Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starstack sharp!
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2010
well tis lens amazed me... not just because i came from the kit from the t2i, is everything! the build quality, great shape and weight in your hand, the quality of your bokeh..
ok in order... first the good things
first is a truly walkaround lens. great weight (not too heavy, but not too "kit" neither). the zoom and the focus ring is as smooth as you can get but very accurate.
for the ones who have the Canon Zoom Pack 1000, the lens does fit. i guess it wont fit any longer one.
the quality of the pictures really amazed me, and you know that the ones you get from the kit lens are great ones! the bokeh is really beautiful (7 rounded blades aperture), the zoom range is the right one for walking with it.. no chromatic aberration at all ( at least compared with the kit lens) but when is in 17, at 2.8 you can see some at 100
% crop so..
HSM is REALLY quiet.. I mean, the only way to listen this baby running is in your room at night with the door closed! and is fast.. not as fast as an L series, but is fast.
the price is great too.. i guess that the equivalent from canon is the 15-85 and is almost 300 bucks more :s
the macro function is a plus very welcomed for me :)
now, the bad ones
no full time autofocus... this is annoying... you still have to be careful to not turn the focus ring when you're in autofocus and that's crap.. :s
the OS stoles some battery power.. so just don't expect the same amount of pictures that you had with the kit lens..
72 mm filters are kind of expensive.. but after all, this is an expensive hobby (this lens is not an expensive one, but is still 100$ more than a s90) so.. guess is not a problem..
when you have the OS on and turn off the camera, there a weird noise in the lens.. nothing to worry about but is there so...
this is something weird and unexpected, and i'm going to try to explain it (sorry my english by the way)
I think this lens is "darker" than the kit... how is that?? well, if you take a picture with the kit lens, and put this one on the camera, and you don't move anything (aperture, exposition, etc) the picture will be darker... you have to move up a little bit the exposure compensation.. so I don't know why is this, and i'll be glad if someone could explain it..
overall a 7 stars lens (not 8 because the lack of full time autofocus) but amazon only allow me 5 stars so.. you know what? BUY IT!
P.S.: i know is not important, but the looks of this lens in the camera is also veeery good! :)