Canon Fit Quality UWA Advice?

weepete · Mar 16, 2015

Over the next few months I may be able to save up for a UWA (for use on a Canon 7D mk1) for an upcoming landscape photography trip.

Despite reading multiple threads, internet searches and scoring systems I'm a bit unsure as to what to aim for. I think at the moment I'm heading towards the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5, second the Tokina 11-16mm. But ideally I'd have a tack sharp lens with low distortion, low flare, low CA and all that jazz (in that order too). Not bothered about fast as it's for landscapes so will be used on a tripod most of the time (though IS would be nice it's not essential) with 100mm filters. I'd prefer it to be a real quality bit of glass though. Looking at EF-S fit to get wider than my 17-70mm Siggy. Budget would be sub ideally be £400-600 but I may be able to pish sub £1000 for the right lens with the emphasis on sharpness. Any ideas what couple of lenses I should be considering?

PS I'm not adverse to prime lenses or MF only either but I don't care for fisheyes.

jsecordphoto · Mar 16, 2015

Tokina 11-16 is sharp but does not handle flare well at all. I needed 2.8 for astro work so I went with the 11-16 when I was using a crop body, loved the lens despite the flaring

Big Mike · Mar 17, 2015

When I shot mainly with crop bodies, I owned a Canon 10-22mm. It was probably my favourite lens for quite a while...I loved that thing.

It was (and probably still is) more expensive than some of the options from Sigma etc. I never tried any of the others, so I can't really compare them, but I do know that the 10-22mm is on par with L quality lenses.

I've since upgraded to a full frame body and a 17-40mm F4 L.....it's pretty good, but it's not significantly better than my old setup with the 10-22mm.

As for flare, I believe that the 10-22mm is pretty good.
I have a friend who is a high end wedding photographer. Part of his style is often wide angle group shots with lens flare and dramatic lighting. He's tried most of the Canon wide angle lenses and he prefers the 10-22mm for the characteristics of how it handles lens flare. He likes it so much that he modified the lens mount so that he can use it on his full frame. Sure, it vignettes at the wide end, but he loves it.