The TS-E 24 mm f/3.5L II lens provides four degrees of freedom, allowing ±8.5° tilt with respect to the film or sensor plane and ±12 mm shift with respect to the center of the image area;[1] each movement can be rotated ±90° about the lens axis.
Shifting allows adjusting the position of the subject in the image area without changing the camera angle; it is often used to avoid convergence of parallel lines, such as when photographing a tall building.
Tilting the lens relies on the Scheimpflug principle to rotate the plane of focus away from parallel to the image plane; this can be used either to have all parts of an inclined subject sharply rendered, or to restrict sharpness to a small part of a scene.
Unlike most view cameras, the shift mechanism allows shifts along only one axis, and the tilt mechanism allows tilts about only one axis; however, the rotation of the mechanisms allows the orientations of the axes to be changed, providing, in effect, combined tilt and swing, and combined rise/fall and lateral shift.
In addition to optical improvements, the TS-E 24 mm f/3.5L II also introduces a new barrel design, allowing the tilt and the shift to be rotated independently of each other without removing screws on the lens body, as was required on the original version.