Canon EF-M 11-22mm f4-5.6 IS STM lens user review 27 July 2020

The EF-M 11-22mm ultrawide zoom lens was introduced in 2013,  just a year after the first EOS-M camera  came to the market.

Obviously the 11-22 was intended to fill out the (slowly) growing catalogue of EF-M lenses.

But I suspect it was also a demonstration project to show that an ultrawide zoom for the mirrorless M system could be so much smaller and lighter than the similarly specified EF-S version for  crop sensor DSLRs.

Since it was released the 11-22 has become a firm favourite with EOS-M users. All the formal reviews which I have read have been positive and I have seen no negative comment on user forums.

The 11-22 is often cited by users as being the best zoom lens available for the EOS-M system.

This has also been my experience.

I think that anyone planning to work ultrawide might well consider buying into the EOS-M system just to get access to this lens. It’s that good.

A user who already owns an EOS-M body might find their photographic horizon expanded when they start to use this ultrawide.

I think that amateur or professional real estate and architectural photographers will like it a lot.

Any subject requiring a wide angle of view. This includes interior and exterior architecture, real estate, landscape and cityscapes.

As the lens is stabilised, focusses quickly and zooms out to 22mm (35mm FF equivalent) it is also very suitable for general photography, family, street, documentary and reportage.

The lens has the usual EF-M minimalist styling with just a zoom ring and thin focus ring on the barrel which is of the retracting type unlocked by a little sliding switch.

The outer barrel appears to be metal as is the mount.

Both front and rear elements move back and forth with zooming but do not rotate.

The construction is 12 elements in 9 groups with 2 aspherics.

The lens is made in Taiwan.

Length 58mm retracted, 73mm ready to use

Diameter 61mm (as are all EF-M lenses to date, pity they couldn’t make the filters all the same size)

Mass 220 grams

Filter 55mm

For an ultrawide zoom the 11-22 is very compact. It is only just slightly larger than the optically inferior Olympus 9-18mm for the smaller sensor of the Micro Four Thirds system.

The EF-M 11-22mm is also remarkably inexpensive making it one of the best bargains in the camera world.

My copy is a bit soft in the upper left corner at 11mm f4 but apart from that the lens is sharp right across the frame at all focal lengths and apertures. Not many ultrawide zooms can match that at any price.

There is obvious barrel distortion and corner shading at 11mm although these are easily corrected in a good image editor.

Color fringing will appear at high contrast edges but again is easily corrected.

This is not the sort of lens one might select for soft backgrounds but to the extent one can get them out of focus the rendition appears smooth.

Ultrawide zooms are traditionally prone to flare but not this one which resists flare even with bright lights deliberately positioned to cause trouble.

Autofocus is fast and accurate on the M50 and manual focus easily managed although rarely needed.

This appears to work efficiently. I can get sharp results hand held at 1/6 second at 11mm.  

Here is a lens with no real downside at all.

The only thing about which one might complain is the modest aperture range of f4-5.6.

But that is the trade-off for the compact dimensions.

In practice it is not a problem as the stabiliser allows the lens to be used in low light without having to push up ISO settings.

I find it difficult to identify any reason why an EOS-M owner would not buy this lens.

It does just about everything right and nothing of consequence wrong.

It opens up the world of ultra-wide perspectives for a very modest cost.

Recommended.