WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: DSLR makers, in attempts to offer cameras in kit form at the lowest possible prices, have been creating no-frills, bare-bones, moderate- wide-to-tele zooms. Surprise! Optically, many are terrific. This is one.
HANDS ON: Well-made plastic barrel and lensmount. No ultrasonic motor. Narrow, manual-focusing ring turns during focus, has no footage or meter markings. Easy to grip, rubber ribbed zoom ring moves fairly smoothly, but with slightly more resistance toward 24mm and 18mm. Well-marked black-on-chrome zoom focal lengths.
IN THE LAB: Excellent SQF performance at all focal lengths. Based on DxO Analyzer 2.0 test results, we found noticeable barrel distortion (1.16%) at 18mm, minimal pincushion distortion (0.39%) at 35mm and (0.49%) 55mm. At 18mm and 35mm, light falloff was gone by f/5.6, and by f/8 at 55mm. At closest focusing distance of 11 inches at all focal lengths, magnification ratios were 1:15.9 at 18mm, 1:8.2 at 35mm, and 1:4.4 at 55mm.
CONCLUSION: Go take high-quality pictures and forget the rest.
(Note: The lens can only be mounted on the Digital Rebel, EOS 20D, EOS 30D, Digital Rebel XT and Digital Rebel XTi with shorter back focus than ordinary EF lenses.)
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