Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM review – Build and handling

Being an L professional lens, this 16-35mm f/4 is designed to withstand the rigours of constant use in all conditions. Remarkably light and narrow, the exterior gives the appearance of being coated with protective rubber, and Canon claims it is sealed against moisture and dust at all seams and joins. The zoom control ring is the closer of the two ribbed rings, separated by a distance scale beneath a window. The zoom ring requires only a one-fifth rotation to adjust from one extreme of the focal range to the other, while only 45° takes the focusing ring from infinity to the closest focusing distance of 28cm.

I used the lens with the EOS-1D X for this test, and the two worked nicely together, with the lens adding hardly any noticeable mass to the combination. If the AF performance of the camera was hindered by the use of this lens I didn’t notice, as focus seemed to zip as quickly as always from one extreme to another.

Image: These images show the extent of the zoom range, with the longer end displaying a little pincushion distortion