Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS - Review / Test Report |
Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (APS-C)
|
Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published December 2007
Lens kindly provided for testing purposes by Rob (NL)!
Introduction
The Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS is the next generation budget "kit" lens for Canon EOS APS-C DSLRs.
It is a long awaited and, frankly, urgently needed successor for the rather mediocre EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II
which was not able to convince anymore ever since the release of EOS 20D. However, Canon did not
only improve the optical design - they also added an image stabilizer, changed the finish and introduced
circular aperture blades for a better bokeh (out-of-focus blur).
The field-of-view of the lens is equivalent to 29-88mm on full format cameras so it's a quite
typical standard zoom lens.
Canon may have changed the finish for a better look but the principal build quality of the lens
remains in line to its price class - reads: the plastic quality is still not overly impressive
although it's slightly better compared to its non-IS cousin. The worst aspect is the inner lens tube
which wobbles significantly. The fluted front portion of this inner tube is meant
for manual focusing - really more a theoretical idea because accurate manual focusing
is a nightmare. The lens extends slightly towards the extreme ends of the zoom range - its
shortest physical length is reach around the 24mm settings. The front element rotates so using
a polarizer is difficult at best. The optional hood is tiny and not overly efficient but still
better than nothing.
The AF speed and accuracy is actually pretty good and the noise level during operations remains
on a very low level. According to Canon the newly developed Image Stabilization system is
good enough for a "gain" equivalent to up to 4 f-stops. That's a little bold in my opinion - during
the field tests it gave me a more or less reliable gain of about 3 f-stops but that's already
impressive enough. Unlike earlier IS implementations the new variant is capable to detect object panning
so there's no need anymore to switch between a mode 1 and mode 2 in order to select the IS strategy
(static scene or panning).
Specifications |
Equiv. focal length | 29-88 mm (full format equivalent) |
Equiv. aperture | f/5.6-f/9 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field) |
Optical construction | 11 elements in 9 groups inc. 1x aspherical element |
Number of aperture blades | 6 (rounded) |
min. focus distance | 0.25 m (max. magnification ratio ~1:3) |
Dimensions | 69 x 70 mm |
Weight | 200 g |
Filter size | 58 mm (rotating) |
Hood | optional, barrel-shaped, snap-on type |
Other features | IS (Optical Stabilizer) |
|