Advice on a walkabout lens

Might have been a bad choice but I went for the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens, managed to buy it and a t4i for 800 dollars, so if I sell my 550d for €500 (in Ireland), the new camera and lens will cost me about 150 bucks... Plus I got an Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II thrown in for 80 dollars... fingers crossed folks...

dave_bass5 wrote in post #15691281
Well i had two copies of the 15-85 and both had pretty bad lens creep within a few weeks. The 18-135 (actually a close friend's) has nothing of the kind and is a good few months old.

So id say build quality might be good but only if you get a good copy.

Lens creep has nothing to do with either build quality of image quality. Most lens with heavy front elements creep to one degree or another. My Canon 18-200, Canon 15-85, and Tamron 18-270 PZD all creep. Probably the majority of 15-85's creep, usually between around 24-50mm. However, my copy is very sharp across the image even wide open. The build quality is noticeably better then the 18-135 and the USM motor is very fast and very quiet. The 15mm wide end means I can get buy without an UWA Canon 10-22 and still get the wind angle landscape shots I want. I'm not sure if the 18-135 has FTMF. It's predecessor didn't, but that may have changed with the introduction of the step motor.

jonathanhowlett wrote in post #15696390
Might have been a bad choice but I went for the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens, managed to buy it and a t4i for 800 dollars, so if I sell my 550d for €500 (in Ireland), the new camera and lens will cost me about 150 bucks... Plus I got an Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II thrown in for 80 dollars... fingers crossed folks...

While i personally wouldn't have chosen it over the 15-85, the 18-135 is still a very nice lens at a much cheaper price point. You will be happy with the 135mm long end which will give you an angle of view similar to 216mm on a FF camera. While you're losing a lot on the wide end, 18mm is still pretty wide. Many people use the 24-105 on a cropped body and there is truly no wide end with that combination. The optics supposedly are better than its predecessor, so i hardly think you've made a bad choice.

mwsilver wrote in post #15696944
Lens creep has nothing to do with either build quality of image quality.

If you say so, not worth arguing about, although I do agree it has nothing to do with IQ.

mwsilver wrote in post #15696980
While i personally wouldn't have chosen it over the 15-85, the 18-135 is still a very nice lens at a much cheaper price point. You will be happy with the 135mm long end which will give you an angle of view similar to 216mm on a FF camera. While you're losing a lot on the wide end, 18mm is still pretty wide. Many people use the 24-105 on a cropped body and there is truly no wide end with that combination. The optics supposedly are better than its predecessor, so i hardly think you've made a bad choice.

Yeah it was mainly the price difference that made me chose the 18-135 over the 15-85, I pretty much got the whole package for the price of the 15-85 lens, too good to say no to... Cheers for the vote of confidence though, puts my mind at ease a bit, especially considering it was a very 'drunk' purchase at 2am!

Yeah, it's a great lens, and id say a perfect match for the T4i.
There seems to be a few comments from people posting thoughts on the old lens, without having used the STM version (or got info on it) but you really can't go wrong with this lens, for the money.
There is no full time manual focus, and the camera has to be on even for manual focus to work, but I'm sure you have read this, and understand the limitations of the STM system.

Good luck with it.

dave_bass5 wrote in post #15697600
Yeah, it's a great lens, and id say a perfect match for the T4i.
There seems to be a few comments from people posting thoughts on the old lens, without having used the STM version (or got info on it) but you really can't go wrong with this lens, for the money.
There is no full time manual focus, and the camera has to be on even for manual focus to work, but I'm sure you have read this, and understand the limitations of the STM system.

Good luck with it.

You would think I would have read about this first... care to briefly explain this to me in lay mans terms?

It means you have to turn the lens to manual focus mode if you want to manuals focus the lens.
With most USM lenses you can still turn the focus ring and change the focus, even when the lens is in AF mode, but not with a STM lens
On some cameras, those that have a back AF button this limitation can be overcome.
You also can't adjust the focus unless the camera is switched on, as the lens needs power to move the elements. Not sure this could ever be an issue for most people.

I'd say its not a big issue, unless its something you use a lot then don't worry about it.

This thread might be of use (I haven't actually read it)
http://forums.dpreview​.com/forums/post/41738​612

dave_bass5 wrote in post #15697638
It means you have to turn the lens to manual focus mode if you want to manuals focus the lens.
With most USM lenses you can still turn the focus ring and change the focus, even when the lens is in AF mode, but not with a STM lens
On some cameras, those that have a back AF button this limitation can be overcome.
You also can't adjust the focus unless the camera is switched on, as the lens needs power to move the elements. Not sure this could ever be an issue for most people.

I'd say its not a big issue, unless its something you use a lot then don't worry about it.

This thread might be of use (I haven't actually read it)
http://forums.dpreview​.com/forums/post/41738​612

Will check that out, I dont think it will be much of an issue for me as the previous lenses I have work off the same principle. I can see how the USM lenses could be quite handy in that respect though. Thanks for taking the time to explain that. Learning every day!!...

Found a cheat here on how to get full time manual focus:

http://www.youtube.com …eyc9bj5zyko&v=m​qalApchRTA

No problem. As I've said, having owned the 15-85 and other lenses (including L lenses) I would still take the STM lens as a walkabout without hesitation, based on your price range and needs.
It's also the better lens if you expect to do hand held video, in a camcorder style, as this is what it was designed for.

dave_bass5 wrote in post #15697651
No problem. As I've said, having owned the 15-85 and other lenses (including L lenses) I would still take the STM lens as a walkabout without hesitation, based on your price range and needs.
It's also the better lens if you expect to do hand held video, in a camcorder style, as this is what it was designed for.

Some might miss the wider 15mm..

FrostMonolith wrote in post #15697839
Some might miss the wider 15mm..

Yes, of course. There is no perfect lens, that's why we have to buy so many of the bloody things lol.

dave_bass5 wrote in post #15698000
Yes, of course. There is no perfect lens, that's why we have to buy so many of the bloody things lol.

Depends on use hahaha

FrostMonolith wrote in post #15698130
Depends on use hahaha

Yeah. It depends on the use but there will always be a time when a different lens would have been better. Pain in the ass sometimes lol.