de ja vous

30D with 18/55mm
Judging by this shot would you agree that the lens is of a decent optical quality ?

Well I think it is

maybe not

What do you think?
Does it do what you want it to?
A lens is only a means of taking a photograph.
Can you take the sorts of photographs you want with it?
It will not be the best for every thing
Nor will it be the worst.

You can not judge the quality of a lens from a couple of shots that it may or may not be best suited for.

Over time and a few hundreds of photographs, Judge for your self.

I think the lens is good enough, I have read many posts since purchasing the camera, I was given the 18/55 mm f3.5 f5.6 by a photographer friend along with a centon 500mm (which I am told isn't a very good lens at all ) but I am sure I will enjoy what I get from it now I have read a few reports on it and not to expect too much from it.
The main reason I posted the pic was to hopefully recieve a reply that would maybe tell me that the sharpness is acceptable etc, or not.
I have taken on board what you have said.
Thanks for the reply.

I don't think that the images you posted would tell me if that lens is sharp or not. Post other images with this lens of like outside or people. It may help to see what it can do.

You need to know (I think you do) that its not the lens that makes a good shot. The lens is just one of the tools you use for a good shot.

Back to your images you posted.
In the second shot, the flames are blown out. Did I just make a really dumb joke, if I did don't tell me.

Ok I won't
thanks for the reply

The sharpness of a lens varies with the aperture. When wide open, most lenses are the least sharp that they will be throughout the openings. Generally speaking a lens is sharpest somewhere between two and three stops DOWN from maximum. The best way to determine at what aperture a lens is sharpest is to tack a newspaper on the wall, light it with two tungsten lights one on either side at a 45 dgeree angle, use a hand held meter and adjust your shutter speed until you get an aperture that is the same as your lens is at its widest opening. Mount the camera on a tripod, use a cable release (or timer) focus carefully and make one exposure at each aperture setting while making the needed exposure adjustments using the shutter speed. After finishing, load all of them in Photoshop and enlarge them up to 400% or so. You should be able to easily tell at what aperture the lens is sharpest.

Benji

Thanks Benji, much appreciated. My new 30D has been wrapped for xmas day it is purgatory. But I shall do the newspaper test once the wrapping has been RIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPED off.

Dilligaf wrote in post #2425505
Thanks Benji, much appreciated. My new 30D has been wrapped for xmas day it is purgatory. But I shall do the newspaper test once the wrapping has been RIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPED off.

You know that you don't have to wait for Christmas day. Christmas Eve you get to open one, its not much of a help. But if I had a 5D, 30D or a 20D under that tree, one day for me would help.

Then you can take shots of others on Christmas day. Good luck on picking out the right one to open first. It shouldn't be hard though, we all know the size of the box and how much it weighs.

You may have done what I have in the past. I get what I need and put from santa on it. Nobody ever gets you what you really want. Even though you leave photos, flyers and coupons for it all over the house.

WOW that just made me think of a present I got from an old GF, it was a plastic wallet. She tried to tell me its not plastic.

For sure pagefile....... as soon as that clock strikes midnight I will be ripping the paper off