Conclusion

The in-expensive Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM offers more features and much better image quality that you might expect given its price-point, making it a great ultra-wide-angle addition to a compact, lightweight EOS kit.

With its all-plastic construction, including the lens mount, the Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM isn't going to withstand too many knocks and scrapes, but it is very light and therefore a good partner for the lighter EOS bodies. The capable image stabilisation system makes it easier to hand-hold the camera and still get the shot. Auto-focusing is surprisingly quick, and for video shooters the STM motor is appealingly smooth and almost completely quiet, although not fast enough to keep up with fast-moving subjects in Live View/Video mode. The ability to instantly manually override the AF system via the focus ring if required is a nice touch, although it is rather too narrow for our liking.

Given the budget price-tag, image quality is very good. Centre sharpness is excellent throughout the zoom range at the maximum aperture, and stopping-down to f/8 sharpens things up considerably at the edges of the frame. Chromatic aberrations aren't very well controlled, though, there's obvious geometric distortion at 18mm and some corner shading at the maximum aperture. The lens doesn't ship with a hood, although the Super Spectra coatings successfully prevented contrast loss attributable to flare.

In summary we can somewhat surprisingly recommend the Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM as a lightweight, portable ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for APS-C DSLR owners that delivers pleasing results for both stills and video.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4
Value for money	5