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Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 35mm Primes

4.8/5 (5 Reviews)

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Product Description

The Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 is a standrad focal length (on a 35mm / full frame camera) tilt-shift lens. The floating system and rear focusing give sharp and stable delineation from throughout the focus range of 1.3-feet to infinity. Ideal for obtaining a natural-looking perspective in a distortion-free architectural image.
  • Manual focus
  • Tilt and shift movements
  • Min focus: 1.3 ft (0.4m)


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    Reviews 1 - 5 (5 Reviews Total)

    User Reviews

    Overall Rating:4
    Value Rating:5
    Submitted by AGALEATI a Professional

    Date Reviewed: June 4, 2007

    Strengths:    Sharpness and versatility.

    Weaknesses:    Could be built a little better.

    Bottom Line:   
    I must admit this lens did suprise me a lot. Ostensibly is it versatile, but the main feature reallyis it's sharpness. Without question it satisfied all of my field photography yearnings, but it also came through perfectly with contrast and color saturation for portraits. For those of you who have ditched your film cameras like an old flame, try to use this for one last hurrah at slide photography, you'll be happy you did. One of Canon's best!

    Expand full review >>

    Duration Product Used:   11-20 years

    Price Paid:    $1100.00

    Similar Products Used:   90 TS
    16-35
    100-400
    180 Macro
    65 Macro

    Type of photography:   Outdoor

    Overall Rating:5
    Value Rating:4
    Submitted by samthase a Intermediate

    Date Reviewed: March 3, 2004

    Strengths:    Sharpness, versatility.

    Weaknesses:    Weight, price.

    Bottom Line:   
    I've only used this lens for a couple of weeks now, but I'm greatly impressed with its versatility and quality of built and design. Sharpness is better than any other lens I own or have owned (I used to shoot with various Nikon film cameras before going ditigal with the 10D) This may well become my favorite lens in a hurry, as it works well even hand-held as a portrait and still life lens. When using the tilt and/or shift, this lens shows it's real strengths. Landscapes suddenly gain the kind of depth of field I've never thought possible with anything but a view camera. I also find myself using this lens for panorama shots, shifting all the way left and then all the way right and stitching the two photos together. I may have to go out and buy another to have the mechanisms made paralel on. Greeat lens.

    Expand full review >>

    Duration Product Used:   6-10 years

    Price Paid:    $1049.00

    Purchased At:   B&H Photo

    Similar Products Used:   none

    Type of photography:   Fine Art

    Overall Rating:5
    Value Rating:5
    Submitted by Rollins a Expert from Frederick, MD

    Date Reviewed: June 4, 2003

    Strengths:    Sharpness is excellent.
    Build quality is excellent.
    DOF scale is okay - not as usefull as 24mm-TS.
    No distortion at all.

    Weaknesses:    None.

    Bottom Line:   
    Over the years I have purchased the EF-24mm TS, EF-45mm TS, and the EF-90mm TS.

    With this lens, I tend to use Shift & Tilt equally; on the 24mm TS, I most frequently use Shift; on the EF-90mm TS, I most frequently Tilt.

    The 45mm-TS is noticably sharper than the 24mm-TS and I notice no distortion here at all.

    This lens is an excellent lens in all categories.

    The 90mm-TS is only 'slightly' sharper than this lens.

    Expand full review >>

    Duration Product Used:   6-10 years

    Price Paid:    $1099.00

    Purchased At:   B&H Photo

    Similar Products Used:   EF-24mm TS, EF-90mm TS, EF-35mm f/2, various 50mm lenses, EF-300mm f/4 L, FF 70-200mm f/4 L

    Type of photography:   Outdoor

    Overall Rating:5
    Value Rating:5
    Submitted by Smallman a Expert from Sydney, Australia

    Date Reviewed: June 28, 2002

    Strengths:    Very versatile.
    Generous tilt and shift movements make architecture and landscape a pleasure to photograph.
    Sharpness is excellent even fully shifted with slight softening evident only in the corners at maximum shift.
    Distortion is very well controlled with just a hint of barrel distortion at the very edge of the frame fully shifted.This is only apparent when you go looking for it.
    There is some light fall off at the edges fully shifted with the aperture wide open but from f8 this is not a problem.

    Weaknesses:    I don't notice any weaknesses, however this is quite a large, heavy, expensive lens which requires some experience to use properly.
    The locking and tilt / shift control knobs are a little bit too small for comfort but they operate perfectly well.
    There is a little free play in the focussing movement and the image in the viewfinder moves slightly when the focus ring is turned back and forth. This is mildly disconcerting but appears to have no detrimental effect on image quality.
    No auto focus, of course. Well you can't have everything.

    Bottom Line:   
    The TS-E 45 mm is one of Canon's most versatile lenses but it seems few people know about it.
    Examination of its structure and function show considerable optical and mechanical ingenuity has gone into the design.
    Without tilt or shift it is a good general purpose lens with a normal angle of view and excellent sharpness.
    With tilt and shift a suitable EOS body turns into a mini view camera.
    It is perfect for landscape and architecture.
    Have your local Canon service centre make the tilt and shift axes parallel, then you can use both together for landscapes.
    Best used with an EOS 1V, 1N or 3.These cameras enable much more accurate manual focus than is possible with the less expensive models, plus you get a 100% viewfinder ( or almost 100% in the EOS 3) and the ability to fit the EC-D focussing screen with grid which is useful for architecture.
    The lens is a lot of fun to use and makes easy compositions which would be impossible with ordinary lenses. You can even use the shifted and / or tilted lens hand held at a pinch. Don't try that with a 4x5 view camera.

    Expand full review >>

    Duration Product Used:   6-10 years

    Price Paid:    $1350.00

    Purchased At:   Sydney Australia

    Similar Products Used:   There is not much similar out there, but Canon's TSE lenses give view camera versatility without the pain of using large format.

    Type of photography:   Outdoor

    Overall Rating:5
    Value Rating:5
    Submitted by Dan Allen a Professional from California

    Date Reviewed: March 16, 2001

    Strengths:    The highest quality construction
    Great optics



    Weaknesses:    Expensive


    Bottom Line:   
    Quite possibly this would be the one lens I would leave on my camera if I could only have one lens. It is a great focal length and that combined with its tilting and shifting make it a unique lens in the 35mm world. Great for architecture, landscapes, still-life, and even portraits (although I'd like to try the TS 90 for that as well), this is a great universal lens.

    Expand full review >>

    Duration Product Used:   21+ years

    Price Paid:    $1339.00

    Purchased At:   Glaziers, Seattle

    Similar Products Used:   EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye
    EF 85 f/1.8
    EF 17-35 f/2.8L
    EF 28-70 f/2.8L
    EF 70-200 f/2.8L
    EF 300 f/2.8L


    Type of photography:   Outdoor


    Reviews 1 - 5 (5 Reviews Total)

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