Tilt-shift lenses

Does anyone out there shoot using a tilt-shift lens? If so, which one and how do you like it? I find myself shooting a lot of architecture while on vacation, and hate the distortion I get from my favorite lens (24 - 70mm f2.8 canon L series). I've been reading some of the reviews on the TS-E 24mm f/3.5L and everyone seems to like it. I was surprised to learn how many photographers use it for landscape shooting. I never even considered that, but could imagine how it would open up a whole new world for me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, and happy holidays.

I started using a Canon 24mm TS-E f/3.5L this past Oct while in Cape Breton and now use it 90% of the time for landscape mainly to increase overall sharpness from foreground to background. So needless to say I love it. It is a very sharp lens especially using T&S. I don't shoot architecture so I can not comment on that. I do find it easy to use but I did shoot 4X5 in the past so I was familiar with the concept. I really like this lens and in fact it is my favorite.

I have the nikon 45mm Tilt Shift and I am using it mainly for composing panoramas (using the shift function). I like it for that. I have been trying the tilt method to getting a bigger field of view but have yet to find a really good web article that explains it well. If anyone has any suggestions of web sites or books please let me know.
thanks

I bought the Canon 24mm TSE lens & have found it to be super sharp at virtually all settings, even without the tilt/shift. Professional landscape photographer Jerry Greer turned me on to the concept & he uses them virtually exclusively for his work. The tilt takes a bit of understanding and practice to see what the results would be. One good concept site link is this: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-lenses1.htm. Another good one for concepts is: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/focusing-ts.shtml. I would say to ignore the measurements charts this site supplies - it seems to work best to use your "live view" to focus the lens and then use the tilt to get better DOF. Remember that these lenses are NOT autofocus, so you do have that extra element to every shot.

On shots that do not have tall vertical elements close to the lens, you can get super sharp DOF throughout the frame using the sweet spot of the lens (F8 - F11). The shift can be added to make sure trees and other elements are vertical, as well as for making panos as Van states above.

The shift is almost a no-brainer. The tilt requires quite a bit of reading & trial & error in the field. Once you understand what you are after, there is no sweeter lens in the Canon line IMO. One idea is to rent the lens for a weekend from http://www.LensRentals.com or others, and try it out. You'll need a day or two in the field before you get the hang of it - so you can try before you buy.

Audrey,

I use all three, the 24, 45, and 90. All three are great. I use shift to preserve parallel lines (e.g. redwood trunks) as well as tilt to get foreground to background sharpness (e.g. flowers in front of mountains).

They work very well with the Canon 1.4x teleconverter. This greatly enhances your choice of focal lengths. Again, Jerry Greer taught me this trick.

I'm using both the 24 and 45, and like Michael, I'm also using them with the 1.4x tele-converter. I've found both lenses to be indispensable in my landscape and architectural work.