Canon 18-55 3.5-5.6 (kit lens) vs. Tamron 17-50 2.8

[davidI]

Wow, this makes me realize how soft and shitty my kit lens really is!

http://hem.bredband.net/b288577/tamron1750/tamron1750vscanon1855.htm

[lint]

not a fair comparison. the tamron is a 2.8 lens, when it's at 3.5 or 5.6 it's already stopped down, and you would expect it's performance to be better than the kit lens wide open.

The kit lens tends to get some really poor reviews, but it's a cheap wide angle, and when stopped down it doesn't perform badly.

Course if you can afford it, upgrade.

[Ferio_vti]

Definitely not a fair comparison. A better comparison would be kit to kit lens.