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

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

Customer Rating:
Summary: Only virtue is zoom range.
Comment: The only virtue of this lens is the zoom range.

Chromatic abberation, highly abnormal distortion, and slow aperture above 17mm make this a bad value.

The new Canon 18-55 IS is much better optically. Even better, go for the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 or the Canon 17-40L for a bit more. This is the worst lens I have ever used without a doubt.

Check photozone.de for detailed comparisons of the lenses and save yourself some money and get quality instead!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great upgrade for your kit lens
Comment: Read the reviews of all the professionals and see for yourself.
I'm an amateur and cannot operate all those photography terms, but I can see the huge difference in the quality of the pictures from my kit lens.
It is a little bit heavy and big, but the quality worth it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great but heavy
Comment: This is an amazing lens. I did notice that when its fully zoomed out the corners tend to get a little dark. But have taken amazing pictures with this lens. I have this on my Canon Rebel XTI. The image stabilizer has worked awesome for me and the zoom range is perfect. Very easy to use. WARNING though it is heavy at first. It takes some getting use to for the weight of this but i still really like it. Careful though because it requires a 67mm filter and they can run expensive so make sure you shop around for them. I recommend this lens for people that do not like the standard crappy lens and wants some more zoom. I was able to get mine for $400 because it was an out of box lens but it has worked great for me.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very nice lens but as others stated, price-value-performance?
Comment: Excellent IS based lens, but I have to question the value of the lens based on the other products available today. With a very slow F4 aperture, one can easily find a better solution to line up a great lens set including fast primes. Still, this lens is quite compact, has an exceptional focal range, and can easily serve its purpose on the APS-C sized sensor cameras.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good medium grade lens
Comment: Bought the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens to use as a general purpose lens on my Canon 40D. Overall I am pleased with the quality of the optics. It's not a "L" lens so don't expect it to perform like one. One complaint I have is that the zoom ring feels a little loose and wobbly. However the focus ring is tight and precise.

I have owned a Sigma 17-70mm lens in the past which is the direct competitor of the Canon 17-85mm. The Sigma has a bigger aperture of f2.8 but a lower range than the Canon. The Canon provides fulltime manual focus and IS, which is not available on the Sigma. Personally I liked the pictures the Canon lens produced over that of the Sigma.

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