I'm hoping I purchased the right lense

[leeway122100]

Im an amateur looking to take quality pictures. I just purchased a canon
EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. I also have just bought the rebel T5i (body only). Is this a good standard starter lens for this camera?

 

[Designer]

Im an amateur looking to take quality pictures. I just purchased a canon
EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. I also have just bought the rebel T5i (body only). Is this a good standard starter lens for this camera?

I think it's a good choice. I'm not a Canon user, but the focal range should be what you want for a wide range of subject matter. congratulations!

 

[leeway122100]

Thank you

 

[KmH]

One of the nice things about a DSLR camera is the ability to change lenses.
Understanding Camera Lenses

Any lens with a 10x+ focal length zoom range is also known as a 'superzoom' lens.
18 mm to 200 mm is an 11.1x focal length zoom range.

Computers allow designing lens with such an extensive zoom range, but even using computers a series of design compromises have to be met in order to keep the cost of the lens reasonable.
All those design compromises deliver a lens that is convenient to use because of it's 'superzoom' focal length range, but the design compromises diminish image quality in a variety of ways throughout the zoom range. How image quality is affected varies by the lens make and the focal length used, but all of the 'superzoom' lenses have image quality issues of various types - soft focus, chromatic aberration, barrel distortion, pincushion distortion, and more.

For most amateur photographers the convenience of a superzoom lens is the primary reason for getting the lens, and the image quality issues are of little concern.
Indeed many amateur photographers aren't aware of the specific image quality issues. All they know is that their photographs are good enough for their purposes.

Had you asked about what lens to get, many here at TPF would have recommended 2 lenses that together have the same focal length range - an 18-55 mm kit lens and a 55-200 mm kit lens.

Here is the Conclusions page from a respected web site that tested that lens:
Canon EF-S 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS review

Canon users will perhaps most wish to know whether the 18-200mm is a good replacement for the EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS and EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS kit lens combination. The primary advantage of the superzoom is simply that it eliminates the need to change lenses; it's also somewhat better built, and has a non-rotating front element which is an advantage for filter users. But the two-lens solution gives longer reach, and (although we've not yet formally tested the 55-250mm) we'd expect it to give nothing up in terms of optical quality; the overall weight is near-identical too. So overall, the answer isn't necessarily clear-cut.

 

[SCraig]

I use a Sigma 18-300 frequently and really enjoy it. For me the convenience of having a superzoom outweighs any minor loss of image quality it might have.

A lot depends on what you are shooting. A superzoom is very convenient in many situations but if you want the best image quality they won't provide that. That's why it's not the only lens I carry in my bag. You will enjoy it just be aware that as your abilities improve you might realize that you need another lens that falls within that same range just for better image quality.