+ Compact and acceptable weight, ideal as a travel lens
+ High zoom range (11x) ideal for nature and animal photography
Sufficient to the 12MP of the EOS 450D illuminate + Zoom Focus sharp
+ Good wide angle with 18mm for panoramic or indoor shots
+ Image stabilization is already in the viewfinder in Autofocus activation recognizable
+ IS allows up to 125ms hands-free capture (if one has slept ;-)
- In low light, the autofocus does not always work
- Shadows in the corners are the clearly visible Zoom (80-200mm)
- Slight vignetting in the corners at wide angle (18-24mm)
- Zoom slipping when holding the camera up or down
- Zoom lock is possible only in the parking position
For higher-quality cameras like EOS 40D / 50D, the lens in my opinion is not good enough (although it is sold as a bundle with the EOS 50D). The chromatic aberrations which some have been reported in the tests I could not tell. All in all, the perfect all-purpose lens for the EOS 450D with some weaknesses which one of these extreme zoom range (11x) probably currently have to accept.