GEAR SUPERTEST
For a grand day out with your camera, a standard zoom gives the ideal balance of versatility and good performance. Here are the best budget buys
Let’s face it, most of us shoot with a standard zoom lens for most of the time, so it pays to have a good one. But just how good does it need to be and how much do you have to spend? Many of us can’t stretch the budget to the likes of the RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS USM or EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, with price tags of around £/$2,000, and wouldn’t want to use such a relatively big and heavy lens for everyday shooting anyway.
Pretty much every Canon camera body is sold as a ‘kit’ option, with a standard zoom, apart from the top-flight EOS 1D X Mark III DSLR and EOS R3 mirrorless cameras. These tend to be more attractive in compactness and affordability, and many of them are very fine lenses, especially in the full-frame camp.
The APS-C format EOS R10 is often sold with the RF-S 18-45mm lens, and the RF-S 18-150mm is the only real native alternative. But the latter is more of a ‘superzoom’ lens rather than a standard zoom, with an effective 28.8-240mm zoom range. For DSLRs as well as for mirrorless cameras with a mount adapter, there’s a lot more choice, so you can pick something that best suits you, opting for a really compact lens, or something with a bigger zoom range, or perhaps with a relatively fast and constant f/2.8 aperture.
Whichever you go for, there are some great budget-friendly buys to be had. We’ve picked eight top budget buys as the main contenders in this super test.
CANON RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM £339/$299
Unfeasibly compact and lightweight, this retractable lens shrinks down really small for stowage
Ideally matched to the really compact EOS R10, this lens retracts to just 44mm or less than two inches, so you can easily pop the camera and lens into your daily bag. It’s a good way of making sure you never miss a shot. It’s amazingly lightweight as well, at 130g, being little more than half the weight of the EF-S 18-55mm on test, to give a sense of perspective.
The downsizing and weight loss come in part from a modest zoom range, equating to 28.8-72mm in full-frame terms, and a fairly narrow aperture rating that shrinks from f/4.5 at the shortest zoom setting to f/6.3 at the long end.
Even so, there’s a lot packed into this little lens. It features an agile stepping motor autofocus system and 4-stop optical image stabilization, which is ramped up to 6.5-stop effectiveness when combined with the in-body stabilization of the EOS R7.
The optical line-up includes two aspherical elements to enhance image quality and reduce the overall size, and Canon’s longstanding Super Spectra Coating, to minimise ghosting and flare. Whereas EF-S lenses aren’t compatible with full-frame DSLRs, you can use this and other RF-
