Canon RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens

The Canon RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM is a compact, lightweight standard zoom lens designed for Canon’s APS-C-format RF Series mirrorless cameras, offering a versatile everyday focal range in a genuinely pocketable package. It’s commonly paired as a kit lens with Canon’s budget-oriented RF-mount APS-C bodies, giving photographers a small, inexpensive lens to start shooting with right away.

Optically, the lens covers an 18-45mm focal range with a variable maximum aperture of f/4.5 at the wide end narrowing to f/6.3 at full telephoto, delivering a 29-72mm 35mm-equivalent field of view on Canon’s APS-C sensor. The 7-element, 7-group optical design incorporates two aspherical elements along with Canon’s Super Spectra Coating to minimize aberrations and reduce ghosting, and a rounded 7-blade diaphragm contributes to the lens’s background rendering.

Autofocus is handled by a lead screw-type STM (stepping motor), fast enough to keep up with continuous autofocus tracking while remaining smooth and quiet enough for video work, helping avoid distracting focus noise in quiet shooting environments. The lens includes a combined Focusing/Control Ring, letting photographers manually focus or assign the ring to adjust settings like ISO, aperture, or exposure compensation. Canon’s Image Stabilizer provides up to 4 stops of shake correction, helping photographers achieve sharper handheld results, particularly useful for video work and lower-light stills.

A standout feature of this lens is its retractable, collapsible barrel design, which lets it shrink down significantly for storage and extend for shooting, making it easy to carry in a bag or pocket. It measures just 68.9mm (2.7″) in diameter and 44.3mm (1.7″) in length when retracted, and weighs only about 130g (4.6 oz), making it one of the smallest and lightest lenses in Canon’s RF-mount lineup. Minimum focusing distance varies by focal length, reaching as close as 0.2m at 18mm, with maximum magnification up to approximately 0.16x at 45mm.

As an APS-C-specific lens, the Canon RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM is designed exclusively for Canon’s APS-C RF-mount mirrorless cameras; it can also be mounted on Canon’s full-frame RF-mount bodies, where a 1.6x crop is automatically applied.

Key Features
– 18-45mm standard zoom for Canon RF-S mount (APS-C)
– Approximately 29-72mm full-frame-equivalent field of view
– Maximum aperture f/4.5-6.3 (variable)
– 7 elements in 7 groups, including 2 aspherical elements
– Super Spectra Coating
– Lead screw-type STM autofocus
– Combined Focusing/Control Ring
– Optical Image Stabilizer, up to 4 stops of shake correction
– Rounded 7-blade diaphragm
– Retractable, collapsible barrel design
– Minimum focusing distance as close as 0.2m (at 18mm)
– Maximum magnification up to approximately 0.16x (at 45mm)
– Compact, lightweight design (approximately 130g)
– Designed for Canon APS-C RF-mount cameras (1.6x crop applied on full-frame RF bodies)