Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro Review

Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro Performance

Central sharpness is already excellent at open aperture and continues at that level through to f/11. f/16 is still very good, but after that diffraction cannot be eluded and the lens progressively softens towards f/45.

The edges are very good at f/2.8 and f/4 and then excellent from f/5.6 to f/11. Again, f/16 is very good and then sharpness tails off towards f/45. Particularly noteworthy is the even performance across the frame, especially at the peak of f/8 and f/11. As for the smaller apertures from f/22 to f/45, the lens is not at its best, but on the other hand it is good to have the choice for when depth of field is the priority.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is virtually banished at the centre of the frame and returns very low figures at the edge. Colour fringing is not a problem and there seems little point in trying to reduce it further in software, although it could be done.

Drawing is also as close to perfect as makes little difference, actually measuring at -0.02% barrel distortion. Basically the lens is perfectly rectilinear.

There is no sign of flare in any of the images. Granted, the dull weather did not overly challenge the lens in this respect, but against strong backlighting there seems no indication of any loss of contrast.

Bokeh, the smoothness and aesthetic quality of the out of focus areas, is good without being exceptional. Being a 90mm lens helps enormously as the background can be easily separated out at wider apertures, but there can be a slight tendency to a busy feel to that background.

Overall though it's an exciting, high quality performance and images have a crisp, attractive feel to them.

Value For Money

The Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro lens is priced at £2499, a not insubstantial sum of money. However, held in the hand and in use it is very clear that we have lot of high quality manufacture for that and it really is a pretty fair price. As a specialised lens it will not be for everybody, but for some it will be an essential creative tool. As for competition, there seems to be nothing comparable as all the other tilt/shift lenses are wide angle optics.

For more options have a look at the Top 15 Best Canon EOS lenses.

Add your message