You can check out this YouTube livestream I did with Jimmy Cheng at RED35 where we talk A LOT about kit lenses and get some interesting insights and preferences from the people watching.
There is no one-size-fits-all standard zoom for everyone, and while a kit lens will be fine for some users, others might need to move on or use something different.
So here’s a quick set of thoughts from me on kit lenses, whether they are worth it, what to look for and when to upgrade:
- Getting a camera and a kit lens as a bundle is way cheaper than buying a body and a lens separately. Even if that lens might not have been your first choice, it may add comparatively little to the cost of the camera and will be worth having anyway.
- For those just starting out, a kit lens is ideal. It will offer a useful zoom range to try out some different subjects and get a feel for what you’re interested in. The quality might not be the best, though very often kit lenses are better than they are given credit for.
- If you think you need to upgrade your kit lens, work out first what’s wrong with the one you’ve got. Does it not go ‘wide’ enough, do you need longer focal lengths, do you need a faster or a constant-aperture zoom for low light? Do you just want better optical quality? Get a clear idea of what problem you want to fix before just buying a ‘better’ lens.
- Don’t sacrifice size and portability if that’s important to you. For example, the Olympus 12-100mm f/4 Pro lens is better than the Olympus EZ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens for zoom range, aperture, stabilization and image quality – pretty much everything on a photographer’s wish list. Except portability. If you want a camera you can fit in a coat pocket and won’t get you noticed in a crowd, the cheaper 14-42mm kit lens can go places and shoot things the bigger lens can’t.
- Maybe you need additional lenses instead? Perhaps one or two extra lenses, such as an ultra-wideangle or a telephoto? These do jobs that no standard zoom can, even the most expensive.
If you follow this site you may have seen my rant about why kit lenses are getting worse. Most kit lenses are great, but there’s a new trend among full frame camera makers to bundle kit lenses with ridiculous 2x zoom ranges and slow maximum apertures just to makes them compact and portable. Even these, however, are better than nothing – but you’ll probably be shopping for extra lenses pretty soon!