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Canon EF-S 18-55 3.5-5.6 STM

Ubiquitous Kit Lens for EOS APS-C

Peter Kun Frary

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The EF-S 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM is a long standing EF-S design—5 generations of slight changes—and often sold as part of a Rebel/Kiss kit. It's designed for APS-C or EF-S mount cameras such as the 77D, 80D and Rebels. Full-frame DSLRs such as the 5D MKIII and 6D are not compatible. The 3X zoom range of moderately wide to short telephoto—equivalent to 29-88mm on a full-frame camera—makes it ideal for general use and travel.

Fremont East Mural | Canon EOS SL1 and EF-s 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM

Compatibility

The EF-S 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM lens works on APS-C (1.6X) Canon EOS DSLR cameras such as the Rebel SL3 and 90D (EF-s mount). It will also work on EOS R and M series mirrorless cameras with a mount adapter. This lens cannot be used on full frame Canon EOS DSLRs with an EF mount and non-Canon cameras such as Pentax, Nikon, Fuji, etc.

Construction

Appearance is plain, reminiscent of a Goth inspired Thermos cup. As expected, it feels plastic and delicate in hand. However, fit and finish are good with quality plastics, sturdy switches, smooth turning rings and a wobble-free nested barrel. The weak point is the plastic mount but that's how designers kept it to a feather light 205g. It's small and light enough to slip in a coat pocket, making it ideal for travel and hiking.

Canon EF-S 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM | Photo courtesy Canon Inc

This lens is a classic two-touch design: wide ribbed rubber zoom ring at mid-barrel and a narrow focus ring near the front. A nested barrel moves slightly during zoom operation.

The filter size is 58 mm, making filters easy to share with other small Canon optics.

Auto Focus

An inner element focusing group is driven by a stepping motor (STM) and is peppy enough for general photography, but not fast sports. The front element doesn't rotate or extend during focusing, allowing easy use of polarizing filters.

Focus is very reliable on my 80D, SL1 and 77D, albeit slower than USM optics. This zoom was designed with video in mind and the STM drive is silky smooth, just the right focus (slow) speed and highly effective for pulls and movie servo. Focus is silent to camera mics as is the image stabilization (IS).

The focus-by-wire manual focus (MF) works without switching out of AF mode: grip and turn the ring with the shutter button half depressed. Pitch is fairly fine and easy to dial in accurate focus. On some cameras electronic MF must be enabled in the menu before it can be used. The gotcha is MF focus resets when the camera wakes from sleep mode or is powered on. On my 70D and 80D the lens goes blurry during reset and returns to the prior MF setting. So more of a minor irritation than a hindrance.

Door of Faith with Palm | Canon EOS 77D & EF-s 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM | 33mm, f/8, 1/200 sec, ISO 100 | P mode

Optical Performance

Wide open, this zoom is sharp and contrasty in the middle of the frame with slight softening towards edges. The wide side is the sharpest with slight degradation towards 55mm. Sharpness across the frame improves as stopped down. By F8 it is pin sharp from edge to edge. I'm going for increased depth of field for landscapes and cityscapes, so I leave this lens set to F8 much of the time.

There is a moderate amount of barreling at the wide end and slight pincushion towards the long end. But less distortion than my EF-s 15-85 3.5-5.6 IS USM.

Flare is well controlled: no problems with most sunsets and streetlights. However, a lens hood is recommended for protection and to shade the front element from glare. An OEM hood, the EW-63C, will cost you $24 (unless you spring for a JJC knockoff).

Canon EW-63C Hood | EF-S 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM and EOS SL1

Nuuanu Street & Honolulu Harbor | Canon EOS 77D & EF-s 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM | 18mm, f/10, 1/320 sec, ISO 100

Pixel Level Crop | Lower left corner | A wee bit of magenta fringing may be seen on the vertical lines of the building.

Chromatic aberration is a reality with all zooms and this one is not exempt, with magenta fringing along high contrast edges. e.g., tree branches or buildings against a bright sky. However, it is easy to remove in DPP or Lightroom Classic. I rarely notice notice magenta fringing unless I view corners at pixel level.

Finally, the .36x magnification at 55mm for close-up photography is impressive for an inexpensive zoom, making it useful for close snaps of flowers and other small asymmetrical objects. For flat artwork and documents requiring low distortion and edge to edge sharpness, you're better off with a true macro lens like the EF-s 35 2.8 Macro IS STM.

Koi Rampage | Canon EOS 77D and EF-s 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM

Last Blurb

Being somewhat of a lens snob, I really didn't want this lens but it came as part of a SL1 kit. And the kit was cheaper than buying the SL1 body only. I planned to sell the lens but ending keeping it: light as a feather, tiny and surprisingly good optical quality. Yes, it feels and looks cheap but considering the cost and performance ratio, the EF-S 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM is a wonderful little zoom. Obviously not a good choice if shoot in foul weather or fast sports. However, I love the petite size, zoom range, AF speed/smoothness and surprising sharpness of this lens. Coupled with my SL1 or 77D, it's a nimble and lightweight companion for travel, dinner, party and casino duty.

Postscript: The ubiquitous EF-s 18-55 3.5-5.6 IS STM has been replaced with the EF-s 18-55 4.0-5.6 IS STM and offered as a kit lens with the Rebel SL2, T7i and 77D. The newer zoom is 20% smaller than the already tiny older lens, but slower at the wide end, 10 grams heavier and only has .25x life size macro versus .36x on the older lens—downgrades in my opinion.

Finally, please help support this website by purchasing this lens at Amazon.

Specifications

Focal Length: 18-55 mm

Aperture: F3.5-5.6 maximum aperture, F22-36 minimum

Optical Image Stabilizer (IS), offering about four stops of compensation

Lens Construction: 13 elements in 11 groups with 1 aspherical lens

Min. Focusing Distance: 0.82 ft. / 0.25m

Maximum Magnification: .36x at 55mm

Angle of View (Diagonal): 74° 20' - 27° 50'

Filter Size: 58mm

No. of Diaphragm Blades: 7

Diameter and length: 2.7 x 3.0 inches | 69.0 x 75.2mm

Weight: 205g/7.2 oz.

Hood: EW-63C

Included Accessories: lens caps

Cost: $250