Rubbish ‘Kit-lenses’…why?

rob-nikon said:
There is a guy on flickr is taking fantastic images on an iPhone, they are much better than some I've seen with the most expensive kit.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/terenceleezy/albums/72157648092930528
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I can't say that I'm very impressed by them - the content is very interesting but even on my Samsung 40" TV monitor the colour range seems very restricted and lacking in resolution.

And they are mostly only 1024 on the longest side so I suspect that they would look even worse if larger.

I can't help thinking that with a "real" camera they would have been infinitely better.
.
 
I've never had a kit zoom in my life, but if you have one and it works for you, then why worry about anything - just use it.

Being a zoom it'll have a smaller maximum aperture, more distortions and probably poorer flare performance than a fixed focal length lens, though.

Then there's chromatic aberration (fixable in software, I'm told), and that mysterious quality, bokeh ....
 
My Canon 6d came with the 24-105L 'kit lens' option.

That's certainly not crap!
 
Don't make the mistake of comparing a kit lens to the best glass available and you should be fine.
 
Dave in Wales said:
For Kit-Lens’ generally read ‘Crap-lens’....IMVHO.

For the life of me this is an item of photographic gear that I cannot get my head around.

‘The ubiquitous crap/kit lens’….mediocre at best, terrible at worst.

They are now offered with high'ish end FF DSLR’S i.e. Nikon D610 and D750 as well as Canon I’m sure.

Back in the FF day, 35mm, there were no 'kit lenses' as such, that were built ‘down’ to a price, there were just ‘lenses’, and one chose accordingly.
Click to expand...

I would say the opposite, the 35mm era was the time of the crap kit zoom and its actually the holdover from those bad lenses that tends to tar the reputation of modern kit lenses that with a few exceptions (the Sony E-mount for example) are good performers optically within there spec limits.
 
Moreorless said:
I would say the opposite, the 35mm era was the time of the crap kit zoom and its actually the holdover from those bad lenses that tends to tar the reputation of modern kit lenses that with a few exceptions (the Sony E-mount for example) are good performers optically within there spec limits.
Click to expand...
Totally agree, it was fine right up to the point the camera makers started bundling cheap zooms where previously everyone got a 50mm f.18(ish) most of which were fantastic lenses Canon for example really hit rock bottom with the film era 28-90mm which truly is the epitome of crap kit lens!
 
petersmart said:
Sorry but that blog is so utterly pretentious - maybe to excuse the crap quality of the pics!

Apart from beginners if anyone else had put those pics on here they would be excoriated - and rightly so!
.
Click to expand...

I don't particularly like most of the photos either (just my taste), but I wouldn't call them crap. I've seen far worse praised on here!

Besides, others think they are good...

http://theonlinephotographer.typepa...e-the-rembrandt-of-chicken-photographers.html

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2015/06/kate-kirkwood-prints.html
 
The kit lenses only become "crap" when you start comparing them to better lenses. Every lens is built with a market, price and function in mind. Nobody for example builds tiny power zooms for the modern mirrorless world that are supposed to compete with pro fixed constant aperture great big zoom lenses of the same focal range. Equally, a 70-200 Canon L lens is going to be better than a "kit" telephoto zoom. The prices are somewhat different.

I've used kit lenses on Nikon and Canon DSLRs and they have been....ok. In fact, initially I thought they were amazing when I started out back in the day. Suddenly you find out after borrowing your mate's pro lenses that it gets even better with £££. And there in lies the problem with photography as a hobby. It's hard sometimes to know when to say "that IQ is good enough for my needs". The problem is also that "needs" change.

The Panasonic 14-42mm kit lens is actually quite good as mentioned above. The Fuji X 18-55 is pretty much recognized as the best kit lens out there at the moment. I've used one and it's a lovely lens. Really well built. I can't confirm with IQ as only took some test shots in a store but many tests show it to be great. Sony E mount 16-50 power zoom...gets some mixed reviews, but more bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top