Product Reviews
AKA kit lens
- April 23, 2011
- By: Alphonse
this is a review for the Kit lens in general regardless of make/ brand
Most people often buy their camera bodies and lenses separately, but almost all first-time buyers get their camera in a box that also contains the kit lens. Open the box, pop the lens on the camera, and you're ready to take photographs.
After a little shooting, though, they realize there's a world of possibility out there for their photography if they add a few new lenses.
however, lenses often come with a very big price tag.
being a beginner in photography don't get frustrated that you have an under powered lens
The people behind research and developments of the kit lens did not just magically or random pick the focal length of 18mm - 55 mm. I've read a few articles, In a nut shell, The kit lens's focal length is similar to the range of vision of a human eye. in my opinion its just in middle of wide angle lenses and zoom lenses or maybe just one of the strategy of companies to maximize profit
remember you still create the image, at the end of the day the image is still relative to the perspective of the photographer. let the image define you not the lens
4 stars out of 5 because everyone would maximize the potential of the kit lens and would need other lenses as they improve
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Optically excellent, mechanically tolerable
- October 30, 2011
- By: Matthew
The good:
Very high quality optics- and I don't even have to qualify that by adding "for a kit lens". No visible distortion and no sharpness or contrast problems throughout the zoom range.
Zoom movement is smooth and nicely spaced.
VR is a bit of a gimmick at this focal length, but it does increase the odds of getting sharp shots in the 1/4 to 1/30 second range.
The not-so-good:
Nikon labels it wrong. Its focus drive is not true SWM (AF-S); rather, it's a conventional gear-driven setup, with a tiny little SWM in place of the DC motor. While it's almost as quiet as real AF-S lenses, focus is slower and there's no manual override.
To use manual focus, you have to flip switches, and then it goes from macro to infinity in just one-eighth of a turn of the (rather loose) focus ring.
It is optically slow. The lens is artificially stopped down to f/3.5-5.6, apparently so that manufacturing tolerances could be relaxed while keeping it reasonably sharp. So while it'll work beautifully in daylight, you'll have to crank the ISO indoors or at night, and don't expect stellar bokeh for portraits.
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