Cheap, but effective: Your Consumer Kit Lens

Challenge #5 in the Unpretentious series. Hosted by emccrory.

Challenge has finished

My Canon EF-S 18-55 IS kit lens is the epitome of "unpretentious"! It does not have a red stripe, it is small, it is (essentially) free, and it takes entirely acceptable (and sometimes beautiful) pictures.

Submit your best picture taken with a consumer-quality kit lens. I define "Kit Lens" as your manufacturer's lowest-price, consumer quality zoom lens that includes the "normal" focal length (50mm for full-frame; approx 30mm for APC-C, 25 mm for 4/3's, etc.). See below.

Just because your lens was bundled with your body does not mean it qualifies--I own a Canon 7D, and when I bought it, the standard "kit" included the far-better-than-consumer-quality EF-L 24-70 f2.8 (which I could not, and cannot, afford). (For example, no Canon "L" lens or Nikkor "D" lenses qualify.)

Show full rules

Announced:

Saturday, 10th December, 2011 (GMT)

Submissions:

Saturday, 17th December, 2011 – Friday, 23rd December, 2011 (GMT)

Voting:

Saturday, 24th December, 2011 – Friday, 30th December, 2011 (GMT)

Processing rules:

No HDR or other significant PP
No non-photographic elements on the image, like borders and/or water marks

Capture date rules:

No restrictions.

Additional rules:

Picture must be taken with an interchangeable-lens camera and a low-end, consumer-quality zooming "kit lens" that includes the normal focal length (30mm on an APC-C sensor, 25mm on 4/3's, etc.). Low-end third-party lenses are acceptable. I'll use Amazon and B&H Photo to check your lens.
No prime lenses--only consumer-quality kit zooms.
If you have old equipment, please give a full explanation/justification that your lens is a kit lens in the description of your picture. I'll pass judgement on your entry based on your explanation.
Only images that you, yourself have taken.
You are asked only to submit photos that are honest to the equipment restrictions. Please don't make me disqualify you.

Maximum number of entries per user:

Maximum number of entries in challenge:

100

submission
phase has

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96 entries

voting
phase has

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950 votes

Voting results: 96 entries Slideshow of 7 5 Page: 4 Rows:

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Bat Colony on Ann Richards Congress Ave Bridge, Austin (TX)

73^rd

using 18-55 Kit @ Katara Dhow Exhibition

74^th

Entry has been withdrawn

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5 / 7

Sample entries

These entries were provided by the challenge host(s) as samples and cannot be voted on. Upload sample image.

Challenge comments

Total comments: 19

The host simply didn't put enough thought into this before going live.

Utterly ridiculous to exclude a kit lens like Nikon's extremely popular 18-105.

The challenge title says "consumer kit lens;" the Nikon 18-105 is a consumer kit lens, it's simply not the CHEAPEST consumer kit lens which Nikon offers.

If the point of the challenge is to shoot with a manufacturer's cheapest lens then why not stipulate that in the title and then provide a clear list?

In that case wouldn't it be interesting to see photos taken with Nikon's 35 or 50mm 1.8 Gs? But they're not KIT lenses, are they?

The poster should make up his mind; make it about kit lenses, or make it about cheapest currently available lenses.

Pointless to muddy the waters by combining both.

0 upvotes

I am interpreting the rules to say that you have to have used the cheapest kit lens in the family (or the cheapest third-party kit lens) that contains the "normal" focal length. The Nikkor 18-105 does not qualify, nor does any 18-135mm (or longer) zoom.

Of course, the 55-250mm class "kit" zooms don't qualify because they don't include the "normal" focal length.

The only lenses that qualify seem to be the 18-55mm zooms for APC, and the 14-42mm (or 14-45mm) zooms for 4/3's. Someone suggested to me that I call the challenge the "18-55mm kit zoom challenge"--that would have been clearer in some ways, but it would have implied an exclusion for the 4/3's folks.

Yes, I screwed up the Nikkor "D" thing. I have been educated on this now. :-)

Man, I have learned a lot from hosting this challenge! I intend to make a new challenge in January that includes a wider range of "kit" lenses.

0 upvotes

Thanks for posting here . . very happy to hear that you are learning from this experience. Please also visit the Challenge Discussion Forum, you can always ask for opinion and help on Challenge ideas you have in the future . . . even if you don't like the suggestions you receive it may give you food for thought.

0 upvotes

Very poorly written challenge rules.

The writer is requesting entrants know the very cheapest lens offered in kits — then he should do the research beforehand and list the lenses, rather than require entrants to do so. Certainly he does that afterward.

If he listed the qualifiers, then I could do a key-word search.

So the cheapest kit lens that comes on the Nikon D90, the 18-105 at $359, doesn't qualify?

Poorly written rules are very rude to the individuals who take time to enter.

Very rude. Very poor communications.

0 upvotes

Can we use a reverse-mounted kit lens in this challenge?

0 upvotes

Read the Description above . . it's not about kit lenses.

0 upvotes

why is the nikon 55-200 not "kit"? Limiting focal length is silly, you are controlling too many creative variables here.

This has a plastic mount, is cheap as all get-out, and is normally bundled with the 18-55.

0 upvotes

Maybe you should read the description at the top of the page . . . especially where it says

"includes the "normal" focal length (50mm for full-frame; approx 30mm for APC-C"

it's not about what Nikon call "kit" . . it's about what the Host calls "kit"

Comment edited 52 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

And if the Host's thinking is flawed (I"m putting this politely) and his definition unfair?

My advice to everyone is to ignore this and similarly careless challenges. That's the only way the quality of these challenges will improve.

1 upvote

Taken from the Description above . . . " I define "Kit Lens" as your manufacturer's lowest-price, consumer quality zoom lens that includes the "normal" focal length (50mm for full-frame; approx 30mm for APC-C, 25 mm for 4/3's, etc.)."

So each make of camera will have only 1 lens that can be used . . . by your definition, the lowest priced zoom that the manufacturer offers that includes 30/50mm . . . why don't you just provided the list of lenses that you are willing to accept ?

2 upvotes

Would make sense to me but the Host seems to assume that we are all very well versed in all the details of the on lenses, I tried to Google Nikon "D" without getting a clear answer. Although It seems that you and olyflier really know what being talked about.

0 upvotes

It is an interesting idea, and maybe what one must do in a challenge like this. But I did not want to exclude a perfectly appropriate lens just because I did not research deeply enough and find that rare camera's kit lens.

0 upvotes

Far from all Nikon D lenses are expensive or even near the quality of G lenses, so why do you DQ the D lenses by default? Would this mean that the Nikon 16-85 or 17-55 are qualified because they are not D lenses? Both are far more expensive than the 18-55. What about the Canon 15-85?

1 upvote

Only the lowest cost zoom lens offered by the camera manufacturer is acceptable . . . so for example any shots taken with Tamron or Sigma on a Canon or Nikon will be DQed . . .

0 upvotes

so i'm assuming you're looking for photos that are very difficult like macros, fast captures, DoF etc.

0 upvotes

Just to mention it:
A Nikkor 'D' lens only relays the distance of focus to the camera. Its a variant of the Nikon F mount and says nothing about the quality or price of a given lens and is in no way comparable to a Canon 'L' lens.
If you are setting rules, you should know what you are talking about...
Marc

2 upvotes

Not really. As far as I know, the "D" has nothing to do with distance. D lenses are older than G, D has aperture rings, G has not and the G lenses are better coated and better handle CA. That's about all. Otherwise I agree that the D has nothing to do with quality or price, and they are not pro just because they are D, just like there are professional and consumer G lenses.

0 upvotes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F-mount#Designations

"D — Distance. Indicated after the f-number in the name, and also occasionally designated AF-D. The lens electronically communicates focus distance information, which is incorporated into the camera's exposure calculations in 3D Matrix Metering mode, and also D-TTL and I-TTL flash autoexposure. All AF-I, AF-S, and G-type lenses are also D-type."

0 upvotes

>Not really. As far as I know, the "D" has nothing to do with distance.

Then you don't know much about Nikon lenses.
The distance information a 'D' Nikkor relays to the camera, is in 99% the only difference between most Nikkor AF and AF-D lenses. :))

> D lenses are older than G, D has aperture rings, G has not and the G lenses are better coated and better handle CA. That's about all.

Right about aperture ring, SOME G-Nikkors have better coating simply because they where designed a decade or more later, but I wouldn't bet at all on the CA issue.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 19

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