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Review by jmarshall on 20 May 2008

Individual review
Build Quality	4
Reliability	4
Sharpness	3
Bokeh	3
Other Image Quality	2
AF Accuracy	4
AF Speed	3
AF (difficult conditions)	3
Value for money	3

Pros:  Great walk-about lens for crop cameras, IS
Cons:  Chromatic aberration at extremes, soft images, slow

This was my main lens for a few years, and still gets used if I need a single travel lens. The zoom range is great, and the IS works well.

The image quality is good, but not great, suffering from chromatic aberration at the extremes of the zoom. Unless you stop down to f/8 and beyond, resulting images are likely to be soft.

The IS does make up in part for the slow max aperture, which can be a problem in low-light.

Now that there is a cheap Canon lens with IS (the 18-55) I wouldn't recommend this lens nearly as much.

Review by tim on 20 May 2008

Individual review
Build Quality	3
Reliability	2
Sharpness	2
Bokeh	3
Other Image Quality	2
AF Accuracy	1
AF Speed	2
AF (difficult conditions)	2
Value for money	1

Pros:  Cheap and a good starter lens
Cons:  Poor at focusing, poor image quality

I've used two copies of this lens. Neither was sharp, neither had good contrast, and neither had good image quality. A hobbyist may notice, but anyone who's used good lenses really won't like this lens.

Strangely some people report this lens being great, so it could just be inconsistent manufacturing practices. Either way I can't recommend the lens.

Review by Big Mike on 16 May 2008

Individual review
Build Quality	4
Reliability	4
Sharpness	4
Bokeh	3
Other Image Quality	3
AF Accuracy	4
AF Speed	3
AF (difficult conditions)	3
Value for money	3

Pros:  Great range, good IQ for mid level lens
Cons:  Small max aperture

I didn't buy this lens on purpose but I got a great deal on a used 20D that included this lens. I already had the 18-55mm kit lens and the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 so I didn't need another lens in this range. That being said, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I like this lens. I actually use it more often than my Tamron 17-50mm, for walk-around shooting.

The image quality, in general, is more than adaquate for non pro shooting. It doesn't perform like an L lens but it's a good deal better than the 18-55mm kit lens. I've heard people complain about barrel distortion with this lens but unless you're shooting architecture, it shouldn't be a problem.

The build quality is typical of mid range Canon lenses, which is pretty good. The zoom & focus rings are easy to use and the USM focus is as good as you would expect. It does struggle with low light focusing (on some cameras) because of the smaller max aperture.

My favorite aspects of this lens are the range and the Image Stabilization. I love 17-85mm and I wish that Canon would make a lens with this range and a constant max aperture of F2.8.

The major disadvantage of this lens is the small maximum aperture of F4-5.6. It's just too small for low light work like you often find when shooting a wedding. For pro work, your zoom lenses need to be F2.8 and in that case, this lens just doesn't cut it.

Personally, I wouldn't buy this lens at it's market price of $600-$700 (new) but at a lower price, I would certainly recommend it for non pro work. The petal lens hood makes an nice addition as well.