1) cheap
2) reliable
3) light and compact

1) slowish and noisy focus
2) not sharp at f2.0 - you need to shoot at f2.8 and up
3) colors are slightly washed out and grey looking - not much contrast on this lens.

An essential piece of kit. I have never really liked zooms - even a cheap prime beats an L series zoom in my opinion, in terms of image quality. For example - try this lens against the 24-105 f4.0 L lens at 35mm - at f4 the images are quite obviously different in quality - the cheaper 35mm beats it soundly.
The lack of contrast and fall off in the corners is easily fixed in DPP or ACR with lens correction selected. In fact, I quite like a low contrast lens - its easier to add contrast in post prod than to take it away. This lens is often reviewed as being of low build quality - I think that many reviewers are being unfair - the lens FEELS as though it is cheaply built becuase it is light and small. But does it actually break? I have had mine for years and it never gave me any trouble. It reminds me of toyota cars - they feel flimsy and cheaply made - plastic. But do they break down? A mercedes feels solid and reliable but they actually seem to break down quite a lot - and are expensive to fix. This applies to a lot of the canon gear - the cameras themselves seem to be cheap and plasticy - but they can take a lot of rough handling and wear and tear without failing. The hassleblads I used to handle felt like they were built like tanks - but were forever breaking down and needing expensive repairs.

Light, fast, cheap & sharp.

Build quality acceptable, nothing more.
Slightly noisy.

This lens has seen renewed interest as it becomes pretty close to a normal lens
( 56mm equiv. ) on Canon's smaller sensor DSLRs.
More than acceptable quality wide open & excellent quality at mid apertures makes this fast & relatively cheap lens very attractive to amateur photographers.

I've found this lens invaluable in certain situations when my zoom is just too darn slow ( by two stops ).

Look for a used deal & you won't be disapointed.

Customer Service

Don't know.

Similar Products Used:

EF 50mm f1.8
many zooms.
Various manual focus primes.

wonderful optics

build not great, but not the worse either.

Supurb sharpness & colour rendition, very hard to fault this lens optically speaking, build quality leaves a bit to be desired.

Sharp, small, light, cheap, perfect focal length, close focusing

Focus hunt, very noisy, slightly washed out colors, hceap feel

I love this lens and use it whenever I can. When it manages to focus correctly the results are just great. The colors are not comparable to those of the 50/1.4 but I like them as they are. It is small and cheap feeling - but it makes the camera very light and comfortable to handle in comparison to my other lenses. The one problem that bothers me with this lens is the focus hunt in low light. I don't take it anymore to low light situations because I know it will fail, which kind of voids the f/2 advantage. This makes me consider the 35/1.4 seriously as I am otherwise happy with this lens. BTW I'm sure the low light problem can be fixed with a flash or ST-E2 focus assit light. There is also that irritating buzzing sound of the focus engine but I can live with that. In fact just the other day someone told me my camera must be top of the line if it makes such professional sounding noises :-) It can focus very closely and can almost be called a macro despite the short focal length. As a walkaround I find it is the best length for 1.6x crop. I always use it at f/2.8 and above to get a normal DOF and good sharpness, but when used at f/2 results are fine too. Shlomi www.shlomi.net

light and packable sharp and mostly flare free great cost to performance ratio wide angle negates the need for USM 52mm filters

non USM buzz

I bought this lens to fill the gap I had between my 28mm and 50mm, after I sold my 28-105. Based on my previous experience with the other consumer level primes from Canon I expected more than just a gap filler. I wasn't disappointed. As a compliment to the other primes in this range it functions perfectly, and exceeded my expectations to the point of being my "go to" normal lens over the 50mm. In terms of landscape photography it is essential in achieving the the desired perspective at the moment of truth- when the 28 is too wide and the sun is sinking fast. When you venture out with primes it becomes clear that at those moments it is faster to change lenses than to move- yourself or the scene. I have also enjoyed using it with a flash to take group shots at closer range than the 50, and as an all around performer that stays mounted on the body most of the time. I was lucky to get the hood along with the lens which is great, since it also fits the 28mm 2.8.I would agree (with everyone else) that it is worthwhile to use it all the time. I tend to use it in the "typical" f-stop range used for ladscapes and can say that from 5.6-11 it as every bit as sharp as you want. These fall right in line with the testing I saw on photdoto, which seems to be the place everyone gets their info. Dollar for dollar you won't find a better lens at this focal lenght- not that there is many- but it beats the pants off a zoom in the $ range. Even the construction isn't really as flimsy as you might read, much better than the 50mm II. That goes for all the consumer zooms from Canon, I love 'em all. Makes me content to stay away from the expensive glass.....for now.

Customer Service

haven't needed it

Similar Products Used:

Canon 24,28,50II, 28-105, 70-2004L Pentax 28-80 Sigma 100-300

Consistant results from wide open to closed down. Superior compared to zoom lenses in same optical range. Light weight and small in size. Focusing speed depends on Canon camera body used, but sufficent for most photographic situations where this focal lenght is employed.

Images seems to lack contrast that is necessary to produce the 3-D effect gained by higher end (and much more expensive) optics.

Nice general purpose wide angle lens. Ideal as primary lens instead of 50mm. Good optical performance even wide open, slightly softer images as expected. Sharpness reaches peak between f/5.6 and f/8 as with other lenses of this type. Flare is well controlled but still recommend the use of a hood. Recommended for available light candid street and travel photography. Represents a very good value and is a 'keeper'.

Customer Service

None required for any of my Canon lenses that date back to early sevenities.

Similar Products Used:

Leica M 35mm 1.4 ASPH

Sharp - center & edges. No distortion. Adequate DOF Scale. An excellent purchase and value.

None. The build quality is what I expect for $225 -- just okay -- it's not an L-lens but I knew this already.

I expected this lens to be sharp in the center but I am really impressed with the lask of distortion and the sharp edges. I used this lens to photo the city of Chester, England and the buildings show no distortion. The edges look excellent although I use this lens at f/8 or f/11. The hyperfocus scale is adequate and I frequently use this.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

EF-20mm, EF-24mm Shift, EF-28mm, EF-45mm Shift, EF-300mm f/4

1. Quality of "bokeh" or blur; 2. Lens contrast; 3. Sharpness; 4. Flare control; 5. Overall excellent performance with no obvious weak points that I can detect.

Somewhat cheap build quality, though not as bad as the 50/1.8 and not known to be a problem, is nevertheless not confidence-inspiring. Optical performance makes up for this. No USM.

This lens is only slightly better than the 35/1.4L lens, which is impressive considering how difficult it is to design an f/1.4 wide angle. That, plus construction quality and USM, is what you pay for when you buy the more expensive lens. However, this lens is better at f/2 than the 1.4L is at f/1.4, and has better "bokeh" or blur. The f/2 is not built nearly as well as the f/1.4L, although it is much lighter, much less expensive, more portable, and of course handles better. Technically this f/2 lens leaves almost nothing to be desired. It is good wide open, outstanding stopped down, with great contrast. It has extremely soft, "cloud-like," coherent bokeh, which is its most distinguishing characteristic. No harshness. Decent shadow separation. I find its results consistently pleasing to the eye, especially with faster films and in pictures where out-of-focus areas predominate. It does not seem to prefer near or far focusing distances, performing equally well with either. Even given the very high standard of performance in 35mm focal-length lenses these days, this EF lens is remarkable for its consistency--it's a very dependable lens optically with no obvious flaws. I don't personally care for the current Canon bodies, but because I find 35mm a more useful focal length than 50mm and the f/2 lens so much more practical than the f/1.4L, this would be my top choice for use as a normal lens in the Canon system.

Similar Products Used:

I think just about every 35mm prime on the market (with only a couple of exceptions) and many discontinued ones.

Optical quality even at 2.0 is great !

No USM

Very sharp lens ! If compared with the 1.8/50 it's much better with low light, espacially in corners! Lightweight, optically perfect : I used it in indoor situations where no flash is possible/allowed and : That's what I always wanted as a result ! And fixed-focus lenses are much better than the 28-135 IS-zoom : The effect of the IS is 1-2 stops but the fixed-focus lens has this and is much better.

Similar Products Used:

EF 1.8/50, 2.8/28, 2.0/100 USM, 28-135 (already sold) FD 2.8/28, 1.8/50, 2.8/100, 2.8/200 Tamron 28-70, 28-80, 3.5/70-210, 2.5/90, 5.6/300, 8/500

Sharp, Great Contrast, Fast and Inexpensive! Focus ring disengages while in Autofocus.

Noisy motor. Canon does not include lens hood, they should take a lesson from Sigma in that regard.

This lens is sharp with great contrast. Sure the optics are not as good as the 1.4L version, but you should not be disappointed with this lens. Build quality is also good! I have the 50 1.8 II which is mostly plastic and I feel as if could come apart at any time. I do not get that feeling with this lens. It is a bit noisy, but if that is a problem manual focusing is easy on this lens. I also like the fact that the focus ring disengages while in autofocus, something Canon should do on all of their non-USM lens. In short this lens is well worth the price you pay for it!

Customer Service

Yet to use it!

Similar Products Used:

Many FD lens (I'm a Canon Nut) EF 50 1.8 mkII EF 85 1.8 USM Sigma 28 1.8