Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 is Standard Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (New, White Box)

I was more than a little apprehensive about purchasing this lens before many official reviews came out, but I'm really glad I did. I have an 18-55 kit, 70-300, 60mm f/2.8 Macro, and 50 prime (all great beginner lenses, BTW) but I needed something I could stick on my camera and forget about when going out around town. As a young lady that likes small purses, this is a constant internal struggle- hang my awesome camera around my neck like an "I'm on a project and shouldn't be hit on" necklace, or stuff it in a big camera bag with my other lenses in a "I don't have kids but I might as well cause this looks like a diaper bag" fashion. I deflect male advances either way. It's just a matter of how light I travel when I do it. And if I can leave some highly-stealable stuff at home, I will.How does it feel?This seems to have the same feel as my 70-300. Not a plastic-y light feeling like the 18-55, slightly rubber ridges and hefty, but not heavy, weight to it. I wouldn't use this lens to bludgeon enemies, but it doesn't feel as though it came out of a gum ball machine either.What's the color like?We compared this lens to the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (took identical photos at same focal length, f-stop, settings, etc.) Both lenses were incredibly sharp at the sweet spots and still great at the edges (when taken at F8) but the colors of the 18-135 were much less washed out. We definitely had the white balance settings locked for both photos, but the 18-135 just showed reds, purples, blues, greens, all colors were more vibrant and true.Now if you want your family photos to look like they came straight from a comic book with crazier-than-life color explosions, you'll have to look to post-processing for that. Weirdo. All I'm saying is that I won't have to change the color balance to cloudy to experience non-prison looking color in family portraits. Nothing kills the vibe of a party photo montage like grayish Alcatraz hues.Yeah, but I can get this from an 17-85 or the new 15-85, right?Good point, friend. But the extra focal length after 85mm is really worth it, especially when shooting things across a street or shooting semi-close wildlife. And if the 15-85 is way more expensive and the 17-85 is about the same price, why not go for the longer length? You could make the same argument for the 18-200, but I don't think that the compromised sharpness (and heavy 21 oz weight, vs the 16.1 oz of the 18-135) is worth the extra focal distance. Also, you get the latest version of the image stabilization system with this one.But there is no USM, and the 17-85 has USM. I MUST HAVE USM ON ALL MY LENSES!Calm down there, buddy. True, there is no USM on this lens. But having used both the 17-85 and 18-135, the latter is just as fast to autofocus. It may not have the USM, but you wouldn't notice a big difference. The motor is super fast and doesn't autofocus hunt like my 70-300 USM tends to do. You can hear the motor, but it's not as loud as the Canon 70-300 USM motor. Image stabilization is also great- there were plenty of pictures that have been saved with that feature, especially in low light/no flash situations.Finally, I want to mention the "The Digital Picture" ISO 12233 Crops (google this; I can't provide a link). This test scared the crud out of me, and is making a lot of people spew hate about this lens. It makes this lens look soft compared to some other lenses. When I started shooting, I thought at first that there was a sharpness issue until I realized that my little brother had changed my ISO to 1600. Thanks, little bro! After that was fixed, everything was as sharp as I could hope for. Having done my own sharpness tests, I realized that the ISO 12233 crops weren't telling the whole story. I don't plan on sticking this sucker on a tripod and shooting tiny black and white lines with it all day (I have more interesting subjects, and they are in color!) I've taken hundreds of pictures with this lens and just don't see any image quality or sharpness difference when compared to my other lenses. So chill, people.In conclusion, if you love the pictures your DSLR gives you, but hate the lens diaper-bag/bookbag look, this is a great choice. It's not going to make you into a magical Ansel Adams photo spouting machine, but no equipment will do that. This lens takes some pretty nice pictures when you stop worrying about 100% crops and start enjoying life. Shoot and be happy.

First, the lens. I bought the 18-135 for my Canon T2i because I tired of having to always carry two lenses and to make frequent changes, depending on the different subjects I wished to photograph. Now, with the 18-135 on the camera I only have to carry the camera unless I know that I will be in a situation where I should use the 55-250. Another benefit is the reduced risk of getting dust on the sensor, a risk that always concerned me when I changed lenses.Before ordering the lens, I read many reviews and made a list of all the problems I could expect and the recommendations as to how to overcome or work around them. But either the Gods smiled on me or Canon has made some improvements in the lens since the reviews were written because so far I have not noticed the problems the reviews warned about. I have not yet taken shots at all focal lengths, F numbers or exposure speeds,. but at 18mm (a focal length warned about), f3.51, 1/32 I got good,fully usable photos. I may still see evidence of problems and will update this review if I do, but so far I'm pleased, getting photos as good as those when using the 18-55 but without the need to carry two lenses most of the time.I bought it knowing it is not fast enough to be a good low light. However, the Canon 50 1.8 is quite inexpensive and will probably get it for those few times when I want to photograph in a low light situation. It may not be good for macro, either, but that is not where my interests lie.The lens comes without the lens hood, however, I purchased an inexpensive bayonet Canon look-alike made by Fotodiox and sold by Amazon and solved that problem I also bought a couple of $1.95 Fotodiox lens caps with the center pinch from Amazon so that I can put on and take off the lens caps without removing the hood.The 18-135 is not an L lens, but for the money it is a very good walk-around for most photographers.My issue with Amazon has to do with what I thought I was ordering and what I received. At the time I placed the order, and still true today, I had the choice of paying approximately $420 or $320, the latter described as coming in a white box. I was very tempted to order the lens for $320, but ordered the more expensive option, reasoning that the lens in the white box is more likely to be one that somebody else removed from their new camera kit because they were not satisfied with its performance. In other words, I was sure that because I was paying the additional $100 that I would be getting a lens, new and untouched by others, in a Canon box.However, when I opened the shipping box, inside was a lens in a white box, the same as I would have gotten had I paid $100 less.I got the customer service webpage and made a complaint, explaining why I bought the more expensive lens and saying that I felt Amazon had let me down when it charged me about $100 more than I would have paid for a lens shipped in a white box.Almost immediately I got a reply, telling me that my credit card was being credited with a $40 refund. With the refund, I am still paying more than the going price for a white box, but the lens I got was shipped free, which reduces a little more the difference, and I may have gotten better shipping service. So all in all, I am satisfied with the response I got from AmazonAnd the lens is definitely a keeper even though it was in a white box.Update 1 January 2012. Still very pleased that I bought this lens. The only time I take it off the camera is when I want more reach than is provided by 135mm. Sure is great to be able to walk around with one lens instead of 2 in order to cover the range I normally shoot when in the "walk around" mode.

I got this on sale. Got a great deal. This is my favorite lens for my canon. A all-around go to.