Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens Test Photos & Review

The Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens is the basic lens that comes in the Canon EOS Rebel XTi 400D kit. There is currently no way to buy it new (there are the 18-55mm USM and the 18-55mm IS lenses that are available) -- but you can get it used and for a decent price on eBay.



The EF-S II 18-55mm lens is meant to be a beginner / novice lense, as the majority of the construction and the mount are plastic and there is not a sizable hold for manual focus, unless you add a lens hood. The good thing about the plastic design is that it does make the lens much lighter than metal construction. That makes it the perfect first camera lens for my me with my first DSLR camera.

Today while waiting for the Super Bowl I went and took a few more pictures with the camera. This time it was of Boney Peak -- also known as Mount Boney here in Newbury Park in the Point Mugu State Park. Approximate distance from the peak was four miles. I had some fun give that I was not using a camera tripod and there were some wind gusts up to 40mph as I caught a break between rain showers.

For the shooting -- I took some photos at 18mm, 24mm, 35mm, and 55mm -- the preset or notated focal lengths on the EF-S II 18-55mm lens. It is also important to remember that on the Rebel XTi and with the EF-S lens series there is a multiplier of 1.6 versus their standard full-frame lens. They were all taken in the fully automatic mode.

Below are the photos that I took in the order from 18mm to 55mm in which they were shot. Note that all pictures were shot in L size (10.1 megapixel, ~4MB), and no post processing was done to clean them up -- which is needed in this case. The full size pictures are reduced to 1600x1067 thanks to Google's Picasas while the 400x400 crops are at 100% maginification.

You can view full images by clicking on the image, the full size will open in a new browser window.

1. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 18mm focal length / 18mm / 3648 x 2736 / 4.00 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/13 / Exposure time 1/400 second


2. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 18mm focal length cropped to 400x400 / 18mm / 3648 x 2736 / 4.00 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/13 / Exposure time 1/400 second


3. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 24mm focal length / 24mm / 3648 x 2736 / 3.67 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/13 / Exposure time 1/400 second


4. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 24mm focal length cropped to 400x400 / 24mm / 3648 x 2736 / 3.67 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/13 / Exposure time 1/400 second


5. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 35mm focal length / 35mm / 3648 x 2736 / 3.52 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/14 / Exposure time 1/250 second


6. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 35mm focal length cropped to 400x400 / 35mm / 3648 x 2736 / 3.52 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/14 / Exposure time 1/250 second


7. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 55mm focal length / 55mm / 3648 x 2736 / 3.13 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/13 / Exposure time 1/320 second


8. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens @ Full Automatic 55mm focal length cropped to 400x400 / 55mm / 3648 x 2736 / 3.13 MB / ISO-400 / F-stop f/13 / Exposure time 1/320 second


What do you think about the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II Lens?

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Hurricane Dean Stirs Memories of Recent Cancun Visit

As the news of Hurricane Dean comes in today and the news that it is directing itself towards the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, memories of our recent trip to Cancun continue to fill my thoughts. And as of last night when it was thought to be aimed squarely at Cancun and now as it aims more towards the south of the Yucatan and Belize.

Our feelings our mixed of course – half feeling extremely fortunate that we were able to enjoy our time there just over two weeks, and half wondering how the peninsula will make out having just experienced the death and destruction of Hurricane Wilma less than two years ago. That storm caused $3B in damage and Wilma was still in forefront of the minds of many on our visit. In fact, I could not remember what the impact of Wilma was that I found and read this site where several folks posted memories.

The pictures on the news and airports showed the same airport terminals, restaurants, and hotels that we had seen. The only good news is that it looks like both Cancun and Cozumel will avoid the brunt of the storm as I write this. However, that could always be premature given that these hurricanes can change directions on a moments notice. Not to mention there is still sure to be some impact since the tropical storm affects areas 175 miles from the eye of Hurricane Dean.

But, to the south – things may be much worse. The concern there is two main areas just 70 miles south of the city of Cancun, Xel-Ha the natural water park and aquarium where we swam with the dolphins and the Tulum Mayan ruins. These locations promise to much closer to the eye of the hurricane and with storm surges expected to be in the 12-18ft range (from 11pm EDT National Hurricane Center), one can only hope for the best.

Only time will tell, especially with Hurricane Dean set to make landfall in the next 12 hours.

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Trip Report – Cancun, Mexico Vacation

I am sitting here on our United Airline Ted flight about halfway back to Los Angeles from our 8-day, 7-night vacation to Cancun, Mexico where we stayed in the Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort. It is a great time to reflect back on the trip before we both jump back into our work world tomorrow morning.

A quick reflection is that even though it was both the slow and hottest season in Cancun, we had an excellent time. There are several reason for this, including the hotel and poolside being less crowded than they might be, a number of “programs” or tours, and the weather of course cooperated for us.

Would we come back again?

I think that is a very good question. While for folks on the East Coast, this is a pretty close and somewhat Americanized location – in a lot of ways Cancun reminds us of Hawaii – especially Waikiki. It is not any cheaper, and it takes about the same amount of flight time to get here as it does Hawaii. The main advantage that it has in my opinion would be the scuba diving and snorkeling access & availability – it may also be the one thing that is less expensive than Hawaii.

Which brings me to my only regret on this trip. If I had to do it over again, I would have taken the 3-days and become open-water certified using up a couple of the days we spent poolside relaxing. I thought about it earlier in the week, but lost sight of it until Thursday. Once we checked out the availability and pricing, it was extremely reasonable from one of the main scuba diving companies – Aqua World. Aqua World charges around $400 for a 3-day course that include course materials, books, training, and 5-6 dives for your open water certification.

So, to answer the question – I believe we would come back to Cancun with a couple of minor modifications. The first would be to come during a different time of the year, when perhaps it was a little bit cooler. The second would be to do a trip that is a little shorter, although it makes it tough coming from West Coast where you lose a day traveling here. Then finally, I would make sure to dedicate the time to get open-water scuba diving certified. Maybe we’ll be back sooner than I think…..

Here was our itinerary for the week:
Day 1: Getting there
Day 2: Tulum & Xel-Ha
Day 3: Relax at the Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort
Day 4: Visit the Ancient Mayan City of Chichen Itza
Day 5: Relaxing & Shopping in Cancun
Day 6: Jungle Tour & Snorkeling
Day 7: More relaxing & Pat O'Briens
Day 8: Senor Frogs & heading home

A few random commentaries:
Inclusive Resorts: These appear to be the rage in the Cancun area right now. Just as they are in other areas of the Caribbean, such as Jamaica. If you have kids and you want to have a predictable, set budget for the week then these may be for you. However, if you like to do any exploring and sampling of the local eateries and experiences, you may want to re-think that as you probably will not get the benefit you are looking for.
Real Estate: And I thought prices in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara were out of control. The prices for land and condos here is high – I wonder if it poised for a fall like is happening stateside right now. For the price of some of these places, you could get a nice ocean condominium or house in Orange County or perhaps even Malibu. Hmm, where would I rather live or vacation?
Prices: Expect to pay at least the same or many times more for everything than you do in the United States. Yes, even for beer. Cancun is just like any other resort town in the Hotel zone and at most tourist areas. There are not a lot of deals to be found.
Buses: The bus systems, once you learn how to use them are great and easy. While we burned through some pesos on taxi rides the first couple of evenings, once we started using the buses we realized that in some ways they were easier and definitely cheaper, $2.20 round trip rather than $20.
Shopping: Realize that any Mexican souvenirs that you buy such as blankets, tequila, and most crafts are not from the Yucatan peninsula. That means yes, you will pay more.

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Senor Frogs in Cancun, Worth the Wait

Today is our last day in Cancun, with our flight leaving for Los Angeles out at around 6:00pm in the evening. We planned to spend the day relaxing, packing, and finally heading down to Senor Frogs for lunch. Luckily, while the Hilton Cancun does not have hospitality rooms, they were very generous in giving us a late checkout time of 2:30pm, the time we needed to head to the airport.

So, around 11:00am we caught a bus down to Senor Frogs. Once arriving, we noted that Senor Frogs did not open until noon which left us in a little bit of a predicament. Should we wait the 45 minutes to visit Senor Frogs or should we find another place to eat?



Given the popularity and visibility to Senor Frogs in Cancun, we decided to wait it out. After killing some more time at the Plaza de Fiesta Mexican outlet – and consequently buying a few more things – we headed back to Senor Frogs.

Just opening, we headed in and grabbed a seat. We ended up with a nice corner table on the lagoon, but my back was to the main part of Senor Frogs. Although I knew that they would attempt to surprise and scare you, I was caught off-guard when our waiter grabbed me from behind and blew his whistle. I just about jumped out of my seat. Just part of the fun at Senor Frogs. As somewhat of a comedy, both of the cokes we ordered were served in the Dos Equis Yard glasses used for beer – a nice touch.

In terms of the meal, it was much better than I might have expected. We ordered some guacamole to start with and they did not skimp. A traditional mortar bowl used for grinding corn meal was completely filled with a generous amount guacamole. Way more than could fit on the chips, so they kept them coming. (On a side note, Senor Frogs had the best chips we ate all week. Not sure if it was the time of day and they were just freshly made, but several other places did not have the same quality we are used to back in Southern California.)

For our meal, we both ordered a Beef Taco Salad which was impressive and tasty. With an oversized flour shell in the shape of a taco, it was filled with lettuce, steak, cheese, cucumbers, tomato, carrots, and a nice spicy ranch dressing. The meal was very tasty and highly recommended.

While Senor Frogs is generally known to be a party place where “Anything Can Happen”, it is great to know they have great food as well. There is also one opening soon (2 months) in Honolulu, Hawaii. We will make sure to visit it on our next visit there, which seems to be annually these days.

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Storming Weather in Cancun, Mexico

Ok, not really. But for us Southern Californians it kind of was. I mentioned in some previous posts that the weather we had this week in Cancun, Mexico was amazing. And it was. We anticipated having rain and showers every day based on what Weather.com told us, but we encountered very little.



In fact, the majority of the weather that we saw spanned the last couple of days. Last night, we were caught in a downpour on our way to Pat O’Briens. Then, when we came back from the night out, there was a great lighting storm happening just off the shore from our hotel combined with some good rain. Very fun to watch, especially if you are a Californian and not used to this sort of thing.

Then this morning, the storming continued. Not a ton of rain, but we caught several waterspouts off the coast, something that I had had never seen in person. It was a little unreal to watch them come down out of the clouds and form a mini-funnel cloud like a tornado on the water. Then, just as quickly as they formed, they disappeared.



The other news is that there are actually waves that can be surfed here. All week long, the breakers just pounded out on the beach. Today for the first time, you can see that the break offshore and there are some surfers in the water. Good news there.

Luckily, I grabbed a couple on quick snapshots. The good news is that I inadvertently found a whole bunch of new settings on my Canon PowerShot G7. I had previously complained about some of the night photos it took. What I somehow missed (and feel like a moron) was the ability to choose from about 30 different shooting modes including action, 3 nighttime modes, cloudy, sunny, etc.

Looks like I will have some setting to try out on future shots and hopefully further improve. I could have used this information back in June when we took photos on a sunny beach up in Pismo Beach, California.

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Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort – Our Opinion

We really enjoyed this week’s stay at the Hilton resort here in Cancun, Mexico. As with any resort hotel stay, there are both good and bad things to say about them. In addition, among the other Hilton properties that we have stayed at – we most closely associate this with the Hilton Hawaiian Village from a comparison perspective.



Overall, this is a very good resort and is worth considering for any vacation. Especially if you want to stay close to the beach, pool, or do a lot of activities outside the Center of Cancun.

The concierge staff here makes that stay at the Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort that much better. At every opportunity, including before one even arrives – they take very good care of you. We were able to have questions answered, opinions provided on tour options, and reservations made in very quick order. This staff is definitely a huge plus for this hotel.

The beach and pools are perhaps the best part about the resort. They are huge, spacious, and there is plenty of available space poolside in and out of the sun. Shaded cabanas both by the pool and by the beach are free without any charges in a first-come-first-serve manner. This is a big advantage that this property has over the Hilton Hawaiian Village where space, including shade is tough to come by even during the slow season. And if in Hawaii you want to spend the day on the beach, expect to shell out $50 for a couple of chairs and an umbrella. The poolside service staff and bar are relatively timely and friendly which is not always the case at resorts. And, there are a bunch of activities all poolside during the day for kids and adults alike including water aerobics, water volleyball, and ping-pong.

In terms of the property, restaurants, and rooms – they are all relatively expansive and impressive – as the hotel is somewhat of a sprawling mega-resort. The rooms themselves are fairly typical Hilton rooms with all the standard amenities, standard United States plugs, and generally over-sized balconies. The restaurants serve a variety of inter-continental foods including Sushi, Italian, Mexican, and American flavors.

If you want to take a little time to look at the negatives of the resort, here they are:

1. Distance from Cancun Central forces a bus ride ($1.30 for two each way) or a cab ride ($10 each way) to get anywhere without walking approximately 4-5 km (2-3 miles). It can be somewhat inconvenient.
2. Rooms and hallways can be very loud, especially in the upgrade wing. Because of the Mexican themes with the use of all tile and marble flooring in rooms and hallways you hear everything that goes on in the hallway as well as potentially everything above you such as chair moving. That means if someone comes in loudly and shuts their door at 2:00am, you are likely to hear it. The best way we found to mitigate this was by making sure the fan in our room was running on high anytime we are in there. The only way to fix this would to be change the setup of the rooms and hallways with materials that better absorb sound.
3. The free breakfast that HHonors Gold or Diamond members receive is only the continental buffet. This is the way that Hilton Hawaiian Village used to be and after a lot of complaints did away with this as well as the tip not being included. Having to upgrade for “meat” or other items seems a lot like hitting people up for nickels and dimes. It should just be a free breakfast.
4. Linens are clean, but not always “clean”. What we mean by this is that mainly the towels will have some stains on them. They are definitely clean, but do not appear to be as “new” because of some stains from water, rust or what have you. Normally you would expect these to be re-bleached or thrown out.

Other than those, the Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort is an excellent place to spend your vacation – on par with a resort like the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Hawaii. In some areas it is better and other areas it is not. However, definitely an enjoyable place to spend the week – even better if it is free with HHonors points!

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Checking Out Pat O'Briens in Cancun

After we finished our purchases, we headed to Pat O’Briens via a nice stroll of about a mile down roadside. Once we got there, we were very happy in our choice for the evening. While it was not very crowded, we still had a great time – and it started to really pick up towards the end of our evening.