Lenses > Canon Lenses > Wide-angle zoom lens > Wide-angle lens > $800 - $1,000

Advantages: compact, light wiehgt, ideal for beginners
Disadvantages: no IS

this lense comes with the CANON EOS 400d camera as a kit. if you are starting out or woning your first SLR camera, this is pretty much the basic camera and the lense to practice your shots. after using this lense, you will be able to determine what you need and what you want in a lense. its pretty ideal to start with the basics so you will know what you want next. FOCAL LENGTH AND MAX APERTURE: 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 FOCUS ADJUSTMENT: inner focusing ... Read review

Advantages: lightweight, quality, price
Disadvantages: none

...popularity of it amongst photographers. Olympus is a highly trusted brand and with good reason. They consistently produce high-quality products at very competitive prices, and this lens is no different. It produces clean, sharp and crisp images every time and what is unique about it is its macro capability that will make this lens the all in one solution for a great deal of photographers. it is nice and light at just 1.4 pounds in weight, which ... Read review

Advantages: Crisp zoom, great price
Disadvantages: Not good in low light

...lens that came with the Sony a300 kit was not enough for what I wanted. For the money, this is a great lens. I can really zoom into objects and get a pretty clear, precise photo. I was surprised as to how well this worked, considering the low price that I had paid for it. It is a bit heavier than the standard lens, but all in all, the weight is not much of an issue (I believe it weighs about 1.2 lbs). Auto-focusing on close objects can be a bit ... Read review

Advantages: Gets you close enough to objects; good on all Canon cameras 58mm
Disadvantages: Requires a good amount of sunlight

...and use it with my Canon XTi. The lens zoom goes from 75 - 300 and the F stops from 4 - 5.6. I usually use a various filters with this lens such as a Polarizer filter. the lens is 58mm in diameter. Main usage for this lens is for objects that are in the distance but not too far. I use it a lot for photography of birds, butterflies and such which are moving or sitting still. I do find that the lens requires plenty of sunlight to capture the object ...
...Pictures usually come out clear - I know this has to do with the lens and not the camera as I have 2 other lenses I use on this camera without any clarity issues. I paid about $75 for this lens which is much lower than the retail price that starts around $150. No problems with it's functionality. ... Read review

Advantages: f1.8 at 50mm, well made, large focus ring
Disadvantages: No autofocus motor

...in the camera body. My Nikon D40x doesn't have a motor and as such I need to focus manually with this lens, something I can live with. It only becomes difficult when the children start moving around quickly. Th focus ring is large unlike the 18-55mm lens and this makes manual focusing unproblematic. Build quality It is light, has a slightly plasticy feel to it, but it is definitely well made and at that price no one can complain. Why ...
...Image quality is excellent and I can see no distortion. Conclusion It is well made, has a super aperture size at 50mm, has a nice large focussing ring, produces excellent results and is cheap. It should be on every Nikon owner's shopping list and I recommend it unreservedly. ... Read review