Definitely still a "kit" lens, but works well
922516
Definitely still a "kit" lens, but works well. It came fast and in great condition. Not the king of all lenses, obviously, but gets the job done for what I need it for!
3131009
I primarily bought this set for the polarizing filter, which works well. I'm new to photography, so I've never used expensive filters to compare to. But it seems the polarizing filter does what it's supposed to and I haven't noticed a loss in image quality. The macro lenses were a bonus and they are fun to use for closeup shots. Stacking up all four macro lenses I'm able to get more than 1:1 magnification. The UV and fluorescent filters are useless though. Overall I think this is a decent quality accessory kit for the money, especially for an entry-level photographer on a budget.
4158596
I wanted a low cost interchangeable lens solution. This is it.

I am willing to forgive a lot, and there are better solutions out there, but they all cost much more than I can afford at this time.

Now I want to try manual lenses with this as I am an old school photographer, from the 60's and 70's. I like the feel of focusing it myself, adjusting the aperture myself and making the picture tell the story better. The kit lens has some of that but works better in auto mode.
1967138
I've shot with all types of lenses from prime to zoom. From the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S ED VR II to the Zeiss 50mm F/1.4 ZF.2* Planar T* for Nikon and I will say I enjoy shooting with this kit lens.  It doesn't do great macro work but I don't expect it to.  For all intensive purposes I've really enjoyed it. Although, the rating says four stars, I give it 4 1/2 not quite a 5 star rating.  Most of the pictures I've taken have been with this faithful lens. I wouldn't buy it if it didn't come with my camera but if you're just starting out it is a good lens to have.
1120081
This lens came with my D7100, for a "kit" lens, its very good. It is superior in most ways to the standard 18-55, but Im not sure I would justify spending the money on it, if you already have a 18-55. For a kit lens im very happy with it, but considering the fact that for the same price you can get a 50mm 1.4G or 85mm 1.8, its kind of hard to justify spending on.

DOF can be good depending on the focus point and distance, ive had some that turn out great if your not zoomed way out, but otherwise its eh. The best thing about this lens is the length of the lens, very all around, general purpose lens.
1723345
I bought this lens when it was on sale for $149.  As of this writing, the lowest price is $159 from an Amazon partner, and Amazon's own price is back up to the full retail of $249.  For $149, this lens was a great buy and I'm very happy with it.  I don't know if I'd spend $249 for it, though.  Nikon has offered this lens in the past at $149 when purchased with a new Nikon camera, but this was the first time I had seen it sold separately at that price.

What I like about it, besides the price:  it's light for a telephoto lens, it's not much longer than the 18-55mm Nikon kit lens, and the zoom action is smooth.  It comes with a lens cap, rear lens cover, lens hood, and a cloth case.  As others have pointed out, it's mostly plastic, and it has a plastic lens mount, but at this price point, that's to be expected and it is part of the reason that the lens is so light.

What I don't like:  as expected, low-light performance isn't the best.  Be prepared to crank up the ISO and/or use a flash for inside shots.  Of course, a lot of people won't want to use a telephoto for interior shots, although I've used this lens for some portraits and macro shots.  Outside, in brighter light, there aren't any issues.

Image quality is quite good for what is basically a kit lens, and when combined with the 18-55mm lens, you're ready to cover a range of distances.  I'd eventually like to get the 18-200mm Nikon lens, but at almost $900, that's not on my list of immediate purchases, so this lens was a good way for me to get telephoto ability without breaking the bank.
297565
I replaced the kit lens on my Pentax K100D with this. I really like this lens as a general purpose indoor lens. I use it mainly for family photos and have been pleased with the results.
643298
Being a camera junkie, I picked up some used EF lenses at a local estate sale recently and this little jewel was among them.  I grabbed this one thinking it might be good for doing low light portrait work and boudoir photography, and after one weekend of experimenting with it, this little thing is tailor-made for those situations.  It may not be an ideal outdoor landscape lens, but I don't think Canon ever intended for it to be.

I have an workhorse T2i and a T4i that I use quite a bit and have shot with virtually every version of the EOS cameras through the years - from film on into the digital era, so I've thankfully accumulated a decent number of lenses.  The points I like about this lens are simple, it has a metal mounting base so it doesn't feel as "cheap" as a lot of EF lenses, and the build quality on the one I got really seems quite good.  It produces tack-sharp portrait-type shots with muted and soft backgrounds, and that's exactly what I expected it would do.  The natural comparison is how well does it stand up against the Canon 50mm "Nifty Fifty" lens that we all know and love?  Actually, this "obsolete" 28mm job is (in my opinion) just as good or better than the 50mm, and I'll have to do more experiments with lighting, but I expect it'll be able to produce some more dramatic effects with a bit of practice.

As others have stated, using it on the digital EOS cameras, calling it a "wide angle" lens is almost laughable, as the wide angle effect it might've originally produced is pretty well non-existent.  Still, it you like, screw a cheapo Newer wide angle adapter onto this thing and it'll pull in the whole room and open up a whole world of tricks.  Over all I HIGHLY RECOMMEND PICKING UP ONE OF THESE IF YOU CAN FIND ONE - this is a valuable little tool in my arsenal of lenses and I seriously like this one.
118150
I bought this product a few days ago and have played with it a little with my Canon T3 and 50mm f/1.8 lens.  I knew before-hand that I wouldn't have automatic aperture control and I'd have to set it before putting the tubes on, but sadly I have not figured out how exactly to do this even after setting it as a custom function for the Set button.  Not a problem with the product, but it is what it is.  The product seems to screw on to both ends just fine as long as you line up the dots on both parts and seems to keep a pretty solid seal.  The depth of field is ridiculously narrow, so know that going in.

Here's the one example I've gotten so far: [...]
2510048
I am very happy with this lens, not RAVING MAD happy, but satisfyingly pleased.  I'm going to try to make this review as balanced and objective as possible.

I've been using the lens for about a month now, at home and on vacation (so it's been quite a lot of pictures woohoo).  I've used it in many situations, some of which you might say the lens is not made for, but I'm just trying to give an all-around review in as many scenarios as possible.  Here's how the lens, in my opinion, plays out.

THE GOOD:
- Excellent general purpose lens.
- 30mm focal length creates a wide enough angle for most situations.
- Images are pretty contrasty and pleasing.
- Reasonably sharp in good and even mediocre light.  And for the casual photographer (like myself), it's more than sharp enough, especially considering the breadth of its applications.
- The 1.4 maximum aperture is GREAT for low light situations and can also be used to blur out the backgrounds of photos to accentuate the subject (however, see portraits in "The Bad")
- The HSM focusing mechanism works well with my camera and is reasonably fast.  (Faster than my 18-55mm, but noticeably slower than my other Nikon primes)
- The focus ring is just stiff enough.  You'll be holding it often, so the stiffness helps keep you from manually focusing when you don't need to.
- In my opinion the lens looks pretty stylin' on the camera haha.

THE BAD:
- I would not advise using this lens for portraits if you are serious about it.  The angle of view requires you to move close to your subject and sadly stretches out his/her face.  For portraits, please use the 50mm or longer.  (however, if you're shooting 3 people at a dinner table, it's totally fine)
- Can't focus very close, making macro work difficult.
- No Auto/Manual focus switch on the lens (must be switched in the camera.
- Sometimes (and this is in practice) the lens fails to focus well in low light situations, make sure the lens cap is off.
- The rear lens cap is terrible, throw it away and buy a Nikon one.

OVERALL:
This lens can be summed up in two words: GENERAL PURPOSE, don't forget that, GENERAL PURPOSE.  Don't expect super stellar pictures, but I'd say this lens is indispensable for traveling and general photography.  It's awesome performance in low light is especially great for people who hate the destructive effects of the on-camera flash.  Hope this helps :)
3264665
Had the kit 75-300mm and it wasn't great. Have only used this lens a few times but am very happy with my purchase. Getting better shots with this lens and I really enjoy using it. Shipping was quick and the item arrived in excellent condition.
2581867
I'm giving this 4 stars because it's pretty much exactly what I expected. A good entry level telephoto lens. I've used this lens both with a tripod and without, and I really haven't had a problem with blurring at the longest focal length - you just need to plant yourself somehow, hold your breath, and think about what you're doing. This is at ISO 400 in full sun. I wouldn't recommend 100 without a tripod.

My biggest gripe would be that the manual focus is almost impossible - it grinds hard and forces big jumps. But so far, this hasn't come up.

Is this the best lens? No. Is this the best lens for the price? Absolutely.  I'd recommend this lens to anyone who wants to add a telephoto to their kit but doesn't want to drop $400. If you've got the bucks, go with the IS. If you don't, this is a very good glass.
3124266
I purchased this for use with a Nikon D3300, and am very impressed with the lens (especially for this price), but there are a few minor issues with it.

Overall, the lens produces good pictures throughout the zoom range (although it suffers somewhat in low light condition), and the VR makes it possible to hand-hold the camera with some pretty low shutter speeds without blurring the image. Since the lens is fairly light and relatively small, it's easy to use and doesn't make the camera too bulky or heavy.

At the 200mm end of the zoom, I noticed some vignetting under certain lighting conditions, but it's pretty mild and only appears occasionally. The manual focus ring is small and requires very little effort to rotate, so manually focusing can be somewhat frustrating. There isn't a zoom lock on this lens, but the amount of work required to change the zoom strikes a good balance between being easily adjustable and stiff enough not to "creep" under most circumstances.

The autofocus works well most of the time and is reasonably quick, but even in excellent lighting it seems to occasionally (maybe 1 out of 50 pictures) have trouble finding the initial focus for fast moving or distant objects, and would spend about 2 seconds running the focus from stop to stop before finding the proper focus.
3898260
Got this as a birthday gift for myself as I can't really afford any of the L lens as of the moment. I primarily got this as I noticed I'm shooting within this range from my kit lens.

First of all, it's really tight when putting on my SL1. A bit of vignetting on f/2.8. And due to its size, you may tend to operate your APS-C camera by one hand, doing so will really affect the photo output due to the absence of IS, but with two hands, the images produced are very sharp.

This lens made me decide that I want to focus more on landscape photography. It may not be an ultra wide angle lens but compared to my EF 50mm f/1.8, the pancake is wide.

See some of the photos I took with the lens in my flickr account: flickr.com/photos/anthonyromblon
606592
I've had this lens for a few months now, but waited to review it until I'd had a chance to really put it through it's paces. Got to do that a week ago in Tucson at Pima Air Museum. I use to use the older Sigma 10-20 f/4.5-5.6, and loved it! But, there were times when I wished I had just a bit more wide.  I've included 2 photos from the trip (compression killed the sharpness). The side view is at 16mm, the nose on is 8mm.

To me, it seems overall sharpest from 10-16mm. At 8-9mm, the center is still sharp, but there is some fall off the further out you get. mind you, at the widest, I tend to be really close to my subject, so some falloff makes sense. Used at 8mm, but to a further subject, the DOF is deeper.

This lens (like all UWAs) really aren't for everyone. They take some getting used to so you don't end up with comical distortion. If you are willing to take the time to practice with this lens, and learn to use it, it can be pretty awesome!
375040
I mainly use prime lenses but my longest lens maxes out at 85mm.  So when I saw this lens 250mm (similar to 400mm on full-frame) with a reasonable price, I grabbed it.

The colors are rendered well, the IS works like a charm.

Note - this is an EF-S lens so you won't be able to use it on a full-sensor camera body later - only on the cropped-sensor cameras like the Rebel XTi.

My reason for not giving it 5 stars is that it occasionally gets confused while focusing.  (I use spot-focus mostly - perhaps that has something to do with it.)  If it happens, I zoom back to 55mm, focus, and then re-zoom, focus and it's all set.

While I haven't had it for long yet, I was able to get some very nice photos with this lens - one close-up shot all the way down a church aisle of someone performing at the other end in front of the church at night, close-up shots of bees in flight, dragonflies, etc.

The front element rotates but I would never think of using a polarizer on a zoom lens like this since you've already lost a lot of light.

Am I happy I bought it?  Absolutely.
2547502
The only thing that I was disappointed with, is that 1.7x really isn't that much of an enhancement.  I should have done the math.  If you are standing 100 feet away from something, a 1.7 zoom factor will make it seem as if you are standing about 60 feet away (58.82 feet to be more precise).  That's only about 40 feet closer.

I was expecting a psychological "Wow" instead of an "Oh... OK.".  But that's no fault of the lens.  This lens is high quality.  It comes with a heavy cloth pouch, end caps, and a large rubber lens hood.  The hood looks cheap, but it does the job - so I'm not complaining.  It keeps stray light off the lens, and because it is relatively large, I imagine that it also will keep the lens dry in a light drizzle.  That's always a plus.

I've heard people complain about vignetting (darkness near the outer edges) when fully zoomed out.  There is just a tinge of vignetting in the corners on my HDR-HC7.  It is barely noticeable - so I'm quite pleased because although I was prepared and willing to put up with vignetting, I was happy to discover it to be minimal.

Because this lens will not bring me significantly closer to my subject, I will probably not use it as often as I had imagined.  But I'm glad to have it in my gadget bag because I know that sometimes, it will be just what I need.