You can get good photos with your kit lens - you just need a few tricks to help you make the most of it! And that, my friend, is what this blog post is all about!

In it, you’ll learn:

What exactly a kit lens is
The pros and cons of your kit lens
What you need to work around to avoid frustration
My 5 tips for getting the most out of your kit lens!

Plus, to help you get even more from this post, I’ve got a free resource that is perfect for you if you are still a little unsure about aperture and depth of field, and how to shoot in Aperture Priority Mode.

You can download my Free Aperture Priority Mode Cheat Sheet here!

OK, you ready? Let’s dive in….

What is a kit lens?

Before we dig in, let me briefly explain what exactly a kit lens is for those who are brand new to photography.

A kit lens is a “starter” lens that’s sold together with your DSLR or mirrorless camera, usually a really expensive lens that allows you to get started cheaply, allowing you to explore photography and get started on your learning journey, before you begin to invest more money into better quality, more specialized lenses.

Although technically a kit lens is any lens bundled in with your camera, they are almost universally zoom lenses, and very inexpensive.

The most common kit lens out there is the 18-55mm lens, which usually comes with an aperture range of F3.5 - F5.6.

However, the focal lengths of a kit lens can be different, for example, you can also get a 55-200mm, or even a 24-70mm, so it can definitely vary!

So, now that we know what a kit lens is, let’s talk about the pros and cons of it….

The advantage of a kit lens….

Actually, there are a lot of advantages to having a kit lens!

They are inexpensive - usually worth around $100, maybe a bit more, which is much cheaper than a higher quality lens!

You can get started immediately! Having a lens come along with your camera allows you to get started with ease on your photography journey, without having to make an extra purchase when you probably don’t know an awful lot about lenses!

They are small and lightweight making it ideal for starting out, and for taking with you on everyday trips, and also perfect for travelling.

A kit lens can be really versatile, especially in the case of the 18-55mm. The 18mm end is perfect for landscapes, whereas the 55m is ideal for portraits, so you can use it for many things!

You can find your ideal focal length before splurging on a more expensive lens! Really good lenses aren’t cheap, and there are so many different options and choices out there that shopping for a new lens can feel overwhelming! It also doesn’t make sense to spend $1000 of dollars on a lens when you’re not yet sure what you like, or how to make the most out of it.

But as you grow and evolve as a photographer, you are likely to find yourself bumping up against the limitations of your kit lens, and becoming frustrated as you try to get certain shots.

Which brings to me to….

The cons of a kit lens

Limited Aperture The biggest con for most budding photographers is the limited maximum aperture of the kit lens.

The 18-55mm for example, the largest aperture you can get is 3.5, and that’s only when you are shooting at 18mm - when you zoom in to 55m, the largest aperture is F5.6. That’s because the kit lens is a variable aperture, meaning the aperture doesn’t stay fixed as you zoom in or out.

If you compare that to something like my Sigma 35mm lens, where the maximum aperture is F1.4, you can see that my lens lets in a whole lot more light than the kit lens!

This means you might find yourself struggling indoors or in low situations, and also might find it a little harder to get those yummy, blurry backgrounds.

Now is probably a good time to mention a little freebie I have for you that you’ll find really useful as we talk about apertures - my free guide to shooting in aperture priority mode! In it, I talk about what aperture, depth of field and f stops are, along with suggested settings, and I even walk you through shooting in Aperture Priority Mode step by step.

If you’re new to photography and the terms aperture, depth of field are confusing to you, or you just want a guide to help you get out of AUTO mode, make sure you go grab it.

Lower Image & Build Quality No matter what way you slice and dice it, the quality of the kit lens just isn’t as high as the high level lenses! You do get what you pay for in this instance.

This means a few things - the images you get will be less sharp, it will be slower to autofocus, and you may get less image quality, like more chromatic aberration.

And from a build point of view, they aren’t weather sealed or particularly sturdy, so you can’t shoot in certain conditions, and if you drop it, you can wave goodbye to your lens!

Can you take good photos with a kit lens?

At this point, you might be wondering whether you can take good photos with your kit lens, given all the cons we just spoke about!

The honest answer is you can, but you have to work around the limitations of kit lens. More expensive lenses give you more options, but with a kit lens, you’ll have to sacrifice one thing or another in order to get the best results.

5 Tips for Getting Good Photos With Your Kit Lens

Which leads me neatly onto the tips for helping you get better photos with your kit lens….

Remember, this is all about realising the limitations of your lens - basically the ones we covered in the cons - and trying to mitigate them the best you can.

#1 - Shoot in areas with higher light levels where possible

As we said, one limitation is the smaller maximum aperture, which means that is can be more difficult to shoot in low light situations.

Where at all possible, if you have the choice between shooting indoors or outdoors, choose outdoors. You’ll get more light, which means you can get away with having a slightly smaller aperture.

So if you want some portraits of your kids, don’t attempt to take them indoors, go take them to the garden, the park, the beach, and you’ll not only get more light, you’ll get some nice backgrounds as well!

If you do find yourself shooting indoors, move your subject closer to the window, and try to avoid shooting at dusk or in the evening, when light levels are low.

#2 - Get more blur by pulling your subject from the background

I remember at the start of my photography journey wanting to get that really blurry background I could see from other photographers, and feeling frustrated because I couldn’t replicate it in my own images.

One of the things that helps you get more background blur is your aperture - using the widest aperture possible (that’s the smallest F number, so in the case of the 18-55mm, that would be F3.6) will give you more background blur.

So first of all, be sure to shoot in manual mode if you can, but if not, move away from AUTO and shoot in Aperture Priority mode instead.

Don’t forget I have that free download for you you can get that will help you with this, all about shooting in Aperture Priority Mode and getting background blur!

Another thing you can do is pull your subject away from the background - having more distance between the subject and the background will help give you more blur!

#3 - Change the focal length based on your subjects

If you are shooting landscapes, go for the wide angle focal length, so 18mm, and when shooting portraits, you’ll get better results at the 55m end.

But remember that as you change focal lengths, the aperture changes.

When you are using the shorter focal length the lens is able to use a wider aperture, so using the 18-55mm as a example, that would be F3.5. But when you zoom in to get the longer focal length, such as 55mm, the aperture gets smaller. In the case of the 18-55mm, that means it will change to 5.6.

So as you zoom in and therefore change focal lengths, just always keep in mind that your aperture will also change. This in turn changes the amount of light entering your camera sensor, and therefore the overall exposure!

If you are shooting in AUTO, or Aperture Priority mode, the camera will change the ISO and / or Shutter Speed to balance the exposure again, but it’s still worth understanding, as you may find yourself getting too slow a shutter speed, or getting your ISO higher than you want it.

Again, download that freebie that I have for you, which talks about this in more detail - you can grab it here:

#4 - Avoid using the smallest and widest apertures

Another con to the kit lens was the optical quality, and this is where some of our trade offs come into play!

When you shoot at the smallest or widest apertures, most kit lenses just won’t be as sharp. In other words, shooting at F3.5 won’t be as sharp as shooting at F5.6 or even F8.

This is a trade off - we want the extra light that F3.5 gives us, but it might lead to slightly less sharp images.

#5 - Choose your own focus point

Kit lenses can be a little slower to pick up focus, and we make it harder for them when we leave choosing the focus point up to the camera!

Choose your own focus point, and that way you’re telling the camera where to focus, which should make it easier for the camera to find focus quicker, leading to sharper photos of moving subjects.

So there you have it - the pros and cons of you kit lens, and how you can overcome some of the shortfalls of your kit lens. Don’t forget to grab that free resource, the Aperture Priority Cheat Sheet, which will help make this really actionable for you.