Product Description

Compact and lightweight standard zoom lens dedicated to EOS 300D and EOS 20D / 28mm to 90mm Zoom Equivalent in 35mm film mode Minimum focusing distance of 0.28m at all focal lengths Circular aperture for beautiful out-of-focus images Only environmentally friendly lead free glass used in optics

Product Details

• Brand: Canon
• Model: 9475A002
• Dimensions: 3.20" h x 3.30" w x 4.30" l, 1.00 pounds

Features

• EFS mount for EOS 20D and Digital Rebel bodies; standard zoom lens
• Compact, lightweight design
• 18-55mm focal length
• f/3.5-5.6 maximum aperture
• Micro UltraSonic Motor (USM)

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.

Customer Reviews

This is NOT the kit lense but a higher quality USM lense !
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

Better than the average kit lens
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.

A good place to start
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.