Originally posted by dgaies The lens will only go down to f/3.5 on the wide end of the zoom range (18mm). At the long end (55mm) you will not be able go lower than f/5.6.
This is correct. When a lens has an F stop range designation of 3.5-5.6, that means that it is a variable aperture lens. depending on what focal length you set the lens to, its minimum aperture will change (as stated above, at 18mm it will go to f3.5, at 55mm it will be minimum f5.6).
To show yourself how this works, set the lens at 18mm, and using aperture priority mode change it to f3.5. Then, zoom the lens out to 55mm, and you can watch the aperture changing as you zoom out.