This standard zoom lens comes equipped with an Image Stabilizer mechanism that lets you drop down two shutter speeds*1 farther than you would normally be able to use during hand-held photography. Despite the roughly 5x large magnification zoom, the lens size itself is very compact, thanks to use of a compact EMD and a multi-group zoom system, which means this lens works well in fast-moving photographic situations.
The optical system uses glass-mold aspherical lenses. Suppressing the curvature of field, spherical aberration, and other distortions common in long focal lengths over the whole zoom range and correcting for other aberrations makes for sharp picture quality. The autofocus is quick and quiet thanks to the ring-type USM and inner focusing system. The full-time manual focus, non-rotating front lens element, and wide zoom ring make the lens a dream to use. The hood for this lens is the petal-type EW-78BII.
*1 Based on shutter speed of “1/focal length” seconds, said to be the limited for hand-held photography without image stabilization.
