Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras

I purchased this lens to go with my Canon EOS 20D digital SLR, which I inherited from a friend who unfortunately had passed away. The camera came to me with only a wide angle zoom, but most of the photos I shoot are in the normal to telephoto range. So I chose this lens because of its good zoom ratio, and its relatively compact size. The latter makes it a good all-around lens to travel light, such as on overseas vacations. This lens is really sharp, so much so that I can blow up a selected portion of a photo in Photoshop and its still pretty sharp. This effectively comes close to giving me the equivalent of a 600 mm telephoto (in 35 mm film) in a walk-around lens. Unfortunately, the lens vignettes (i.e. the corners of the photos are dark relative to the center of the photo). The vignetting is most pronounced in the longer telephoto range. It is especially noticeable with a background thats uniform in color and lighting, such as a blue or overcast sky. Further, the darkening is more pronounced in the upper left corner compared to the upper right. I can correct most of the vignetting in Photoshop, but that program does not deal so easily with the differential darkening between the corners, thus some darkening remains. (Advanced Photoshop techniques should be able to deal with that, but so far I have not expended the necessary effort). Because photos I shoot tend to be more varied in color, lighting, and with more detail in the lower corners, the vignetting is not so noticeable there; thus I have no comment at this time re the behavior in those corners. The lens also has a very heavy front element. When the lens is on the camera,and that combination is on the strap around my neck, this tends to keep pulling the combination down and then the weight further pulls the lens out into the fully extended telephoto position. Rather inconvenient! But for these problems, I have would given this lens a 5 star rating; instead I gave it a 3. Update: The lens is incredibly sharp. I took this lens as my only lens on a recent Mediterranean cruise. While docked in Pireas (Athens) I took a rock-steady, hand-held photo of a distant cruise ship at the 200mm setting -- like a 330mm shot for an old 35mm film guy like me. The cruise ship was still kinda small, so I cropped the photo in Photoshop to whats the equivalent of about a 1000mm shot (for 35mm film) and its still incredibly sharp! Imagine having that kind of telephoto magnification in a camera you can carry around your neck! On this same cruise, I took lots of other photos at all the focal lengths offered by this lens, and all are good except when I myself messed them up! Vignetting is still a problem though, and I had to spend a lot of time in Photoshop applying fixes to many of the photos from that same trip: So still a 4 rating.

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Hmmm….This Lens. I loved it. I had saved up to buy it. Then maybe 6-9 months went by and it started getting stuck. I would try and zoom in and it wouldnt go. It locks into place and with much effort and trying to move it back and forth it will finally unstick. It is very aggravating when you need to get a quick shot. I have taken care of the lens, it is always in a camera case that is cushioned with 3/4 of an inch of foam. It doesnt get bumped or jostled. So I complained to one of my friends who has the same lens and hers had done the EXACT same thing. Whether it be a design flaw, or something else it is very annoying. The pictures it takes are great but the actual "Quality" of the lens just isnt there if they are all having the same issue.

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Recommending a lens or even discouraging one for that matter is a challenge because in my opinion it is relative to the person. For me, as a beginner photographer that was really still experimenting with many areas of photography this was a great buy. Dont get me wrong it is not a great lens if you are comparing to an L quality lens. However, it does provide a perfectly acceptible image quality across a large range. This lens along with a T3i has been a great beginner kit for both my wife and I. The problems I have seen are really not any different from what I had read before buying. The lens walks unless you lock it, and even still it walks even with the lock in place from time to time. In low light situation it does tend to hunt quit a bit. I have also had many situations where I have simply been to close to focus (without being really all that close). For anyone fairly new to photography looking to upgrade from the kit lens (or even better they purchased the body only). Then this would make a great lens to buy to be able to try many types of photography. This really is a great all around lens for traveling were you might take a wide variety of types of shots. My only real caveats on this lens is that it really doesnt offer a wide enough of an aperture for most professional shooting. Good luck with your lens shopping!

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