Wide

The American West is beautiful country and a great place for railroad photography. The
American East Coast is beautiful country and a hard place for railroad photography. Aside
from the great skies, sunsets, aridity, etc., the West has something that's very hard to find in
the East - space. The East is full of trees, buildings, and private property. No rangeland here,
no BLM either. Consequently, I find myself going to extremes when it comes to lenses.
Oftener than not, I'm using a telephoto/zoom lens to get access across a stretch of private
property or using the widest angle lens in my kit because I can't backup. Something is always
in the way. The telephoto/zoom problem was easy, but since I like APS-C digital SLR's, I've
been hurting in the wide angle department. Well, not hurting bad, there are plenty of good
wide angle lenses out there, but I wanted it all. Enter the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
USM. With the 1.6 multiplier on my 20D, my widest zoom was 28mm (in 35mm terms), with
the 10-22, I'm finally at a true 16mm.
From Canon: "Equivalent to a 16-35mm zoom for a 35mm film camera, it offers excellent
performance and optics designed from the ground-up for digital SLR use. Excluding fisheye
lenses, the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens has the shortest minimum focal length ever
offered for interchangeable lens digital SLRs with APS-C image sensors. ...3 Aspherical
elements and 1 Super-UD element in a 13-element optical formula. A ring-type ultrasonic
focusing motor (USM) provides fast and silent AF along with full-time manual focus.
Minimum focusing distance is 9.5 inches for breathtaking close-ups. The EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM lens is relatively light and compact at 3.5 inches in length and a weight of
13.6 oz. The new lens accepts 77mm filters and can be fitted with an optional bayonet-mount
lens hood."
Pre-purchase, all I could think of was the possibilities of having such a great device in my
possession. Post-purchase, my mind went blank. So I took it to the closest place around, the
Edgewood MARC station. The station, like all the local stations on Amtrak's NEC in
Northeastern Maryland, is photographically speaking, cramped for space. It is also cluttered,
especially on weekdays. Luckily it was a Saturday and the place was mostly devoid of cars,
and devoid of trains too, but a couple came along after awhile. In the meantime, we yakked
in the parking lot, watched the deer, and prayed we wouldn't be mistaken for terrorists. I also
took some test shots with the new lens. Besides for some distortion at the wide end (shoot
level & it's fine), I was happy with the test, but it wasn't until we got to Florida, that I started
to appreciate this lens.
It wasn't being in Florida that did it, it was being out of the cold. I got some nice close-in
shots at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum, it's great being able to get an entire locomotive in
the frame just the way I want it, and at 10mm, I did. The lens also made for some interesting
shots down in the Keys, where we traced Mr. Flagler's ill fated Florida East Coast Railway
extension down to Key West. It's also where I learned to pay attention to how I attached the
lens hood, this one's a bit funny and can get in the way.
This lens is in the S series and will only fit on the Canon 300D (Rebel) or the Canon 20D. It
will not fit on the 10D. It's also a bit pricey, but if you're yearning for a truly wide angle lens,
you can't beat it.
-MDRails