Ex pro photographer & writer. Author of 7 books and many illustrated articles for photo press. Now r...
Ex pro photographer & writer. Author of 7 books and many illustrated articles for photo press. Now retired through disability/health. Enjoy freedom of being an amateur again - Really!
Member since:14.12.2008
Reviews:22
Members who trust:2
Having owned and used my Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-f/4.5 USM zoom lens for around 15 to 18 months I feel that it is in many ways, quite an exceptional lens. Effectively covering the versatile full-frame equivalent 16-35mm zoom lens, it is a valuable addition to anyone's kit.
Being an EF-S lens (the 'S' standing for 'Short' back-focus), it is designed for use ONLY with cameras having APS-C size sensors. Don't attempt to fit one to a full-frame DSLR or 35mm SLR camera. Such lenses have reduced image circles and produce vignetting on full-frame or 35mm cameras. Furthermore, the rear lens element could get hit by the reflex mirror, causing serious damage.
With a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at
the widest end and f/4.5 at the more moderate end of the zoom range, the lens is not 'fast' by any stretch of the imagination. However, the relatively meagre aperture size does mean that the design requirements were far less adventurous or challenging than might otherwise have been the case and consequently, 'we' (the consumer) end up with a better performing, light and compact lens.
It is well constructed, made mostly of plastic (polycarbonate) and is of high quality. The lens feels well made (although obviously not up to 'L' standards) and operates smoothly and precisely. No sloppiness here then! Even though this lens has quite a lot of high quality glass in it's construction, it somehow feels quite light. It is also fairly compact and consequently, feels comfortable on most APS-C CanonDSLR cameras, including smaller/lighter entry level ones.
Unfortunately, like most Canon EF-S lenses, it also doesn't come with a lens hood. This is surprising and in my opinion, a little mean of Canon for surely, such an extreme wide angle lens 'needs' a good lens hood. An essential piece of kit I would think and one should really be included as part of the package.
Having said that, the lens isn't particularly prone to flare, even with such a wide angle. Unless the sun is actually within the picture area (when a hood would serve no purpose anyway!), flare isn't usually a problem. The front lens element is a little vulnerable however, and a hood would provide useful additional protection. I would certainly recommend a lens protect, skylight or UV filter to provide ultimate protection but this will make the lens more susceptible to flare and then, that 'missing' hood becomes more of an issue. Come on Canon, get your act together!
Quite a bit of effort has gone into the design of this lens. It is evident in the construction - 13 elements in 10 groups with no less than 3 Aspherical elements and 1 S-UD one. Also, whilst the lens isn't 'technically' internal focusing, the body of the lens doesn't alter as the lens is focused. This is cleverly achieved by situating the forward group of lens elements in a separate tube which 'does' move back and forth a little during focusing. AF, via ultrasonic (USM) motor, is extremely fast, quiet and accurate. While FTM (Full Time Manual) focusing is available in One Shot AF mode, as yet, I have never had to use it! Focusing to an impressively close 0.24m, the full range of wide-angle effects are available. If you like to turn pebbles into boulders, this may be the lens for you!
Distortion is very well controlled. Even at 10mm setting, barrel distortion is minimal by any standards and by the time you have zoomed in to 12mm, geometry is pretty well neutral. At the other end of the zoom, we have an almost identical situation only this time, we're talking very slight pincushion distortion. None of this should cause any problems for most people in my opinion.
Probably the weakest point of this lens is vignetting which is quite pronounced at 10mm at full aperture. However, this becomes much less of a problem upon stopping down just one f/stop. Hell! I actually 'like' a bit of vignetting anyway. If you don't, it is very easily 'corrected' in software, so is not a significant problem in any case.
Resolution is impressive for such a lens. At 10mm and f/3.5, the centre is already VERY GOOD+ with the borders (edges and corners) being a little behind at VERY GOOD. Stopping down a little provides an improvement to EXCELLENT centre performance with edges improving to VERY GOOD+ at f/5.6. From f/8 to f/11, performance remains excellent and only at the very smallest apertures is there any softness, due of course to the inevitable diffraction of light through the miniscule aperture of the lens's diaphragm. Edges are perhaps a little soft at 22mm focal length and f/4.5 but even here, they can be brought to order by stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8.
CA's (Chromatic Aberrations) or colour fringing, are very well controlled on this lens. This is quite surprising for such a wide angle lens with lots of elements. Sure, CA's are visible at 100% viewing on your monitor with high contrast or strongly back-lit subjects taken from between 10 and 14mm but, they are really quite small - around 1 pixel and well defined which, makes them very easy to correct via software.
In my opinion, this is a very good lens and extremely versatile. It is a definite improvement over the highly popular Sigma 10-20mm competition (I have owned one!). Although not entirely 'perfect', very highly recommended.
David Chamberlain
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