Canon EF-S 10-22mm, 3.5 - 4.5

[trossit]

Hi Room,

I just recenly bought a used by pristine Canon EF-S 10-22mm, 3.5 - 4.5 Super-wide -angle zoom lens off Ebay.  Not being experienced with the typical behavoris of super zoom lenses, are they supposed to be tack sharp like a 50mm prime or tele-zoom lens would be?  When taking a picture of citiscape with my focus on the buildings on the far background they dont come out very sharp.  I will include a sample photo.  Should they be as sharp as other types of lenses?  I will include a sample. 

[Waddizzle]

It would not matter what wide angle lens you use.  The stuff in the distance will not be detailed and tack sharp.  

I think the EF-S 10-22mm is the best built EF-S lens Canon has made.  I like to shoot landscapes, too.  You can get more details by creating a higher resolution panoramic image.  I use my 70-200,, for capturing pianos.

[trossit]

Waddizzle,

Thanks for replying back.  My current photography has been nature, birds, insects, wildlife, where sharpness really counts.  I wanted a Wide Angle lens and did a lot of research to find this one, the EF-S 10-22mm.  Its looks like a pre 2010 model and in pristine condition.  I am new to wide angle photography and have been experimenting and testing the lens the last few days .It can be sharp with text from a close distance (2 feet) 14mm at f11.  I am assuming this is not what this focal length wasdesigned for.  This lens was well recommended from many online reviews.

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings trossit,

I agree with Wadizzle the 10-22 was best in its class.

Its an Ultra Wide Zoom, not "super'

Your shot...  You need to consider what you are asking of the lens in this case.  You are going to get a wider FOV, but the lens itself does not have the "reach" to bring a subject at infinity into sharp focus. 

Sharper focus might be achieved by shooting at f8 or above, but at 10~22mm the focal length of the lens has limits.  You can break your image down into 2 catagories.

Yellow plants in are foreground, green trees mid, and the city scape background.  Aperature and your focus point can influence what will be in the sharpest focus (to a degree).

Or

Shoot at 22mm (infinity) and f16 or above for the sharpest overall portrait. (Fore, mid and background).  Time of day and amount of avaialble light might also come into play.  That high cloud ceiling may limit the amount of availble light, so your ISO choice might also influence the overall clarity and end result.  

This lens has limits.  Its very popular for vlogging and video due to its silent AF.  If you consider what you are asking of the lens, I think you will be happier with the resilts.

[trossit]

Thanks shadowsports,

I need to study what wide angle photography truly is.  I think in most cases there is a close subject in sharp focus in the foreground and then let your F stop value feather in whats in focus in the background.  I am so used to telephoto photography with 300mm F4 L....a totally different animal. 

[ebiggs1]

"The stuff in the distance will not be detailed and tack sharp."

This is true but not for reasons listed above. It is the resolving power of any lens. As distance increases resolving ability of the lens becomes less and less. Also stopping down will increase DOF but will add diffraction elements into the shot making IQ difficult to impossible. I would not stop down below f8 and certainly never below f11 if IQ is your main most thing.

A 10mm lens when stopped down to f16 will have an aperture opening of around 1/2mm. Pretty darn small, right? This means the light gets bent steeply and does not regain a precise focus point.

Add that to less resolving power and you get somewhat lower IQ at distance.

[trossit]

Hi ebiggs,

As I am still learning the capabilities of this lens conditions have not been great here for testing.  I took this picture the other day focusing on the mansion itself, 22mm at f18, shutter speed was only 1/50 sec on gray overcast day.  I was hoping for a little better sharpness on the building but with that slow shutter speed and no IS that could be influencing the lack of sharpness, or is it just the wrong focal length for this kind of photograph?. 

[jrhoffman75]

Your image basically fills the frame, so that size building at that distance needs the angle of view of that lens.

I downloaded the file and looked at it in FastStone image viewer. Looks perfectly fine to me, and its only a 1.6MP file.

From the-digital-picture.com website :"In the sharpness category, the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens is a decent performer. Keep in mind that when shooting at these focal lengths, details tend to get extremely small. Our DSLR sensors struggle to produce sharp results when details get down to the pixel or couple-of-pixel size. Resulting images do sharpen nicely."

At f/18 you are also getting into the region where diffraction is going to affect (negatively) your images. A shot like that should be on a tripod at f/8.

But a little post processing can do wonders. Can you post a link to the original full size image?

[shadowsports]

I love the mansion.  Architecture and Landscapes are my favorites. 

 

[trossit]

Beautiful pictures Shadow!  Thanks for sharing.  The mansion is called Pittock Mansion built in 1914.  One of my favorite places overlooking downtown Portland, Oregon.