Off from work today, so I took a little time to run down to Schillers for some horse-trading on lenses.

I had a Canon 50/1.4 and a Canon 16-35/2.8L to trade in, and was planning to walk away with a 10-22/3.5-4.5 and either a 35/1.4L or 24-70/2.8L. I wanted the extra-wide for shooting landscapes, and I wanted something to fill in the hole in my lens coverage for day-to-day “normal” shooting.

While the folks there were evaluating my two trades (and they were really clean — I take good care of my gear!), I played with the 35/1.4L and the 24-70/2.8L. Truthfully, I couldn’t tell much difference between the two. There was an orange sheet of paper with bold black print on the counter, and I shot it with both lenses. They both showed a lot of purple fringing on the edges of the letters. I’m surprised that they both did that, so my suspicion is that both of them were reacting as they should, given the sharp, odd contrast between the black and purple. Of course, I was using the “house” 20D, so who knows how that box was set up!

Once they came back with the trade in values, the salesperson sorta apologized for the low trade-in values, and suggested I’d do better selling them to a private individual. Darn tootin’! I was amazed at how low the trade-in values were ($185 on the 50/1.4 and $850 on the 16-35/2.8L — I would guess that their resale would be $250 on the former, and maybe $1100 on the latter), and decided to walk out with my lenses….

…Along with the 10-22mm. This is the widest lens (non-fisheye) available for the Canon line, and is specific to the EF-S bodies (Digital Rebel, Digital Rebel XT and 20D). And, some might question my selling the 16-35 for the 10-22, giving up the L glass. However, the only thing I use the 16-35 for is shooting landscapes, and that is exactly what I want with the 10mm end of the new lens. So, it’s a pretty easy move for me. I mean, you can feel the difference in the two lenses — the L lens is way heavier, much nicer built, and includes a lens pouch and hood — but I want the super wide angle!

So, how wide is wide? Well, here’s the low and high end of both the 10-22 and the 16-35, centered on a pine tree, all shot at f/8, ISO 200, on an icky, cloudy day:

To my eye, quite a bit of difference on the low end. I can’t wait to shoot sunsets and lightning with it!