Canon EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 II review - Summary

Have you rated your lenses yet?

Canon EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 II

16 October 2007

Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary

Pros:

good picture quality at 18-35 mm focal length range
small aberration at 55 mm focal length
not a very large coma
in spite of USM motor absence, the lens is quiet
small size and light weight
reasonable price

Cons:

large vignetting at 18 mm focal length
weak picture quality at 45 to 55 mm focal length range
inefficient and slow autofocus
the optics are prone to flares
a not very solid plastic build
plastic bayonet

Can we expect more from a lens that costs around 80$ to 90$? Not really. At this price we get a lens that takes really sharp pictures at the 18 to 30 mm focal length ranges so we can take really nice vacation pictures or a couple of nice interior pictures, where the wide corner (a rarity in digital compact cameras) is really useful.

The conclusion here is similar to the one for the Canon EF 1.8/50 II. The cheapest way of improving our camera’s optics is to buy the aforementioned Canon EF 1.8/50II. This combination will cost us about 170$ and we will be satisfied as a result.

Please Support Us

If you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - advertisement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sample shots:


Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 44 mm, f/9.0, exp. 1/500 sec, ISO 200 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.1 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 30 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/1000 sec, ISO 200 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.0 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 24 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/500 sec, ISO 200 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.5 MB

Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 55 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/640 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.9 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 18 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/200 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 4.1 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 18 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/320 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.1 MB

Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 55 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/400 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.5 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 34 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/400 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.1 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/60 sec, ISO 800 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.1 MB

Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 33 mm, f/11.0, exp. 1/200 sec, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 5.1 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 55 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/500 sec, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.5 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 55 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/400 sec, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.5 MB