Reddit mentions of Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (New, White box)

Kit lenses are actually pretty good. Which ones do you have? 18-55mm and 55-200mm?

If you feel like you'd be swapping lenses too much you could get the 18-135mm which would cover most of that range in a single lens.

If it were me I would use your kit lenses to their fullest, and purchase something with a wider aperture like a 50mm f1.8.

What's the deal with variable-aperture zoom lenses, and why are they so much cheaper than zoom lenses that maintain a constant aperture, for lenses with roughly the same focal length range?

Related: Why is this lens so much more expensive than this lens? They look nearly equivalent to me.

I will be one of the people rebuking you. OP said he was new, you're throwing all this information (some of which is inaccurate and misleading) at him, you're bound to confuse him and leave him worse off than he started.

If he's getting a T3i and just starting out, it's probably best that he get a standard kit zoom lens like Canon's EF-S 18-135mm.

What lens/lenses do you have already?

The lens you list is versatile in that it has a decent zoom range. However for your camera Canon's 18-135mm would be even better and it's cheaper. The lens you list is made for "full-frame" cameras that usually cost $2000 or more. They require larger lenses that are typically more expensive. The lens I list here is made specifically for the sensor in your camera and therefore can offer a bit more useable range at a cheaper price.

However if your issue is blur... neither of these lenses will help.

To combat blur without using flash, you're going to want more light coming through the lens. So you either want to make the room brighter or you want a lens that can pull in more light. For the latter you want a lens with a wider aperture (smaller f/number). A 50mm f/1.8 lens can be had for about $100 and will let quite a bit more light. There are also some 30 or 35mm lenses with wider apertures that can be had for about the price of the lens you're looking at. Be aware all of these lenses are fixed-focal-length meaning they have no zoom ability at all. They trade off the zoom ability to be able to gather more light. So you need to carefully choose the focal length of the lens you want to buy. If you have a lens like an 18-55mm you can use that lens to see what focal length you like to shoot at when you need more light. If you find you're usually closer to the 55mm end, then you'll probably want the 50 f/1.8. If you're usually closer to the middle, around 28-35mm, you'll want a to get a lens that is about that focal length. There is one final option is to get a zoom with a wide aperture, Sigma makes an 18-35mm f/1.8 zoom lens that has a little bit of zoom but a very wide aperture, Canon makes a 17-55mm f/2.8 lens that has a little wider aperture than you have but still has the same amount of zoom. The problem is both of these lenses costs a lot, $800 or more.

Well it's wide to normal to near telephoto. Not super long telephoto, but somewhat.

It's a good general purpose lens, it is widely available and will not cost a lot. It is actually probably exactly like the 35-80 on a full-frame film camera.

And here's a money-saving trick.

You can take an image and crop it to do the same as telephoto.
However, you cannot do anything to an image to make it "more wide angle".

If you really need a lens that does longer telephoto, I would add a 75-300, it will complement the 18-55.

Canon also makes lenses that do wide to more telephoto, like the 18-135 or the 18-200, but they are more money.

Yeah. My next lens is probably gonna be a telephoto lens. But really, the one I got with my camera is better than the normal 18-55mm stock kit lens it normally comes with. This is the one I have. I got it in a bundle deal, as the camera normally doesn't come with that lens.

what about Canon's 18-135?

OP's girlfriend here. Some are the shots are with my Canon 18-135 kit lens.

18-135mm f/3.5 is not bad at all - this one, I assume? That's a decent starter lens, it's definitely not cheap.

It's a great jack-of-all-trades lens for walking around, but where it falls short will be in specializing on certain things.

Pro: good wide angle at 18mm which is great for landscapes, decent closeup at 135mm, f/3.5 will be fine for close portrait photos.

Con: f/3.5 is not a good aperture for night photos unless you have a flash engaged or it's stable enough to take a longer exposure, if you want to zoom further than 135mm focal length, you'll need a separate lens, and if you want soft 'bokeh' you'll want a bigger aperture.

So all in all, it's a great lens to learn with, and I think you'll do fine with it for now, but if you want your photos to stand out more for the gear used, or you want to do more night photography (which is heavily dependent on big apertures and/or good flashes) then start looking at larger apertures and more expensive lenses :P

I'm doing well! How bout yourself? I know this isn't exactly the range you are looking for but I've always liked the Canon 18-135 its pretty sharp, relatively fast and I find it to be a good zoom range. Because if you are looking to fit an entire building in a frame, especially assuming you have a crop sensor camera, 75mm is going to be tight

/u/jeffster888 pretty much already covered everything I was going to say. It is indeed the "Nifty Fifty" and it's a lens I decided was a great value after doing a lot of research into it.

I don't actually own the stock lens. Somehow my camera body didn't come with it. The lens I normally use is a Canon 18-135 mm lens (pretty sure it's this one), and it's great because it has a huge range of zoom. IMO it far surpasses the stock lens. :P I only got my 50mm one pretty recently but I absolutely love shallow depth of field so I'm still playing around and learning how to work with it.

IMO, lens is more important than the body (as long as your body is at least decent) because you can do a lot more with different lens than you can with a different body. Also, lens are interchangeable, which makes them really handy in different situations. You definitely should consider some other lens. The stock one I've heard is decent (never personally used it though as I don't own one), but if you want to get a little deeper, definitely look for other lens. I highly recommend both lenses I have. :)

Hi,

My friend let me borrow his Canon 7D, 50mm lens to take to comic-con last year, and when I got there, I realized the lens was just bad for this environment.

When I wanted to take photos of cosplays, I couldn't get proper full-body photos because it's just too crowded to get that proper shot, so I got photos like this: http://imgur.com/NFTxwuQ and this http://imgur.com/ryzUlZE with the 50mm.

What sort of lens do you recommend I purchase? My price range is $200, but I noticed I can get cheaper lenses on eBay than on Amazon.

I was looking at this one: http://amzn.to/17PwF3g but found the same less expensive on eBay: http://ebay.to/1wUGCCO

Thanks!

I just recently bought a canon 1200D with an 18-55 mm IS II kit lens. I have found that I mostly shoot portraits and some macro and now I am looking to upgrade my lens but still want the flexibility of a wide range zoom lens. I found that in my price range for an EF-S mount that canon recommends their 18-135 USM lens. I like the looks of it as it still looks flexible. I have also found 18-135 mm lenses by Canon and now I am picking between these three
https://www.amazon.com/Canon-18-135mm-3-5-5-6-Standard-Digital/dp/B002NEGTT2 standard IS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008UGMLWQ/ref=psdc_173565_t2_B002NEGTT2 STM

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BUYJYOW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=P4YF3DBC2FWW&coliid=I131NWQFIHP74Z USM

I think the cheap standard IS looks to be just like my current lens in terms of quality while having a larger zoom range. It looks like the STM has a step up for shooting movies (but I think I would only be able to appreciate it with Canon's 'i' series of rebel cameras, I only have a base t5) and I think the USM is like the STM but has a faster auto focus. Is any of that true? I really was hoping that there would be a difference between the STM and base model in terms of image quality, is that the case? I want to start shooting some video soon and I was hoping the USM would be worth it if it has a better auto focus as I will also use auto focus for taking quick shots of moving subjects. What are the advantages between them? Also, what do the abbreviations mean?

Thanks again, very useful information. Last question - I think I've narrowed it down to the Sigma and the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, are there any glaring pros or cons that differentiate them? Much appreciated in advance.

Lens one, two, and three. Two came with the package when I bought the camera as a deal at Best Buy, the other one (the 18-55) I bought used off of Amazon. 85% of the time I just use the 18-135mm anyway.

So I have a Canon T3i and a 50mm f/1.8 II. In the near future, I will be purchasing a new lens. I'm still a newbie, so I don't really have a specific style and I just shoot what's in front of me. I've been doing predominantly street photography and auto photography, but i'm also looking to branch out. It's come to my attention that I should have a wide angle lens in my arsenal as I was begging for a wider perspective when I went to my first auto show a couple weeks ago. It made framing weird, and I had to move back which was quite inconvenient in a packed show like that. I also love landscapes and views so I want something wide to capture those as well.
Here are some of the choices I'm considering.
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8

Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens

Tamron AF 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 SP Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Lens

There are also a couple lenses that I have stumbled upon that are not as wide, but have a longer focal length which may double as more than just a wide-angle.

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Lens (really have my eye on this one!)

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens

This is all a bit confusing for a noob like me, so any help is appreciated it. If you feel like there is a better option, please do recommend it to me! And also, i'm on a working-class student budget.

One last question, how do you feel about used lenses. Just curious towards your experiences as i feel like they can be bargains. Lenses are built to last a long time if they're taken care of right? Sorry for the long post but thanks in advanced!

Canon 18 - 135mm EFS

Canon 10-18mm EF

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-18-135mm-3-5-5-6-Standard-Digital/dp/B002NEGTT2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491782630&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+18-135


https://www.amazon.com/Canon-EF-S-10-18mm-4-5-5-6-Lens/dp/B00K899B9Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491784538&sr=8-2&keywords=canon+10+-+18

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-18-135mm-3-5-5-6-Standard-Digital/dp/B002NEGTT2 The lens I used, although I do NOT recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-18-135mm-3-5-5-6-Standard-Digital/dp/B002NEGTT2

I use this lens. Am I supposed to sharpen?