Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's

This has been one of those lenses that stays attached to my Canon 40D almost 90% of the time. Takes sharp pictures and does a good job eliminating camera shake. USM adds great focus ability and really fast. Nice hefty and solid feel to it without being so heavy that it hurts your hands/wrists after a few hundred shots.

I purhcased this lens to replace the one that came with my EOS 30D camera, and I was indeed impressed with the significant improvement of picture quality.

I made my purchase based on others' reviews and they were indeed accurate and helpful. This lens definitely worths keeping as the new default lens for my 30D. I am not a professional and was only trying to shoot sharper and more color-rich images of my kids and landscapes, and it seemed I did reach my goal with this lens.

I'm not going to go into too much detail other than to echo the others who are disappointed with this lens. I have an XSi and this lens isn't much better than the kit lens. The problem is that I paid $400 for it.

My issues with it are mainly in image quality. Wide angle shots are usually soft, even taken on a tripod. Other shots have been soft also with aberrations, poor contrast, poor saturation and there is dust in my lens like a few others have mentioned.

I knew going in that the lens wouldn't be fast or very good in low light, and I have other options for that anyway(Mark I 50mm f1.8, Tamron 17-35 f2.8-4, Tamron 70-200 f2.8). Don't expect the IS to make this equivalent to a faster lens that doesn't have IS. Just doesn't work that way.

I just received my Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 today and cannot wait to get out and give a try. This will hopefully replace the 17-85 as my walk around lens.

The very best advice I can give anyone who is looking at Canon mid-quality lenses such as this one is to check out the Tamron equivalent. The photos I get from my 70-200 are stunningly good and I can go to 2.8 where the similarly priced Canon is a 4 I believe. IS and USM aren't that important to me, so the faster Tamrons with their outstanding picture quality are where it's at for me.

Great compliment to my 70-300 lens. Extra wide angle is nice. Can't say enough good things about the Image Stabilization on these lenses.

This is a good lens, but not great. The construction and build quality are solid, and the lens feels heavy and sturdy. It has a useful range of 17-85 as well as IS and USM which makes for ideal "walkaround" lens. However, it is not very fast (4-5.6) which limits indoor, lowlight usage. IS certainly effective and useful and will help for lowlight photography, but not for stopping action.

Ultimately though, a lens is only as good as the photos it produces. Unfortunately, this lens (or perhaps my copy of it?) disappoints in that area. Comparing shots, the kit 17-55mm IS lens actually took sharper photos than this! I still have this lens with me, but more often than not I have been disappointed with the sharpness, especially in my landscape shots (even at higher f/8-10). Barrel distortion is also fairly obvious, even to the untrained eye. Buildings, towers and other tall structures will look concaved. This is less prevalent for smaller, shorter objects, but nonetheless there. Vignetting is not present in most cases, though it can creep in at the wide end with the addition of a polarizing filter.