All POV, All
the time.
Canon glass. Known for its extra measure
of quality and cleverness, it's just the thing to make your Rebel,
Rebel XT or 20D perk right up.
With dSLRs comes a constraint:
The image chip, except for a few notable drool cameras, is smaller
than the 35mm film so many lenses are made for.
An appropriate wide angle
for APS-C sized image sensors doesn't have to cover so much territory.
That's why the hot new products from Canon are so often pointed
at this newer image size. Witness the 17-85mm IS Kit Lens for
the 20D. Or the new 60mm Macro with auto-focus right up to 1:1.
It's no coincidence that EF-S
lenses made for the smaller image patch are entering the line
these days.
Now for something completely
wide.
I'd like something in a
10
The kit lens, although plastic
in much of its construction, is well corrected, sharp and usefully
wide to usefully tele. About the 28-90mm range so often seen
in 35 cameras.
If you want wider, the world
has awakened to the wide angle digital need and Sigma, Tokina
and Tamron will be quite happy to sell you one of theirs.
I'll help: Check out the Sigma
12-24mm. Made for full 35mm coverage, the central APS-C sweet
spot is sharp, free of barrel distortion and delivers 12mm wide
(as if a 35 camera had a rectilinear 19.2mm lens on it). $660
in better toy stores everywhere.
If I could have my druthers,
I'd go even wider, being something of a wide angle freak. The
native drama of a super wide angle point of view has always drawn
me. For decades, one of the most often used lenses in my bag
of 35mm tricks was an old 20mm.
So when Canon announced its
10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 EF-S ultra wide lens for its digital SLRs,
I couldn't wait. Here's a lens that covers what you might expect
from a 16-35mm lens on a film 35 camera, or as we like to say
in the shooting pictures racket: Wider than Zeus.
Physics
It's kinda big. About as large
in your bag as the 17-85mm IS Kit Lens for the 20D. And it is
definitely not cheap. Be prepared to slap down eight hundred
clams, US, for the USA warrantee model (gray market prices may
save fifty bucks, but try not to delude yourself into believing
the loss of US warrantee is favorable to your sense of value).
What do you get for your hard-earned mollusks?
2.2:1 Zoom. That's 10% more zoomie stuff than the
Sigma and 20% more wideness. At least that's what the numbers
report. In Reality, a straight 10mm lens would cover 106.5 degrees
on its diagonal while a 12mm would cover 96.5 degrees. Every
little 10 degrees helps.
Just to put that into perspective,
Here's a shot made with the 10mm setting.
Rollover this image with your
mouse to see the area covered by a 12mm lens on the same camera
at the same spot.
These numbers are derived
with the 22.4 x 14.8mm image sensor of the EOS 350D. The same
lens on the 20D catches about 1/2 of one degree more image. And
on the 300D it catches about 3/4 of one degree more picture.
It's virtually barrel distortion
free. But of course there are purists out there so in the DSLR:
Canon Rebel XT eBook we have iNovaFX Photoshop Actions for PS7,
CS and CS2 that absolutely zero out the small barrel effect.
Tele Wide. At the telephoto end of things, the
Canon 22mm nicely overlaps the Kit Lens focal lengths for both
the 18-55mm and 17-85mm Kits. At 22mm, diagonal angle of view
is 63.76 degrees.
Here's the full zoom range on location.
You'll have to rollover the image with your mouse to see the
22mm "tele" position.
The church is in Korcula,
Croatia, and was as dim as they get with indirect lighting coming
from only the windows. Exposures were 1/50 sec and 1/30 sec at
only f/4 and f/4.5 (20D at ISO 3200), both hand held. Like flash,
tripods in a church are a fundamental no-no.
This is the sort of situation
that many lenses would interpret with a lot of internal reflection
and ghosts of the spectral window light.
The 10-22 handled them with
ease. Night shots made with lamps in the shot show no ghost reflections
at all. The eBook galleries for DSLR: Canon Digital Rebel
XT and DSLR: Canon 20D will show examples in all
sorts of potentially punishing conditions and lighting. My personal
opinion of this lens is that every time I pick it up, I know
I'm going to have a good experience.
Filtration. With a lens this wide you will be seriously
thinking about protecting that front element. May I suggest something
in a thin? Check out the 3mm thick Clear filters over at 2filter.com.
The 77mm Hoyas look good today
ranging from 54 to 85 bucks. Be sure to get a clear protective
filter that is extra-well coated. No sense having your safety
measure become your artifact generator. High quality security
isn't cheap.
Room mate. Architects take note: Here's your lens.
That makes your base-line package a 20D or 350D body plus a 10-22mm
EF-S.
With this lens you can stand
in the corner and get Every Thing. It's just what you always
wanted and just what the order doctored.
More may come with updates
to this page.
Conclusion:
This is an A+ lens. I no longer
leave home without it. It's one of those lenses that is destined
for legend like Canon's 16-35mm zoom for full frame 35. A true
10. High value although not inexpensive.
--Peter iNova (peter.inova@mac.com)
For
your Canon Digital Rebel- DSLR: Canon Digital Rebel EOS 300D
eBook is already on the shelf. DSLR: Canon Digital Rebel XT is
next. Then DSLR: Canon 20D follows. These are great cameras with
a great deal inside them, so we put a great deal of information
into their eBooks. You'll find things here that nobody else ever
told you about and not even Canon knew or could discuss.
The existing
iNova eBooks, DSLR: Nikon D70 has become the most popular premium
eBook of all time. Mastering Nikon Compact Digital Cameras and
The SONY Advanced Cyber-shot eBook are also available. Click
on the image for the appropriate order page.
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