The godness of my 18-55 kit lens

[krzkrzkrz]

After purchasing my 50mm f/1.8 lens (a month or 2 ago) and using it a lot. I started to miss my 18-55mm kit lens. I realised this more when I needed to shoot "wide-angle".

NOW, I know some of you don't agree that the lens is a "true" wide-angle lens. Especially with the 1.6 crop factor that entails with the Canon 400D. However, compared with the 10-22mm lens, the kit lens is only away by 8mm, which personally is good enough for what I shoot.

Back to the topic, I think I may have placed not enough appreciation for the 18-55mm kit lens. The focus may not be of USM standards, but is quiet and fast enough. That said, the sharpness in photo is also quite impressive. I only wish that the 18-55 had a lower, if not constant, aperture of f/2.8. Just enough to get those blurry backgrounds and night shots going.

I am still rest affirmed, that the 18-55mm kit lens is a GREAT lens, for starters and advanced users. Just my personal opinion.

Would love to hear yours.

On a side note, I've also just realised that I've reached my 300 post mark !

[RebelRat]

I agree, the kit lens is pretty good for general use. A 2.8 zoom for $100? You wish.

8mm is not much if you are comparing say 192 mm to 200mm, but, it's a huge difference when comparing 18 to 10.

[D Thompson]

Congrats on #300!

I have always said that the 18-55 kit has gotten a bad rap and I've gotten some very good shots with it and my 20D. It does have limitations, but is a capable lens.

[jamison55]

I've seen some great photos with the kit lens (including the example you posted above), though mine was subpar, IMHO. One thing to keep in mind is the the "only 8mm's" between the 18mm wide end of the kit lens and the 10mm wide end of the 10-20 is a bigger difference than you think. I took this photo a while ago to show the "only 7mm" difference between the Canon 17-40 I was using at the time and my Sigma 10-20 on a 20D:

[Nickcanada]

Great shots! My widest lens is 28mm. I tryed out a film SLR with a 28mm =17.5mm on a crop 1.6 camera. WOW! I should have gotten the kit lens with my camera but because of all the drama surrounding the lens I decided to get the body only kit. I had plans on getting a replacement for it sooner, but ya know life happens and I'm still without a wide angle lens. If I would have just opted for the kit lens, I wouldn't mind the wait so much....

So, I'm kinda mad about all the negative stuff said about the kit lens now. Most of the people bashing it are "Lcohaloics" that act like your camera gear needs to cost more than your car to be any good, rubbish! That's a situation were I think I did too much research before I bought the camera, and was afraid I was going to get riped off with the kit. It probably would have been a perfect lens for me to learn on.... oh well, live and learn.

[jamison55]

Nick, you can still buy a kit lens for the same price as you could have if you bought just the body...Don't live in regret, man, spend the $110 and get one!

[DonSchap]

That $110 with do a nice job carving down the price of a

TAmROn SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) lens.

Put great glass on your camera ... not a plastic toy. Since this one lens will probably be what you will shoot nearly all your shots with ... my advice, for what it is worth, use the best you can ... without breaking the bank.

f/2.8 ... it's not too late.

[Rhys]

If you can't afford L glass, get a Sigma 18-50 or Tamron 17-50 until you can.

[cdifoto]

Most of the people bashing it are "Lcohaloics" that act like your camera gear needs to cost more than your car to be any good, rubbish!

Dude. My Tokina 12-24mm cost more than my car. Nevermind the other stuff.

[Nickcanada]

I'm not trying to threadjack here, but that is my predicament. Now that I can appreciate constant apreature lens and have advanced somewhat in my photography I'd like to get a lens to suite my style... which means saving for a lens I will be happy with.

I was thinking about getting a "kit" lens. There is a used one locally, asking $100. But money is tight right now... I know, I know, it's only 100 bucks but I want to make every dollar work for me, and spending 100 dollars on a lens when I know I will be upgrading in the same range... feels like wasted money. If I would have purchased the lens with the body I wouldn't be worried about it at all.

I think I would enjoy using a 10-20mm more anyway... that extra 7mm does make a huge difference. I'll be selling my dirt bike soon so that's when I'll make the move. I'll probably add a 30mm 1.4 in there too to handle low light indoor shots. Next year I'll have another look at what I need want and maybe a 17-[whatever]mm will be in the works. More than likely though it will be a new body.

OR: I win $5000 in that contest, buy a 5D. Suddenly my current lens become my ideal focal lengths! And I have money left over for more goodies!
Dreaming is fun!