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

Possible "creative uses" of this lens, thanks to its ultra-wide angle, are rather self-evident and thus not worth delving into. However, what users often fail to point out in their reviews is its excellent "contrastiness" and rendition of colour.

Sharpness is very good in the centre and falls considerably along the edges at both extreme focal lengths. But judging from tests and reviews of competitor lenses, that's a besetting sin of all ultra-wide angle zooms. Chromatic aberration is sometimes noticeable but suprisingly enough can be ruled out almost completely in PS RAW plugin with no great hassle. Vignetting is quite distinct when wide open at the wide end, but is mostly defeated when stopped down, smaller apertures also do improve performance in edge resolution and CA departments.
Because I bought this lens with mostly landscape photography in mind, I generally keep it stopped down most of the time anyway for DoF's sake, and the lens's main shortcomings (edge sharpness/CA/vignetting) are less of a concern to me. Besides, its overall rich contrast and colour somehow make the decrease in resolution mentioned above less obtrusive and further - hardly noticeable when you make a smaller format file for use on the web (hopefully also in A4 prints which I haven't tried yet).

USM is fast, accurate and silent. Build quality is really good. The lens is quite lightweight. It doesn't come with a lens hood which is a must as otherwise stray streaks of light can produce unwelcome lens flare "stains" in the shot, even if light source is not visible in the frame. Luckily non-brand replacements can be bought at a few pounds.

Taking all this and the price into account, I'd give Canon 10-22mm a rating of 4.5. Since the scale here doesn't allow for such fine-tuning and the lens serves my purposes very well, I don't hesitate to give it full 5 stars.

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.