A lens this versatile will always have shortcomings but there are few. That stunning 18-200mm zoom range means this lens stays on the camera body almost all the time and if a situation calls for taking minimal gear, this is the lens that has the fun.

Priced at $780, the Canon EF-S 18-200mm IS is an archetypal vacation lens, offering the convenience of an 11x optical superzoom point-and-shoot digicam with the image quality of a Canon DSLR.

18-200 means it covers most situations from portraits and indoor shooting to sports fields. Great for travelling as it fits on-camera in most camera cases. Canon cameras with the 1.5x CCD such as the 500D mean this is really shooting 27 - 300mm. Very versatile.

Compact, lightweight and a wide magnification range - this standard zoom lens features a wide focal length range from normal to telephoto equivalent to 29-320mm in the 35mm format.. It features an Optical Image Stabilizer for up to 4-stops of effective correction even at full zoom.

Canon is often at the forefront of technological advances but for whatever reason they are the last of the Mohicans regarding their entrance into this specific market segment. This is insofar surprising because these affordable "super" zoom lenses are THE hot sellers in the entry-level segment with...

To sum up, the Canon 18-200mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 IS offers slightly better performance than we're accustomed to seeing with vacation lenses, with image stabilization thrown into a very portable form factor.

Huge 11x focal length range, ideal general purpose and travel lens ; Excellent image stabilization system, consistently delivering three to four stops benefit; Good central sharpness at all focal lengths (but inconsistent corners); Attractive rendition of out-of-focus regions of the image ; Improved build quality in comparison to the 18-55mm and 55-250mm kit lenses; Well-placed zoom lock switch ;

Poor sharpness across much of the frame at 18mm and wider apertures; Pronounced barrel distortion at wideangle, and pincushion distortion around 50mm; High levels of chromatic aberration at either end of the zoom range;