EF-M 22mm vs 11-22mm blind test

Attached are two shots taken with my M2.  Both were shot with identical exposure, and "Cloudy" white balance.  In both cases, I used AF at 10X magnification dead center in the frame on the corner of the corn field.  Both images were processed using DPP 4 with DLO on defaults.  No other adjustments were made.  JPEGs were exported from DPP at quality level 10.

A

B

Which image has the better lens?

Interesting results.  I didn't think the 11-22mm would be that sharp wide open, especially compared to the 22mm, which was stopped down by 3 stops.  It was tough for me to decide.

The second pic has better control on shadows. Like it.

nnowak wrote:

Attached are two shots taken with my M2. Both were shot with identical exposure, and "Cloudy" white balance. In both cases, I used AF at 10X magnification dead center in the frame on the corner of the corn field. Both images were processed using DPP 4 with DLO on defaults. No other adjustments were made. JPEGs were exported from DPP at quality level 10.

Which image has the better lens?

I better reply since I started this "controversy" recently. For me, it is easy to tell which is the 11-22, and it comes down to which one is sharper and resolving more details:

A on the left, B on the right

The tree enlargement shows B, right side, clearly resolving more detail, whereas A is a muddled mess The more and more I see these crop comparisons, the more I don't like the 22 lens. Of course, I would be shocked if you told me the 22 lens is B, but I doubt it.

Woodman411 wrote:

nnowak wrote:

Attached are two shots taken with my M2. Both were shot with identical exposure, and "Cloudy" white balance. In both cases, I used AF at 10X magnification dead center in the frame on the corner of the corn field. Both images were processed using DPP 4 with DLO on defaults. No other adjustments were made. JPEGs were exported from DPP at quality level 10.

Which image has the better lens?

I better reply since I started this "controversy" recently. For me, it is easy to tell which is the 11-22, and it comes down to which one is sharper and resolving more details:

A on the left, B on the right

The tree enlargement shows B, right side, clearly resolving more detail, whereas A is a muddled mess The more and more I see these crop comparisons, the more I don't like the 22 lens. Of course, I would be shocked if you told me the 22 lens is B, but I doubt it.

I thought A was the 11-22mm because it was shot wide open. and if you look at the wood at the bottom-right it was less sharp than B.  So I thought B was the 22mm.

B seems clearly the sharper capture. If I had to guess I'd say B is the 22mm. (If not, that would be a somewhat disappointing showing for a prime stopped down 3 stops vs a zoom wide open...)

If the captures were shot at f/8 and were closer in quality, I'd say the sharper one was the 11-22 since that's how my quickie comparison turned out.

nnowak wrote:

Center sharpness is pretty close between the two, but the perimeter looks much better on the EF-M 22mm. It is especially obvious in the yellow wildflowers on the left edge of the frame.

Not sure if it matters, but both of my lenses were purchased almost immediately after initial release. My 22mm is almost 4 years old and has dents and scratches from lots of use and abuse. My 11-22mm is in almost pristine condition.

FYI for those new to shooting landscapes.... pretty much everything in these photos is in focus even though it was shot at f5.6. When shooting with a crop sensor, you don't need to stop down to f11 or f13 to get good depth of field. If you do stop down that much, you will actually make your entire image softer.

I'm shocked Even the house in the middle of the frame is resolving more details with B, which is the opposite of what I saw in my comparison. I'm curious what the results will be without lens correction, it seems it to do more for the 22 than the 11-22. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to post comparison pictures, it's another point of reference.

This is a great comparison!

Marco Nero wrote:

This is a great comparison!

I prefer buildings, they're not affected by wind.

My piece of 11-22mm was as sharp as 22mm. Too awesome lens it was.

crashpc wrote:

My piece of 11-22mm was as sharp as 22mm. Too awesome lens it was.

Crashpc, would it be possible for you to post comparison shots? So far I've seen them from only two other people (nnowark and jefenator), the larger the sample pool, the better.

nnowak wrote:

I just shot a couple more quick photos for further comparison. All image were run through DPP 4 with the only adjustment being DLO. No exposure, contrast or sharpening changes were made. Images were exported as quality 10 jpegs

11-22mm f8 with DLO

22mm f8 with DLO

22mm f4 with DLO

All are fairly close in the center, but if you compare the peripheries of the frame, the 11-22mm starts to clearly fall behind.

My 22mm at f2 can get pretty vignetted. At least, when I apply DLO in DPP, the Peripheral Illumination setting blasts away tons of shadows. I actually like the vignetting and disable the Peripheral Illumination. I suppose it's better to have no vignetting OOC and to let the user decide on how much vignetting is desirable rather than having an obligatory vignette. My 50mm f1.8 doesn't seem to have as much vignetting...not sure why.

Thanks for doing this. Clearly the 22 captures more detail and light.

OzarkAggie wrote:

Thanks for doing this. Clearly the 22 captures more detail and light.

In this sample, yes. In the context of the past month, we only have 3 samples/users who compared the 22 and 11-22, and in two of them, the 11-22 came out on top.

Woodman411 wrote:

OzarkAggie wrote:

Thanks for doing this. Clearly the 22 captures more detail and light.

In this sample, yes. In the context of the past month, we only have 3 samples/users who compared the 22 and 11-22, and in two of them, the 11-22 came out on top.

I´m sorry, I cannot anymore. Sold it with the whole M system for Nikon FX, which I slightly regret. No comparison shots residues left in my PC, but I would put my hand into fire for that lens. It was really great piece of glass.

Being a prime, the 22 should be better, no surprise. Great comparison, thanks for the time.

thatkatmat2 wrote:

Being a prime, the 22 should be better, no surprise. Great comparison, thanks for the time.

That is not reason for itself anymore. Especially not for pancakes, which are made with small size in mind, and obviously with less and smaller lens elements, which don´t correct as many/much as full sized lens.