I sold my 16-35 (Mk I) after switching to digital and seeing how soft the corners were. Some compositions required the wide view afforded by the 16-20mm portion of the zoom, but I was always disappointed by the results. Even the 16-35 Mk II was soft in the corners, so for years I went without an ultra-wide lens. When the TS-E 17 was released, I had serious lens envy — finally, an ultra-wide lens that was sharp in the corners! Unfortunately, the bulbous front element meant that filters couldn't be used which would significantly reduce the effectiveness of the lens because I'm rather partial to my solid and graduated neutral density filters and a polarizer. A polarizer with an ultra-wide-angle lens? You're correct that the effect of the polarization varies quite a bit throughout the field of view for such a lens, but they're still useful when dealing with foliage and no sky because the variable effectiveness of the polarizer isn't nearly as apparent.

Now that Lee Filters has started shipping the SW150 Filter Holder for the AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, another lens with a bulbous front element, I made the plunge and purchased the TS-E 17 and an SW150. I'm in the process of adapting the SW150 to the TS-E 17, and will report on that later.

What I like most about the TS-E 17 is the shift motion to control distortion. By keeping the camera body vertical and shifting the lens to look up or down, everything in the image looks like it would to the naked eye — no more unwanted keystoning.

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