The real name for this lens is the Canon EF-S 10-18mm F/4.5-5.6 IS STM. Woah that’s a lot of acronyms! Canon (and most lens makers, to be honest) has a habit of throwing all kinds of technical jargon in its lens names, and trying to read a review of these lenses is honestly a test of most people’s sanity. I love this lens though, so I wanted to provide a review of why exactly I like it so much. Better still for most of the people who will be looking to buy it, I’m going to do it from a non-technical perspective. No technical data charts, no lofty terminology, just a plain and simple perspective on what, in my opinion, makes the lens great.
It’s an ultra wide-angle lens
What does that mean? It basically means it has a wider field of view than the human eye does, which is awesome for many types of photography. Have you ever stood there trying to capture a beautiful landscape shot with your kit lens, only to find out it doesn’t zoom out enough to get the composure you were chasing? I’ve missed so many opportunities because of that.
Well no more, because now I’ve got this bad boy in my bag. Beyond sprawling landscapes, it’s also fantastic for taking architectural shots on cramped streets. If you’re more into taking street shots with people in them, this lens has such a wide field of view that you don’t even have to point the camera at them in order to get them in the shot. It’s pretty wild.
It lets you get in closer to your subjects
You don’t have to take wide shots with this Canon lens. Because of the wide field of view, you can get much closer to your subject to capture the same shot as with an 18-55mm kit lens.
Why does that matter? Well, how many times have you tried to get a shot of something, only to have some person walk right through your path as you’re shooting? If I had a nickel for every time that’s happened to me, I’d be retired by now! Believe me, this is an advantage.
Greater depth-of-field than your kit lens
Wide-angle lenses have a greater depth-of-field than zoom lenses, which means that at any given time, more of your shot is in focus. This is usually what you want for landscape shots – you want the whole thing in focus, not a thin slice.
Also, depth-of-field typically gets shallower the closer you get to your subject. Because this is a wide-angle though (and it randomly can focus on things as close as 9 inches or so from the lens), you can get razor-sharp photos even of things that are right next to you. Pretty sweet.
It’s really cheap for what you get!
This is THE best thing about this lens – it’s cheap as hell, given what it does for your photo game. You can find it anywhere for under $400 CAD, where most other wide-angle options are upwards of $700.
Since I’m a believer of the phrase “you get what you pay for” I default to being skeptical of this kind of thing, but in this case I took a chance, and I wasn’t disappointed. The lens is made of plastic, but it feels sturdy in hand, and the quality of photos it takes is way above what you’d expect from a $400 lens. In fact, that’s a benefit all by itself.
It takes crisp, clear photos with little distortion
Like I said, this little guy punches above its weight in terms of photo quality. Shots I’ve taken with it so far are all crystal-clear, with little lens distortion.
If you don’t know, lens distortion is that fish-eye effect you sometimes see on shots, where the image sort of bends at the edges of the photo. It’s usually not what you want in a shot, and it tends to happen mostly in wide-angle lenses. Unless you’re buying a fisheye lens (which purposely bends the shot to achieve a specific effect), you want to choose a lens that minimizes this effect. This lens does a great job of that, despite its price point. What little distortion does happen can easily be fixed in a post-production program like Photoshop.
The same goes for vignetting. Like all wide-angle lenses, there’s some vignetting (darkness in the corners) that appears when you zoom out all the way. It’s almost unavoidable on wide-angles, and it isn’t so severe in this lens that it’s bothersome.
Here are a few samples of images I took with the lens:
And here are some samples others took with it:
Back to those acronyms…
Ok, I joke about the acronyms, but let me explain them for a second. First of all, the EF-S in the title means the lens is made only for crop-sensor cameras. It won’t work at all on full-frame cameras, which are typically higher-end (Canon EOS 6D, 5D, 1D models all have full-frame sensors, whereas the Canon EOS Rebel series and 70D are crop-sensors). I won’t get into what those mean here, just know that this lens only works with the more entry-level Canon DSLRs!
Ok, on to the next acronym. This is a good one to see – “IS” means the lens has an image stabilizer on it, which helps keep the image clear when you’re shooting hand-held. You can also turn the feature off if you’re using a tripod, which is useful.
Lastly, we have “STM.” It refers to a “stepped motor focusing” system. It’s not the top-tier focusing system, but hey, you’re spending under $400 on a lens. It’s still a quality motor, and it’s still very fast and quiet. The lens can focus from minimum range to infinity (maximum range) in under a second, and it does so quietly too.
Wrapping it Up – The Verdict
Overall, the Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM is a great lens in a compact size. It shoots crisp, quality images that look great as-is and after a bit of post-production love. And at a price of under $400 CAD, you really can’t go wrong.
If you found this review helpful, and are planning on buying the lens, I’d really appreciate it if you used this affiliate link to get it off Amazon. It’s the same price for you, and I make a few bucks in the process. Win-win!
