I’ve owned an ultrawide lens before (the Sigma 10-20) but sold it on as it wasn’t getting much use but after missing out of a couple of good chances for a photo recently because my Canon 17-40 L wasn’t wide enough I’ve picked up a Canon 10-22 (I thought I’d give the Canon a try this time, no reflection on the Sigma I owned before).
The build quality of course is nowhere near the extremely well built 17-40 L but what about the optics? I thought I’d do a quick compare. Shooting at 17mm with a flash and handheld, not a great setup but it’s a real world test that I’m interested in.
The 17-40 L showed good sharpness and contrast at f/4, f/5.6 and f/8. The 10-22 stuggled wide open at f/4 but returned some good results once stopped down to f/5.6 and f/8.
17-40 L at 17mm f/5.6 1/100s ISO 250 flash 100% crop RAW no sharpening
Canon 17-40 L @ 17mm f/5.6 1/100s centre 100% crop RAW
10-22 at 17mm f/5.6 1/100s ISO 250 flash 100% crop RAW no sharpening
Canon 10-22 @ 17mm f/5.6 1/100s centre 100% crop RAW