Tamron AF 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 SP Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

I bought this lens to give me an ultra-wide angle zoom for landscapes and indoors. I can not routinely shoot in this focal length, so I was hesitant to spend so much on the Canon 10-22mm, but the Canon 10-22mm is by all accounts fantastic. I have had very positive experiences with Tamron in the past, and decided to give this lens a try under the Sigma equivalent. Cosmetically, the lens is very light but feels solid in your hand, and the zoom ring takes some getting used to when it rotates in the opposite direction as the Canon lenses. Finish of the lens is very nice and the included lens hood fits well, but provides only minimal protection for the lens. This is understandable, since this lens is an ultra-wide angle zoom lens and large businesses would cause vignetting and shadowing problems. The lens hood does a good job of protecting the question glare. The lens extends only a small amount of zoom. Performance wise, the lens is quite soft wide open, which is somewhat disappointing, but not a major issue for my own purposes. There is something to be very aware of anyway. But down to f / 8 or smaller solves this problem and at f / 8 and smaller, this lens very sharp with very nice color, contrast and saturation. Sharpness falls again at f/16 due to diffraction, but between f / 8 and f/16, the lens is excellent. CA is well controlled as it is barrel distortion, both of which are common serious problems for many elements in this focus area. I was pleasantly surprised by this objective control of the CA as I expected, it is much worse than it is. I borrowed a friend's Tamron 11-18mm lens and my 10-24 was superior in terms of problems with CA and barrel distortion, and adds a point of speed. The upgrades, Tamron has done with this lens is very noticeable and worth the extra cost compared to previous generation Tamron ultra wide-angle zoom lens. The auto focus is very quiet, precise and fast. Overall this is a very nice alternative to the much more expensive camera brand lens like the Canon 10-22mm or extremely expensive Nikon super-wide angle lenses and provides very good quality in this zoom range.

UPDATE: Recently, this lens is a serious tumble from about 3 feet above the ground on a hard tile floor. The only damage was a lens cap on the Ding! I'm impressed.