Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5L II vs Canon TS-E 17mm f4L Tilt Shift: Which Should You Buy

For architectural photography, I highly recommend you buy and use a tilt-shift lens. Personally, I prefer Canon because I firmly believe they make the best. Tilt-shift lenses are brilliant because they allow you to correct perspective; which is extremely important for the kind of work we do. The question is, which do you buy first?

My favorite tilt-shift lens is the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II. This lens is simply fantastic for a number of reasons. It’s also the lens I recommend you buy first for a number of reasons. Although the Canon TS-E 17mm f/4.0 is a brilliant lens and indispensable in many situations, it’s a bit of a tricky lens to get your head around, especially if you’re just starting out. In the video linked above, I discuss several reasons as to why I think the 24mm lens is probably the one you should start with first. Don’t get me wrong, eventually both lenses are probably going to be a requirement, however, the 24mm is just an easier and more effective lens in most situations. In an ideal world, you’d buy all the tilt-shift lenses you want immediately, unfortunately, these types of lenses aren’t exactly the cheapest on the market. For that reason, you may only be looking to purchase one of these lenses, to begin with.

Check out the full video and let me know what you think.