Canon EF-S 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens

good all purpose cary lense

Strengths: light, wide range of views 17-85,Takes good photos

Weakness: lense creep when turned upside down, wide angle part of lense creates distortion in your image.

distortion cay be fixed with software.. great lense for sunny days or lots of light... low light lense is slow, and Image stabilization is handy it does not replace fast glass.

not bad for the money

Strengths: it's a nice range, plus with IS it's much more useful than the kit lens, and not too much more expensive

Weakness: it's even slower than the kit lens focus isn't that great in low light

I got one of these as my first step up from the kit lens on my Rebel XTi, the 17-55 kit lens. It gave me about half of what I wanted but overall I was disappointed. It did not help that I came into this owning an S2 and an FZ5. The kit lens alone gave me decent low-light performance but what it lacked was decent AF in low light and of course it didn't have IS so I got this to solve both problems...

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Canon EF-S 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens

Strengths: Versatile. Great focal length range. IS a huge plus for low light/low shutter speed situations. Fast, quiet focus. Solid feel.

Weakness: If you don't focus on something with good contrast, you're liable to get soft images. Noticeable barrel distortion at 17mm, gone by about 20mm. Some vignetting at 85mm, f5.6.

I have taken some incredibly sharp pictures with this lens and some incredibly soft pictures. More than anything, I recommend you practice to determine the strength and weakness of the lens. For mine, the strengths are the versatility. I love the range and that is why I bought it to begin with. Focus is fast and IS a huge plus when I'm following a moving object or trying to hold a 1/10 sec shot...

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Canon EF-S 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens

Strengths: Excellent build Quality; Image Stabilizer.

Weakness: It is not considered to be a weakness in today's digital camera world, especially for the lens with IS, but I would still prefer to have a faster lens, possibly down to 2.8.

This lens quickly became my favorite for use with 20D even though I have 24-70 and 16-35 L series Canon lenses. 17-85 matches 20D perfectly. It is like I am back to 35mm photography. Quality is top notch. And it is smaller and weights less than both 24-70 and 16-35. I would not hesitate to use my 17-85 for any type of professional assignment.

Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM

Strengths: The IS is certainly a strength of the lens. AF is quick. The 17-85mm Zoom capability and overall build quality is certainly worth the price paid. Great walk-around lens.

Weakness: I don't think it's a weakness, but the lens is heavy in comparison to my other, less expensive lenses. Slight barreling when using 17mm end of lens for those wide angle shots.

Overall, this lens is a fantastic addition and will certainly replace the kit-included 18-55mm lens as my walk-around lens on my 20D. I have taken about 5000 shots with it, so far, and they all look fabulous -- when it wasn't the camera-man's fault. The build quality is superb and the IS is welcome.

Excellent Upgrade from Rebel XT Kit Lens

Strengths: Image quality, convenience of 5x zoom, image stabilization, price compared to alternatives.

Weakness: Significant barrel distortion at 17mm, but easily corrected with virtually any image processing software.

After shooting several hundred shots with my Digital Rebel XT, I only wish I had purchased this lens sooner. It is so much better than the standard 18-55mm kit lens that I feel I wasted a year by not upgrading sooner. It also virtually eliminated the urge I had to go with a separate lens for longer telephoto shots, which would require regular lens swapping. My Rebel had dust on the sensor...

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Canon EF-S 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens

Strengths: Good range(Wide to 5X zoom), Image stablization, light and compact.

Weakness: Soft when wide open and slow lense. Only can be used on ef-s compatible cameras.

Used Canon 28-135mm ef that I already on a 20D had for a month and felt the need for a better wide lense. I liked the 28-135mm for my film camera as a good all round lense. Spent most of it's time on the camera. Going digital I wanted again one all round lense so I went with the 17-85mm IS ef-s. First, difference is a slightly better performing IS mechanism. Seems to be more rock steady that the...

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Canon EF-S 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens

Strengths: Good range for general use. Image Stabilizer is great. Solid build. Fast AF.

Weakness: Not exactly light, but that's what comes with the range and good quality.

I bought this as the first lense to go with Canon 20D. Eventually I would like to get the 10-22mm EF-S lens as well as a longer tele-zoom, but budget being an issue I opted to go with this lens to start with to have the ability to take a wide range of images right from the start. And that it sure makes possible! I was positively surprised by how wide the 17mm is. 20D with this lens is my first...

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The most versatile lens for EOS 20D and 350D

Strengths: Extremely versatile (wide angle, macro, portrait, midrange telephoto); cap on lens speed is well-compensated by IS

Weakness: Barrel distortion at 17mm; overpriced by ~ $100; unusable if you move beyond the 20D (such as the new 5D)

Seems to do everything well except for limited telephoto range and bokeh capability. Focuses very quickly. Suitable but not ideal for demanding low light situations such as indoor concerts. Even close to the stage, with aperture capped at 5.6 in zoom position, 1600 ISO may be necessary to allow enough light in without introducing shake (assuming you can hand-hold at 1/20th or longer with IS)....

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Canon EF-S 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens

Strengths: Image stabilizer is very effective. I like the lower range on the zoom, I'm used to using a somewhat narrower zoom and now prefer this much more.

Weakness: Though price is somewhat justified, still a bit pricey.

I got this lens instead of the standard one that canon gives you the option for, and am very glad I did. Though a lot more money, it is still an affordable option to some of the other Canon zooms.