Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
Customer Ratings: 5 stars
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The short version: If you plan on shooting any video with the Rebel T4i, this is the lens you want to buy first.

The long version: While the new video autofocus feature on the Rebel T4i will work with any Canon autofocus lens, the 18-135mm STM focuses quickly and silently, unlike the 18-55mm lens in the other kit. The 18-55 has a noisy, slow focus motor that constantly 'hunts' for focus while taking video, and the whirring of the non-STM motor is easily picked up by the built-in microphones. It doesn't sound so bad in the field, but once you playback your video clips, it's magnified a great deal, making the audio nearly useless for any serious work. But even with recording Audio separately, the constant focus blur makes the video completely useless anyway, so you may ask yourself why the T4i has any video capability at all.

Enter the 18-135mm STM. Not only is the STM motor virtually silent, it's fast enough to keep focus while you shoot (well, depending on the speed of the target, of course. No lens can work miracles.) This is the lens all those gorgeous sample videos on the Canon website were taken with, and with good reason.

Now, there are certainly better Canon lenses for still photography--this isn't even an "L" series lens--but for video work on the T4i, it's hard to beat. It is also both quicker to focus and quieter than the other STM lens currently on the market, the 40mm STM pancake. (I can barely hear the 40mm focus, but the 18-135mm really is next to silent.)

My recommendation for anyone looking to purchase the Rebel T4i/650D is to insist on the 18-135mm kit and forget the 18-55mm kit. I wish I had. Not that the 18-55 is a horrible lens--it's a decent starter kit lens for still shots. But at the time of this writing, the 18-135mm STM lens is nearly impossible to find by itself--and it lists on the Canon site for $549 when they do have it in stock. So you can either pay the $250 premium for the 18-135 kit over the 18-55 kit, or pay $550 later when you realize the 18-55 won't "do for now" until you can afford the 18-135 STM lens, if you want to take advantage of the video autofocus of the T4i. I suggest the 18-135 kit, plus another $199 for the 40mm STM pancake. That will give you a good solid pair of lenses to get started with, while you save up for an L-series telephoto.

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