topic Is Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM good as a first lens? in Gear Guide

Is Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM good as a first lens?

sokelno5 — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 10:01:05 GMT

Hi everyone! Beginner here. After quite a bit of research, I've decided to go for Canon R50 as my first camera. Fingers crossed it's a good decision.

I'm looking into getting an all-rounder lens and my budget is 400 max (technically 400 GBP but assume 400 dollars if you're in the USA. They're a bit more expensive here in the UK). I'm looking into getting the Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM (used, it's around 350)

What am I gonna be shooting? I don't really know. Probably nature for practice and people on vacation. Part of the reason I want an all-rounder is that I'm not quite sure what I'll fancy taking photos of.

I'll definitely get into astrophotography at some point but I'll get different lens for that.

I don't really want to get 2 lenses or an adapter mostly so that I don't overcomplicate the process and end up not practicing at all. [Edit to clarify I don't mean the second lens to be for astrophotography. I meant I don't want to get 18-45 and 55-210, for everyday use]

Re: Is Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM good as a first lens?

shadowsports — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 11:06:22 GMT

Greetings,

The R50 is a great mirrorless camera for a beginner to start with. It's a photo centric camera that also supports 4K video that is down sampled from 6k. It boasts a lot of Canon's latest features. Animal eye tracking, vehicle tracking, 1/8000 max shutter, 12 fps and more. You can use RF and RF-S lenses natively and EF, EF-S lenses adapted which I know you said you didn't plan to do.

The RF-S 18-150 is a good variable aperture starter lens for someone looking to learn without the need to switch their lenses frequently. Here's some focal length / aperture stats for you to be aware of. Max aperture at a given focal length.

18mm F3.5

24mm F4.0

30mm F5.0

50mm F5.6

70mm and beyond F6.3

It's important to understand that low light performance when shooting above 24mm and f4 starts to drop off a bit. The camera does have a built-in flash which helps and a max native ISO range to 32000.

To get the most from any camera It's important to read its manual cover to cover. Canon puts a great deal of effort into their electronic documentation. It is updated regularly, each time a firmware update adds enhancements or features. Here is the manual for the R50. A .PDF version is also available.

https://cam.start.canon/en/C011/manual/html/index.html

One other thing you mentioned that is important to you. Avoiding focal length overlap. It is helpful to buy lenses strategically. However, in some instances you're going to have some overlap when a lens has a special purpose such as astrophotography. At this time Sigma has some great offerings. These lenses are licensed by Canon and will fully support a R50. If you have more questions just let us know.

I hope this information is helpful.

Re: Is Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM good as a first lens?

Jkarl — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:57:19 GMT

I know that this is not a direct comparison, but I have a EF-S 18-150 3.5-6.3 that I use on my Rebel T8I and I find that the range on this lens to be quite versatile for general day to day use.