EF-M 11-22mm f/4 IS STM - Wide Enough ! (PICS)
19
.
The Canon EF-22mm f/4 IS STM lens is one of those pseudo-luxury items that we probably all want. How many people use an Ultra-Wide-Angle Lens every day as a walkabout lens? Not too many, I would imagine. But a few EOS-M users are starting to do so with this lens and it's easy to see why it's so popular. Ultra Wide Lenses tend to produce the best results when the scene offers a chance for dynamic perspective and complimenting lines. I have been trying to obtain this lens for months and it was only by chance that I phoned a random store that I was passing and they had one in stock for me to purchase. This lens equates to a 17.6mm - 35.2mm focal range. VERY similar to the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM lens capabilities. Both of these lenses offer very similar experiences and image quality... and that's a great reason to consider this lens. Personally, I think this is wide enough because anything more would be too aspherically distorted for my personal uses.
.
Using This lens for the First Time:
Shooting indoors inside a shopping center with it for the first time, I found the EOS-M (Mk1) chose a slow 1/30 second shutter speed when in P-Mode... and that left me with a couple of slightly blurred images. I then set the camera to Tv-Mode (Shutter Priority) and moved the shutter speed to 1/60 and then 1/120... both of which produced clear images. I needed to photograph a product on a store shelf and the lens focused quickly and produced a better shot than my PowerShot pocket camera. The wide DOF on this lens means it's possible to get a little bokeh but you'll probably struggle to do so.
.
The first time I turned the EOS-M on with this lens mounted, I was presented with an instruction (on the LCD) to extend the lens before use. So you really need to press that switch on the lens barrel before you can operate the lens. This was new to me and I'm not sure I like it. But the first few shots taken with the 11-22mm lens were generally sharp and the color was agreeable.
.
Day One Observation: Pleasant results.
Day Two Observation: Great Results.
Day Three Observation: Handy Lens to Have.
.
Construction:
Construction, materials and finish are excellent. It's a lightweight lens that feels solid and strong when handles. Nothing about this lens body feels cheap or loose. It looks good and the gun-metal grey finish looks good on the black body of the EOS-M.
.
Image Quality:
Image Quality from this lens is Excellent. This is as sharp as you'll get... and it's sharp corner-to-corner too. Even at different focal lengths. You'll have plenty of fun with dynamic angles when shooting with it and I didn't even need to select an aperture for most of these shots... I just let the camera and lens sort it out for me. These pictures were all shot as JPEG images rather than RAW. Those who shoot RAW will possibly get even more mileage from this lens than I did.
.
This lens produces crisp blacks and sharp details, much like a couple of other much more expensive EF lenses from the L-series range. I could still recover considerable image detail from the shadows when necessary.
.
.
Using Filters with the EF-M 11-22mm f/4 IS STM Lens:
With wide lenses, any photographer knows that filters can be tricky. I found that this was no different with this particular lens. I purchased an expensive Hoya Variable ND filter, only to find that it has no threads on the outer side of the filter. This meant I couldn't place my lens cap over the front of the lens. Circular Polarizer filters produces dark regions when set to maximum. Only ONE picture in the images posted in this review used a CP filter. UV Filters were the only type of filter that I felt served a purpose with this lens.
.
Image Stabilization:
Image Stabilization is all powered internally and the settings are buried in the camera's menu. But it does appear to do a good job although it's a little strange to have no external IS switch to operate as needed. New lens designs available today can deactivate their IS when the camera determines it's not needed and I'm fairly sure that this is the principle behind the IS in this lens as well. As I said before, it's pretty effective and i was able to take some rather lowlight indoor shots.
.
Circular Polarizer Used.
Hoya 'Variable Density' 3-400 Neutral Density filter and Tripod Used
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
LENS LOCK SWITCH: The design of this lens includes a small switch on the barrel shroud. You have to press this switch forward before you can engage the lens and use the zoom. You have to press this button every time you want to close the lens and every time you need to open it... an exercise which essentially requires both hands. This switch may be designed to secure the lens and prevent "lens-creep" when it's not in use. But the lens is tight enough to begin with. I can't imagine how it could shift in transit or when carried. Lens-creep is really only an issue with heavy lenses with heavy elements that can extend when held pointed towards the ground.
.
NO LENS HOOD! Though many websites state that this lens ships with a Lens-Hood.... Mine didn't. And the icons on the side of the box state that the Lens Hood is an optional accessory. ARE YOU KIDDING, CANON? It retails locally for a measly $15 which means Canon make this tiny thing for less than $5. Are you SERIOUSLY forcing me to buy a filter until I can get my hands on a lens hood? Shame on you Canon. And it's going to cost you yet another half-star on this lens review for poor marketing decisions.
.
CONCLUSION:
This is a useful lens for photography purists. The image quality is excellent. The distortion is not for everyone's tastes but the results are almost entirely dependent on your subject matter.
You can get incredibly close to your subjects with this lens... and if you like to shoot portraits of people or animals, this isn't going to make your shots any more flattering. Especially if your subject is towards the outer edge of the image field. But when photographing interiors or wide-open spaces, the other other alternative is to shoot-and-stitch your pictures with a narrower lens. This one captures the light in a very natural manner. Sometimes the color transmission response from this lens is amazing. But f/4 is just a little too dark for astrophotography when mounted on an APS-C sensor and so you'd be better served with a different lens (even the EF-M 22mm f/2) if you want to shoot the night sky and the Milky Way.
.
I like the results from this lens and the tiny size and weight of it makes it easy to carry. I'd recommend it to people who like to shoot wide shots. It's commonly suited to being used outdoors but proved itself indoors for me when needed and I've also seen some incredible shots from other photographers using this lens. It performs exceptionally well with a Canon Speedlite Flash as well. I wouldn't consider this a necessary lens for everyone, but if you want more excitement in your image portfolio and you want more 'dynamic' angles in your shots, this is a hard lens to pass up.
.
Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite flash used.
