Two weeks ago, I bought a new lens which I used for the first time last weekend – together with a second lens about which I will write a short post soon. Back in the days when I was still using my FD cameras – the Canon A-1, FTb and T90 – one of my favourite wide angle lenses had been a 24mm lens. I had at first bought one from Tokina used. Much later, shortly before switching to Canon’s EF system and thus autofocus, I bought the good old FD 24mm f/2.8. With the EF system, I then went with the EF 28mm f/2.8 which was ok but which I never really loved. Instead, I often used a zoom lens, the EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM that gave me access also to the shorter focal lengths with their wider fields of view. This lens was also quite fine when I started using digital cameras – which until recently were ones with APS-C sensors. Now, back to the 35mm format and preparing my trip to New Zealand, the time has come to get a wide-angle lens that is capable of delivering good image quality with the EOS 6D.

I was not particularly keen on image stabilization with such a lens and probably would have preferred a cheaper lens without this feature. However, I am happy that this lens now is equipped with a USM drive and also that it remained quite compact in size. From my first impressions, the build quality is very good and so is the image quality. Sharpness, contrast, chromatic aberrations and distortion all seem to be pretty decent. There is quite a bit of vignetting at wide open apertures; stopped down to f/5.6 or further, it is quite fine. Since I will mainly use this lens for landscapes and architecture, I guess I will be happy with this lens.

Update: I have published a review after having used the lens quite a bit.