This super wide lens for mirrorless goes large on viewing angles while keeping the size and cost relatively small
SPECIFICATIONS
FULL-FRAME COMPATIBLE Yes
EFFECTIVE FOCAL LENGTH 24-48mm on APS-C EOS cameras
IMAGE STABILIZER 5.5-stop
MINIMUM FOCUS DISTANCE 0.28m (0.128m, MF at 15mm)
MAX MAGNIFICATION FACTOR 0.16x (0.52x, MF at 15mm)
MANUAL FOCUS OVERRIDE Electronically coupled
FOCUS LIMIT SWITCHES No
INTERNAL ZOOM No
INTERNAL FOCUS Yes
FILTER SIZE 67mm
IRIS BLADES 7 blades
WEATHER SEALS None
SUPPLIED ACCESSORIES Front and rear caps
DIMENSIONS (DIA x LENGTH) 77x88mm
WEIGHT 390g
PRICE £625/$499
The Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM is an ultra-wide-angle zoom for ‘the rest of us’. There’s already a brace of RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM and RF 15-35mm F2.8L USM, as featured in this month’s Super Test (see page 88), but as L-series lenses aimed at both enthusiast and professional photographers with deep pockets, they’re much more expensive.
Not just for expansive landscapes, this lens is also well suited to cityscapes, architectural interiors, vlogging and selfies, although the relatively slow aperture takes astrophotography off the hit list. Another bonus of ultra-wide lenses is that you can get in close to a subject and exaggerate perspective, making the middledistance and background appear to dramatically shrink away. This lens gets you closer than most if you switch to manual focus mode, giving a generous macro magnification of 0.52x. The 5.5-stop optical image stabilizer is a big bonus when shooting indoors or at twilight, especially given the modest aperture rating. Effectiveness is boosted to 7-stops with EOS R system cameras that feature IBIS.
Although small in size, the lens packs some upmarket glass, including one PMo (Precision Moulded) element and two UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) elements, intending to boost clarity while minimizing aberrations. Canon’s time-honoured Super Spectra coating is applied to reduce ghosting and flare.
Like most budget-friendly, and smaller Canon RF lenses, there’s no additional control ring but, as usual, you can apply custom functions to the manual focus ring when in autofocus mode, via a Focus/ Control switch on the side of the lens barrel. This gives easy access to your choice of camera settings including aperture, exposure compensation and ISO.
Build quality feels very good, typical of Canon RF lenses. The modest aperture rating helps to keep the size down and the front filter thread is quite small for an ultra-wide-angle lens, at 67mm. As usual with non L-series Canon lenses, however, there are no weather-s
