I recently purchased a new Canon 10-22 Wide Angle Lens from B&H Photo and Video and was excited to try it out. Below please find some sample images I took while becoming familiar with the lens.
I had researched this lens thoroughly before buying it. The main competition was the Tokina 11-16. After reading many reviews and looking at sample images, I decided that the Canon was the lens that best suited the applications I was purchasing it for. Mainly wide angle nature shots. I liked the extra zoom range of the Canon which would allow me to adjust my composition without changing lenses. Many times I am shooting in swamps and wetlands that make it difficult to change lenses mid shoot as there is no dry place to set your pack down while swapping lenses. The Canon gave me more flexibility due to its increased zoom range.
I have been very happy with my purchase and so far do not have any complaints. I found the images to be very sharp with very little chromatic aberrations for such a wide angle lens. Most of my shots are with a tripod so the lack of image stabilization is not a problem for me in most circumstances.
The biggest challenge with this lens has been learning to see the world with wide angle composition in mind. The key to wide angle photography is to make sure that you have an anchor foreground object in your scene. Without a foreground object the resulting picture will come out boring and non-inspiring. I have found that the closer I can get to the foreground subject the better. It creates a scene that you will want to walk into, or feel that you are a part of. Wide angle lenses are great if you learn how to use them and understand their drawbacks.
My next purchase will be a Circular Polarizar to help darken my blue skies and enrich the flora and fauna in my scenes.
