Viknesh Nadaraja

After much research on the UWA (Ultra Wide Angle) lens, I came down to two choices… either the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM or Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X.

I want to shoot landscapes and events with this UWA baby. For landscapes, I wanted ultra wide vistas and for events I wanted to tell the drama. Asian weddings that I shoot often are done on a big and impressive scales and I wanted the UWA lens to get the wow photo that shows the grandness of the event.

The Tokina was cheaper and gave better constant aperture when compared to Canon. On the other hand Canon had better range and USM will make focusing faster and accurate. Of course a constant fast aperture would be on the top of the list for anyone buying lens especially when the cost is real good. For me it was a balancing act and I traded off the fast aperture to wider range and faster and accurate focusing and bought the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM has range 35 mm equivalent focal length of 16-35mm. All reviews that I read in the net points very positively to this lens. Ken Rockwell mentioned in his review of the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM… “If I shot with Canon 1.6x cameras, this would be the lens I’d use most often. I’d get one pronto!” < http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/1022.htm>

I used this beauty to cover a wedding cum reception and I am truly impressed with this lens. Its focusing speed and the USM is damn accurate. The bokeh is marvelous and sharpness is awesome. It was not love at first sight, but love after first date.

Here are some shots from this awesome lens, from Prem & Renuka’s wedding & reception…

I know I am gonna be shooting with this beauty for a very long time … capturing memories with my photography.