EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

For years I've been trying to get a lens that will be enough for almost everything when I travel, and deliver good quality at the same time. The thing is, the 18-55 kit lenses are perfectly usable and have a useful range, so it turns out it is not that easy to get something significantly better. Ideally you'd like a lens that is faster, a bit wider, with more telephoto range and perhaps a bit better image quality. It turns out, with the 15-85 you can have all those things... except the speed. Unfortunately it is limited to f/3.5-f/5.6 which is unremarkable, but delivers everywhere else. By far my the most used range when i travel is the wide-angle, with the 15mm being especially useful. It gives you an extra 20% in diagonal (see attached image), which proves very crucial when trying to get landscapes, buildings or even people into your frame. At the same time, when I need it, the 85mm side gives me enough zoom for almost every situation - with the usual modern DSLR sensor further cropping the frame is an option, so very rarely you will find you did not capture your distant target adequately. Overall it covers over 95% of travel usage scenarios and all that with a great optical quality, so it is the only one I carry with me. It is also quite fast at AF, while having a very smooth and convenient MF ring. Having said that, it is far from perfect. As I said, it is not very fast and despite that it is still quite heavy. Many units (like mine) in time lose their ability to "hold" their focal length position when not pointed roughly horizontal, unless you are at either 15 or 85mm. Also, don't expect a lens that is great for things like astrophotography - see example @ 85mm f/5.6 (crops from the corners and the center), while the CA is minimal even fully open, there is distortion far from the center. But I will still give it 5 stars, because it is by far the best as a single all around/travel lens at a very reasonable price.

Spent some time looking for a replacement for the standard Canon kit lens EFS 18-55mm for an EOS 500D which I was never entirely happy with, the results not being that much better than a good quality compact. Well in a word 'Delighted' with the improvement this lens has brought about. The image quality is significantly better with improved contrast and sharpness right across the range. I've read one or two mixed reports about the quality and image stabilisation not being much better than the kit lens, but this is certainly not the case with the sample I have where it has worked remarkably well in low light situations, something you might be concerned about with the variable f/3.5-5.6 aperture. The extra 3mm wide angle range is very useful for landscapes giving an effective 24mm on the 500D. The telephoto range also makes this an ideal walkabout lens that copes with most general photography. This lens does have sone vignetting at wide angles but this is easily compensated for on the later Canon bodies, you simply need to enable the 'Peripheral Illumin.' to correct in the camera's Menu. If this lens is not supported (it was not on my 500D) then simply run the EOS Utility that came on the CD with the camera to update with the 15-85mm correction data. It works a treat and you will not have any light fall-off in the corners :-) To add; the build quality is noticeably better than kit with both zoom and focus feeling nice and smooth, focus performance is very quick and accurate in most situations. I decided to fit a UV filter (I know there are pros and cons to this but I worry less about damaging an expensive lens) and paid extra for a Hoya HD which cleans beautifully compared to the cheaper ones available, none of the usual smearing. So to conclude my experience is that this is a cracking little zoom to use and above all I'm taking better pictures thanks to its versatility and performance. Recommended without reservation!

Let's start at the top: why 4 stars? I bought this lens in 2009, and fourteen moths down the line it seized up: wouldn't zoom below around 35mm. after a lot of struggle, I returned it to Canon who fixed it, and charged me £120 for the privilege, as it was two months out of warranty. It has to be said they were very quick (return in four days)but even so. On the forums, I see this is a well-reported problem with this lens - it can suck in dust through the front element. (I don't shoot in the desert or on the beach, and always have a UV or polarising filter on the lens.) Now you might be asking - why not much lower than 4 stars? Quite frankly, this is a BRILLIANT lens in terms of image quality. I have some L glass, but this outperforms much of the L series. Yes, really. Don't just take my word for it. Bob Atkins ([...]) lists the best Canon EOS lens, and this is the only EF-S lens in the top 20 (at number 17 currently) with a score of 9.6/10. Neither of my Ls score more than 9 - and I'm very happy with them. This is my "go-to" lens. When walking (touring in GB, France, Spain, Germany, South Africa...) it's my most used lens by some distance. Often it's the only lens I take. The range is ideal for general photography (for me, mostly landscape, architecture and general.) It's equivalent to just wider than 28mm to 88mm for a full-frame/35mm camera. And as 2.8, it's fast. The IS works well too: I have no problem hand-holding down to 1/10th of a second - or slower with a good support to brace against. Remember, of course, it's EF-S so won't fit a full-frame camera (such as the 5D and 1D series.) And remember - it's a Canon, so no case, and no lens hood. Cheapskates. You'll need a lens hood, of course, as this is a wide lens. So, if you're shooting with a crop body and can afford the lens, buy it. But I'd also buy a SquareDeal type insurance to extend cover to three years. ANd when it arrives, check the zoom action. If it's not TOTALLY smooth, or seems to stick a little, send it back. Noting my "negative" points - build-quality, no lens hood, cost me an arm and a leg to repair - then you'll see my 4 stars mean that I still love this lens: you can't argue with image quality, clarity, brightness and VERY low distortion. But make sure you have a backup if you're off on a big trip.

I bought this lens from Amazon Warehouse deals a couple of years ago at £400- it was a return and came without a Canon box, which is fine, I knew that. I felt I was taking a bit of a risk, but I couldn't afford the original £900 this lens once commanded. I got it to go with my new Canon Rebel T4i, or the 650d in the UK. Well- I have never looked back. This lens is on my camera 95% of the time. The improvement in quality over the standard kit lens is AMAZING!- you can get results that are near professional if you know what you are doing. I have heard it contains L quality glass- without the price tag. The 15mm end is wide enough to satisfy most wide angle needs (not going into the crop factor here) while the 85mm end, although modest, is so sharp when stopped down you can crop easily with little loss of quality. Any cons? well it's quite heavy- but it feels like the business! A little bit of vignetting when fully zoomed. And I have found that using autofocus at the wide end often foccuses way too short -but this could be my camera. This is easily rectified by using manual focus, and for landscapes that's really easy, just set the focus mark to just short of infinity! Update as of Oct 15- 2 and a half years after my initial purchase- still going strong with this lens as my main tool. I have others which do other jobs well, but this would still be the only lens I would use if I had to have just one. As it is not an L and does not have dust sealing, it has got quite a bit of dust in it (shine a torch through it) but in no way degrades the quality and is not visible. Unlike my 650d which I had to manually clean recently.

Lovely lens, and great images... was being used for product photography daily. However, I was forced to send it back as I was experiencing lens creep under the weight of the lens when shooting downward on a subject (i.e. facing the ground). Ended up going for a similar lens in the Sigma range.. half the price, have been using it for over a year now with no problems.

I chose this 15-85mm lens as an upgrade to the 18-55mm kit lens that came with camera (originally a 100D, now using it with a 90D). I prefer landscape photography, so the wider end of the zoom is useful to me and was the reason I opted for this particular mid-range zoom. It saves me changing out to a 10-18mm as often, and I find with it going up to 85mm it also covers plenty of other useful scenarios. So far I'm finding image quality excellent, and the zoom range makes for a great walkabout lens for my needs. Build quality is solid, it's quite a heavy lens and I've read about lens creep in other reviews - my copy doesn't creep at present, but I can feel how it wouldn't take much. Not really a problem for how I'm using it though. Overall it's far superior to the kit lens in build quality, image quality, and overall features (as it should be at the price point). I picked it up in a warehouse deal and so the value seems particularly good.

I bought a different lens!

I purchased this lens from Amazon just before Christmas, give them their due, it arrived on time for the 25th, so well done Amazon and the postal services. I had spent ages reading all the great reviews this lens has, before deciding to buy what I thought, should be a great quality lens. However I was so disappointed when I took it out of the box and operated the zoom control, it was "far from smooth" in its operation. The movement was rough especially towards the wide angle end. I have owned far cheaper lenses in the past, with smoother controls than this lens has. I suspect this is a "one off" but im hesitant to order another. For this price range, I expect quality movement throughout the whole of the zoom range. Im now looking at the "L" series lenses and in the meantime... this one is going back to Amazon for refund.

It is a great general purpose lens for every day photography ,fast focus ,great picture details with low light capability . With lens hood it it has a wow factor ! But some how EF 50mm f/1.4 usm is more practical and easy to use if wide angle is not your need of the hour !

Ho acquistato questo obiettivo per abbinarlo alla mia 70D e dopo due anni di utilizzo posso dire che mai acquisto fu più indovinato. Partiamo dai punti di forza: l'APERTURA COSTANTE di f/2.8 nell'intera gamma zoom e lo stabilizzatore d’immagine da 3 stop garantiscono prestazioni sorprendenti e massima versatilità d’inquadratura in condizioni di scarsa LUMINOSITÀ. La MAF automatica è incredibilmente rapida e super SILENZIOSA. Fantastica anche la SFOCATURA dello sfondo che si riesce ad ottenere anche grazie all'ampia apertura circolare. Una volta acquistato questo 17-55mm, l'unica alternativa per ottenere risultati migliori da uno zoom normale è quella di passare a FF e serie L. Le uniche note dolenti sono il prezzo (costa più di un corpo macchina di medio livello) e il peso, circa 600 grammi (alla lunga si fanno sentire). Per il resto, di tutto il parco lenti Canon per APS-C credo che questa sia indiscutibilmente quella che occupa il gradino più alto del podio. In sintesi: PRO: ✓ luminosità ✓ nitidezza ✓ stabilizzazione ✓ sfocatura sfondo CONTRO: 〤 prezzo 〤 peso 〤 assenza del paraluce (che va acquistato a parte) In definitiva, come da titolo, è la MIGLIORE LENTE DI SEMPRE PER APS-C.

中古レンズだったので状態が心配でしたが 写真通りのものが届き状態もかなり良かったです スナップにもポートレイトにもライブ撮影にも対応できる お気に入りのレンズです

If you told me this lens was new, I would have believed you. Pristine condition.

La lunghezza focale equivalente sul FF è 24-135mm, un campo ampio ed utilissimo. Malgrado tale escursione la resa si mantiene buona a tutte le focali. Si ha così un obiettivo tuttofare con prestazioni decisamente superiori a quelle dei superzoom tanto di moda. La nitidezza è migliore a 15mm e cala un pochino nella zona tele, ma il livello percepibile solo confrontando le immagini su schermo ad ingrandimenti pari o superiori al 100%. Incredibilmente, alle focali e alle aperture comparabili, non è poi tanto lontano dal Canon EF-S 17-55 F2,8, il che è un gran bel risultato. AF buono, veloce e abbastanza preciso. Stabilizzazione di buon livello, efficace e silenziosa. Ho avuto due esemplari di questo zoom, con una certa variazione nelle prestazioni, uno era molto buono a 15mm e un po' meno a 85mm, l'altro va un pochino peggio a 15mm e decisamente meglio a 85mm. Entrambi gli esemplari sono perfettamente funzionanti e garantiscono ottimi risultati, ma l'analisi delle immagini a 100% mostra delle differenze. Dunque ci potrebbe essere una certa varianza nella resa fra esemplari. Aberrazione cromatica presente, soprattutto ai bordi a 15mm per soggetti su sfondo chiaro. Il secondo esemplare, più recente, è migliore da questo punto di vista. Non so se negli anni vi sono state delle modifiche o questo rientri nella variabilità di resa (gli zoom sono obiettivi complessi e ammettono tolleranze da esemplare ad esemplare, l'importante è che le tolleranze ammesse non portino a differenze nella resa evidenti). Uso questo obiettivo soprattutto nei viaggi, dove è necessario scattare velocemente ed avere una attrezzatura compatta e leggera, ma la resa è tale che mi ha permesso di usarlo anche per situazioni più impegnative, come ad esempio per i matrimoni o anche ritratti. Per questi usi il limite più grande è la luminosità, f 3,5 a 15mm, diminuisce rapidamente all'aumentare della focale: a 60mm è già 5,6. Quando l'obiettivo è tenuto con la lente frontale verso il basso tende ad allungarsi, dunque quando si tiene la fotocamera in spalla lo si ritrova puntualmente alla focale massima e tutto allungato, il che è fastidioso. Non è un obiettivo perfetto, intrinsecamente non può esserlo, ma è uno dei migliori compromessi sul mercato quanto a zoom per APS-C che vadano da grandangolo vero a un buon tele, per una versatilità davvero ottima.