LensTip.com

Lens review

Canon EF 16-35 mm f/4L IS USM

22 July 2014
Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary



Please Support Us

If you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - advertisement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pros:
  • solid casing and high build quality,
  • excellent image quality in the frame centre,
  • very good image quality on the edge of the APS-C sensor,
  • acceptable resolution on the edge of the full frame,
  • imperceptible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
  • low lateral chromatic aberration,
  • proper correction of spherical aberration,
  • low distortion on APS-C,
  • negligible astigmatism,
  • slight coma,
  • very fast, silent and efficient autofocus,
  • efficient image stabilization.

Cons:

  • very high vignetting level on full frame,
  • weak performance against bright light,
  • distortion level at 16 mm on full frame could have been lower.

We have no doubts: the EF 16–35 mm f/4L IS USM is currently the best ultra-wide angle zoom lens in the whole Canon line-up. It is also noticeably better than its rivals from other producers such as the Nikkor AF-S 16–35 mm f/4G ED VR or the Tokina AT-X PRO FX SD 17–35 mm f/4 (IF). Only the best and expensive constructions such as the Nikkor AF-S 14–24 mm f/2.8G ED or the Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar 16–35 mm f/2.8 T* SSM can compete with it successfully. That remark alone means you can recommend its purchase wholeheartedly. If you are still not persuaded, though, go once again through the list of pros and cons– they indicate very clearly that you deal here with a very good optical instrument.