Canon RF-S 18-45mm F/4.5-6.3 IS STM

Canon introduced this lens in 2022, and it remains in production. It is made for the RF-S mount on APS-C mirrorless cameras. The 18–45mm range takes in a wide view for rooms, groups and streets, then tightens to a short telephoto for portraits and detail shots. For a new APS-C body owner, it makes a straightforward first zoom.

That spread suits travel and everyday photography, where one light lens covers most frames without swaps. The main trade-off is speed. The maximum aperture opens to f/4.5 at 18mm and falls to f/6.3 at 45mm. The lens therefore favours daylight and lit interiors over dim evening scenes.

The lens weighs just 4.6 oz (130 g) and measures 2.71 in (68.9 mm) wide by 1.74 in (44.3 mm) long. It adds little bulk to a small mirrorless body. The front takes 49mm screw-in filters, so any filter you buy must match that thread.

At 18mm the wide end fits hotel rooms, dinner tables and tight streets, keeping whole scenes in frame. At 45mm you can tighten on a single person or a market stall detail. This span covers a day of casual shooting without lens changes.

The aperture is the working limit. At f/4.5 wide and f/6.3 at the long end, handheld evening shots need high ISO. In daylight the setting rarely restricts you. Depth of field also stays deep at these openings, so portraits keep busy backgrounds fairly sharp rather than melting them away.

Close focusing reaches 0.7 ft (20 cm), so you can lean in on food, flowers or shop goods. The maximum magnification of 0.16x means small subjects still record at modest size on the sensor.

Zoom position also changes perspective. Near 18mm you must step close to fill the frame, which exaggerates depth between foreground and background. Near 45mm you stand farther back, which flattens a portrait's features more gently.

The built-in image stabilisation helps reduce blur from camera shake at slower shutter speeds. That matters most near 45mm, where the f/6.3 opening can push shutter speeds down in shade or indoors. Steadier handheld frames let you keep ISO lower in those conditions.

The stabilisation also helps when you lean in near the 0.7 ft (20 cm) close-focus limit, where small movements show clearly at that scale.

The feature set is otherwise thin. There is no weather sealing, so keep the lens out of rain and blowing dust. The front element also lacks a fluorine coating, so nothing helps repel water or oil, and there is no zoom lock.

The optical package is simple: seven elements in seven groups. Canon includes aspherical elements in the design. Their specially shaped surfaces help correct optical faults, including distortion that can curve straight edges. That correction is most useful for wide interior and street shots, where straight lines fill the frame. Such a straightforward build suits a lens meant to stay small and light.