Is this canon lense a good one to start off with?

i need a good lense to start off with. i'm knew to photography and am still confused on how to pick out a good lense. I am mainly going to shoot portraits and outdoor images like sports. are these lense any good? EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

I forgot to mention i need the lense for a canon rebel xti

This lens has a really small zoom range, and it's mostly wide angle.

For portraits and sports, you generally want a telephoto or zoom lens. For portraits, because zooming in on the subject and using a wide aperture gets a pleasing background blur. For sports, because you want to be close to the action.

My favorite all-purpose lens is Canon's 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. It has a great zoom range, it's relatively compact, and it has an image stabilizer which can gain you at least a couple of stops (which means faster exposures) when used handheld, especially in low light. It sells for around $400, but it's also available used for about $340.

This lens will get the vast majority of photos you want to shoot. Of all the lenses I own, I use this lens more than any other. I leave it on the camera almost all of the time.

Check it out here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controll...

Sounds pretty good to me. Go for it!

We pretty much shoot the same thing and this is what I got (in order of the date that I got it)

18-55 Kit Lens - used it for several months, you "OK" pictures for this lens and it is a good enough walk about lens

But I suggest you get the

50mm f1.8 - insanely cheap and great for indoors, lowlight and portrait. It creates beautifully blurred backgrounds. You can get this for as low as $75

After a couple of months, I needed a standard zoom lens and I bought a 28-105 f3.5-4.5 II USM for about $150 brand new. Good upgrade to the kit lens and the images are very sharp.

This is designed as a starter lens. Get this one with the camera. Some reviews have said negative things about it but they are all coming at it from an experts point of view, not the amerature. Its a really good starter lens and you would probably be disappointed if you didnt get it (unless you spent the money for another lens that went down to 18mm or so).

For portraits you should start with at least 50mm as a minimum so it's not the best for portraits but it will do.
For sports, it will be almost useless.
You would be much better off getting the 24-105 or something in that range.
For sports you will find yourself WANTING at least 200mm so the 18-55 will be very disappointing.
To cover portraits and sports you would be better off with this lens.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/20...

Well it's the cheapest lens in Canon range, so if you can't spend more, you don't have many choices...
Honestly, it's not a good lense...
If you're in a budget, you can look at Sigma's lenses!
If you can spend a little more, the 17-85 IS is a far far better choice.

You have a wide to normal zoom, with average aperture. It will work, but a better pick would be a 28mm - 105mm, one touch zoom F 3.0 - 5.6. Check for used ones, there are allot of Canon lenses available. Try Craig's list for your area.