Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS SLR Lens by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS SLR Lens
Digital camera Review: A Great Starter Lens
Summary: 5 Stars
This lens came with my Canon Rebel T2i and it was an excellent beginner kit lens. Sure, it may not be as 'fast' as the more expensive lenses, but it is a great lens to learn the camera with. I have taken a few great wide-angle landscape shots, as well as some great close ups with the telephoto end.
If you are looking for an easy to use, kit lens or beginner lens, than give this one a shot.
Digital camera Review: A decent kit lens worth considering for your first DSLR (3.5 stars)
Summary: 4 Stars
I received this lens along with my Rebel XS, and it contributed to the incredible value of that camera. It's also "kitted" with the XSi and the upcoming T1i. Given the price of the latter, it may be a dubious pairing. In other words, if you have the money to buy that camera, you might want to consider buying a better lens for it.
The good:
My first impression of the EF-S 18-55 IS was that it was very insubstantial. It's pretty compact and light weight. You'll hardly notice it on your Rebel. This lens is apparently a pretty big step forward from the previous non-IS kit lens. And indeed it can perform pretty well optically. I like it most from the wide end to about 35mm, where its resolution leaves very little to be desired. Chromatic abberations are pretty well controlled, but are easily corrected if necessary. Also, the close-focus capability is quite good; I've captured some decent macro shots with this. Perhaps the most attractive feature is the image stabilization, which is very effective. You can comfortably take sharp photos of non-moving subjects in indoor or other low-light settings.
The bad:
Construction leaves much to be desired, which is not a surprise for a kit lens. This is not the prettiest lens, nor does it inspire much confidence in manual use. From an operational standpoint, it's pretty barebones. You get some marks next to the zoom ring to tell you the approximate focal length, and, well, nothing else. Manual focus, which is performed with a plastic ring on the end of the lens, was obviously an afterthought. Probably the biggest disappointment, though, is the rotating front element, which precludes the possibility of an effective lens hood. Another result of this is that it makes using a polarizing filter more complicated.
Optically there isn't too much to complain about as long as the lens is used thoughtfully. Distortion on the wide end is noticeable but easily corrected. The lens is a bit soft wide open on the telephoto end, though between about f/8 and f/11 it sharpens up to acceptable levels. Also, although resolution is generally good, the contrast level and color saturation of this lens suffer quite a bit in bright backlit frames, or those in which a bright light is outside the frame. The lack of a decent lens hood makes this doubly frustrating. Best results are acheived in moderately lit conditions.
Overall, this lens is good enough that I think it's worthwhile to get it as part of a kit, especially if you have reservations about paying more for a better lens. In fact, if Canon made a well-built version of this lens with USM I would gladly pay twice the price for it. Unfortunately, the poor build quality reduces the lens' usefulness (bad manual focus, ineffective lens hood and difficult to use polarizers) and spoils the photographic experience quite a bit. If you have the older 18-55mm non-IS lens and are looking for an upgrade, I would recommend that you look for something else.
That leads me to my final complaint, which is not regarding this lens but rather the Canon line in general. Canon simply doesn't offer many good upgrade options to this lens. The EF-S 17-85mm is an obvious choice. However, the tests and reviews I've seen indicate the 17-85 performs worse than this lens on the wide end, while its saving grace is good performance on the telephoto end. The EF 28-135mm, which was made for full-frame use, sacrifices the entire wide-angle range on an APS-C sensor for even more telephoto. The EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS will give you about the same range as this one, but with superb optics and a larger maximum aperture. Unfortunately, though, this "consumer" lens comes at an "L" price ($1000+). Finally, the 18-200mm offers a greatly expanded zoom range at the expense of image quality at most focal lengths, and with only slightly better build quality than the 18-55 IS. Even among third party lenses there aren't many options that look very attractive. To be honest, this issue is annoying enough that, compounded with a couple other issues, I have seriously considered switching brands.
Anyway, gripes aside, this is a decent kit lens that should not automatically be overlooked.
UPDATE (9/09): Canon has announced a 15-85mm lens alonglide the 7D. Sample photos seem to indicate very good image quality, though the price at release is pretty steep. Consider this as an upgrade for your standard zoom.
Digital camera Review: A good walk around lens
Summary: 4 Stars
I ve used this type of lens. It came as a kit for digital rebel (Im passing that camera to a family member.) A good all around lens, this new one comes with IS that makes it even better...Digital camera Review: A good-quality, economical starter lens
Summary: 4 Stars
Until recently, I was working in a photography studio and using their equipment (they used both Canon and Nikon). I recently decided to purchase some equipment of my own, and this was the first lens I purchased (it actually came bundled with my Canon Rebel XS). As an experienced photographer, I would recommend this lens to someone who is buying his or her first d-SLR camera. This is a really good lens to go with an entry-level d-SLR (like the Canon Rebel), especially for someone who is relatively new to photography. This is an excellent lens both for snapshots and artistic photos. This visual range of this lens is about the same as the average human eyes. There will be some slight distortion around the edges of the photos taken at wider angles, but to avoid that, you'll likely end up paying several hundred extra dollars for a specialized lens. If you're a pro doing critical shots like architecture or technical photos, I would recommend getting a lens with less distortion. However, if you are at the entry level (or even if you're like me, a semi-professional who uses this lens mostly for landscapes and portraits), there's no reason to spend the extra money. This lens will work fine for you.
The lens mounts very easily onto my Canon camera, and the operation of the lens (including the Image Stabilizer feature) is very simple. There are a few drawbacks to this lens, the primary one being that the auto-focus motors are a bit sluggish, which can be a pain, especially if you're doing closeup work on wildlife. The other drawback is that the Image Stabilizer feature does not perform quite as well as advertised, but that operation is still decent and makes a noticeable difference in pictures taken at lower shutter speeds; camera shake is, for the most part, completely avoidable even at shutter speeds on the order of 1/30. The further advantage to that is that, even with the IS system, the lens is quite lightweight for a standard d-SLR zoom lens.
For a professional debating over a new lens, I might recommend a higher-cost, higher-quality lens, but this one is very economical. For new, up-and-coming photographers who are interested either in a casual hobby or in refining their photography as an art form, I would highly recommend this lens. In fact, if you are looking for an entry-level camera setup, I would recommend bundling this item with a Canon Rebel XS.
Digital camera Review: A must have for any of the EOS Family cameras
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a pretty good lens for the price. This lens is for Canon EOS DSLR cameras with APS-C size image circle.
Pros: Super-Sharp Images, Compact Design, Light weight.
The Lens Construction has 11 elements in 9 groups. The biggest thing I like about this lens is the wide angle of view of 75° 20' - 27° 50' - That's pretty wide and real useful in taking indoor face shots or getting the whole group shot in frame.
I am not a big fan of AF on this lens or most of Canon lens. It seems to work too slow vs kicking it in manual and just doing it myself.
The one and only con I have is working in low light with hi ISO settings, this lens craps out sooner then the other lens I own.
All in all if you have an Canon EOS DSLR i would defiantly have this lens in your photo bag.
Cheers,
Casey