Quote:
Originally Posted by headtrauma
... I started with a refurb 18-55mmVR f3.5-5.6 for $99. Optics are good for the price, focal range is handy. ...
Is this focal range really handy? Your comment prompted me to think about the current Canon and Nikon kit lenses.
I tend to think of focal lengths on APS-C in terms of effective focal length (EFL), which is their focal length equivalent for 35mm film or full frame dSLRs. I compare coverage by looking at which typical prime lenes are covered. The traditional primes were 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm, 135m, 200mm, 300mm, 400mm, and 600mm.
Nikon's 18-55mm VR kit lens has an EFL range of 27-82 mm. It (nearly) covers four of the traditional primes: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm. That's normal, two wider than normal and one longer. This focal length range has been the typical kit lens for entry level dSLRs pretty much
since the introduction of APS-C format cameras. (I've always wondered why Nikon didn't make these as 18-57mm and Canon didn't make 18-53mm, given their different crop factors.) US List: $200
The 18-55mm VR replaces the 18-55mm ED II lens, which is similar overall, except it lacks VR and is slighly sharper in the centre and less sharp at the edges. It is still available for a US list price of $120.
I've always found the 18-55mm focal length range leaving me wanting more, especally at the longer end. Maybe I'm just greedy.
Nikon did have an 18-70mm IF as the kit lens for the D70 and D70s. This covered two typical primes longer than normal. They still offer this lens. It lists at US $460, so it is not very popular with the sort of buyer who takes the kit lens. Also it does not have VR. Its build quality is much better then the preceding lenses, but image sharpness
is slightly worse.
Also dampening demand for the 18-70, Nikon more recently introduced an 18-105mm ED VR (which also has IF), for $60 less than the 18-70. This is the kit lens for the D90 and D7000. (I wonder why Nikon made an 18-105mm rather than an 18-90mm.) The 18-105 is the sharpest of these four Nikon kit lenses and has better build quality than the two 18-55 versions. OTOH it has worse distortion, chromatic aberration (CA) and vignetting. The distortion can be corrected in post, the CA is removed in-camera for JPEGs, and the vignetting is not a problem at most useful focal length / aperture combinations.
All of the above lenses have the same variable aperture range of f/3.5-5.6, except the 18-70mm, which is f/3.5-4.5.
Canon offers the 18-55mm IS lens for its Digital Rebel lineup. This lens is similar in build quality and other characterists to the Nikon 18-55 VR. The Canon may be slightly faster to autofocus, but the Nikon is significantly sharper. They have the same list price.
As with the Nikon VR, the Canon IS replaced a similar lens that didn't have IS. Unlike Nikon, Canon doesn't continue to offer the older version as a lower-priced alternative.
Again like Nikon, Canon offers a wider ranged kit lens on its higher grade APS-C bodies. On the 60D, this is the 18-135mm IS. Canon outdoes Nikon in zoom range (7.5x to 5.8x) but falls far short in the other optical characteristics, especially the most important: sharpness.
The 18-135 IS is now available in a kit with the 7D as well, but when the 7D was first launched in the US, the standard kit lens was the ancient 28-135mm IS. This was the first lens to have IS, and it dates from the pre-digital 90's. This is a puzzling choice to offer as a kit lens for an APS-C body with 18M pixels. At the wide end it is only normal. There is really no capability for landscapes. At the other end, it covers past four telephoto primes. It has the least center sharpness of any of the lenses I discuss in the post, yet it is matched with the highest resolution sensor. What were they thinking?
Canon has some fine lenses, but their kit lenses aren't among them. The two current Nikon kit lenses are priced the same as and lower than their Canon counterparts, respectively, but are both sharper than either Canon. If image sharpness matters to you, it might be worth considering buying a Nikon body in a kit, but with Canon, buy body only, and get a better lens.