Introduction
Laowa has already produced a couple of good tilt-shift lenses, such as the T/S 55mm f/2.8 and the impressive T/S 100mm f/2.8. Now they’ve introduced an ultra-wide-angle option — the T/S 17mm f/4 — designed primarily for architectural work. It offers the same handling flexibility as the previous two, including a tripod foot. Let’s see how the optics perform on this one!
We tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with Nikon Zf , and Sony A7III )
Sample images in high resolution here.
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.
Specifications
| Focal Length | 17mm |
| Angle of View | 126.2° |
| # of Aperture Blades | 14 |
| Max Aperture | f/4 |
| Min Aperture | f/22 |
| Min Focus Distance (Max magnification) | 25cm (0.13X) |
| Filter Size | 86mm |
| Tilt | ±10° |
| Shift | ±12mm |
| Lens Mount | E / RF / Z / L / XCD / GFX |
| Weight | ≈ 810 g |
| Size (D x L) | Ø 93 x 111 mm |
| Elements/Group | 18 elements / 12 groups |
| Buy new: Laowa Store, Amazon (anywhere), B&H for $1249 (Affiliate links) |
Disclosure
Laowa kindly loaned us this lens for a couple of weeks for testing and review. This review is a team effort.
Handling and Build Quality
The Laowa T/S 17mm f/4 is built of metal and glass, including the lens barrel, control rings, knobs, levers, mount plate, and the included lens hood. The lens comes with standard rear and hard plastic clip-on front caps. The lens looks and feels to be built solidly. All markings are engraved and filled with paint. There are no electronic contacts for aperture control or EXIF data transfer.
Despite its fully metal-and-glass build, it weighs only 810 g. It is by no means light, but keep in mind that this is not much heavier than standard, quality lenses and considerably lighter than its siblings, the 55mm and 100mm f/2.8.
It is a fully manual lens with no electronic contacts, and there is no visible weather sealing. The aperture ring turns smoothly and has click stops at every full stop, with a gentle click. While the aperture ring only clicks at full stops, you can set the aperture value between two stops. The aperture values are spaced with varying distances on the ring.
The lens includes an Arca-Swiss compatible foot, attached to a collar support by two screws, which in turn is secured to the lens collar by two additional screws on either side. This setup is intended to stabilise the heavy lens-camera assembly on a tripod.
The tilt/shift feature is quite advanced. You can shift the lens up to 12mm in each direction and tilt it up to 10° in both directions; each of these can be set using a knob. They use small gears for fine adjustment of the movements. Separate knobs at the opposite side of each of these knobs lock the adjustments.
Having both locks and gears for fine adjustment of tilt and shift is a good feature. However, the locks are very abrupt—it feels like they are either fully locked or completely loose, with almost nothing in between. Once released, the full weight of the lens is left to the small adjustment gears, and because the lens is quite heavy, they struggle to handle the load. As a result, making fine adjustments with the gears becomes very difficult, if not almost impossible.
You can rotate the lens 360° in 15° increments, enabling the same movements in any direction you desire. This is an impressive feature, as most other lenses typically allow rotation of only 90° to 180° in one direction and, at best, 90° in the opposite direction, often in 30° increments.
When you fully shift your lens in every direction and take a picture at all these settings with a click stop, you can stitch them to a panorama. The following panorama was captured by taking images at every other click stop (every 30°).
In addition to that, you can also rotate the complete camera-lens setup via the lens collar on the tripod foot 360°, which can also be locked with a separate knob.
A final plus is that you can mount a standard filter on the front — something no other tilt-shift lens at this focal length can offer.
Optical Features
Sharpness (Infinity)
For the infinity sharpness test, we look at three areas of the image, centre, mid-frame, and corner, for this lens, as it can be shifted we also look at the corner in the shifted position. See highlighted areas in the images below!
Centre sharpness is excellent from f/4, the mid-frame is good, and the corner is fair to good. The shifted corner is only fair. Stopping down to f/5.6 improves sharpness all the way to the corner and good results at the shifted corner. At f/8, you get very good sharpness across the frame, and even the shifted corner improves further. Although the difference is small, for the best corner sharpness, f/11 or f/16 are required.
The lens shows a mid-zone dip in sharpness at wider apertures. When the scene contains a lot of fine detail in the mid-frame area, it’s best to stop down to at least f/8 or f/11.
Sharpness (Close-up)
I’m not sure if this lens will be used for any closeups, but we tested it, and you can see the test shots here. The close-up sharpness is very good at all apertures; it does not improve much by stopping down.
Lens Distortion
Laowa’s strong track record in low-distortion wide-angle design really shows here. In this tilt-shift lens, where minimal distortion is critical, performance is excellent.
Vignetting
At its normal, centred position, vignetting is minimal, thanks to the lens’s ability to cover a medium-format sensor.
- F/4.0: 1 EV
- F/5.6: 1 EV
- F/8.0: 1 EV
- F/11: 0.9 EV
Things are different when the lens is fully shifted. Vignetting becomes noticeable and doesn’t improve much when stopping down, remaining relatively pronounced.
- F/4.0: 2.7 EV
- F/5.6: 2.6 EV
- F/8.0: 2.4 EV
- F/11: 2.3 EV
Focus Shift & Aberrations
There’s no focus shift to worry about, but a small amount of longitudinal chromatic aberration is visible as purple fringing when pixel-peeping. It improves to being almost non-existent by one stop down at f/5.6 and is completely gone by f/8. In real-life situations, as seen in the second test series, it’s hardly noticeable even at f/4.
Lateral chromatic aberration is well controlled.
Flare Resistance
This is one area where the lens could be improved, as performance doesn’t look optimal. On the positive side, contrast remains very good in almost all shots, so there’s no veiling flare of note. However, the ghosting leaves much to be desired.
Coma
I doubt anyone would use an f/4 tilt-shift lens for astrophotography, so this section is unnecessary, but we’re showing the coma anyway, as it can negatively affect corner sharpness. The following images are all 100% crops of the image corner.
Sunstars
This lens has 14 rounded aperture blades, which isn’t the ideal configuration for producing attractive sunstars. Nonetheless, it can generate 14-pointed stars from around f/5.6, and while the rays lengthen as you stop down, they never become particularly well-defined.
Bokeh
With the tilt function you can make alterations to the focal plane and depending on the scene, the shape and position of the subject and the angles between camera and subject you can sometimes increase or decrease the depth of field.
In the scene above, when the lens is tilted up it looks like the depth of field is thinner and when the lens is tilted down it actually looks like the lens has been stopped down by a few stops.
The thing is, you need a lot of practice (some knowledge also helps) to make good use of the tilt function. I have seen some amazing pictures where the tilt has been used to great effect, but many simply look gimmicky, so I think it is an effect that should be used with caution.
Conclusion
| I LIKE | AVERAGE | I DON’T LIKE |
| Sharpness Lens distortion Vignetting (normal) CA control Handling & build quality |
Vignetting (shifted) Coma correction Sunstars midzone sharpness dip at wider apertures Price |
Flare resistance |
Overall, the Laowa 17mm f/4 T/S is a very strong ultra-wide-angle tilt-shift lens. Sharpness is excellent, although achieving the best corner sharpness when shifted requires stopping down to at least f/8. Distortion is extremely well controlled and chromatic aberration is well corrected.
Handling is versatile, with generous tilt and shift movements. As a bonus, the lens includes a tripod foot and a front filter thread, which adds to its practicality for architectural and landscape work.
Vignetting, coma, and sunstars are decent. Care should be taken when shooting directly into the sun, and for the best edge-to-edge sharpness, stopping down to f/8 is recommended.
The main drawbacks are its susceptibility to flare and its price. However, at this focal length and with this combination of features, there are essentially no true competitors for full-frame mirrorless cameras.
Writing articles like this one is both time-consuming and costs us a lot of money. If you found this article helpful and decided to buy one of these lenses, please consider using one of the affiliate links.
If you are not interested in buying any of the lenses, but you still found this article useful, interesting, or it saved you a lot of money, treat us to a coffee (donate)!
| Buy new: Laowa Store, Amazon (anywhere), B&H for $1249 (Affiliate links) |
Alternatives
TTArtisan Tilt-Shift 17mm f/4 ASPH.
This is the only direct competitor for mirrorless cameras. It is also available in several mirrorless mounts as well as for Fujifilm GFX medium format. The optical quality is at least as good as that of the Laowa, but it offers slightly less versatile movements — offering only ±8° of tilt and ±8 mm of shift and lacks both the fine adjustment gears and a tripod collar. On the other hand, it costs less than half the price of the reviewed lens.
Buy new: TTArtisan Store, B&H, Amazon (anywhere) for $550(Affiliate links)
Canon TS-E 17mm f/4.0L
The only alternative that matches the tested Laowa in both focal length and tilt/shift functionality. If you are a Canon user, this can be a real alternative; otherwise, you need to adapt this lens to your camera. Considering the already large and heavy lens, plus the lack of tripod foot/collar, I would go with the Laowa.
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk from $1300 (Affiliate links)
Nikon PC-Nikkor 19mm f/4.0E ED N
I haven’t used the Nikon 19mm personally, but it appears to be an excellent lens based on what I’ve seen from trusted sources. If you’re a Nikon (D)SLR user, it’s definitely worth considering; otherwise, you’ll need to adapt it to other digital cameras, and the lack of a tripod foot or collar makes it quite front-heavy.
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk from $2500 (Affiliate links)
LAOWA 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift
This lens is wider but offers only the shift feature (no tilt). If shift alone is sufficient for your needs, it’s definitely worth considering — though note that it provides 1 mm less shift.
Buy new: Laowa Store, amazon (anywhere) for $1200 (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk from $1000 (Affiliate links)
More Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.
Further Reading
- What camera gear and accessories do I use most frequently?
- REVIEW: TTArtisan Tilt-Shift 17mm F4 ASPH.
- Review: Canon TS-E 17mm 4.0L
- Review: Laowa 15mm 4.5 Zero-D Shift
- REVIEW/COMPARISON: Laowa FF II TS 55mm & 100mm f/2.8 Macro 1X
- Review: Laowa 20mm 4.0 Shift
- Review: TTArtisan 100mm f/2.8 Macro 2x TS – A Jack of All Trades
- REVIEW: TTArtisan 35mm F/1.4 Tilt (APS-C)
- Review: AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift
Support Us
Did you learn something new, find this article useful, or simply enjoy reading it? We’ve put a lot of time and resources into creating it, and your support helps us keep going. If you’d like to show your appreciation, please consider clicking the Donate button!
(Donations via Paypal or bank card)
What’s in my camera bag? MY 2024 KIT!!
- Main camera : https://amzn.to/3TsGtKg
- Camera grip : https://amzn.to/4e0G3CR
- Memory Card 1: https://amzn.to/47pA20i
- Memory Card 2 : https://amzn.to/3XHYxlZ
- Camera 2 : https://amzn.to/3Xifou8
- Camera grip: https://amzn.to/4dYYpV9
- Memory card 1: https://amzn.to/4e5h2H0
- Memory card 2: https://amzn.to/3zu7W7n
- Small travel tripod: https://amzn.to/4goIX68
- Mini tripod: https://amzn.to/4e09XXX
- Small shoulder bag: https://amzn.to/47tPMiY
- Medium shoulder bag: https://amzn.to/4ej4bjY
This site contains affiliate links, for which I may receive a small commission if you purchase via the links at no additional cost to you. This helps support the creation of future content.
The Team
Latest posts by The Team (see all)
- REVIEW: LAOWA FF TS 17mm f/4 C-Dreamer - March 12, 2026
- November / Black Friday Deals 2025 - November 19, 2025
- Sony FE Lenses: The honest Guide for the A7/A9/A1 Series - March 18, 2025
Thanks for review!
It’s look like 15mm has better flare resistance, am I right?
And what’s the Laowa T/S 24mm 2.0?
There is no info about it at all.
We had an early review sample of that lens but I am not sure when it will be released.
Oh, thats THE NEWS.
Hope it’s good and will be released!
Hello!
I think there’s a bit of mishap with the Infinity Sharpness chart… the top row is unlabelled but I guess that’s actually f/4 and the aperture marks just got shifted one row down (and the bottom one is actually f/22 then…)?
Hi,
Thanks for pointing out, yes, a shift in the labels.
It is corrected now
Great review as usual! Are the tilt and shift operations fixed at 90 degrees (like the initial series of TS-E lenses from Canon)? Or are they independent like the 55 and 100mm Lowa Tilt Shift lenses?
Here, the tilt and shift axes are perpendicular to each other.
Interesting lens – thanks for the review! I’m a bit puzzled by your comments on handling though: with the 55mm and 100mm you strongly criticized the tripod collar, in this one you quite strongly criticize the adjustment knobs. To me that sounds like these lenses have serious design flaws in two of the most important handling features – am I wrong? Your conclusion doesn’t really reflect it..
It is an interesting lens, but it is not built perfectly. In fact, the criticisms regarding the knobs and the tripod foot apply to all three lenses mentioned. They are very good features, and the tripod collar is actually somewhat innovative, as we had not seen it on previous T/S lenses. However, they are not perfect. Note that, not even much more expensive Canon and Nikon T/S lenses come with a tripod foot with rotating collar.
And the Canon TS-E 17mm 4.0L knobs are also not great at all…
But still much better than those of the Laowa 2,8/35mm TS that I tested.
Hi. The link to the sample images does not work. Tia.
Hi, the tripod foot is fixed to the front section of the lens so when shifting or tilting only the camera is moving. Is that correct?
It looks like there is a plate with 4 screws between the two moving mechanisms. I wonder it that would allow modifying the 90° angle between tilt & shift to 0.
Yes, correct. The front part of the lens is attached to the tripod, while the rear part with the camera moves during tilt and shift.
Yes, there are four screws that connect the shift and tilt mechanisms, and theoretically you could modify the 90° angle between tilt and shift to 0°. However, it is not intended that users do so. It may void the lens’s warranty if you start disassembling the lens with a screwdriver, and I did not try that.
Thanks for this interesting review! Are you going to comment about the shift only version that Laowa is selling of this lens? It seems to have a completely different approach for the shifting mechanism. Or maybe can someone comment actually having used this version of the lens? I am actually using the Canon TS-E 17mm adapted via Sigma to Sony A7R4 and would like to get a more streamlined and less heavy solution while maintaining excellent image quality.
We have not had the shift only version and we have not received its specifications either, so we cannot comment on that.
Beautiful pictures, powerful lens. But the Laowa 9mm 5.6 is so impressive. I recommend people to read your review again or first.
Interesting review – thanks!
When reading this, I noticed that you talk very little about the tilt function. Almost all samples are with shift only, and you just briefly describe that tilt allows control of the focus plane and depth of field, but don’t really explain how. I would have expected some reference to the Scheimpflug principle, which would help understanding how tilt works. (When you tilt the lens, the sensor plane, lens plane and subject plane meet at the same line, so that you can make a plane that is not perpendicular to the lens axis become sharp. See Wikipedia article “Scheimpflug principle” for a good explanation and examples.)
When you know that principle, it is not too hard to use the tilt so that you can focus to any plane, not just certain distance in front of the lens.
However, when we have an ultrawide lens like this, the depth of field is large anyway, so tilt has not as dramatic effect as with longer focal lengths. Still, I think tilt is more interesting for experimental photography than shift, which is mostly just eliminating the keystone effect that comes from tilting the camera from horizontal (to get an entire building to the image, for example).
Anyway, it is nice to read about special kinds of lenses, I did not know about this one before.
We already have a lengthy article explaining how tilt works.
In a 17mm lens I honestly find it mostly useless, as the depth of field will usually be sufficient anyhow.
Also for that miniature effect longer lenses work much better.
excuse me , If I have laowa 20mm shift that this
lens is recommend to buy it ?
Will the 20mm lens be more sharp than 17mm?
Thank you so much
I cannot say whether the lens is recommended if you already have the 20mm shift, as it depends on what you want to use it for.
The 17mm is a little wider, which can help in tight situations, and it also has a tilt mechanism if you ever need it.
Sharpness? Stopped down to f/8, you will hardly see any difference between the two. At wider apertures—rarely used for this kind of photography—the 17mm is sharper.
Confused, can you rotate the shift mechanism separately from the tilt? The cheaper T/S lenses and adapters that I’ve used keep both movements on the same plane which limits what you can do if you want to tilt AND shift an image.
I have already answered this question. The shift and tilt are perpendicular to each other—in other words, the direction of the shift movement is at a 90-degree angle to the direction of the tilt movement. You can tilt and shift the lens at the same time, but the movements are at right angles to each other.
Can The Lens rotate either the tilt mechanism or the shift mechanism independently by 90°, without any click stops. This allows you to tilt and shift independently, aligning them in the same direction, perpendicular to each other, or at any angle in between like the TS 55mm from Laowa
For the third time, no.
Sorry, I don´t read every Statement. Nice Review of this lens. So will check if I can get one in Germany to test them on my Nikon Cameras or if the 19mm Nikon PC-E is the better Option.
No problem at all, and thanks for the kind words! I hope you can find one in Germany to try on your Nikon cameras.
Note that the Nikon 19mm is a little heavier and longer and it requires an adapter if you want to use it on Z cameras, the price is also the double.