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Very fast and silent AF. No hunting around!

Started Apr 22, 2013 | User reviews
minircc New Member • Posts: 17
Very fast and silent AF. No hunting around!
1

I bought this lens as a kit with my 650d after testing many many lens. Technically this lens made me buy a canon body because initially had my heart set on a Nikon.

I find this lens focuses very fast regardless whether it is indoor, outdoor or low light. I don't like using the pop-up flash indoors and it also focuses great without the AF assist (which i find very annoying).

These were the lenses i played around with over many weeks:

- Canon 18-135mm STM (of course)

- Canon 18-135 IS (not much cheaper than STM lens and noticiably slower and louder)

- Nikon 18-105 VR (noticeably slower than STM and requires AF assist light)

- Sigma 18-250 OS Macro (didn't focus as well as STM in low light and hunted a lot)

- Tamron 18-270 VC (didn't focus as well as STM in low light and hunted a lot)

The images that come from the 18-135mm are very nice and sharp throughout the zoom range. Only 18mm needs improvement as straight lines can look a little curved, but from 22mm onwards it is brilliant!

All the lens above focus very fast in bright light, but I could really tell the difference in low light conditions.

I have been using it for over a week now and am very happy with it indeed!

Note. I only use my camera for still photos and not video.

 minircc's gear list:minircc's gear list
Canon EOS Rebel T4i Canon EF-S 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM
Canon EF-S 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM
Telephoto zoom lens • Canon EF-S • 6097B002
Announced: Jun 8, 2012
minircc's score
5.0
Average community score
4.8
Canon EF-S 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon EOS Rebel T4i (EOS 650D / EOS Kiss X6i)
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Lemming51
Lemming51 Forum Pro • Posts: 15,278
Nikon 18-105 ?

minircc wrote:

... These were the lenses i played around with over many weeks:

  • ...
  • - Nikon 18-105 VR (noticeably slower than STM and requires AF assist light)
  • ...

Unfair comparison as the Nikon's AF speed and AF Assist Light use is camera dependent, and is not a relevant alternative lens for EOS users.

-- hide signature --

Unapologetic Canon Apologist

 Lemming51's gear list:Lemming51's gear list
Canon EOS 40D Canon EF 50mm F1.8 II Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM +5 more
OP minircc New Member • Posts: 17
Re: Nikon 18-105 ?

Lemming51 wrote:

minircc wrote:

... These were the lenses i played around with over many weeks:

  • ...
  • - Nikon 18-105 VR (noticeably slower than STM and requires AF assist light)
  • ...

Unfair comparison as the Nikon's AF speed and AF Assist Light use is camera dependent, and is not a relevant alternative lens for EOS users.

Apologies, forgot to mention, i tested the Nikon 18-105 VR on the D5200, which was the original camera i wanted to buy.

The Tamron and Signma were also tested on both bodies and performed similar.

 minircc's gear list:minircc's gear list
Canon EOS Rebel T4i Canon EF-S 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM
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