18-55 IS Kit comes with a Canon t5i but what all is it ?

[xcaret]

I'm thinking of ordering a Canon T5i from the airmiles people ,and all the cameras offered have the same lens , a (18-55 IS Kit ). What is it ?? I gather it's a zoom but can you unzoom it to regular focus? Is it worth the time of day ? I only am interested in still photos of scenes and a person in them in the foreground. I dont want video or sound or anything else ..
Does anyone know if this camera has anti shake ,or what ever it's called . The specs dont mention it . Or is it in the lense ?

[Franglais]

I think you need to get a few basic terms straight:

- Zoom is the ability to change the view of the lens. So say you're standing 10 feet from a wedding group and you want to "get them all in". You use the lens at a wide-angle setting (18mm in this case). Then you see the bride is about to kiss the groom so without moving you "zoom in" and just include the two central people by using the lens at a telephoto setting (55mm in this case).
- Focus is having the bride and groom sharp in our example and the church in the background blurry. All lenses do this on instruction from the camera which takes it's instruction from - you (you tell the camera what to focus on or just let it figure out for itself).

The "18mm" and "55mm" that I mentioned are focal lengths. Often people talk about the "power" of a lens by the ratio between the two extremes - 3x in this case, which is pretty modest compared with 20x compacts. You won't be doing any birdwatching with this lens. However unlike compacts you can change the lens. With a DSLR (like the T5i) you get superior image quality and the ability to adapt the camera to just about any situation with the right accessories.

Anti-shake (IS in Canon terms) is a mechanism to limit blurred caused by you moving the camera during a long exposure in low light. In the Canon system it's not built into the camera but into (some) lenses. The 18-55 has it.

[Photo-John]

The T5i is a good camera. However, it's almost exactly the same as its predecessor, the T4i. I realize you're talking about ordering it from a rewards vendor. But you should probably take a look at prices on the T4i before you pull the trigger. That's what I did. Immediately after I wrote our announcement article on the T5i, I started shopping and in about a week I bought the T4i kit with the 18-135mm STM zoom lens for about $400 less than it was selling for a year ago. It's got the same sensor, video, speed and touchscreen LCD display as the T5i so why not save a few hundred dollars? Here's my T5i announcement article, if you want to know more:

Canon Announces Slightly Updated EOS Rebel T5i / 700D & New 18-55mm STM Kit Lens >>

Also - I'd highly recommend getting the 18-135mm IS STM lens. It's built better and has better optics than the 18-55mm kit lenses. Also - the STM designation is also important. It means the lens was made for video, with silent focus and faster video mode continuous auto focus with the T4i and T5i. If you don't care about video it won't matter. But if you're planning to use the camera for movies, definitely make sure you get an STM lens. Right now there are only three - the latest 18-55mm, the 18-135mm, and the 40mm f/2.8.