The most obvious reasons are:

• Light weight
• Very versatile (More on this later)
• Weather-sealed
• 12-50mm (Full frame equivalent of 24-100)
• Smooth manual focus

This lens is a good/decent portrait lens for a studio setting where you control the lighting and your aperture is “Who cares?”. F8-11. As to what is the meaning of “Who cares?”, read Bryan Peterson’s “Understanding Aperture”.

In addition, its appeal to me is the Macro Mode. Press the Macro button on the side and slide the zoom ring forward and you have a nice macro lens in your hands. It is very handy to capture a flower intimately. Here are few samples of what I got from this lens:

Because it is considered a “Kit Lens”, you can find it for sale for 200$ or less. Add a after-market hood for 10$ and you are all set. When you come back from a trip and view which lens you ended up using the most, don’t be surprised if it happens to be this kit lens;-)

Happy Shooting.