Does Canon’s New Portrait & Travel 2-Lens Kit Make Sense?

by Sean Setters

A few days ago we can across a new kit offered by Canon, the Portrait & Travel 2-Lens Kit. The kit contains the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM and EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM lenses.

I immediately asked myself whether or not this kit makes sense from a marketing perspective. I'm not entirely sure one way or another, but I'd like to share some thoughts.

Usefulness and Versatility

There's no doubt that a wide aperture, 50mm prime lens is a versatile tool for photography. The general purpose focal length produces a pleasing angle of view which approximates our own eyesight and the wide f/1.8 aperture can allow for great background separation from in-focus subjects. As such, the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM (with an 80mm full-frame equivalent focal length) can work very well for portraits for those using an APS-C sensor camera (this kit's target market).

And with a full-frame equivalent focal range of 16-28.8mm, the EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM makes a very good landscape lens capable of capturing sweeping views in front of the camera. This lens' image stabilization means that you can use significantly lower shutter speeds to obtain sharp images of non-moving subjects while keeping ISOs (and thus, noise) at a tolerable level.

Both lenses feature Canon's STM AF technology which allows for smooth AF transitions in video mode. Budding filmmakers will appreciate that.

I think it's pretty obvious that this may be an attractive kit from a capability standpoint. However, let's look a little deeper.

Price

While Canon does indeed discount the Portrait & Travel 2-Lens kit compared to purchasing the lenses separately, it's the fact that you're bundling two lenses in the first place with a necessary increase in the investment required compared to a single lens purchase.

This kit's target market – largely first-time consumer DSLR owners – may find it difficult investing in two lenses at once. I remember the agony years ago of deciding on a lens to add to my Rebel XTi + general purpose zoom kit. It took everything I had to pull the trigger on an additional lens. Of course, that tension eases with multiple lens purchases and experiencing the value of having new capabilities at your fingertips. But for someone interested in purchasing their first non-kit lens, a 2-lens kit may well be out of consideration unless the discount is substantial. That said, instant rebates and other purchasing options (like refurbished) complicate the savings calculation.

First off, the Portrait & Travel 2-Lens Kit's MSRP is $429.00 but it currently qualifies for an $80.00 instant savings bringing its price down to $349.00.

Now let's look at some other options for purchasing the two lenses saparately. Below you'll find the regular MSRP and refurbished prices along with any current applicable discounts.

Lens	MSRP	MSRP after Instant Rebate	Reg. Refurb. Price	Refurb. Sale Price
Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM	$299.00	$279.00	$239.99	$215.99
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM	$125.00	$125.00	$100.79	$89.79
Total	$424.00	$404.00	$340.78	$305.78

As you can see, timing (available sales/discounts) and your own preference for new or refurbished gear will determine the true savings realized by purchasing the 2-lens kit. What's very odd is that the 2-lens kit would actually be $5.00 more expensive than buying the lenses separately with no instant rebates taken into consideration.

So what are the downsides to purchasing refurbished items from Canon USA? First, your lenses won't come in retail boxes. Second, Canon USA will charge you sales tax up front (you are technically responsible for paying sales tax to the proper authorities for purchases made at online retailers when they do not automatically collect it). Otherwise, you can expect refurbished items to arrive in like-new condition with a retail-matching 1-year Canon USA warranty.

At the end of the day, I couldn't help but think that the Portrait & Travel 2-Lens Kit only really makes sense when it's discounted like it is now. With the kit's $80.00 instant rebate, it's $55.00 less than buying the same lenses separately even with their own instant rebates considered.

However, buying refurbished will oftentimes get you the best deal.

B&H has the Canon Portrait & Travel 2-Lens Kit available for preorder. Canon USA carries the Refurb. EF 50mm f/1.8 STM and Refurb. EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM lenses.