It's Time to Praise the Kit Lens

[Daniel Browning]

I think the kit lens has a lot of great uses. It serves as a good paper weight. It's an OK hammer when the tripod locks get jammed and my small dog likes to chase it across the floor.

This part is funny. I appreciate what should have been sarcastic humor.

Please stop the insanity! LOL Next, we'll have a thread on the superior IQ of camera phones.

This comment turns your post from something funny into something that is condescending and rude.

I'm sure the kits lens has it's place, but not in a serious photographers bag.

I disagree. It so happens that the kit lens *does* have it's place in the serious photographer's bag: any landscape photographer that hikes long distances to get the best shot. The kit lens is very light-weight, so it allows the photographer to carry more food, water, or additional lenses.
The equivalent professional gear would be 24-70 f/2.8 and 1Ds3, but the increased quality may not be worth the extra weight, if the photographer could even have the capacity to carry so much additional weight. The resolution and contrast of the kit lens is surprisingly good.

For very small prints and thumbnails the IQ doesn't have much impact. For my wedding business, L-series glass is mandatory. Bridal portraits often end up enlarged beyond 16x20 and the better glass means happy customers.

Wedding photographers are just one type of professional photographer, who are in turn just one type of serious photographer, who in turn are just one type of photographer that is welcome on this forum. So whether a lens is serious or not should not be cause for condescension.