Product ReviewsCanon 2042B002 EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens

Punches above its price-point.

I had not been familiar with this lens prior to this purchase. I am more familiar with higher end Canon lenses, including their L line.

Given my experience, I was very happy with this lens on Canon Rebel camera bodies. The quality and build, vis-a-vis the price point, is very good. And is perfect for either average users or new/young photographers.

Enjoy the images for what they are, as opposed to what they are not (like super sharp or saturated with color), and it will serve you well. Plus in this day and age, you can add a bit of sharpening and saturation in post and most users will never know the difference. And hence never have reason to spend hundreds more.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: mountainbanyan

Sometimes weigh is a sign of quality

Canon´s mid-range zoom lens which has a reasonable price. But if you´re sick´n tired of deterioration of the image while zooming, perhaps you buy some better model.
However, this is a great lens for portraits, statues with bokey skies, flowers etc...kinda like a semi macro lens. If you wanna boost that macro feature, attach one extension tube ring (that thinnest one) between the lens and the camera and you´re all set for decent macros! This lens works brilliantly with one tube, like 12 or 13mm.

Those who prefer to shoot landscape photos esp in challenging conditions like dense fog and sun together or a lot of city lights in dim light the lens may cause difficulties, like color fading ( sin and fog) and lens flares.

I´m not an expert, just typed this based on my own experiences on this lens. I apologize for grammatical errors. Read full review...

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Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: rongyuanxie

Good Lense - Great Price

I will grant you that most professionals won't care much for this lense, as most have bashed it. But, then again most of us aren't professionals. I moved from Minolta to Cannon and this was the kit lense with the Rebel XT I purchased. This lenses does as well, or better, then most people will ever ask of it. It takes great close up shots, and provides you with a little distance as well. The photos are sharp and clear and focus is right on every time. The focusing is also fast and quiet, as well. I have purcahsed two additional lenses for the camera, one a Canon and the other a third party lense (filled the gap between my two Canon lenses), and this one out produces both the others, in my opinion. I read the reviews before purchasing the camera, but as I had no Canon lenses I went ahead and paid the extra ($50) for the kit lenses, and I could not be more then happier with it. Where else are you going to find a quality lense at this price?

I am currently a Assistant Scout Leader for the local Boy Scout troop and we recently had a Court of Honor for the boys awards and I used this lense to shoot it. The photos came out remarkably better then I had hoped for (wished it had a little more length for the further away shots - as I was behing the parents and didn't want to get in their way).

So yes most of the reviews on this lense are not that great, and I can see not purchasing it if you already have Canon lenses. But for someone like myself making a switch from another system to Canon, or someone moving from a point and shoot to an SLR, the I highly recommend spending the little extra and getting this in the kit, you will be glad you did.

I am rating it as good, but if it was a little longer (say a 18mm to maybe a 70mm) then it would have had an Excellent.Read full review...

Don't be fooled by the low price. Great lens!

I was hesitant to purchase this lens due to it not being listed as having the ultrasonic focus motor drive, but, after using it for a short period, my concerns were unwarranted. This is one great little lens! It's quick to focus, light, and has very clear images. It's made my camera (50D) very useful for indoor and close-up shots, and can still reach out a bit at the 55mm end. Don't think this is merely an entry-level piece of junk that they throw in the box just to sell the camera. I highly recommend this lens for anyone who does a lot of near and portrait shooting. I have yet to use it for action shots, but, based on how quickly it focuses, I have no concerns. You'll find comments of people who've sold theirs and later regretted doing so; now I see why. Get one while you can!

NathanRead full review...

Sharp or soft?

Update:
This lens has been redesigned in a new "kit" lens that now has image stabilizaton. The reviews all indicate that whatever its virtues in the older form, the new one is clearly better. So - if you are buying a kit lens, make sure you get the newer one with "IS" in the name. The price new is essentially the same and image stabilization is a real plus.

The English mag, Digital Camera Magazine, has decided this is a soft, worthless lens compared to the Nikon equivalent. Yet in the most recent issue (in the US, as of March 9. 2006) at least three of their "winning" photographs were taken with this lens. Popular Photography magazine's review of this lens (available at their website)concluded 'Excellent ... performance at all focal lengths'. Is it equivalent to a Canon 'L' lens? No, of course not, but it is surely the lightest lens available for the Canon Rebel, 20D and 30D digital cameras. It is essentially weightless, certainly by comparison to the IS lenses that would probably replace it. Its one real flaw is that the front lens element rotates making polarizing filter use problematical. After a year, I bought a better Canon lens, but I'm keeping this one for the times when I want an small, light outfit to just carry around. At the wide angle end, f3.5 is not too bad even for available light, given the Canon ability to capture decent images up to ISO 1600 and even 3200. I've done a fair amount of hand-held interior work with this little gem.Read full review...

A Great All Purpose Lens- Cheap and Light Enough to Keep One in Your Bag!

I'd used Nikon film cameras and lenses both professionally and personally since the 1970's but decided to go with Canon when I went digital. I bought a T1i body and an EFS 60mm Macro to shoot product photos of small objects. Over the last year I got a EF 28-105mm USM II and an EF 70-300 IS USM for personal use but lacked a wide angle below 28mm. I wanted an inexpensive walk-around/knock-around wide angle and this fit the bill. I got it at a really good price on eBay and couldn't be happier with the purchase. I'd read a bunch of reviews and yes the build quality is economical but the images are surprisingly crisp throughout it's range and the IS permits indoor/low light shots without a flash. The combination of IS and AF makes for effortless snapshots even in inexperienced hands or in less than perfect conditions. At the price I'll keep one in in my bag even if I get a more expensive wide angle.Read full review...

Good all-purpose Canon lens for SLR Digital Camera body

This lens is fairly lightweight and somewhat compact. You can get slightly wider-than-true shots when taking photos at its widest 18mm. With its zoom range to 55mm, it is a good lens for SLR beginners and amateurs for everyday usage. At 18mm, your f-stop max is f/3.5 which is the largest aperature for this lens and lets a a good quantity of light in for lower light images. Clearly a larger aperature lens will perform better in low light, but for under $100, this lens is a great option especially if you are on a budget when it comes to camera lenses and toys. Want a slightly better step up from this lens? Then get the IS (Image Stabilizer) version of this lens for better low-light performance. The IS version of this lens has the same f/3.5 maximum aperature opening, but can help get rid of the blur sometimes seen in photos when in low light situations, especially when not using a flash. This lens by no means competes with Canon's L-series lenses which introduce fluorite and low-dispersion glass with no vignetting, but for a cheaper $100 lens like this one, it's a good all-purpose lens. Great for group photos and great in daylight. For beginners, you will find that you will use this lens most of the time in normal day-to-day scenarios. To partner with this lens, aim for the 70-300mm IS lens which lets you get up close and personal with the action. Nonetheless, this entry-level Canon lens is good for the beginning and amateur Canon digital SLR users.Read full review...

Great Lens for the Price

This Canon lens, also known as a "kit lens", because it is commonly included with many Canon Digital Camera Kits, is specifically designed for digital cameras that have the x1.6 image sensor, such as all of the Canon Digital Rebel models, the 20D, and the 30D. It can not be used with the 5D or 1D models with has a full frame image sensor.

This lens is inexpensive yet performs like an expensive lens. It is a must for every camera bag. Even if you can afford the more expensive versions of this lens, you will want this lens for everyday shooting. It is sometimes better to take a risk with a $100 lens than a $1000 lens.

You can read all the technical specs on this lens on the Canon website if you want. What I know is that the 18-55mm zoom lens is perfect for 90% of your general picturing taking. The wide angle is necessary for shooting group shots inside where you may not be able to get back far enough to get everyone in the shot with other lenses. The zoom range of 55mm is actually like a 90mm lens on a film camera, which is adequate. Team this lens with the Canon 75-300mm f4-5.6 Tele-Zoom lens (generally under $200 on ebay) and you have the entire shooting range covered for a fairly small investment.Read full review...

A very nice lens for the Amatuer

The Lens I bought was listed as used, which it probably was, however when I received it I could not tell it from a new lens.
This is the lens found bundled with most camera packages. A professional would immediately dump this lens, sighting its less than acceptable quality and ability to produce the quality of results they need. As a amateur I find the results I get quite acceptable. The lens operates very smoothly in either manual or automatic mode. It is responsive, and for general photography does what it was designed to do. I have been a Nikon user for many years, and I can say this is equal to the similar Nikor lens. Choosing Canon over Nikon is a matter of personal preference, like choosing a Chevy over a Ford. I like them both. The bottom line is the $$$.Read full review...

Hey - It's cheap.

So let's see. This lens comes with the body at a price well under 100 dollars. It has a nice 18-55 range - good for wide angle on one hand and a little distance on the other hand.

I will not compare this to any other lenses. I'm not going to say, oh, it's not as sharp as this, or blah blah, who cares? As another reviewer said, it's pretty much disposable, it's not a professional-grade lens, and it's CHEAP.

The autofocus is medium-fast and is dead on most of the time. It hunts in low light and backlit conditions, but this is expected. The front element rotates when focusing, so circular polarizers are an issue.

The lens has good (hence my rating: good) image quality, good sharpness, although there have been reports of quality control problems. I probably got a good copy. Other people have gotten copies that have not performed very well. The build is decent. It feels sturdier than what you paid for.

I like this lens as a walk-around lens just to have some fun with, although I have taken some serious pictures with it. I have made a 12x18 print of the following picture that I took with the 18-55 and it came out spectacular:

http://nd.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30105784&l=341c1

That's about it. Oh yeah, one more thing: I like its macro capabilities. It in fact does a good job with close-up shots. I found my best pictures came from this type of shooting. Here is an example:

http://nd.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=15715144&l=c047d

I would suggest, for those upgrading to DSLR from point and shoot, to go with this lens as the kit lens. It is worth it.Read full review...

Canon 18-55mm USM Lens

I am not giving this lens an excellent rating, not because the lens is a bad lens. We got this lens to go with our son's new Canon 40D, and both of us prefer a longer zoom, if that is the right way to phrase it. We were told this was the perfect lens to get, to go with the camera, and while he uses it occasionally, he really prefers to use his other lens, the Canon 55-250mm for most of his shots.

As to lens quality, this is well built, and does take nice photos. We were told that if you get this lens, the better version is the USM, and that has not disappointed.

All in all, this is a great little lens, if you don't need much in the way of zoom.Read full review...