When it comes to choosing a wideangle lens, photographers using a Canon full-frame DSLR have one of the best ranges available. For those working to a strict budget there's the very respectable EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM, while for those who can justify the cost there's the superb EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM,...

It is my pleasure to introduce you to the new benchmark for wide: the world's widest angle rectilinear lens with full frame 35mm image sensor coverage (as of review time) – the Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM Lens. While this lens is all about extreme wide angles, Canon has not cut any corners otherwise.

We first mentioned the new Canon 11-24mm f/4L lens in our Canon EOS 5Ds news . Not surprisingly, Canon's new 50-megapixel DSLR has been stealing all the headlines, but in its own way this new lens even more ground-breaking.

The 16-35mm ƒ/4L IS USM occupies an interesting niche in Canon's line up of wide-angle zoom lenses. Some may question the usefulness of having IS on a wide-angle lens, but it does come in handy both for movie-making, and for when you don't want to lug around a tripod.

This is a very good lens. It has a useful IS system that allows handholding for long exposures, and less vignetting and quality fall-off at the edges than expected. If the ability to handhold your camera is more important than achieving a shallow depth of field, this model might be a better option...