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Just posted: Our Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM preview

Jun 6, 2013 at 04:00:00 GMT

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Just posted: Our hands-on preview of the Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM. Canon's third lens for its EOS M mirrorless camera is its first image-stabilized wideangle zoom, and first with a collapsible barrel design. With an 18-35mm equivalent angle of view and silent STM focusing, it could be an interesting option for photographers wanting the wider view but looking to travel light. Click below to read our preview.

Click here for our preview of the Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

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Comments

Total comments: 39

Canon guys shouldn't complain, at least you have a legit battle proven sensor , Nikon is using a 3rd party 1" sensor which is 4x smaller , lacks DoF control, has horrible noise after ISO 400 and oh yeaah Nikon charges a lot more for their mirror-less set up, and don't even get me started on the lenses, their w/a equivalent is priced 20% higher than this one from Canon,...that's right 20% higher price for a lens that only has to cover 1/4 of the imaging circle of an aps-c sensor.

0 upvotes

It's nice to see a wide-angle released *stabilised*.

2 upvotes

To all people making fun of the EOS-M...do you have one? or are you repeating what some photography gurus are saying in the internets.
It is an excellent camera, much better that what 90% of amateur users need. Great IQ, better than what m4/3 can deliver. AF is bad for moving objects (just like ANY other CSC system, even Nikon1 is only good in daylight), and usable for any other situation, faster AF than compact cameras, and I see millions of photographers using them daily.
The 22mm lens is excellent and only costs 190€, this 11-22mm lens is cheaper than the OLympus 9-18, half the price of the Sony 10-18, and cheaper than the Nikon1 6.7-13. Well done Canon. In three years Canon will be leader in DSRL and CSC markets.

6 upvotes

I bought the EOS-M a couple of month ago and fully agree with your assessment.

Canon is planning a firmware update to be released at the end of June 2013. "Version 2 promises to boost the AF speed, making One Shot AF up to 2.3x faster when using FlexiZone Multi AF and the EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. "

http://www.photographyblog.com/

Comment edited 60 seconds after posting

3 upvotes

I have one and it was a steal. The lenses thus far have been excellent and well priced. I see nothing really wrong with this system and I don't even like Canon.

I currently own and shoot:

Sony Alpha
Canon EOS
Sony NEX
m43's Olympus and Panasonic
Fuji X100
RX100

So I have a thing or two to compare it to ;) Only mirrorless system I haven't owned is Nikon 1 and if their 32mm hadn't been stupidly expensive I would have aV1 as well.

2 upvotes

Absolutely agree with you.
I bought EOS M a month ago, took it to my trip to China and the pictures it produced are excellent.
If you care about IQ and not milliseconds difference in AF speed it is a great small camera rivaling Canon 7D.
I bought it as double kit and both lenses are just great.

1 upvote

>Great IQ, better than what m4/3 can deliver

Well that's odd... I have the 550D with the 18MP Canon sensor, yet my EM5 runs rings around it for IQ whenever DR is challenging and PPing comes into play. Did Canon go and fix the shadow pattern noise on their mirrorless implementation?

0 upvotes

The EM5 sensor is excellent, and a great improvement over the Panasonic sensor in previous m4/3 models ( I have an E-P3). I don't know if the EOS-M sensor is exactly the same as the one in the 550D, but I only have shadow banding if I push shadow more than 2 stops, which is fair enough for me. Sony sensors are truly excellent pushing shadows and the dynamic range is very good at base ISO, but I wouldn't say the EM5 run circles around Canons. In other areas, the M is better, in my opinion. I think colors are better, detail is better preserved, and I prefer the noise pattern of Canon at high ISO, etc...
Anyway, we are comparing a new sensor with a 4 year old sensor. As technology advances, Canon will have an edge over m4/3

0 upvotes

the EM-5 running circles around a 550D.. yeah sure... but only if your blind or lying with a purpose.

even pixelpeeper who think they are such experts have a hard time making out a difference between a 1100D and a EM-5 on A3 prints.
tested here in a german print magazine.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

EOS M looks fine to me, just looks like a camera today.

I think Fuji and Olympus's recent mirrorless designs are very nice looking. But, to me, their retro styling is a pretense to yesteryear which adds a stage prop, or costume, element which I would prefer not to have. I prefer neutral or progressive looks.

I think the EOS M is not as charming looking as some retro style cameras, but(Specs and buttons aside) I like the M's more simple and neutral(to me) design.

3 upvotes

This lens is crazy slow.

Primes are the way to go for mirrorless systems: Olympus 12mm f/2 is the wide angle of choice.

1 upvote

This is an UWA. f2.8 is the fastest you'll get in this category usually for a prime (Zeiss or Fuji). In mirrorless f4 is the fastest for a zoom (Pana 7-14mm and Sony 10-18mm) so only 1 stop behind on the long end. Olympus, Samsung and Nikon's UWA's are just as slow, but this is stabilised and cheaper than all of them. I don't like Canon, but there is nothing wrong with this lens.

2 upvotes

@abortabort
tokina 11-16 f/2.8
sigma 10-20 f/3.5
canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
nikon 10-24 f/3.5-4.5
tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5
tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5

0 upvotes

@Mike
To get this MFT needs 9-18/f3.2-4.5 lens. I concur the Olympus in-body latest stabilization is great when you need smaller apertures and larger DOF for landscape type of photos and similar use (not everyone is a street shooter). But I am still thinking the fitted uwa (or telephoto)-specific IS could give very good results. And there is the 22/2 where the speed makes more sense.

0 upvotes

@ZAnton - None of those are mirrorless lenses. I use my Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 on my NEX but that thing is HUGE on there and completely defeats the purpose of mirrorless.

Some people seem to want mirrorless to be everything that DSLRs are, just not a DSLR. I want MILC to be genuinely small. This lens fits that bill perfectly.

Oh and not one of those listed are stabilised.

0 upvotes

If it’s as good as the ef-m 18-55 (and 22/2) it’s a great addition. I see the stabilized uw-wa lens an Excellent move for this. The lens I’d be personally looking for most though is a 35-40 mil fast compact lens. The excellent ef 40 pancake is not a direct design. And yes the camera to be taken seriously needs something to look through.

1 upvote

* WOW * color me impressed. I admit that I make fun of EOS-M, but this lens, alone is making me reconsider my opinions about EOS-M

1. AF Speed isn't critical when it shoot WIDE ANGLE landscape. Unlike telephoto, your subject will be stationary buildings instead of a moving person. 11-22mm STM strengthen the argument for EOS-M.

2. Massive Price drop from $799 to around $400 + 22mm STM kit makes it hard to resist.

I can buy a single Panasonic 20mm/1.7 lens for my M43, but it would cost me around $350. Yet, for just $75 ~ $100 more, I can pickup an EOS-M + 22mm STM lens.

When I had my Canon DSLR, I refuse to buy the 10-22mm because it doesn't have an IS. Now that canon has one with IS....and in such a tiny package..... I'm really excited about this lens.

EOS-M + 11-22mm STM would make a great single traveling lens. It may be the only lens I need for traveling.

1 upvote

Just buy NEX. Sony got exactly the same lens for E-mount. Only they got by far better sensors.

Comment edited 11 seconds after posting

1 upvote

If you are ok with f/5.6 zooms, you should just pick up a Sony RX-100.

0 upvotes

@ Mike00000 - Erm RX100 is not UWA. End of story. I have both and would happily pay $400 for an IS UWA for the M.

@ Plastik - Same lens for E-Mount, yeah for about $800, so twice the price.

I bought an EOS-M with 18-55mm + 22mm f2 for the price of a Panasonic 20mm on it's own (under $350). That plus $400 for this UWA would make it $750. For an equivalent NEX system, even including my uber cheap NEX-5n that cost me $180 for body only, add the Zeiss 24mm to give me a fast 35mm equiv that's like $1000+, then add the HUGE $800 UWA = $1980 and my M has a kit lens. Yeah that maybe half a stop over the Canon the Sony has would be totally worth it ;)

2 upvotes

I'll never make fun of the EOS-M!

I'm a Nikon guy, I make fun of the V1 ;)

0 upvotes

I think the biggest shame is, for all its video features (STM, dynamic IS), it doesn't have fixed aperture zoom.

I suppose they could correct for that electronically but then you have varying noise floor in your shot.

Of course filmmakers generally dislike zooming in realtime which is more of an ENG thing.

And Canon doesn't have a mirrorless camera that's serious for video yet and probably doesn't want to make one, as it's more strategic for them to continue to establish the full frame (135) EF mount as an industry standard. A mirrorless mount makes it easier to adapt other lens formats such as PL. It's also nice to use the flange area normally occupied by the mirror for ND and IR filters as the Cx00 series do.

This is probably a good lens though, and Canon may have a worthy competitor to the m43 and NEX cams in the portable-enthusiast space, someday. It seems half-hearted right now, a hedge in case demand moves that way.

0 upvotes

The EOS M is sadly in "No Man's Land" right now...

It has the same fate as the Nikon "1" system.

Both Canon and Nikon have just over saturated the Market Segment and they have just sailed right into the Sargaso Sea.

6 upvotes

It has the same fate as the Nikon 1 system? Really? I am not a fan of this system either, but it seems that Nikon 1 is selling good. You can not say that about EOS M.

Comment edited 49 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Selling good? Where? Comparing to what? lol How clueless one has to be to buy Nikon 1?

Comment edited 33 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Both have started to sell better since the entry price has fallen under that of top compact cameras with the clearance sales. But the original idea of the mirrorless seems to have been to squeeze more money out of shoppers, not less :)

> How clueless one has to be to buy Nikon 1?
V1 kits were remarkable value for money recently. But I still wouldn't buy one personally because I find it too big (with lens) to replace a compact and not good enough to serve as the main (travel) camera.

Comment edited 5 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

The same fate?

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/50562689

Nikon 1 J1 rank 1
EOS M rank 15 with more than five times less "Sales share".

I know, it's Japan only. But both companies in your "comparison" are Japanese, so why not look at their domestic market share?

Comment edited 7 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Nikon is #4 in the mirrorless ILC market, in terms of global market share. Olympus, Panasonic and Sony have larger market shares, but Nikon is way ahead of Fuji, Canon, Samsung and Pentax, which are all still niche players with single digit market shares.
Don't forget that the majority of camera buyers in the consumer segment are not enthusiasts, gearheads and tech nerds; they're just regular people who want something better than their smartphone. They aren't aware of things like sensor size and other technical details.
In a world where most people are content with using their smartphone as their only camera, is it really so hard to believe that Nikon 1 can sell better than more capable cameras?

0 upvotes

The only reason to use EOS-M is its compatibility with Canon lens, great as a second body for Canon DSLR users. Now why would Canon users buy a lens that cannot fit the DSLRs when there are wideangle zooms that fit both? I guess it is valid as a smaller lighter traveling combo.But still there are better choices.

0 upvotes

This one has IS, the EF-S version doesn't and costs a bomb more.

0 upvotes

Canon needs a new body to compete with m4/3...

3 upvotes

And with NEX. But to do that, Canon needs to take mirrorless seriously, build an EVF into the body and significantly improve AF.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

4 upvotes

Well, the announcement mentions that the lens will be accompanied by a firmware update which will among other things improve the AF speed...

1 upvote

Does Canon even have any up-to-date EVF tech to use on a mirrorless? I think that is partly why they didn't put one in.
They have that EVF in SX50 which is 200k dots, while Olympus is at 10 times that at > 2million ...

1 upvote

Yeah they do in their pro cameras with EVF such as C300.

0 upvotes

Isn't this lens a bit too long for a UWA for a mirrorless camera (shorter flange distance and all that)?

2 upvotes

It's only 2.3" long. .4" longer than the tiny 9-18mm Olympus. Seems pretty small to me.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Erm, looks pretty tiny to me. Wanna compare to Sony's 10-18mm?

0 upvotes

Even though the EOS-M has a much shorter flange distance, ALL mirror-less systems have a flange distance around 20mm (except Pentax Q), which is double the distance for UWAs (around 10mm), so you still need a retrofocus design. And in any lens design, the lens elements take up space, so the retrofocus elements will take up a bit of space before you even come to the part of the lens that needs to collect the light at wide angle at the front. Further, no matter how short the flange distance, the fact is that due sensor design (and the microlenses on it), you cannot have light come in at extremely shallow angles, otherwise the light at the edges will just be lost. So, it seems the rear element is usually not closer than about 20mm to the sensor. That's why there is no 10mm pancake. Theoretically (thin lens), a 10mm lens would only be 10mm away from the sensor, and have a diameter of 10mm for f1.0! The only way to go smaller is with smaller sensors (Nikon, Pentax Q)

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Total comments: 39


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