Canon 35-80mm Lense

It was the 'kit' lens of its time. Not great, probably worse than the current kit lens. With the 1.6 crop on the 400d it gives the equivalent of 56x128mm, so it might be handy and an extension to the 18-55.

Still it's not going to cost you anything to try it, so have a go. If it's cr*p, then bin it!

I am getting a 400D for Christmas too! Happy snapping!

I used my mom's 35-80 for a while when I got my XTi before I bought any lenses for myself. Like others have said, it'll be semi-useful for providing a narrower angle of view than the 18-55. You could also, in low light situations, find that the 35-80 is at f/4 at 50mm while the 18-55 is at f/5.6. Could be a little useful. But mainly, the convenience of carrying only one lens would outweigh this thing's use in most cases. Once I bought a 19-35 lens and the 50mm f/1.8, I didn't use the 35-80 at all (other than for reverse macro, which it was OK for--but I imagine the 18-55 would work well for that too).

It is a marginally longer lens. It is cloose enough to the 18-55 that I doubt you would want to cary around both but if you are going some place and know you will be taking mostly tightly framed shots the 80mm length is a nice length for head and shoulders shots of people. If the lens is faster then f/5.6 all the much better. it also might be a better lens if you are going some place and know you can't get as close as you like.

The lens was about the same quality and price is the 18-55.