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First, sharpness. All modern lenses use where it might be subjected to a majority of them. The short end
are designed using CAD (Computer thousands of lens changes and rough of the focal length is excellent for
Aided Design). This plus modern handling. landscapes and group shots and the
manufacturing techniques and tele end is satisfactory if not perfect
materials ensure that it is very difficult Kit lenses have usually close focussing for portraits. In essence, even this
to get an unsharp lens these days! capabilities better than prime lenses of limited range covers a great many
The kit lenses are perfectly capable of similar focal lengths. This means that situations normally encountered by a
capturing images that can make prints they can give a magnification of around majority of photographers, especially
up to 12 X 18 inches. Honestly, how 1:4 or about 25% of life size. While this those who are starting. However, if
many times have you printed larger is not bad, it is also not true macro. If your photography needs focal lengths
than that and how often? And if you you shoot closer than this often then beyond what is available, then you have
use images mostly for the Net, then, be think of some low cost accessories like to go for additional lenses. Also, resist
assured that a typical kit lens is more extension tubes or close up lenses (also the temptation to use tele-converters
than capable for that purpose. called close up filters). on kit lenses as the results will be
poor and you will most likely lose AF
Every lens has distortion and this is Once again, to keep the costs down function.
true even for very expensive ones. and size small, kit lenses have a limited
In most cases this is not a major zoom range, roughly three times for Finally, the lens speed. Though the
problem (for landscapes, other work wide-angle end of most kit lenses
involving nature, etc.). Moreover, you starts at a decent f/3.5, the speed at
can easily correct the distortion in Picture 3: You can make out that the mount is made the telephoto end drops to a rather
post-processing. All leading software of polycarbonate due to its black colour (left). Metal slow f/5.6. It is even worse in a few kit
mounts are in shining metal.
programs like Lightroom, Photoshop lenses. This has a two fold
have lens profiles built in and when effect. First, it limits your
applied, these will correct for distortion capability to photograph
fully with just one click! in low light. True, you can
increase the ISO but this
Kit lenses, to lower costs, are will have a corresponding
constructed mostly of polycarbonates, negative impact on
including the mount (Picture 3). the image quality. The
This type of construction is perfectly other solution is to use a
capable of normal use and lens tripod but this may not
interchanges that an amateur may be possible everywhere
subject it to over its life time. However, – say a museum or night
it may not withstand hard professional photography in streets
(Picture 4).

Second, the tele-end
of a kit lens is mostly
used for portraits.
Here, an aperture of
f/5.6 will not blur the
background enough
due to the large depth
of field (DOF) causing
distractions.

Picture 4: A low light street
scene. This was a photograph
taken with a prime lens set to
an aperture of f/1.8. If a kit lens
was used, then the maximum
aperture would be f/3.5. This
is a 1.7 stop advantage and
translates to an ISO increase Smart Photography
of around 3½ times more thus February 2018
greatly increasing noise in a
situation like this.

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