Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Review

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Handling and features 

Lightweight, yet sturdy plastics have been used for much of the construction of this lens, which helps to keep the weight down to just over 200g. The lens mount is also made of plastic and as it is an EF-S lens, it can only be mounted on E-FS compatible Canon cameras, like the Canon EOS 600D used for testing. The light weight and compact dimensions of the lens make this an ideal companion for compact entry-level SLRs.

Autofocus is very quick, precise and virtually silent. Unlike many of Canon's USM lenses, manual focus override is not possible all the time and manual focusing is performed by the focusing motor. Manual adjustments can be made in single focus mode once the lens has locked onto a target by keeping the shutter button depressed and turning the focus ring. The manual focusing ring isn't very well damped, and feels quite loose in operation, which can make applying fine focus adjustments a little harder than it may be, as the focus ring is very easily nudged.



Focusing is performed internally, so the 58mm filter thread doesn't rotate, making this lens ideal for use with polarising and graduated filters. Closest focus is 25cm from the sensor plane throughout the zoom range, which is ideal for frame filling close-ups or shooting in claustrophobic environments.

Sharp hand held images are possible at 55mm with some degree of consistency at 1/10sec, which is roughly three stops slower than the usual rule of thumb for sharp images would allow. When shooting at slow shutter speeds, best results are achieved if a pause of a second or two if left between focusing and taking an image. This allows the image stabiliser to catch up and properly steady the image in the viewfinder.

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