Canon 10-18mm Review - 5 Years Later

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You’ve probably tried heading out and planning to film some great looking video only to get home, load it on to your computer and find it looking like this. When it comes to capturing handheld video, getting stable footage isn’t as easy it looks, and being left with unusable video after full day of shooting can be infuriating. Canon released the ultra-wide 10-18 lens, likely with the intention of eliminating the hassle associated with getting smooth footage, allowing people like and us to finally stop worrying about shaky video. The lens hit the market back in 2014, and a lot has changed since then in the world of video production. Today we’re going to be taking another look at the 10-18, and figuring out if it still holds up in 2019.
Focal lengths plays a huge factor in how smooth your footage looks handheld, and the longer the length is, the more jittery sort of footage you can expect. With the 10-18, Canon made the lens as wide as possible, which translates to extremely smooth footage while moving around. At 10mm, you can capture everything in frame without having to stick your arm out as far as it will go. Let’s say your vlogging, with this lens all you have to do is hold the camera in front of your face and you will be in frame. This lens, a camera with a flip out screen and dual pixel auto focus, paired with something like the Rode VideoMic Pro + makes the perfect vlogging set up. For this type of thing I recommend the Canon 77d, our review of it can be found here. Beyond the focal length, the other major reason footage from the lens is so smooth is hardware image stabilization. I have been a fan of Canon’s lens IS for a long time, and this feature paired with the ultra-wide focal length of this lens leads to wonderfully smooth footage in handheld, and an insane amount of stability while on a gimbal. No matter what style of filming you do, this image stabilization feature will make your life a lot easier.
When shooting all the way wide at 10mm, you can expect some level of distortion, but personally I really like the way the footage looks at this focal length. The shots Anson grabbed on the gimbal were fantastic, and when viewed in slow motion looked nothing short of amazing. If you have a Ronin S or any other type of gimbal, the type of stability this lens will provide you will be game changing. Shooting ultra-wide on a gimbal can make your videos look like they were done on a dolly or crane, and may provide just the kind of set up you need to add that extra bit of professionalism to your work. Something to be aware of though, is that whether you are shooting handheld or on a gimbal, your footage won’t magically just look smooth. Its all about practice, so if you don’t have any experience shooting video or operating a gimbal, have patience and realize it will take some time before your shots are perfect. That being said, this lens will make that whole process a lot easier than any longer lens or one lacking IS. I really just love how this lens lets you just get up and go without having to worry too much about stability or getting everything in the shot. At the end of the day, its going out and shooting video that’s the most important, so any tool that makes that easier should be seriously considered.
If you’re using a camera with dual pixel auto focus, you can expect to encounter no problems keeping your subjects in frame. In fact, when shooting with auto focus the lens is virtually silent, a huge plus if you’re using a mic. The cameras relatively slow aperture performance combined with its STM focusing motor mean that you never have to worry about things getting out of focus. Part of this is because the lens isn’t very fast, with a maximum aperture performance ranging from f 4.5 at 10mm all the down to f 5.6 at 18. This means the lens will close up during zooms if you’re shooting wide open. This isn’t particularly great, and means you can kiss any serious amount of bokeh goodbye. This, combined with the all plastic, rather cheap feeling body remind you why the lens only costs $270. Honestly though, I don’t see the build quality as being too much of a problem for most people, and doesn’t affect the performance of the lens.
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