Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens

I've been a keen photographer for over 30 years and as an engineer, have taken to the digital revolution with great enthusiasm. I bought a Canon EOS 20D (well two actually) and quickly discarded the supplied kit lens. The smaller sensor size used for the 20D and its successors, gives an effective magnification of 1.6 when used with 'normal' Canon lenses. This works to your advantage for longer focal lengths but against you for wide angle photography. To overcome this, Canon make a range of lenses designed to produce an image which matches the size of the sensor used in these cameras but not for full frame versions. The advantage is that this range of lenses (all designated EF-S) are smaller than their full frame counterparts. In order to get some wide angle shots, my first EF-S lens was the 17-85mm zoom which stays on my camera most of the time. For low light situations I use a normal 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.8 and for longer distance work, a 70-300mm zoom. This works well for just about anything with the exception of ulta wide angle work. This is where this superb lens comes to the rescue. As soon as I fitted it and took my first look through the viewfinder at 10mm I was wowed. I could see so much more than I was used to. Not only my whole living room but my knees as well! What was most impressive was the lack of distortion. I had expected to see walls and door frames bend near the edges of the image but they remained essentially straight. Some degree of barrel or pin-cushion distortion is inevitable, but this was the best I'd seen. Image clarity was very good - it is obvious that a great deal of effort has gone into the design of the optics. I can see why some people think this should be one of Canon's L series lenses (at least from an optical point of view although of course it's not weather sealed). In use, the lens auto-focus responds rapidly and the build quality is solid. It is smaller and lighter than the 17-85mm EF-S IS USM and a joy to use. You should consider a good quality UV filter (double coated) to ensure the superb image quality is not compromised but so far, I've not found it necessary to use the large and ugly lens hood.
In summary, this lens fills an important gap in focal length giving owners of C sensor cameras true wide angle capabilities with all the creative opportunities that affords while at the same time offering unparalleled quality for the price. If you own an EOS 20D/30D/40D and you want to shoot inside buildings with limited space, take in expansive panoramas or experiment with extreme depth of field and perspective effects, this lens is a 'must have'. I'm delighted with mine and am sure you won't be disappointed. A number of photographers are selling these on E-bay when they change to full frame cameras so it is possible to pick up a mint condition lens for only around £400 - great value and an excellent investment.

I bought this lens for landscape use, and occasional indoor photos.

My conclusion? It's the perfect wide-angle lens for cropped-frame cameras; effectively the crop-frame equivalent of the 16-35 for a full-frame camera. It's really the only way to get a proper wide-angle lens, without buying a hugely expensive prime lenses (I hear the 14mm canon lens is great, but I don't want to pay £2000+ for it!) None of the 15-x, 17-x or 18-x EF-S lenses (except the 17-55 f2.8) get close to this in image quality, and you'll like the extra-wide-angle perspective you get from this.

Matching this with a Pro (L) series lens such as the 24-105 f4 or the 24-70 f2.8 gives you a huge focal range from 16mm equivalent right up to medium telephoto lengths, and hence everything you need in your camera bag in two portable lenses. This is a high quality lens, is light enough to carry around "just in case". A 77mm filter size makes the filters interchangeable with your other lenses.

All you need to decide is... do you want this lens, or do you want a full-frame camera! If you're going to upgrade to a full-frame camera, it might be cheaper get the 17-40mm f4L (or 16-25 f2.8LII if you're feeling rich) instead and sacrifice the angle until your new camera body arrives.

Three things to bear in mind:

1. The lens hood is very wide, so this lens with its hood won't go into the same lens case as the 24-105 or 24-70 with their hoods.

2. If you want to use a flash, you'll need a external flash gun, probably as bounce flash. The lens tends to cast a shadow if the flash is being used directly.

3. The zoom and focus rings are the other way around when compared to the 24-105 f4L lens. Question to Canon: WHY?

Overall, a great EF-S lens for landscape photography; high image quality, light-weight and a sensible price.

Many years ago I purchased a second-hand Canon A1 camera to take to Vancouver with me on a trip to visit relatives. The camera travelled everywhere with me. I bought a telephoto lens while I was in Canada and a wide angle and macro lens after my return to the UK. I totally fell in love with the art of photography! Time passed and for one reason or another I found the cost of my hobby a little too much for my pocket to bear and the Canon sat in its case unused for several years.

About 18 months ago a pal of mine bought a new Canon digital 400D camera and showed me some of the things it was capable of, I was so impressed. Last year my Brother bought a similar camera, I vowed that I would treat myself to a new camera one day soon.

Earlier this year I browsed through cameras on ebay and found a refurbished Canon 400D in silver, watched it closely hoping that the price would not suddenly rocket, made my move in the closing moments and won the auction! What a superb piece of kit! totally re-awakened my interest in photography, everything of the trusty old A1 and so much more. I then bid for a telephoto lens through ebay, then a decent flash gun and my most recent purchase (again through ebay) is a 10-22mm wide angle lens.

This lens is a rare find! in truly excellent used condition, very clean without a mark on it. Took it out for a couple of hours to a steam railway just before Christmas. Got there early before the passengers arrived. Cold morning, heavy low-level mist lifting gently with the sun shining through it which gave a lot of silhouettes depending on how I let the camera control the exposure. I set myself up to photograph toward the sun, marvellous! not a hint of lens flare, everything appeared as if in monochrome with just a hint of colour from a few bright objects in my shots. Walkers out exercising a dog on a nearby field covered in frost, a robin up close and personal looking for a few crumbs dropped on the platform, the steam from the engine standing out strongly in the cold air, the station building in shades of grey looking almost haunted with the stark blackness of tall trees standing behind it. The lens was just superb giving me excellent depth of field so that everything was in focus from near to far. Even in the bitter cold the zoom mechanism worked smoothly and easily and the electronic focus found the mark first time every time. All the joy of photography taking as many shots as I wanted without the hassle of wasted film and the expense of the development process. I took well over one hundred shots in just under 2 hours.

Without a doubt, that 10-22mm lens is one of the very best things I ever bid for on ebay!

Delighted ebayer!!
Peter, Cambridgeshire.

This is a product which has received good reviews on many photography forums. I enjoy wide angle photography and this lens offered the opportunity to get extremely wide. It is designed for Canon 1.6x crop bodies like the 550D. 50D or 7D. This means that it gives a full frame equivilent of 16mm - 35mm.

It's a great lens to capture a wide angle of view both indoor and outdoor, but of course it will throw objects back because it stretches the depth of field and care needs to be taken otherwise images can look distorted (this may sometimes be the effect you are after).

Optically this lens isn't quite as sharp as I had expected on an 18MP camera. It tends to be a little soft in the corners - although you would only really notice this if you were substantially blowing the picture up.

I have always used lower priced consumer lenses like the Tamron 19-35mm, Tamron 55-200mm and Canon 50mm mk2. Whilst all these lenses are sharp in there own right (I did my research before buying them), they cannot even come close to the EF-S 10-22mm. Granted, you pay a hell of a lot more for the 10-22 but Im telling you, you definitely get what you pay for! It is super sharp, super smooth, very well built and you get very little distortion or CA. This is a truly amazing lens and it has been said that it is as good as, if not better than the 17-40mm L lens for optical quality.
In a nut shell, if you can afford to pay around £350-400 for a used model, I seriously recommend you do. But bear in mind, it does not come with a hood and a canon EW-83E will cost you around £30 if you can find one! There are after market ones available for less than a fiver.