****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I'm doing what I don't like when others do it --leaving a review soon after buying the product. But, I have let too many things go unreviewed due to waiting for a decent trial period.The lens is very thoroughly reviewed on dpreview.com. Based on my limited experience with it, I agree with their conclusions. And based on what it does (18mm - 250mm), it does very well, and according to dpreview, is probably the best of all similar lenses. But a lens that like this that 'does it all' does require some compromise.If you take certain photographs, under certain conditions, and at specific camera settings, you may notice the lens distortion (eg, lens at 18mm with pronounced horizontals verticals in the image, etc.). I really have not noticed distortion, aberation, fuzziness, etc. in the 'regular' photographs I have taken. I suppose I will eventually, but hey, I get to walk around with a wide angle and a pretty long zoom in one package that takes nice photographs. Don't have to carry a bag with different lenses. But, this isn't to say that single purpose lenses are better in many/most situations. It's just that this lens offers everything in one package and is good enough for most casual photographs taken by me.This is a refurbished lens from Amazon's vendor, Beach Camera. It arrived quickly (faster than promised), and it appears as a new lens. Absolutely no sign of wear or dirt. If all refurbished products were this good, I would purchase them more often.The best thing you can do is find a sample gallery online of images taken with this lens (there is one at dpreview.com) and see if it's a good lens for you. I will attach an image taken with it, but I'm not sure at what resolution Amazon will post it. Taken with a Canon Rebel T2i. Shutter speed was 2500, Aperture was f10, ISO was 1600, and taken at 18mm focal length (so you can see the lens' distortion at its widest angle).All in all, I'm very happy with images from it so far.
