Canon EF-M 15-45mm f3.5-6.3 IS STM lens user review 25 July 2020

Since it was introduced in 2015 the 15-45mm  has been the standard zoom lens for Canon’s EF-M mount cameras. It is often sold together with an EOS M body as a kit.

It follows that most EOS-M owners will have a copy of this lens.

The 15-45mm is smaller than the 18-55mm which it replaced due in part to the collapsing barrel design utilised by the 15-45mm.

Users who want to pick up a copy of the lens separately from a body can often find one from  a grey market supplier at a very low price.

Pretty much anybody who bought an EOS-M camera any time in the last five years.

General photography with a wide to slightly long focal length range and modest maximum aperture.

Any outdoor use in good light.

The lens is suitable for use indoors or in low light at the wide end of the zoom range where the aperture is a reasonably bright  f3.5.

Although not a macro lens it does allow the user to get quite close to small subjects. At 45mm  focal length the lens can focus close enough to deliver a subject width of 75mm which is suitable for many flowers and large insects.

When collapsed for storage, the lens is very small and light. Apart from the glass it is all plastic including the mount.

When mounted on an EOS M50 the kit is compact camera size and mass but with better handling.

The lens must be unlocked for use by pressing a tab on the side of the lens barrel and twisting about 45 degrees. Some users report they don’t like this but the upside is a very compact size when not in use.

There is a zoom ring and a focus ring but as with other EF-M lenses no AF/MF switch and no IS on/off switch on the lens. These controls are activated via the camera body.

Length is 45mm (62mm when unlocked for use)

Diameter 61mm

Mass 130 grams

Filter size 49mm

No hood is supplied.  The official Canon hood is EW-53 although plenty of cheaper ones are available from third party suppliers.

My practice is to use the lens without filter or hood with no problems thus far.

This lens has a, shall we say, mixed reputation, with some users reporting good to very good imaging capability, others reporting unsatisfactory results.

The reason for this is sample variation which is the bugbear of lenses generally but particularly budget zooms.

Please read my post on How I test a lensto determine if you have a good or bad copy. This will quickly discover if the lens is decentered which is the main problem with bad copies

I have had three copies of the 15-45mm over the last two years.

The first  was decentered and borderline unsatisfactory. The second was better but still not wonderful and the third is really very good at all focal lengths and apertures.

The message is that when properly assembled the lens is capable of producing very good results.

If you get a bad copy my suggestion is to return it to Canon and insist on repair or replacement.

The following comments refer to my best copy.

I rate this good to very good. The lens is sharp in the center at all focal lengths and apertures. The edges are a bit soft but clean up nicely if the aperture is reduced half to one stop.

When the lens is focussed correctly and the best aperture selected it can reproduce very large amounts of fine subject detail.

Autofocus is fast and consistently accurate. Someone whose experience has been with Canon EF-S DSLRs might be surprised at the accuracy and consistency of autofocus of this and other EF-M lenses on EOS-M bodies which use Canon’s excellent  DPAF.

 Manual focus is easily achieved.

I use the lens against the sun often with no great problems. You can induce flare of course but it is not usually an issue.

Moderate barrel distortion at the wide end gives way to mild pincushion at the long end. Both are easily managed with a lens profile in the image editing programme.

This can often be seen at hard contrasts near the edge of the frame but is generally easy to correct after capture.

The 15-45mm has acquired a mixed reputation due to sample variation and is often dismissed by reviewers and contributors to user forums, possibly for that reason.

But if you get a good copy and there are plenty of those out there, it is one of the great bargains of photography.

It comes almost free in a kit with an EOS-M body.

It can deliver very good imaging capability right across the focal length range.