And, having bought this lens, I thank myself for not trying to save ?100 to get the Sigma. Everything meets my expectation and more. I have used this lens for general walkaround more than my other lenses since acquiring this lens! The field of view is SO wide that if not careful, you will include your feet in the picture!

USing this lens is a whole new experience as careful compositionis required not to create distortion or including things that you do not want to be framed.

Bad points (yes there are some but not on image quality):
-too bulky/big (thank god it is light in weight)
-needs a 77mm filter to protect the front element, this is another sum of money required!
-feels cheap (due to its plasticky feel)

I have some real life samples here to show you if you are interested, they were taken while I was having my holiday in Malaysia last december (2005):
(not all pics taken with this lens, but each photo is indicated with type of lens used)
http://www.theteh.com/html/malaysia_2005.html

Hope this helps your decision!
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10mm FOV (16mm in 35mm terms) in view is refreshing, March 1, 2006
Reviewer: David Vandevoorde

I recently bought this lens, and even though I knew the mathematics, the increase in field-of-view it provides over the 17-85mm IS still surprised me when I first looked through that lens. I'm in the process of selling a house, and this lens is great to take the indoor pictures for the various ads (although it's also easy to make every room look like a deep tunnel -- composition gets a little trickier).

So far the imaging qualities seem to be better than any other lens I own (I don't have canon L-glass). The construction is also quite good -- on par with the 17-85mm IS, I'd say. Size and weight are also similar to the 17-85, which makes it a great match for a 20D camera.

This lens' weakest feature is it's maximum aperture: f/3.5 at the wide end is not horrible, but I always long for faster optics.

Not cheap, but it seems superior to the alternatives in its class. (Note that 10mm offers a significant FOV increase of 12mm, even though the numbers seem close.)
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No excuse not to buy this lens!, February 16, 2006
Reviewer: Derek Reynolds "fastneutron"

This is one terrific lens! It solves the problem of wide-angle coverage in the 1.6 FOVCF very nicely. As others have pointed out, the mechanical build and optical quality (with 3 Aspherical elements and 1 Super-UD) probably deserve an "L" stamp and a red ring. This lens appears to be of almost identical build, quality and size as the EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM. Even uses the same 77mm filter size as most of the L's. Overall sharpness is excellent, with maybe a little softness towards the corners at 10mm, but I've seen comparisons with other ultra-wide zooms like the Sigma and the Canon blows them away! CA is well controlled too. There is slight Barrel and Pincushion distortions present at the low and high ends, but less than would be expected for a lens this wide. All in all this is one of the best wide-angle zooms available.

The major criticism of this lens usually comes down to; "well, how long will Canon continue to make 1.6 FOVCF cameras?" or "Someday I might upgrade to a Full Frame camera, then what will I do with this lens?" I doubt very seriously that Canon will do away with the APS-C cameras any time soon. My reasoning is that:

1. Canon just came out with the Full Frame 5D at the $3000 price point. Introducing a FF camera to replace the 20D at $1500 would kill the 5D after only a few months.
2. Having the EF-S lens line already established almost guarantees keeping the 1.6 format - mostly because of this lens. To be able to use the EF-S 10-22mm, a chip can't really go any bigger than 1.6 since this seems to be the limit of the useable coverage. Using a 1.5 or 1.4 sensor for example would probably start to introduce significant fall-off at the corners of the larger chip.

As I am writing this, the PMA conference is only four days away. My prediction is that Canon will announce a replacement for the 20D that will, in essence be a 1.6 FOVCF version of the 5D. They will probably increase the (already excellent) density of the 20D's CMOS by shrinking pixel size down to around 5 micron yielding something around the 10 mega-pixel range to compete with the Nikon D200. Maybe they will call the camera the 50D after the 5D since they can't really use the name 30D because D30 was already used.

In any case, my point is that the 1.6 APS-C format will likely be around for some time to come, until the point where the FF price point drops enough to warrant discontinuing the xxD line. Even then, when that happens, doesn't mean you'll throw your 20D in the trash! You'll still want to keep using it and/or sell it, and having this lens will significantly increase its usefulness or resale value.

Now, having said all that, this is the only EF-S lens I plan on buying. From the reviews I've read, the other EF-S lenses are of significantly lesser quality, and all of your other lens needs can be met with standard EF lenses anyway, APS-C or otherwise. Plus you get the option to buy L glass.

So, bottom line is buying this particular EF-S lens for a 20D or XT is a no-brainer. It's the best solution for wide angle in this format. Hesitating to buy it because "I might get a FF camera someday" is also nonsensical. What I might do in the future is just that, for the future. Not buying a mid-priced car today because "someday" I might buy a Ferrari doesn't satisfy my use and enjoyment of the car today!

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