1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
If you bought it after 2016 it is probably the most up to date version. If you purchased it much after 2016 it is certainly the newest version. Is your lens the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens? Does it look like this?
Don't get me wrong this is a pretty good all around lens. It is not a good astro lens. No matter what others have said. They simply don't know what they are talking about. No astro photographer would use it. For general use it is actually one of the better choices and the latest version is the best one yet. If I were in the market for a Rebel I would choose this lens over the standard kit lens every time.
@ebiggs1 wrote:If you bought it after 2016 it is probably the most up to date version. If you purchased it much after 2016 it is certainly the newest version. Is your lens the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens? Does it look like this?
Don't get me wrong this is a pretty good all around lens. It is not a good astro lens. No matter what others have said. They simply don't know what they are talking about. No astro photographer would use it. For general use it is actually one of the better choices and the latest version is the best one yet. If I were in the market for a Rebel I would choose this lens over the standard kit lens every time.
The STM and USM versions of the lenses have identical optics, 16 elements in 12 groups. Even the predecessor to these [two] lenses has the same optics, 16 elements in 12 groups, including one UD element and one aspherical element.
The only difference between the lenses are the AF motors. The accuracy of the autofocusing improved with each AF motor system, but the optics remained the same. When you manual focus on the stars the differences are irrelevant.
@ebiggs1 wrote:If you bought it after 2016 it is probably the most up to date version. If you purchased it much after 2016 it is certainly the newest version. Is your lens the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens? Does it look like this?
Don't get me wrong this is a pretty good all around lens. It is not a good astro lens. No matter what others have said. They simply don't know what they are talking about. No astro photographer would use it. For general use it is actually one of the better choices and the latest version is the best one yet. If I were in the market for a Rebel I would choose this lens over the standard kit lens every time.
Yes, it is a Canon lens, but it's the STM version, not the nano USM version. I bought it a few months ago from Amazon. This is my lens.
Also, I am NOT an astrophotographer! I'm just a casual picture taker that likes to take a pic of the Moon or stars every once in a while. Here is a pic of the Moon that I took with a Panasonic Lumix FZ80 that I had before I got my Canon Rebel SL2.
Thanks for your feedback!
" I'm just a casual picture taker that likes to take a pic of the Moon or stars every once in a while."
In that case the lens is perfect for you. Enjoy and shoot away! 
