| Customer Reviews Collected from usa.canon.com |
Canon - EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Standard Zoom Lens - Black
Average Customer Rating:
4.7
Rating breakdown 21 reviews
5 Stars
17
4 Stars
2
3 Stars
1
2 Stars
1
1 Star
0
100%of customers recommend this product.
(
10 out of
10)
Customer Reviews for Canon - EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Standard Zoom Lens - Black
Customer Rating
4
Excellent lens, but some annoyances
on October 1, 2012
Posted by: GavJ
from Iowa City, IA
I bought this lens as a standalone to use with my Rebel t3i, so I cannot comment on the integrated movie mode image stabilization available with the t4i.
Aside from that, though, the lens is quite sharp across all the ranges I have tested. It is noticeably a little soft around the edges at the extreme focal lengths, unsurprisingly, but this softness requires you to look for it, and for a skilled photographer, it should be expected and not matter much anyway. This is much Much nicer optically than, for instance, the 18-55 kit lens.
The zoom barrel is a little tight for my taste, but the grip is wonderful, and the focal lengths are laid out so that the spacing is very intuitive and easy to precisely control all the way from 18-135. Also, a tight zoom does mean that the zoom lock isn't really necessary, which is good, I guess (though I don't understand why such a feature is necessary in the first place... seems like a band-aid fix in most cases)
The silent stepper motor is truly SILENT. As in, with my ear pressed up against the lens as it focuses, I still cannot hear it, unless I am in a still room by myself with no air conditioning on. And again, that's only if my ear is jammed up against it. Under normal circumstances, it just focuses with absolutely no noise, as if by magic. Very amusing, and of course, perfect for videography (although the video focus still pales in comparison to a camcorder, when used on the t3i, but that was expected).
Focus SPEED is about average for a mid range canon lens.
So all in all, great optics, good usability, and a very useful lens for the crop sensor. Also absolutely silent.
On the negative side, though... two points:
1) The build quality is very poor for the price. yes, it has a metal bayonet, but other than that, it looks really cheap, and feels pretty cheap. This is probably mostly an aesthetic thing (it does not affect performance, and plastics can be as strong as metals nowadays), but it is annoying and make me less satisfied using the lens. So sue me, I'm a little shallow like that.
1) The build quality is very poor for the price. yes, it has a metal bayonet, but other than that, it looks really cheap, and feels pretty cheap. This is probably mostly an aesthetic thing (it does not affect performance, and plastics can be as strong as metals nowadays), but it is annoying and make me less satisfied using the lens. So sue me, I'm a little shallow like that.
2) More importantly, the manual focus is not actually a manual focus!!! This is just a little electronic sensor attached to a ring. When you change the focus, it takes a split second for the motor to catch up to you. And the focus (and therefore the lens) won't work if the camera is off or not attached to EFS powered signals.
Not only is this annoying and weird to work with under normal circumstances, but it makes this lens almost completely useless if you do a lot of work with non-Canon extension tubes, or a macro reverse ring, or on a non-EFS Canon camera with adapters, or duct taping lenses onto bellows, or other non-standard setups like that (which all amateurs should try at some point! And that is obviously who this is marketed at). Considering that this is obviously a "one-stop-shop, do-everything" lens, not being functional in situations like this is a significant drawback. Not being able to use a reversing ring on a 300mm prime lens? Well fine, obviously that wouldn't be a problem.
Here, it is a problem.
However, if you're not a very experimental person, or if you have other lenses on hand to mess around with in that way, then it's fine. Still annoying to not have instant manual focus control, though.
Here, it is a problem.
However, if you're not a very experimental person, or if you have other lenses on hand to mess around with in that way, then it's fine. Still annoying to not have instant manual focus control, though.
Pros: Super-sharp images, absolutely silent focusing
Cons: Poor build quality, fake "manual" focus ring
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Excellent Product
on January 16, 2015
Posted by: Ed
from North Alabama
I wanted to have more capability than the kit 18-55 lens. This lens will allow me to have more zoom plus still have wide angle. I plan to use this lens as my primary lens. I also have the 55-250 lens to use for shooting my grandson's baseball games.
Canon products are of high quality, which makes for a good value.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Worth the money
on April 3, 2015
Posted by: clifford
from west valley city, Ut
This lens came with the camera but is one that I didn't own. Nice to have versatile. If you don't have it buy it.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
2
Bad copy?
on October 23, 2014
Posted by: picboy8
from Tampa Fl
After reading the reviews , I was expecting excellent performance. Not so. My copy of this lens failed to perform in every category except noise where it excelled and zoom/focus that was very good. Took it back.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
3
Good but with a few unacceptable misses
on May 1, 2015
Posted by: a1000words
from Minneapolis, MN
There are a few things that are not right which are unacceptable from a camera of this level and cost.
HDMI output does not support 1080"p" nor "24p".
So if you recorded in 1080 24p, while it will record it in that format correctly, it will not output faithfully. It will output it in 1080 60i ! Which is completely opposite of what this camera and brand stands for and that is good quality reproduction of images!
HDMI output does not support 1080"p" nor "24p".
So if you recorded in 1080 24p, while it will record it in that format correctly, it will not output faithfully. It will output it in 1080 60i ! Which is completely opposite of what this camera and brand stands for and that is good quality reproduction of images!
Also I am quite disappointed about the Auto White Balance. Especially in artificial lighting. Again something that indoor/studio photographers need to be aware of as you Will need a gray card all the time.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com