List of Canon EF-S lenses

In the continuity of the pages you will find in the category of camera lenses listings, I give you here a list of all the existing lenses for the Canon EF-S mount. This mount, developed by Canon since 2003 (on the 300D body at that time), is used on all Canon DSLR cameras with an APS-C sensor. Conversely, the Canon EF mount (developed in 1987) refers to lenses designed and built for digital DSLR cameras with a full-frame sensor (also known as 24×36 mm or FF).

As a rule, you should keep in mind that lenses designed for the EF-S mount cannot be installed on a full-frame body. However, bodies with an EF-S mount (APS-C from Canon) can accommodate EF lenses which are originally built for full frame (full list of EF lenses on the link). It is important to know that EF-S lenses are optimized for an APS-C sensor. They are therefore generally lighter, smaller in size and less expensive than Canon EF lenses. In order to get the focal length equivalent to a full-frame camera body, you will have to multiply the focal length by 1.6 (the well-known crop factor). For example, a focal length of 200mm mounted on an APS-C body will give a field of view equivalent to a 320mm on a Full Frame.

If you already own a Canon APS-C camera and you plan to switch to a mirrorless one, here is the list of lenses suitable for the EF-M mount, which is intended for Canon APS-C mirrorless cameras. It is important to mention that Canon has decided in June 2022 to release their first APS-C mirrorless cameras using the RF mount (Canon R7 and R10).

Regarding Canon cameras, the EF-S mount is currently available for the following cameras (still produced):

You can sort the tables below according to the characteristics you want. You can thus classify the mentioned Canon lenses according to the maximum aperture, the stabilization or the focal length.

The number of Canon EF-S mount lenses is relatively limited. Today there are only about ten lenses built for APS-C DSLR cameras. As for the other mounts, I chose to break down the lenses according to the type of focal length:

1. Wide angle (WA) and ultra-wide angle (UWA): focal lengths less than 14mm (UWA) and 14mm to 24mm (WA).
2. Standard focal lengths : focal lengths from 24mm to 50mm.
3. Telephoto lenses: focal lengths beyond 50mm
4. Macro lenses: for macrophotography

There are only two wide-angle lenses available for the Canon EF-S mount. The 10-22mm has a slightly wider focal range than the 10-18mm and a slightly larger maximum aperture. Overall, according to the tests, both lenses are quite equivalent (even if, at the shortest focal length (10mm) and at full aperture, the 10-22mm is sharper). However, for landscape and/or architectural photography, people generally shoot with small apertures (between f/8 and f/11). At this level, the difference is less visible. While knowing moreover that by choosing the 10-18mm, you get a stabilized lens (the 10-22mm is not), a smaller filter diameter (therefore less expensive) and that the lens costs more than half the price. Even if the quality of construction is not as good, for only 250€, I recommend going for the 10-18mm if you are looking for a wide-angle lens with a small budget.

If you’d like to know more about it, I’ve written a full page about what I consider to be the best Canon wide-angle lenses. You’ll find there a few serious detailed references (quoted in this page) of wide-angle lenses for the Canon EF-S mount (for APS-C DSLRs) and the EF mount (full-frame bodies). Small point I’d like to add: if you really want to get a very wide angle of view on your Canon APS-C body, I strongly advise you to use the lenses mentioned on this page, which are dedicated to APS-C sensor. Wide-angle lenses for the EF mount (mentioned in the link above) will hardly correspond to wide-angle on an APS-C sensor. For example, my Canon 16-35mm f/4 (on EF mount) offers the field of view of about a 25-55mm on an APS-C sensor.

Here is the list of standard focal length lenses for the Canon EF-S mount. All lenses are zoom lenses, except two prime ones: the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM and the Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM (macro lens). Note that there are for example several versions of the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 or the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, but I have only considered the most recently released ones. If you are looking for versatility to shoot landscapes, portraits or street photography, the lenses listed below are perfect for that.

If you have a limited budget and want a lightweight, compact Canon lens that delivers decent image quality, there’s only one telephoto zoom lens for the Canon EF-S mount: the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM. For its price (about 250€), I definitely recommend this lens to experience a longer focal length. You’ll already be able to get a shallow depth of field when shooting wide open with a close subject.

Otherwise, you’ll have no other choice but going for the lenses designed for the Canon EF mount, for full frame cameras. Although you will obviously find better quality lenses, they will also be heavier, larger and more expensive.

There are only two macro lenses for the EF-S mount, detailed in the table below.

After compiling and researching a lot of third-party brands offering lenses for the Canon EF-S mount, I currently enumerate a total of six. Three of them offer lenses with autofocus (Sigma, Tamron and Tokina). The other brands (Samyang, Meike and Opteka) offer only manual focus lenses.

There are a wide variety of Sigma lenses available for Canon EF-S mount. Some of them are very old so I decided not to necessarily include them in the table below. I have only summarized the “recent” ones that are still easily found new. As a reminder, the acronym “DC” at Sigma reminds the compatibility of the lens with APS-C DSLR cameras while the acronym “OS” is for the stabilization. Regarding recent lenses, you will find three lenses from the Sigma Art range offering superb optical quality, as well as two standard zoom lenses (18-200mm and 18-300mm mentioned in the table below). The others mentioned are much older and starting to get outdated, even if they can be considered as interesting alternatives sometimes.

As for the Sigma lenses mentioned above, I have only mentioned in the table below the “recent” ones from Tamron for this EF-S mount. You can still find older lenses though. Overall, Tamron offers a very nice wide-angle lens, several standard zooms and a macro lens. As a reminder, at Tamron, the acronym “Di II” refers to the lenses dedicated to APS-C DSLRs.

Some lenses, mentioned below, exist from Samyang/Rokinon, especially prime lenses.

Tokina has produced several lenses for Canon’s APS-C DSLR sensors. The brand has recently decided to redesign and improve several of its lenses. I have only kept in this table the latest versions of the lenses. I’ve personally started with the Tokina 11-16mm wide-angle lens (old model) which has been replaced now by the Tokina ATX-I 11-16mm f/2.8 CF, an updated version of this famous ultra-wide-angle lens. In my opinion, if you are looking for a wide-angle lens with a large aperture (f/2.8), you won’t find a better choice for an APS-C DSLR. You will find wider focal ranges among the competitors (Sigma, Canon, Tamron) but with smaller maximum apertures too… Again, a f/2.8 aperture lens will also help you if you’re into shooting low light photography.

For other optics, I let you take a look at the table. Feel free to tell me if you think that other lenses should be in the table as a comment.

Meike offers a Fisheye lens quite popular and cheaper than the Opteka Fisheye mentioned below. The 6-11mm is not really appreciated by users.

As far as I know, there is only one 6.5mm Fisheye lens, which however has a good reputation for capturing wide shots with large distortion!

Feel free to give me feedback on this list if you think there are lenses worthy of being in this page.

If you’re still hesitating with buying a Nikon DSLR camera, I listed all the Nikon lenses adapted for Dx format (for Nikon APS-C camera).