Are all DSLR kit lens that bad?

I upgraded my 18-55 mm is ii to a 17-55 f2.8 is and it made me realise how good the kit lens was!
 
When I bought my first DSLR (A canon 1100d) with an 18-55 kit lens, I thought the shots out of it were fantastic - and they were. So really, don't think kit lenses are bad because they're not. I don't think you can really notice a big difference unless you really blow up the photograph. Maybe a photographer will be able to notice that you shot a photograph with a kit lens, but most people won't notice and even care :).

One of my best Nikon lenses is an old kit lens (the Nikkor 18-70) and I love it, it's really sharp and really affordable.
 
jryans10 said:
One of my best Nikon lenses is an old kit lens (the Nikkor 18-70) and I love it, it's really sharp and really affordable.
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Now we're talking especially the affordable bit :)

With my current cameras I can't spend on more lenses but taking a DSLR route you can :eek:
 
jryans10 said:
When I bought my first DSLR (A canon 1100d) with an 18-55 kit lens, I thought the shots out of it were fantastic - and they were. So really, don't think kit lenses are bad because they're not. I don't think you can really notice a big difference unless you really blow up the photograph. Maybe a photographer will be able to notice that you shot a photograph with a kit lens, but most people won't notice and even care :).

One of my best Nikon lenses is an old kit lens (the Nikkor 18-70) and I love it, it's really sharp and really affordable.
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I sold my 18-55mm VR kitr lens and replaced it with the 18-70mm, I like that little extra range it has and VR is not something I liked or could be bothered to mess with, plus the metal mount on it is a big bonus over the plastic mount of the 18-55mm.
 
The Nikon 18-70mm kit lens was superb. I would recommend it all day long. lot of lens for the money.

Kev.
 
I suppose it depends what you mean by good! ;)
I quite like the kit lenses with the 18mm wide-end as you usually dont get them on anything else, stopped down a bit theyre fine! Was never really a fan of the tele-end on them though as just a bit too slow, the VR/IS almost makes up for it (if it has it).
They're usually fairly decent performers just lack the build quality and other features (scales, etc.) and the only reason they're cheap is because of the huge supply. The 16-50mm on the NEX cameras is really good, especially at 16mm! Maybe not optically perfect but such a wide angle on a crop is usually much more expensive.
 
andy700 said:
The Minolta lenses which you have mentioned Toni are from the early nineties I think, and they were not exactly fantastic bits of kit, because by that stage they were using a lot of plastic in the construction. If we go back to the early to mid eighties, then the kit lenses were very good, for instance, the "mini beercan " 35-70 f4 and the 50 1.8. If I look back at my first DSLR, the Practica LTL 3, the kit lens choices were the Carl Zeiss Tessar 50 2.8, or the Pentacon 50 1.8 - both were excellent lenses.
I think that we are seeing a progression here - downwards in terms of quality of construction, where the modern kit lenses seem very flimsy indeed. I often wonder how much this compromises their performance.
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Sure. The 90s plastic minolta lenses do seem to have been made particularly with a view to upgrading ASAP, and as you say, the older kit lenses (still plastic in the case of the 50mm f1.7) were much better. At some stage I'll try to hunt down some of the minolta primes to go with my 50mm and beercan 70-210.
 
Kit Lenses.
1st Nikon 18-70 Came with D70s. I still have it on a D5100....Super little lens!
2nd Nikon 18-150vr.. Sold in order to purchase 55-200vr.. Happy enough with that very competent lens.
Not a kit lens but a Nikon 24-120 that is the main fixture on my D700, a press mans lens, known as the street sweeper! (Fullframe)
 
i like my 18-55 kit lens i dont use it as much as i used to but it all comes down to what people are wanting from a sub £200 lens the iq is good it may not be on par with big £££££££ L lenses but then nether is the cost here is 2 photos taken on a 1100d with a 18-55 kit











this was taken at summerlee by hoochy1, on Flickr

and in this 1 you can clearly see the destnnation on the tram in the garage




IMG_0801 by hoochy1, on Flickr
 
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Wozzaaah said:
I will definitely agree with this.
The old Canon 18-55 non-IS I had was a pretty awful lens so I treated myself to an IS version and was blown away by the difference in IQ and useability.
It focused accurately every time, was pin-sharp and had lovely contrast compared to the old one.
I've since bought a 17-85 and tbh, other than it having a better range than the 18-55, the IQ isn't noticeably better.
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Have a look at photozone.de, optically the 18-55IS is actually slightly better than the 17-85IS when they compared them.

I don't think I'll ever sell the IS kit lens, it's small, light and very good optically. It also has the advantage that if it falls and smashes when out in a rough environment it isn't going to break the bank to replace.
 
I think the max Aperture on kit lenses is usually the limiting factor. However once you start to stop down a bit only pixel peepers and optical scientists can define the differences between a Kit lens and Pro lens. Unless you print beyond A3 you will be pushed to see the difference. (IMHO)
I did an interior shoot for a friend who wanted a photobook of his house (it is very grand!). I used a D200 with a Sigma 10-20mm and a D3 with Nikon 24-70. When I look at the book I do not notice the difference, and he certainly doesn't.
However a couple of the shots did require f2.8 and high ISO,(feature walls and poor light) so for this the D3/24-70 came into its own.
 
I have a 16 50 f2.8, and over the normal kit lens I get nicer colour/look, bit sharper, and constant 2.8 is nice, faster silent internal focus too.
heavier and bigger tho
 
Ive taken some of my beat images with a 20d and a 18-55 !!! Its the person holding the camera :-)
 
Once again I say a big thank you to all who have replied to my OP as your comments make for interesting reading :ty:
 
Went out a couple of days ago with the Sony 18-55 SAM II kit lens, and was quite impressed.

walk01_zpsabab95a1.jpeg~original
 
I lent my 70-200 vr2 to the wife at the weekend to use instead of her 18-200mm.. May now have to buy another as I think she wants it....:(
 
I actually kind of regret selling my Canon 18-55mm IS kit lens as the image quality was decent and it really wasn't much weight to carry around... Generally I think it has received good reviews from most places too, just don't expect amazing mechanical quality from a plastic kit lens.
 
I won a national dog photography competition with a shot taken on a samsung GX10 & 18-55 kit lens, its more about what you make of it and put into a shot than what you shoot it with.
Get the exposure right & the focus right and your on a winner.
 
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artyman said:
This was taken with the kit lens that came with and on my 350D, the original 18-55, not bad for a kit lens IMHO, so yes you can spend more on a better lens, but kits are still very capable a lot of the time. Useful if going to hazardous environments.

Img_3049c.jpg
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I had exactly the same camera and lens and can say that the kit lens is more than adequate for a great many things.

Add on an extension tube or a close up filter and the macro results can also be very good without breaking anyone's bank.

But many people never bother to find out the full potential of their equipment or lenses believing that somewhere there is a magic combination that will somehow turn their pictures into stunning masterpieces, so are never really happy with any kit they get.
.
 
Kit lenses are great for beginners making a move into dslr photography, like me. Image quality is decent and focal lengths are good for a walk around lens (18-55) usually
 
On the contrary many kit lenses are fairly good, just not top notch. It's typically when you venture into the 70-300mm kits that quality begins to more uniformly bad among kit lenses.
 
The biggest disadvantage of kit lenses is the speed and a variable aperture. If you can live with those then they can produce some great stuff.
 
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