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Best Budget Wide Angle Lens for Canon [2024 Review]

In: 
Published: 10/03/2023

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Once equipped with a high-quality Canon camera, you’re almost ready to start shooting different properties and landscapes. However, you may not have appealing results if you don't use the best budget wide-angle lens for Canon. But with so many options available in the market, how can you find one that’s good enough without breaking the bank?

Our Top Budget Wide Angle Canon Lens Reviews

Even if your budget is tight, there are still pocket-friendly wide-angle lenses with impressive shooting performance. The Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 tops my list for its optimal optical design but affordable price.

In this review, I will help you identify the best budget wide-angle lens for Canon.

Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5

The Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 is a convenient wide-angle lens featuring an advanced optical design, consisting of a versatile range of perspectives, making it the best lens on my list. 

It includes a pair of aspherical and two low dispersion elements, unlike the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4. These elements help to reduce the color fringing and chromatic aberrations, achieving a higher degree of image sharpness, color fidelity, and clarity. 

Its elements come with a BBAR coating to combat surface reflections, ghosting, and flare, significantly improving contrast, especially when shooting in strong lighting conditions. 

Moreover, it comes with a four-stop Vibration Compensation functionality to reduce the camera shaking effect, especially when shooting handheld. It features an HLD autofocus motor to provide you with quick, smooth, and quiet focusing performance. 

The Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 also features a fluorine coating to protect the elements from dirt, smudging and dust. It weighs 1 pound, light enough to carry around without exhaustion or the wrists hurting. Like the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8, it comes with seven blades aperture diaphragm, which contributes to an impressive bokeh.

Rokinon 24mm f/1.4

The Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 is a fast and wide-angle lens featuring a robust physical design and advanced optical construction, providing the best value for you. 

Unlike the Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6, the optical design consists of four low dispersion elements geared towards eliminating chromatic aberrations and color fringing to enhance the image quality. 

To further combat distortion, it features two aspherical elements, positioning one at the lens rear. These elements ensure consistent image sharpness even when working with the maximum wide aperture of f/1.4. 

Besides, the lens elements come with a Multi-Layered UMC coating to minimize ghosting and flare, allowing you to achieve good color fidelity and higher contrast. 

If you prefer manual focus, it comes with manual focusing functionality, allowing you to refine the focus by rotating the focus ring, unlike the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8. It's less appealing if you prefer fast and smooth autofocus functionality, making it a downside. 

Finally, this lens weighs 1.4 pounds, which may be inconvenient to carry around or use for an extended period, as it may exhaust you.

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8

The Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 is recognizable due to its thin profile and high-quality construction. This wide-angle lens for Canon is equivalent to a 38.4mm design for DSLRs. 

Unlike the Rokinon 35mm f/1.4, the optical design features one spherical element, significantly reducing chromatic aberrations and color fringing, enhancing image clarity and sharpness. 

It employs the Super Spectra coating to the optical element to help reduce ghosting and flare, improving the overall color fidelity and contrast. The reduction of ghosting and flare is especially vital when shooting in bright lighting conditions. 

The Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 particularly excels in its autofocusing capabilities. It employs an STM stepping autofocus motor to enhance focusing for a better focusing experience. On top of the autofocus motor, it features a full-time manual override, which allows you to refine your focus for sharper images. 

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 also features seven rounded blades for the aperture diaphragm, which helps produce a good quality bokeh. This lens also enhances the use of shallow depth of field in real estate photography which results in beautiful images. 

Coming with a weight of 0.3 pounds, it's the most lightweight on my list, making it suitable for carrying around as you shoot multiple properties.

Rokinon 35mm f/1.4

The Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 is an advanced wide-angle lens that mixes a sturdy construction and comfortable focal length. It features a maximum wide aperture of f/1.4, helping you achieve selective focus effects and shallow depth of field. 

Also, this aperture performs well even when you are taking pictures of a house with poor lighting conditions. It comes with an optical layout that consists of aspherical and low dispersion elements, which help reduce chromatic aberrations. 

The elements help enhance the image clarity and reduce color fringing. Like the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4, the elements come with UMC Multi-Layered Coating to minimize ghosting and flare for a better color accuracy when using it in strong lighting conditions. 

Furthermore, the Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 comes with a manual focus only, unlike the Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6. The lack of autofocus is a bit inconvenient if you want a fast and smooth autofocus functionality. However, it is possible to achieve a refined focus manually, making it suitable for real estate photography

It's the heaviest on my list, weighing around 1.46 pounds, making it unsuitable for extended periods of use.

Rokinon 10mm f/2.8

The Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 is a wide-angle lens that provides a focal length equivalent to 16mm, making it ideal for interior and real estate photography

Unlike the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4, Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 comes with two aspherical and one extra-low dispersion element to help reduce chromatic aberrations. 

Incorporating these elements in its optic design to combat distortion and color fringing makes all the difference in the image’s sharpness and clarity. 

It comes with a Nano Coating System on its elements to minimize ghosting, flare, and surface reflections, enhancing the light transmission for contrast-rich images. It features a fast maximum wide aperture of f/2.8, making it suitable for shooting in poor lighting conditions. 

The Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 comes with a manual focus mode, suitable for refining your subject’s focus by allowing selective control focus placement. It lacks autofocus motor functionality, unlike the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8, which is a downside if you want a fast and smooth focus when taking shots of properties in a hurry. 

However, the manual focus is suitable for real estate videography as the manual focus is completely noise-free. It weighs 1.4 pounds, inconvenient for extended periods of use.

Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6

The Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 is a flexible and compact wide-angle lens with a focal length equivalent to 18-35mm. The design is geared to minimize the overall size and have high-quality optics. 

It includes one ultra-low dispersion and a large-diameter element to produce clear and sharp images. These elements reduce the spherical and chromatic aberrations. 

The Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 comes with a Super Spectra coating, like the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8, which helps suppress the ghosting and flare, enhancing the image contrast, especially when capturing in strong lighting. 

It uses the STM stepping motor for autofocus with a full-time manual override for better focusing performance. It features a four-stop-effective Image Stabilizer System, minimizing the camera shaking effect, especially when shooting handheld, unlike the Rokinon 10mm f/2.8. 

The image stabilizer reduces the shake to four shutter speed stops, improving slower shutter speeds. It features seven blades aperture diaphragm, enhancing selective focus techniques and the shallow depth of field. 

It weighs 0.5 pounds, lightweight enough to carry around or use for an extended period without your wrists hurting or feeling exhausted.

Features to Consider in a Budget Wide Angle Lens for Canon

You would want to choose a lens with the best attributes and high optical quality even with a tight budget. Below, I detail the features you need to consider to identify the best wide-angle lens for Canon.

Comparing Wide Angle Lenses for Canon

ProductFocal LengthApertureWeight (Pounds)
Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 24mmf/1.41.4
Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 35mmf/1.41.46
Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 24mmf/2.80.3
Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 10-24mmf/3.5-4.51
Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 10mmf/2.81.4
Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 11-22mmf/4-5.60.5

Focal Length

Wide-angle lenses provide not only good lighting but also a favorable depth of field in the pictures you take. The depth of field determines how blurry or sharp the scene you are shooting will be, especially when shooting natural scenes. 

Some large aperture affordable options such as the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 have an aperture of f/2.8, preferable by most professional photographers and videographers.

It would be best if you have in mind that using a wide-angle lens makes some distortions on the appearance of your subject. The level of distortion depends on the lens's optical design. Most wide-angle lenses come with optical elements to help suppress these distortions. 

It explains why wide-angle lenses with many optical elements like the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 have fewer distortions. Physically, wide-angle lenses are easier to carry as they are smaller and lighter.

A Canon 24mm lens

Zoom

With a wide-angle lens that supports zooming, you can shoot a property at a distance. This will help in capturing certain aspects that would be tricky if you were using any other lens. However, the main disadvantage of using a telephoto lens is that the most affordable models start at f/3.5 or even f/4.5, so they don't let in much light. 

As panning is not always possible, the zoom lens is more versatile. Sometimes conditions don't allow real estate photographers to walk to certain property positions to capture shots, which is why a zoom lens is much better. 

However, in other situations that allow for greater mobility, choosing a wide-angle lens with a fixed focal length is an appropriate option. Wide-angle lenses that feature a fixed focal length are generally high quality and economical, such as Rokinon 10mm f/2.8. 

Also, they are lightweight and compact compared to their zoom counterparts. Depending on why you plan to capture scenes, you can choose a fixed focal length lens or zoom lens.

Aperture

The aperture helps regulate the amount of light entering your camera. It is commonly known as f-stops, represented by the letter f and the corresponding numbers. 

A small f-number like f/1.4 in  Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 allows more light than one with a larger f-number, creating an absolute glow in the eye. Wide-angle lenses with narrower apertures are best in shooting dark scenes, commonly in movies.

When buying a wide-angle lens, keep in mind where you plan to shoot the scenes, whether in strong lighting or poor lighting conditions.  

In case the wide-angle lens is a telephoto, be careful when shooting in low light. Zoom lenses have an f-stop range, which helps determine both the maximum telephoto effect and wide-angle.

Autofocus

Different manufacturers equip their wide-angle lenses with varying features and capabilities. One of the most varying features is the autofocus capability. For instance, Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 comes with an autofocus motor for a better focusing experience. 

Canon wide angle lens on a desk

The autofocus motors are smooth and fast in focusing, but the downside is the noise they produce, which is unsuitable for videography. In many cases, there is a full-time manual override to allow refinement of the focus manually. 

However, some wide-angle lenses feature manual focus only, such as Rokinon 24mm f/1.4. Although it's seen as a downside, they allow a more refined manual focus. Also, manual focus is noise-free, making it appealing for videographers.

Build Quality

The physical construction greatly differs between manufacturers, some featuring metal construction, and others constructed of polycarbonate materials such as Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8. 

Wide-angle lenses featuring polycarbonate construction are generally lighter than those featuring metal construction, making them suitable for extended periods of use without your wrists hurting.

Weather Resistance

Some wide-angle lenses, such as Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5, come with a unique coating, protecting the elements from dust and moisture. Typically, this weather resistance allows you to use the lens even in bad weather conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Difference Between Wider and Shorter Angle Lenses?

Normally, wide-angle lenses are designed with a 35mm focal length or shorter, which makes them capable of shooting a wider field of view. The shorter the focal length, the more the scene will appear in the frame. On the other hand, the longer focal length gives a narrower field of view.

Do Wide Angle Lenses Distort the Subject's Appearance?

All wide-angle lenses distort the subject’s appearance because of their wider fields of view. The objects that are nearer to the lens look bigger than the ones far from the lens. Wide-angle lenses incorporate elements in their optical design to reduce distortion.

If you want to suppress distortion as much as possible, choose the lens with the highest number of elements, such as the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4. However, this is an advantage in interior photography for architects, as the smaller rooms appear larger.

Can I Shoot Portraits with a Wide Angle Lens?

Although many photographers prefer short telephoto for portraits, wide-angle lenses such as Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 can shoot portraits. If you use it carefully and thoughtfully, you can achieve creative results.

Conclusion

Even with a tight budget, there are still impressive wide-angle lenses you pair with your Canon camera to enhance its performance. Although it's challenging to choose the best due to their varying attributes, you can't go wrong with any of the above.

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