Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 IS kit lens user review with image gallery

Focal Length Range: 18-55mm

Focal Length on a cropped sensor: about 28-88mm

Minimum focus distance: 25cm

Aperture Range: f3.5 – f36

Lens system: zoom lens

Lens construction: 9 group(s) / 11 element(s)

Focus Adjustment: automatic and manual

Filter size: 58mm

Weight: 200g

When I bought my Canon 450D camera it came with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 IS lens. This lens is also called a kit lens. While it’s not the best lens in the world regarding sharpness and image quality, it still remains a useful lens for beginner DSLR users.

Canon 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 is a zoom lens and it goes from wide angle when shot at 18-24mm to the view similar to the way our eyes see at 35-55mm. This way this kit lens gives you a choice of perspective that can be effectively used in photos.

The convenience of this lens is in its zooming capabilities. Which means, standing in the same spot and without making steps back and forth you can easily bring a subject closer to yourself for a tighter crop. Conversely, you can make something appear further away if you want to include a bigger part of a scenery in your image.

Even though Canon 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 doesn't have a very large range of zoom, I find this lens very useful when going on trips because this way I can avoid taking more than one lens with me.

The biggest downside of this lens is the image quality, however if image isn’t zoomed to 50-100% this factor isn’t much obvious. A wide variety of images can be taken with this Canon kit lens such as: landscapes, architecture, still life, close up, portrait etc. which makes it an all-purpose lens.

One more thing which I don't particularly like is the changing aperture on zooming. After using prime lenses I got used to the fact that when I set up an aperture (f-stop) it won't change never mind what. With Canon 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6, aperture changes when you move from let's say 18mm to 35mm, because at 18mm minimum aperture of this lens is f/3.5, but at 35mm it's f/4.5 and when you move even further to 55mm it's f/5.6, hence the information included in the description of the lens.

Pros:

• Zoom
• Range of focal lengths
• Light weight
• Image stabilization

Cons:

• Changing aperture when zooming
• Image quality
• Chromatic Aberration

A lot of things can be said about cameras and lenses, but remember one important thing that it’s not the equipment that counts, but the photographer behind it. Every lens has certain limitations yet it's up to you and your skills how much satisfaction you will get from using your equipment.

Happy shooting!