I’ve been wanting a wide angle lens for a while now, and as of just a couple of months ago, I finally got one!
As with every new lens I’ve gotten, at first, I wasn’t too much of a fan. Don’t get me wrong, the lens is great, I just have a learning curve with new lenses that I need to get through. The same happened when I first got my 70-300mm and my 50mm.
But on to the fun stuff. How does this lens perform? What’s the quality like? Is it WIIIIIIIIDE enough?
I’ll answer all your questions and more after you pay….just kidding, simply keep reading.

Image Quality:

On point. This is an L series lens after all. I also enjoy the depth that this lens gives you when you get close to a subject and zoom all the way in to 40mm.

And here’s that same picture cropped all the way in. Keep in mind also that this is a handheld shot.

Focus Speed:

It’s great, but coming from how fast the focus speed is on the 70-300mm, it feels a tiny bit slow.

Wideness:

In this department I feel it’s lacking a bit, when indoors. The range from 17mm to 40mm is great but I would have loved for this lens to get down to about 14mm. I would’ve even taken some compromise in quality to be able to get a little more wide. That being said it’s one of the best ranged wides that I’ve come across. Besides, this only really becomes a problem in confined spaces. When in the great outdoors it’s easy to just take a few paces back.

Low Light:

Again not the best. With the lowest aperture being F/4 she’s not the best low light lens in the business. That being said, because it’s a wide angle, you have more room for movement when hand holding so at the end of the day, it’s not bad.

 
Shot, handheld, at 1/13th of a second with an aperture of f/5 and 500 ISO

 Travel Friendly?

She’s not the smallest wide in the family of canon lenses but given the range, 17-40mm, she needs to be a bit bigger. I’ll take the added size for more range any day. Well, maybe not any day, but today, yes =D.

Price:

This one will run you around 800 USD. You can get one used for around 500 USD though.

Pros:

Good range, spot on image quality, sturdy.

Cons:

Not quite as wide as I’d like for a wide angle but does the job.

All in all:

This is a great lens. It’s everything you’d expect from an L series lens and although I feel it’s not quite wide enough, that does make me get more creative with my shots. At the end of the day it’s a win win =D.

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