Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSweet wide angle shots for a very affordable price
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2014
This lens rocks! I had not anticipated how much fun it would be, for both photo and video work. I have been in the market for a decent wide angle for my 70D for some time now... the tokina 11-16 f/2.8 is everyone's favorite for this, but $600ish dollars is just more than I'm willing to spend on a lens I (didn't) anticipate having mounted on my camera too terribly often. Canon's own ef-s 10-22 is similar as well, but also quite pricey, and i really don't need that little bit of extra zoom range it offers, as I already have a sigma 18-35 f1.8 which is much, much sharper anyway...
So after reading a number of very positive reviews of this new 10-18, and especially after seeing it's awesomely low (for canon) price of $299, i thought i'd give it a try. Yes, it is rather slow aperture-wise, so it's not so great for low light stuff or anything, but it is so useful! I hadn't realized how much wider (and how often!) i wanted to get past 18mm until i had the option to, and all of the sudden my sigma 18-35 has started feeling cramped, and i find myself reaching for the 10-18 way more often than i would have thought.
The super wide 10mm allows me to get shots that previously would have been impossible, especially in small, cramped rooms, and from a very cool perspective as well. For example the other day I was shooting a band recording in a small, cramped studio space, and i was able to get awesome full body shots from just like 2 or 3 feet away. This lens also has a much closer minimum focus distance than its competitors, enabling it to get super unique shots up a lot closer to your subjects than you could be with those other lenses.
For video, the wider the lens the more stable everything looks and the less you notice little bumps or shakes in the camera, which is great for shooting handheld (plus that image stabilizer!) but it gets even more awesome with this lens up on my shoulder stabilizer. Moving shots at 10mm are basically indistinguishable from a glidecam or steadicam shot, especially with a little warp stabilizer added in post. Even going up and down stairs at a pretty fast, even pace, this thing glides effortlessly along at those wide angles, plus the STM focusing means it's fast and silent when autofocusing (70D) as well.
The plastic mount does not bother me, everyone is obsessed with metal lens mounts but i have had a 50mm 1.8 for years and never had a single problem with it's supposedly crappy plastic mount and so i don't anticipate any problems with the 10-18 either. The whole "plasticy"ness in general that so many people complain about with cheaper lenses like these doesn't phase me, i only care about the glass itself, and the image quality it can achieve... which in this case is very respectable, no complaints at all. If you google head to head this verse the 10-22mm it's actually beating it in a lot of different areas, you should check out some reviews if you're on the ropes
TL;DR
Awesome price, awesome and unique wide angle shots, I'm very pleased with this lens