Let’s talk about the kit lens. No one ever talks about them, but they are an important part of learning photography to anyone that is buying their first camera. Let me guess, you bought a new Rebel camera and this is the lens it came with it (kind of like Mario games with Nintendo). That’s fine; you are going to need it to get started, seeing as you can’t take pictures without a lens. Maybe you are wondering “How good is this lens?” The basic answer is good enough to get started, but you will likely outgrow it after a certain point, and I will cover that in the review. As with all WOFG reviews I will cover the pros and cons, offer advice for how to use the lens, and even offer some suggestions at the end for lenses to add to your kit to expand what you can do. I will also compare to its previous model, the 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS II, which is still bundled with cheaper Rebels like the T6 and T7, and even explain why it would not be worth it to upgrade if you have the older model. Let’s get started!Pros1. Takes good photos – The most important aspect of all lenses is that they take good photos. For a kit lens, this one isn’t bad (A kit lens is a general term for the lenses that typically come bundled with cameras). It might not be the sharpest lens in my bag, but I have some pretty impressive (and expensive) lenses, so that is an unfair comparison. Compared to previous offerings like the IS II model, it is a clearly better lens (see comparison at the end). Sharp in the center, softens a little on the outsides, contrast tends to be a little so-so, but that is to be expected from a kit lens. For people learning photography this will not be a big deal, at least not for a while. This lens is plenty good to get some good shots and learn the game.2. Lightweight – Maybe not something you have thought of if you are still a little new to photography and DSLRs, but believe me when I say it will become important to you at some point. Big lenses get heavy, and if you will be carrying all day then it will make a difference. This lens is super light, thanks to the all plastic design. Even the mount is plastic. But it is made from a nearly unbreakable polymer; the force needed to break it would also break your camera.3. IS – 4 stops of image stabilization makes up for the limited aperture. This lens has trouble getting light into it, since its max aperture is F3.5-5.6, depending on the focal length you choose. IS lets you slow the shutter down considerably to capture as much as 16 times more light! This however comes at a cost. IS will only be good for shooting still or very slow subjects, it does nothing for a moving subject. If that is what you need to do, you will need a “fast” lens. See my suggestions at the end for this. Note - IS makes this lens good for video shooting, reducing the amount of shakiness in the footage considerably! Great for vloggers.4. STM Focus – Canon’s silent and smooth focus, this is ideal for video. It works for stills as well, so long as you are not shooting a lot of action shots. It isn’t snappy fast; it’s made more for tracking smoothly. I personally use continuous focus for action shooting anyway; as long as you can track your subject it will work pretty decent. Note – For whatever reason, the base models like the T6 and T7 do not feature support for silent focusing. I am not sure why Canon omitted this, since it is not in the hardware of the lens, it is the software of the camera that supports it. So if you want to use silent focus for video, then you need a higher level model like the SL2/SL3, or T7i. Also, older models do not support silent STM focus. The T4i would be the first model to do so, and is one of the first Canons to use continuous auto focus in a DSLR.5. Bundled Price – Most commonly part of bundles where it adds an additional 50- 100 USD to the price (sometimes less). You can’t get a zoom lens in this range for this price. If you are ok with used lenses, these are available all over the place for as low as 30 USD. I would not advise getting one at its full retail price of 250 USD (this is part of the reason I am writing this review, to get this info out there). It is just too easy to find them cheaper than that elsewhere. Even on Amazon I have seen the bulk “white box” version for around 80 USD. Really, there is little reason to buy one of these lenses in the full retail box, since they can be found so cheap. I put this info here for anyone that might be looking to “upgrade” from an older version. Please see my notes on that at the end.6. Useful range – After crop, this lens is 28-88mm. (That’s right, even a crop only lens has to have crop factor applied to it.) That makes this a “standard zoom”. The standard zoom features some of the most important focal ranges in all of photography. A high degree of your shots you take will be in that range. This is what makes the standard zoom so useful, nay, critical to learning photography. I cannot stress enough how often you will be shooting in these ranges.7. Other stuff – 58mm filter thread means inexpensive filters, if you are into that. Common size filter too so you can also share with other lenses, like the EF-S 55-250mm lens that often is bundled with new cameras. Front element does not rotate during focus, good for using polarizers or graduated filters, which I would recommend to anyone shooting landscapes a lot. I don’t suggest a UV filter, since this is such a cheap lens it would just be a waste of money.Cons. Most this is for your information only, not warranting the removal of a star (I will note why if I do remove a star). It is up to the user to know what they are getting and how to use it.1. Limited variable aperture – The bane of all inexpensive zoom lenses, this lens features an aperture that loses light as you zoom in. So as you go from 18mm to 55mm, you lose over half your light. To compound on that, the max aperture of F3.5-5.6 isn’t very bright. But, as long as you shoot in good light it won’t matter. Also, the IS on the lens helps overcome this too, as described earlier in the review.2. Focus by wire – The STM focus motor is all electronic, even for manual focus. This means there is no mechanical connection to the focus ring, so it is not as precise as lenses that do have a mechanical focus. Not bad though, just a bit harder to use manual focus if that is what you are into. Also, this requires power to activate the focus, so if looking for accessories such as extension tubes or adaptors for other camera mounts, be sure they supply power to the lens. For the most part I don’t mind focus by wire, since I don’t do a lot of manual, but I don’t know one photographer that prefers it over mechanical focus. STM lenses don’t seem able to have the mechanical connection to focus, so that is the tradeoff for silent video focus. Not a big deal for most shooters that will be using this lens.3. Lens extends during focus and zoom – As to be expected on a lens like this, whenever you focus or zoom the lens extends out. Remember that you don’t want to leave it like this when not using it; always retract it back to the base when putting it away or even when leaving it hanging on the strap, since it is not as sturdy when extended; a hard jarring can break it much easier at full extension. I would imagine that over time this would develop a creep issue, where it will tend to extend on its own when hanging from a strap. I haven’t had that happen, but my lens is not very old and doesn’t see much use these days (as I said, I have a large library of lenses).4. Crop only – This isn’t so much a con as much as just wanting to put this info here. The most common question I answer is “will this lens fit my camera?” So, this lens will work on any Rebel, all the mid-range models (20D to the 80D), and also the 7D. It will not work on the 6D, 5D, or 1D cameras, which are Canon’s full frame line. For the mirrorless line, it can be adapted if you have the adaptor that allows the use of EF and EF-S lenses. In this case, even the full frame models (EOS R and RP) can adapt it.5. Overall mediocre – Even though I think this is a good lens to learn with, in the end it is one that you will outgrow pretty quickly. I can’t really in good faith call this a 5 star lens, since it just lacks overall punch. Colors are not as vibrant, contrast is not as strong, it’s uses are limited to outdoor shooting unless shooting nearly still subjects or at very high ISO, lacks snappy focusing for fast subjects, lens coatings aren’t as good as higher level lenses so flaring can be an issue, you will notice aberrations and fringing in certain situations, it just goes on. I mean, this is the whole point of a kit lens; it is just good enough to get you somewhere. It isn’t meant to be there for the long haul. So, this is why I took a star off, since I just don’t feel I can give an overall mediocre lens 5 stars, even if it is a cheap lens. At the retail price of 250 USD I would take off 2 stars, just to emphasize how you should never pay that for this lens.6. Other stuff – All plastic build, even the mount. Shouldn’t be a big deal as long as you don’t abuse the lens, and is better built than previous models. Vignettes a bit when shooting wide open at the wider angles (easily fixed in post and sometimes looks kind of cool). Really wish it was 15-55mm instead to make it 24mm at the widest angle after crop. Chromatic aberrations will be more obvious with strong backlight. No hood is included, which is common for Canon lenses. If you want to get a hood, look into Promaster. They are just as good, but are cheaper, without being as bad as some of the really cheap brands.Compared to the older models – This is the third version of this lens. The previous model, the IS II, improved considerably over the first gen, and is still included in the lower models like the T6 and T7. The IS STM model improves even further over the IS II in the following ways: Better optics for a sharper image, better focusing (not only is silent but faster and more accurate), rear focus instead of front (means the front element doesn’t rotate), really it’s better in all categories. However, if you have the older model, there is not really any reason to invest in the IS STM model. Sure, it’s better in all ways, but it’s still not a great lens. The money you would put into it would be better used for a different lens. Check out my list at the end for some suggestions.ConclusionsSo why did I want to review the kit lens? As I said before, no one ever talks about kit lenses. I know that Canon has a few versions of this lens, and that is confusing to people that don’t know a lot about camera gear. People see that there is a new version of something and they think they need it to make better photos. In cases like kit lenses and Rebel cameras, there is little reason to get the latest model if your model is only 1 or 2 generations old. There rarely are large enough differences from one to the other to justify the cost, especially if you have little to spend on camera gear. I would suggest instead investing in a variety of lenses that will add new dimensions to your photo game. With that being said, here is a list I call, “the four lenses to buy first for Canon APS-C/crop cameras”. All these lenses will work on any Canon APS-C camera as described in the review. These are not in any specific order of preference:1. EF 50mm F1.8 STM – This should be your first lens, after the 18-55mm. For 125 USD, it can’t be beat. The wide F1.8 aperture and 80mm equivalent angle of view makes it ideal for portraits that have that classic look. Possibly the best value in all of photography!2. EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM – The newest version of this lens, it’s probably the best telephoto you can get for less than 1000 USD. Great for soccer games, wildlife at the park, or whatever you like. There is an older version, the IS II, which is cheaper, but is completely outclassed by the newer IS STM model. Bundle the IS STM for 200, otherwise it is 300 USD, but can be found used for 150 or less.3. EF-S 10-18mm F4-5.6 IS STM – At 300 USD it is less than half the price of the EF-S 10-22mm that it is often compared to, and has the advantage of IS. Image quality is nearly identical too. This lens is great for landscapes, large machinery, real estate, architecture, or even some fun distortion shots. Often discounted to 280 USD or less.4. EF-S 24mm F2.8 STM – Adds better low light shooting to your kit on a budget, and is an all-around a great lens. Makes a great compliment to the 50mm F1.8, having a wider angle of view with a fast aperture.All these lenses will add something different to your kit, are highly rated, and affordable. The 18-55mm will make a nice compliment to them, but I think you will at some point just leave it behind once you see what more you can do with any of these.That is all I got, all that is left is to check out the images. Thank you for reading my review! 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