Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's
Customer Review: shipped too early
Summary: 1 Stars
I ordered this lens, as well as a camera body, at the same time. The lens arrived a month ago; the camera body is delayed until the end of June. How can I assess this lens without the camera body? I wanted them shipped together, not two months apart!Customer Review: Canon EF-S 17-85 lens
Summary: 5 Stars
This lens let me take three other lens from my camera bag.
All around great lens for studio work and outdoor or weddings too.
Customer Review: The lens that should have been included
Summary: 5 Stars
This lens was originally part of the 40D kit. I don't know why, but now the cheaply made, overall useless 28-135 mm lens is the only lens you can find in the kit. You are better off buying the body only then purchasing this lens. Remember that the 40D has a crop factor of 1.6 - meaning that you have to multiply your lens by 1.6 - so a 28-135 is actually a 45-216 mm lens. Nice on the zoom part - awful on the other!
This lens is equivalent to a 28-136 mm lens - a perfect overall size. Picture being in a 12x12 foot room. With this lens you can shoot a small group. With the other lens (46mm equiv.) you have to climb a chair and stretch - and miss most of the group anyway. Seriously. I've been there.
This lens is well made, focuses fast, and is pretty silent. It's now my primary.
Customer Review: Good lens but vignetting is significant...
Summary: 4 Stars
Bought this lens to get a bit more zoom than the kit lens and am happy with it. However, the feedback you read about vignetting is real -- you see it through the view finder! I get vignetting almost always at the lowest focal length. As I said, I'm happy and can recommend the lens but realize you're likely to see significant vignetting (dark edges in your pictures at the low range {17mm "non-zoom "}).Customer Review: Recommended - with reservations
Summary: 4 Stars
The Canon 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS lens is a good, versatile lens. I love it for many reasons, but I want to get rid of it almost every day. It's Image Quality (IQ) is indeed a bit soft, especially at the wide end of the zoom, and especially in the corners of the frame, and I am hesitant to pay for large 20"x30" prints taken with this lens. Bokeh is nice and soft, but it is slow at f4-5.6 wide open, and I find myself using higher ISO speeds on my 20D (which isn't much of a problem, Canon's CMOS sensors are very clean at higher ISOs). I drool over Canon's 17-40mm L glass, but when comparing images side by side it's hard to justify the price increase. The only difference in IQ is the L is sharper in the corners of the frame, but not so much sharper that most people will notice. The L is better, but I don't think it is $250 better. If you're doing an art show with huge prints it may make a difference. If you're not, it probably won't.
I bought the 17-85mm because I often have to pack light and don't have the luxury of carrying several lenses with me when I go shooting. When I do get an amazing shot at either extreme of the zoom range, I have to remind myself that those shots would not have been possible with other lenses. As it's been said before, this is a jack of all trades, master of none.
If you can only afford one lens for your camera and need something versatile, this lens at $420 is a good choice. If you're a pro who regularly makes poster-sized prints larger than 10"x15", it might not be for you. If you pair this lens with Canon's amazing 50mm 1.8 prime lens, you will have almost every situation covered for under $500.