Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM SLR Lens for Select Digital Rebel and EOS SLRs

by Canon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 3.3 x 3.2 inches ; 6.7 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002Y5WXY
• Item model number: 9475A002
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 24, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Designed exclusively for the EOS Digital Rebel, the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens offers precision and quality. It is compact, lightweight, and covers the standard zoom range of approx. 28-90mm (in 35mm format) with smooth operation and superb resolution.

Product Description

CANON 18-55MM F3.5-5.6 EF-S USM

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT the kit lense but a higher quality USM lense !, June 11, 2005

By 

B. Humphrey (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM SLR Lens for Select Digital Rebel and EOS SLRs (Electronics)

Despite what many of these reviews mention, this is NOT the kit lens that comes with the Rebel XT/20D. This is a higher end USM lens and costs more as well. You can read a review of the lense in the article below. The Kit lense is about a $70 lens and doesn't have the USM motor or the quality glass of this lens. This may not be the best lens on the market but make sure you're comparing apples to apples.

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/18-55.html

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good place to start, March 22, 2007

By 

Sean M. Scully "Sean Scully" (Toledo, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM SLR Lens for Select Digital Rebel and EOS SLRs (Electronics)

If you are just starting out as a photographer and this is your first DSLR, this wide angle to medium telephoto zoom lens will do just fine. A focal length of 18 millimeters on the wide end of this zoom is the same as 28.8 mm on a full frame camera. The edge sharpness suffers when used with a wide open aperture but improves as you stop down a few f-stops. Also, this lens lacks a focus ring that has a distance scale which might make focusing tricky (for instance if you are trying to capture the aurora borealis). The lens also has a cheap plastic feel about it which is quite expectable since it is designed as a low cost lens. To this lens's credit it is very light which makes it ideal for light backpacking.

However, if you plan on becoming serious about your work, you might want to start considering the alternatives. One option is to pass this lens by completely and go with the Canon EF-S 17-85 IS USM lens. Not only is the EF 17-85 (~$500) equivalent to ~27 mm on the wide end, it has IS capability and is a much sharper lens (it should probably come with a box of bandaids!). If you plan on becoming very serious about your work, I would also strongly urge you to consider the Canon 17-40 f/4 L lens which is one of Canon's professional lenses. While it is much more expensive (~$600) and heavier, the results are very sharp and it is weather sealed. If you are after and ultra-wide angle lens, the EF-S 10-22 is the way to go although it is only useable on APS-C sized DSLR sensors which to be honest is only going to be a problem if you plan on upgrading to a full frame camera such as the Canon 5D in the near future. The EF-S 10-22 is equivalent to 16-35 mm on a full frame camera and is another very sharp lens.

It is important to remember that you just dropped $800+ on a camera body and trying to get off cheap by buying a cheap lens will lead to disappointment.

39 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the average kit lens, November 19, 2004

By 

Christopher Bibbs (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM SLR Lens for Select Digital Rebel and EOS SLRs (Electronics)

Most kit lenses are useable as paper weights and not much else. The 18-55mm is a nice exception to that trend. I recently bought a 20D to go along with my film body and got this lens because the 1.6x crop on the 20D robbed me of my nice wideangle lenses (though I've got much better telephoto now). For the price, it does a nice job with the sharpness. The color isn't the best, but with digital we can always tweak that later on.

If you can afford the 17-40mm f/4L or 17-85mm EF-S, certainly buy those instead. If your budget is tighter, this is the best way to get a wideangle lens on a 20D or Digital Rebel. The Bob Atkins website has a great technical review of this lens as well.