TS-E on the cheap? For architectural photography

AmateurArchitectural wrote:

I shoot architecture, largely exteriors, for work but not for income. Mostly photos I only use at PowerPoint resolutions and for book/article illustrations. Really large prints are an occasional treat.

I really want to move to a TS-E, firstly because I much prefer to compose and problem-solve in-camera rather than in PS, and secondly because I loved my old Nikon shift and want to play with tilt too.

Do you still have the Nikon? Probably not, because you use past-tense, but there are cheap Nikon to Canon EOS adapters.

My question is, is it too bad a waste of a beautiful lens (17mm TS-E) to put it on a 7-year-old EOS400D?

- Will I be able to focus through the 400D’s little view-finder?

- Is the image quality in camera too low to be worth it?

That depends on your purpose. for powerpoint it's all fine. But how much resolution do you need for your book/article illustrations. At 300DPI for printing you need 3000 pixels for 10 inches.

Given that the 400D has no live view (as others discussed), it seems sensible to upgrade to a newer body. So, that leaves you with the question how much to spend.

Anyway, no matter which body you put a new 17 or 24mm TS-E on, they will hold their value well.

My alternative is to shell out another £1000+ to get the 6D and the 24mm TS-E instead (17mm on FF the angles are too un-natural-looking for my kind of architecture), and consign my EFS to spare.

Any advice welcome!

(If you want to see the sort of thing I shoot, there's some here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnabas_calder/)