Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Autofocus Lens for Select Digital SLR Cameras (White Box) Imported

I love this lens. I baught mine used to replace my 18-55mm kit lens. The 17-85mm lens gives wonderful clarity and sharpness. Not too heavy and easy to work with. I love the autofocus with manual over-ride, makes it great for finetuning a shot.

This lens was the perfect accessory to purchase for vacation in Mexico. Number one I needed a small lens that I could carry around which allowed me great versatility. It's just not possible to run back to your room to switch lenses nor would you want to have your bag on the beach with $4k worth of lenses in it. This lens did it all. wide shots of the beach and close enough to see the expressions on the monkeys faces. Not to mention the crisp details when scanning the topless beach. It was fast, quiet and I never noticed the 3.5 limit because it was always bright and sunny. Lets face it.. if you are taking pictures in dark rooms you probably don't have any friends and should be spending your money to get a 580ex II and do it right.

Pros: Compact, great zoom range, sturdy, crisp pictures, excellent IS feature.

Cons: Minimal distortion at 17mm. Lens hood is $40 extra and is definitely necessary in full sunlight.

It's fast to focus and takes great pictures. The image stabilization is good for two stops, maybe a little more. It's only about a half pound heavier than the kit lens.

This is a good, solid all purpose lens. We have two and use them for weddings, travel and general work with good results. We've shot about 15,000+ frames with each and I can't complain. Make no mistake, this is not an "L" lens, but it's plenty good for most purposes and you can get professional results from it. Another plus, it's not too heavy. For the money, it's a great buy.

I like the zoom features. Was unable to get the Lens to operate proberly in low light situations,(room with no light). Got a flash, but a "busy" notification in the view finder.

This lens is a high quality product, and creates stunningly sharp images, but has one drawback: the durability of it's aperture. After using the lens for about 2 years the aperture got stuck and stayed closed, fixing this cost over 100 dollars. Since I own 2 identical lenses, and this happened on both, I can guess that this will probably happen to every identical lens.

I had a Canon 28-135 lens that came with my 40D. I wasn't happy with it so I got the 17-85. It is constructed much better and is also much sharper. I would recommend it to anyone.