10-18mm Lens Review (It’s awesome for wide angle interior photography!)

I’m back and reviewing the Canon EFS 10-18mm lens today!

You may be thinking…there is no reason on God’s green earth that I want to read this.  BUT….and that is a Nicki Minaj sized BUT right there…..BUT you may be looking for a wide angle lens for interior photos.  Maybe you are a blogger.  Maybe you are in real estate.  Maybe you are a photographer.  Or maybe you are just a mom who wants to capture what your kid’s room looks like before they are grown and married and gone forever.  Winnie the Pooh soon becomes Spiderman which soon becomes baseball which soon becomes a FatHead of whatever pro athlete is winning which soon becomes college posters which soon becomes girlfriend kissing photos which soon becomes empty spaces.  It happens.  Just ask my mom.  Or maybe you are just looking at getting a wide angle lens to expand your photography skills.  Well….this is one of the most inexpensive wide angle lenses from Canon and I’m here to share with you what I like about it.

Today I am comparing it to the stock lens that came with my Canon 70D camera.  That lens is the 18-55mm and it is one of the most basic lenses I’ve used…but also the one that is the closest in my camera bag to capturing big spaces.  If you want to see what other equipment I have in my arsenal, you can check out this old post.

I ordered the 10-18mm lens primarily for interior photos….pictures of rooms in tight spaces and most lenses don’t go below 18mm…so this 10-18 lens is just one option.

Usually there is quite a bit of distortion….especially around the outer edges….but I feel like in general, this particular lens did well for the price tag.

So my set up….I just popped the tripod in my guest bedroom and used my 70D to do all the pictures….here is a grainy dark iPhone photo to show the setup.  The following photos are straight outta the camera.  I didn’t even have to adjust the white balance here in post processing.

With the 18-55mm lens (that is the stock lens) this is the farthest back I could zoom out.  You can see that it captures about 1/3 to 1/2 of the room.  My settings were ISO 800 and f/9 and exposure time was .4  so we have a relatively accurate picture here.

And then this is the same tripod, same settings – except the lens is at 10mm now – the widest it can go.  As you can see, the image is fairly similar except it does get a lot more of the space.  It probably is 1/2 of the room to 2/3.  And this is also straight out of the camera.

The biggest difference is obviously the wide angle.

But I really noticed another difference in exposure in this different angle…

See how this one is slightly darker?

And here we are at this angle as well…

Wider angle.  Slightly darker.  And very1 little distortion for being such a wide shot.

For my second example, I tried the smaller space….this really showcases how much it can capture.

I set my tripod up in the bathroom doorway – this room is about 6 feet deep and normally I can’t capture the entire thing.

These photos I did white balance but I applied the same white balance layer to both versions in Photoshop so any exposure difference is not due to that change.  Okay – so with the 18mm I was able to get some of the vanity, light and toilet.  Obviously this isn’t ideal for a bathroom shot.

But with the 10mm…I was able to get a lot of the floor and I could probably have scooted the camera more into the room to get the shower.  It’s so great for these tight spaces.

As expected, the lighting is slightly darker with the 10mm.

The only time I saw any slight distortion was from this angle.  This is the bathroom from the closet.

And the same shot with the 10mm shows some distortion (stretching) to the stool leg and the floor tiles.  See how in the herringbone pattern the vertical tiles appear longer than the horizontal ones?  It happens especially in the corners of the photos.  That is the distortion.

Overall, I am super glad I got this lens and I think it’s going to come in handy for a lot of room photos.  I actually used this lens for shooting the Pedraza Laundry Room and you can see how that turned out here.

I think for the price (about $300) it turned out to be useful for me and it would definitely be useful for real estate agents or anyone trying to capture large action in small spaces.  It doesn’t feel as cheap as the 18-55…the weight is light but not that super thin plastic and it’s roughly the same size as the stock lens so it doesn’t make the camera super front heavy.

I also tried it out for up close pics…..but yeah, I think I will stick to my 50mm for that.  As you can see, there wasn’t a crispness to it and up close it took longer to focus.

Overall….highly recommend it.  I feel like it’s a great low-price range lens that any home blogger can use.

And if you are selling your home or documenting your home for insurance reasons, it would be a great investment to get the best photos.

To shop any item I mentioned in this post or to see more details – click on these photos to get direct links and if you have any questions – please be sure to ask in the comments!  Oh and to see my 85mm review….click here.