The Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Ultra-Wide Angle lens is Canon's widest focal length lens in its current EF/EF-S line of lenses. Wide may be an understatement. A 10mm lens used on a APS-C format sensor camera would yield the same equivalent field-of-view as a 16mm lens would if used on a 35mm film SLR or a full frame DSLR. The 10-22 is the 1.6x crop camera equivalent of a 16-35mm lens.
For some time, a true wide-angle lens has not been available through Canon for those photographers using a APS-C format sensor camera. The nearest lens available would be a 14mm prime, but this would most probably fall outside of the average users price range. The next most likely option would be either of the Canon 16-35mm or 17-55mm zoom lenses. Even then, the equivalent field of view would only be around 26mm. Enter the 10-22.
Wide angle lenses are invaluable in several photographic niches. They truly show their worth in landscape photography in particular. No other class of lens has the ability to capture the great vistas of mother nature better. You can see from sunrise to sunset. No other set of lenses enables the photography to capture just so much "stuff". They are also used in both architectural photography, where they shine in capturing interior and exterior elements. Real-estate agents fall in love with the ability to show entire house interiors in just one shot. Wide-angle lenses can also be very useful in flushing out the creative side of most ever photographer. The natural distortion involved with the wide field-of-view creates some very unusual changes in perspective in everyday objects.
You first notice the Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens is very well made. It does not have the "cheap" feel that is sometimes found in some of other Canon lenses. The focus and distance controls operate smoothly. The lens achieves focuses rather quickly and also quietly due to the use of a ring-type USM focusing motor. You also notice that the lens barrel neither extends or rotates during focusing or when adjusting the focal length. This is important as you can use a circular polarizer with this lens, although you may see some slight vignetting if you choose not use a slim polarizer. In most cases, this should not be a problem.
I was rather surprised with the overall image quality of the EF-S 10-22. For the most part, images are sharp and clear throughout most of the focal-length range. There is a slight amount of fuzziness apparent at around 11mm. It does become more noticeable, although not offensive, at 10mm. Center sharpness remains constant when shooting wide open or stopped-down, though there is the slightest amount of blur in the corners throughout all of the lens focal range.
I also expected distortion to be an problem with this lens, as with most other wide-angle lenses, but it never really was that noticeable. There is a slight amount of barrel distortion at wide end, mostly at 10mm. There is even less pincushion distortion at 22mm. From 12mm-20mm, there is very little distortion of any kind. This is very unusual for a wide-angle lens. Just as surprising, chromatic aberration was not a problem. There was an lack of any noticeable CA at 22mm. At 10mm the was the smallest amount,what was present could very easily be cleaned up with Photoshop.
Flare can be an issue with wide-angle lenses due to the physical structure of the lens. With a field-of-view that exceeds 107 degree at 10mm, you are likely to have some degree of flare from the sun or other lighting sources. The EF-S 10-22 does a good job in controlling lens flare, but for the absolute best results, you use the EW-83E hood, which unfortunately, Canon does not include except for their "L" quality glass.
Overall, this is a very impressive wide-angle lens. The EF-S 10-22mm would match up with most of the other Canon higher end professional glass in image quality and optical performance. One of the only apparent drawbacks I can find is the lack of weather sealing and also maybe the lack of an included hood and case. In all truthfulness, the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Ultra-Wide Angle Lens should be a "L". I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to become involved in wide-angle photography.
Jim Back currently writes on several varied topics ranging from photography to politics. For more of his work, and in particular more information on Canon lenses and cameras, please be sure to visit http://canonlenses.blogspot.com
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