Product Information. The Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS is an all-purpose zoom lens with STM technology. STM provides smooth, quiet autofocusing for movies, and the dynamic, four-stop image stabilizer reduces vibrations in video footage and photos. Buy the EOS 80D EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Kit from Canon Online Store with 24.2 MP CMOS sensor, 45-point AF system and Intelligent Viewfinder.

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Feb 07, 2011 Compact and affordable, the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II is an ideal general-purpose standard zoom for users of Canon's APS-C format DSLRs, covering an effective focal range of 28.8-88mm. Its four-stop Image Stabilizer is useful for keeping images sharp in low-light conditions. Ask the question you have about the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM here simply to other product owners. Provide a clear and comprehensive description of the problem and your question. The better your problem and question is described, the easier it is for other Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM owners to provide you with a good answer.

Lab Test Results

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

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Buy the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

(From Canon lens literature) Compact and affordable, the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS is the ideal general-purpose standard zoom. Its 4-stop Image Stabilizer provides great performance in low light conditions.

Introduction
Canon dropped an early Christmas present with the announcement of this consumer-level lens. As an upgrade from the 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 USM EF-S lens that is bundled as the standard 'kit' lens with many Canon dSLR cameras, many Canon photographers may be looking to Santa longingly. And Santa's budget may not be pushed too far, with an announced price point of $199.

The real news here is the inclusion of Canon's image stabilization, typically seen only in higher-end glass. With a touted performance of four extra stops, it should make a real difference in the photography of the average user.

Canon digital SLR cameras with sub-frame sensors have a 'crop factor' of 1.6x. Thus, for this particular lens, it will exhibit an effective focal length of 29-88mm. The lens takes 58mm filters, and a lens hood is indicated as an optional accessory.

This lens isn't a 'constant' lens, in that as you increase the focal length, both the maximum and minimum aperture sizes decrease. The following table reflects the changes as you zoom:

Focal length	18mm	24mm	35mm	55mm
Max. aperture	ƒ/3.5	ƒ/4	ƒ/4.5	ƒ/5.6
Min. aperture	ƒ/22	ƒ/25	ƒ/29	ƒ/36

Of course, the terms 'minimum' and 'maximum' can be confusing when it comes to discussing aperture, so in this case the intention is that 'minimum' refers to smallest f-stop number, while 'maximum' refers to largest f-stop number.

Sharpness
The blur graph shows a remarkable improvement from the non-IS 18-5mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 lens; it's interesting to note the only real change (according to the specifications) between the two lenses is the addition of an aspherical lens to deal with the effects of chromatic aberration.

However they've done it, the 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 IS shows excellent sharpness at 18mm wide-open at ƒ/3.5, a focal length/aperture combination which typically shows off the weakness of most consumer-grade lenses. Image sharpness is essentially even across the frame, and doesn't exceed 2 units on our scale of 1-12. For a lens of this price point, this is amazing performance.

The sharpness performance improves at ƒ/3.5 as you zoom out the focal range and stop down, achieving its optimum sharpness at 35mm and ƒ/5.6. Diffraction starts to set in around ƒ/16, but you don't really start to see mediocre performance until the aperture is stopped down to rarely-used f-stop numbers such as ƒ/29. At that point, the image is quite soft, but at least the softness is uniform at between 4 and 5 units. All in all, excellent performance.

Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic Aberration was a problem on the predecessor to this lens, but the inclusion of the aspherical lens appears to address the issue the lens widest focal length (18mm). When the aperture is set to between ƒ/3.5 and ƒ/5.6, you have radically improved resistance to CA, showing only around 6-7 1/100ths of a percent of CA, compared to between 10 and 12 1/100ths of percent with the previous model. At all other focal lengths and apertures, the CA performance is about the same, which is to say that it is signficant until about 35mm, where it becomes tolerable at between 4 and 7 1/100ths of a percent.

So, Chromatic Aberration is not completely eliminated (that would require a more expensive lens design) but for the aperture and focal length that this lens will typically be used at, it is remarkably reduced.

Shading ('Vignetting')
We're not talking huge differences here, but the 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 IS actually has a (very) slightly worse profile when it comes to shading in the corners. You really see it on either lens when zoomed out to wide angle (18mm) where you're looking at a half-stop of light lost. As you approach 35mm this effect is reduced, and you see no more than one-quarter of a stop being lost; above 35mm, the effect is negligible.

Distortion
Distortion is typical for a wide-angle zoom lens; lots of barrel distortion when zoomed to wide (18mm), approaches no distortion in the middle, and gets a bit of pincushion distortion at the telephoto end. At its worst, distortion is almost one percent. With the 18-55mm IS, the distortion is fairly linear, and meets at the zero-distortion level at around 40mm. You can turn your curves back into straight lines easily with most image processing software.

Canon Ef-s 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 Is Stm

Comparing this to the previous 18-55mm model, the distortion was less linear; there isn't a point where the barrel distortion aligns neatly with the pincushion distortion (they overlap closest at around 28mm).

Autofocus Operation
Autofocus performance is fast and quiet, with the whole lens racking through its focus in just under one second. While focus performance is going to depend alot on the body the lens is mounted to, on the digital Rebel Xti I sampled the lens with, I didn't have a single problem with focus, and focusing between points was lightning quick.

Canon Ef-s 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 Is Stm Manual

Macro
With a close-focusing distance of just under 25 centimetres (9.8 inches) from the image sensor, the 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 IS focuses on objects literally millimetres away from the end of the lens. The 18-55 ƒ/3.5-5.6 IS isn't classed as a macro lens, as its 1:2.9 magnification rating (0.34x) suggests.

Build Quality and Handling
To look at the non-IS version of the 18-55mm fƒ/3.5-5.6 lens, there isn't much difference between them; they're both very light lenses, made of plastic construction. The IS version has changed the zoom dial grip texture; arguably, the non-IS version was just fine, but with the new grip there's no confusing the two. Both lenses have a gasket seal by the lens mount, but it's plastic all the way - however, this probably accounts for the low price of the lens. The IS version of the lens is perhaps 2mm longer, to fit in the new aspherical lens and moving lens element that is used for image stabilization.

In practice, the image stabilization really works. We haven't hit upon a scientific method for quantifying image stabilization, but I wouldn't be surprised if the lens lives up to Canon's claims of up to four extra stops of performance. This extra speed is useful in situations where you'd rather use image stabilization instead of a higher ISO. I have to admit I'm surprised to see image stabilization on a lens of this focal range; typically you see IS on zo

Lab Test Results

Blur

Chromatic Aberration

Vignetting

Geometric Distortion

Your purchases support this site

Buy the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Canon Ef-s 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 Is Stm

Canon Ef-s 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 Is Stm Manual

Canon Ef-s 18-55mm F 3.5-5.6 Is User Manual