Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS f/3.5-5.6 Lens

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Also, image stabilization does not stop subject movement (you need a faster shutter speed for this), but image stabilization is great for still subjects. Tightly cropped head shots will start showing perspective distortion - including big noses - and are are best avoided. In the 100% crop examples below, we see the fringing colors on specular highlights changing color from the foreground to the background, indicating that these aberrations are present in a modest amount.

aperture and a lens profile that's head-and-shoulders above the 18-55mm, it's a lot more expensive, but there's no question you get what you pay for with this lens.

But, this is a positive change because the new hood provides better protection from bright lights and from impact. The 18-55 IS II extends when zoomed with the shortest physical length being achieved around the 30mm focal length as seen in the example above. The lens mount is also made of plastic and as it is an EF-S lens, it can only be mounted on E-FS compatible Canon cameras, like the Canon EOS 600D used for testing. They mention that the image quality is great, it's suitable for everyday shots, close-up shots, and even night shots, as well as being sharp enough for what they tend to shoot.

One of the advantages of using DSLR cameras is the subject-isolating background blur they can create. Because they do not, we get aberrations caused by various wavelengths of light being magnified and focused differently. While I often recommend using a UV and clear lens protection filter, I rarely recommend low quality filters. Don't expect to run up a mountain on a windy day and quickly shoot handheld images with good results at shutter speeds anywhere near as long as these.

When i bought my K-5, i used the 18-55mm DA WR (kit lens) but i wasn't totally satisfied with AF and sharpness.

As preferred, there is little or no reason to select a specific focal length for sharpness purposes and little improvement is seen by selecting a narrower aperture (stopping down). There are better options for landscape photography like the DA* lenses and large aperture primes but they also cost more. The light weight and compact dimensions of the lens make this an ideal companion for compact entry-level SLRs.Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. Build quality really is good, nothing's breaking up, at least, the only down is the focus ring, it somehow dig into your finger while you try to operate it.

I'm seeing slightly less assistance from IS at 18mm with about 50% of images being sharp at 1/5 sec.

Of course, the terms ''minimum'' and ''maximum'' can be confusing when it comes to discussing aperture, so in this case the intention is that ''minimum'' refers to smallest f-stop number, while ''maximum'' refers to largest f-stop number. However, a quality circular polarizer filter is worth adding to any lens (unless your photography never makes use of such). Sample photos are available of two laboratory test targets to help in our readers' evaluation of the lenses we test. It weighs nothing, it's super sharp, has little distortion, zooms much more precisely than more expensive lenses and has better macro performance than more expensive lenses.