Canon eos 450 stock lens advice

Robbo

Robbo

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I was wondering if this 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS stock lens is any good or is it worth upgrading? I have no other lens I can get my hands on of this size to compare.

Your experiense please?

Thanks
 
Very good lens, espcially when stopped down slightly, very sharp and a lot of people regard it in nearly L quality for the optics, build quality obviously different but then again your not exactly going to go out and whack it whenever you can!
 
I had a Canon 400D with stock lens for over a year so hopefully I can impart some good advice, and do not claim to be any kind of expert but heres my 2p's worth.

The stock lens aint bad and have to say I've taken some reasonable pics with this lens. Here's one example..

Cornwall2008P-13-s.jpg


But... you will deffo benefit from upgrading. The benefits you can acheive if you pick the right upgrade would be better build quality, possibly faster focusing, better control over depth of field and ultimately the ability to take sharper better quality images. At the end of the day if your happy with the pics your taking with the stock lens may be it would be better to spend your dosh on a different focal length lens or a flash or a nifty fifty to expand your kit bag and open up more doors to your photography?

Anyway...

I've went from the stock 18-55 to a Canon 28-135 IS, and absolutely love this lens. Losing a bit of width at the low end hurt slightly but you get used to it but the extra reach and the IS are really useful. My next upgrade will on to a 24-105L F4, but cos the 28-135 is serving me so well I can wait almost patiently till I have the spare wonga.

Although the stock lens is good, if it is practically the same model that you get with the 400D, then this £50 lens does not compare in any way to L lens that are at least 10 times the price. Sorry Pauly, but I don't agree. :shrug:

Hope useful.
 
The 18-55mm is your cheapy kit lens. Great starting point for your first SLR, but slightly limited range and lacks IS and USM on some models.

I would recommend 17-85mm, 15-85mm or 18-135mm as alternatives with better range and optics.

If you really want to spend some money take a look at the 17-55mm, 24-70mm and 24-105mm!
 
Robbo said:
I was wondering if this 18-55mm stock lens is any good or is it worth upgrading? I have no other lens I can get my hands on of this size to compare.

Your experiense please?

Thanks
Click to expand...

There are 2 versions 18-55mm, the newer version has IS

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-18-55mm-f-3.5-5.6-IS-Lens-Review.aspx

Its an OK lens to start off with, but only gives average performance. The 17-85mm is only a little better in performance. The canon 17-55mm f2.8 is a great lens, but considerably more money, an alternative is the tamron 17-50mm f2.8, at 1/2 the price.

Personally I don't recommend the 24-105mm f4 for a cropped body camera, this lens is great for Full Frame, but you lose the wide angle capability of a cropped sensor camera. Don't get me wrong, its a good lens, but designed for a FF camera.
 
Have a canon efs 60mm macro usm, and a tamron 70-300mm not sure the model etc

if I was going to change it would be to 18 up to around 80 ish maybe 100 odd

current stock is 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
 
pete.rush said:
Its an OK lens to start off with, but only gives average performance. The 17-85mm is only a little better in performance. The canon 17-55mm f2.8 is a great lens, but considerably more money, an alternative is the tamron 17-50mm f2.8, at 1/2 the price.
Click to expand...

^^This.
Definately look at 3rd party alternatives if you dont wan tto spend Canon Glass money, loads of lens sample shots on POTN or pbase.
 
The IS version of the kit lens is really very good! I only upgraded to the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 because I needed something that would p[erform better in low light, but as a starting point I think it's pretty much impossible to get better value for money. For general landscape stuff, and every day shots, then it's fine, if you're going to be doing low-light shooting, you might want to upgrade.

I think a lot of people automatically expect getting a better lens will put their photos into a different league, but in fact even a cheap lens such as the kit lens can get some awesome results if used properly!

If low-light isn't an issue, then it's a little gem!
 
As a kit lens its very good in good light. Struggles in low light, but thats to be expected. The size and weight makes it a great travel lens if your just going sight seeing or the likes of.
 
Agreed the 24-105mm is a FF lens really, but I find it works great on a cropped sensor if combined with a 10-22m!
 
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