Amazon [amazon.com] has Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS SLR Lens with image stabilization and 3x zoom on preorder for $147 with free shipping. This lens will be shipped on or before 11/15/2007. Lowest on Google Products [google.com] is $193 not including shipping. Thanks Zammo
Key differences from "kit lens"

• Image stabilizer
• Up to 4-stop stabilization

Wow a cheap IS lens? Crazy.

Looks like a good deal.

Quote from Chef Parm : Looks like a good deal.

sorry i'm new to this.. but what is this lens generally for? if it for the close up shot or something? Thank you

Quote from ben_r_ : Wow a cheap IS lens? Crazy.

They announced this lens a while ago, and with this deal. Here is the DPReview [dpreview.com] article.

At this price, it's worth getting the body only and buying this lens.

Quote from edpowers : sorry i'm new to this.. but what is this lens generally for? if it for the close up shot or something? Thank you

General Use & Wide angle - usually landscapes and nature

Looks pretty good, an inexpensive IS option

For those wanting a spec comparison, looks very similar to the non-IS version, with a few changes

New Lens [canon.com] vs Old Lens [canon.com]

Looks like not much else changed, aside from the IS addition and slightly different zoom ring surface. The manual focus is still not real time, have to flip the switch (but then again, for $146....)

Nice deal! Wish I could justifying spending some extra money for the IS version to replace the kit lens that came with the Rebel, but we haven't been shooting enough lately.

Ed, this lens is one that just starts to get into the wide-angle range, so it's good for shots where subjects are closer to you, or shots where you want to fit more of what you can see into the picture (landscape shots, for instance). At the widest field of view (18mm), the picture can look somewhat "curved" if your subjects are close. Sometimes this is a cool effect for a dramatic shot. Other times, like for a portrait shot of someone's face, you may want to back up and zoom in a little more so the picture doesn't have that curve to it.

This lens is a good general purpose lens ... it's wide enough to get a good field of view, and it gives you a small amount of zoom for a little closer shots when you're back a few yards.

Look at these pictures to see shots people have taken with this lens: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/...-1#gallery

The photos above are for the non-IS (image stabilization) version of this lens, but the zoom range is the same as the new IS version. Canon's IS lenses allow you to slow down the shutter speed on your camera lower than you normally could without getting a blurry image from camera shake, as there is a spinning glass element inside the lens that corrects the path of light entering the glass to keep it focused, basically.

You can read more about Canon's IS system here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cano...stabilizer

i just noticed its the same lens as the one that usually comes with the XT rebel but with IS. do you think its even worth the extra 146 for the IS? i just took the XT rebel with regular non is 18-55 lenses on vacation and it took some decent pictures. its way better than my SD750 but i did get some blurry pictures. i guess my hands shake sometimes.... will this IS lens correct that problem?

I have the 28-135mm IS and I absolutely love it. The image stabilization feature is fantastic. I've had success slowing the shutter as much as 4 stops with the IS enabled. This is a great lens for everyday use, and then you can pick up a something like a 55-200 or a 70-300 for your telephoto options.

Quote from maximo : i just noticed its the same lens as the one that usually comes with the XT rebel but with IS. do you think its even worth the extra 146 for the IS? i just took the XT rebel with regular non is 18-55 lenses on vacation and it took some decent pictures. its way better than my SD750 but i did get some blurry pictures. i guess my hands shake sometimes.... will this IS lens correct that problem?

It's not really $146 more. You wouldn't by the XTi with the kit. You'd just buy the body to save $50 or $60, and the buy this lens. So, it's around $80 more. I've found the IS feature to be very useful. Sometimes you just don't have a tripod, your external flash, and there's just not enough light to get the shot you want. Turn on the IS, and stop your shutter speed a few notches to get that extra light in, and presto, a picture you wouldn't have normally had.

Once you shoot with IS you'll never want to go back. I've got the Nikon 18-200mm VR on my D70 and the number of keepers in low and even marginal light has gone way up. If you can't afford big heavy f/2.8 glass then this is the next best thing. Too bad I had to pay almost $800 to get VR, hopefully this will force Nikon to bring stabilization to cheaper lenses. I posted some stabilization test results [geekyweekly.com] on my blog when I upgraded, should give people a good idea of what real optical stabilization can do on dSLRs.