USM rocks. FTM. Front element doesn''t rotate.

Not very sharp at the wide end. Also a bit of distortion at the wide end. The biggest weakness is the amount of vignetting. It is horrible at the wide end and at large aperatures. I did a test and found that vignetting occured even at 50mm at f/6.7. And this is WITHOUT a polarizer. Pretty useless for landscape photos.

This lens is decent lens IF you understand its performance envelope. For me I got it to do some mainly outdoor (< 50mm) and some portrait (>70mm). It did a good job on the portrait stuff but it was a failure with the outdoor/landscape pictures particular because of its major vignetting problems and slight distortion at wide ends. The vignetting was my biggest complaint. I was about to say that at $249 you get what you pay for but I paid less for my Quantaray 35-80mm a couple years ago and it did a better job. Originally I was going to get the 28-135 IS but I decided to save about $200 and go with the 28-105. Bad bad decision. Live and learn.

Customer Service

Never used them.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 50mm f/1.8 MK2 Quantaray 35-80mm f/4-5.6

Quiet and Fast autofocus Good optical quality

Some distortion at the wide end Not a true macro

I bout this lens for a recent trip to Spain. It performed as I expected, the USM is extremly fast and wisper quiet. I had read reviews warning of distortion at the wide end so I was carefull when using the lens in the 28-35mm range. After reviewing my slides I do not feel the distortion is as bad as people let on. The lens balances out well with the Elan 7/EOS 30 and was a pleasure to use.

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Never used USM lens from Canon Many Canon EF series & Sigma lens

good performance in all ranges,
internal focus

Distortion on 28 mm
Front lens easily damaged
Dust can enter easily from the rear
Lens hood not included

A very nice lens for every day use. Internal fucussing very usefulle when using a polarisong filter.

Customer Service

No problems in 8 yeas of use

Similar Products Used:

35-105 4.5/5.6 Canon
35-105 3.5/4.5 Canon

Better lens than standard "kit" lens 28-80. USM-allowing quick manual focusing. 105 zoom nice to have. Good image quailty.

Poor quailty at 28mm. Images are soft/muddy wide open & at 105mm.

This a good overall lens. The image quality could be better especially at 28mm & below f8, but it's not an L. Overall worth the upgrade from 28-80 kit lens.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

EF 28-80
USM 75-300
Sigma 75-300 Macro

Cheap, and sharp when stopped down to f/8

Mostly vignetting, though you can avoid this by using ultra-thin circular polarizer etc.

Had fun using it for a while but traded it in in favour of primes

Similar Products Used:

Tokina 28-70 f/2.8-2.8 Pro which is much much better, esp. in low-light at wider apertures

Quiet and smooth focusing mechanism.

relatively none... for it's class.

The kit came with a 35-80 lens, but I decided to upgrade to the 28-105.
Good call! This is a good all-around lens.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Canon 35-80 USM;

Light, USM, Good range, Good handling, Robust, Cheap, Quite sharp.

28mm has distortion and is soft wide open. 105mm is not sharp unless at f11.

The basic 28-80 that comes with the EOS kits at rock-bottom prices is an insult to photogrphy ; replacing it with this lens is a must if you want a not-too-expensive zoom. This lens is cool, handles well, it will help you make good pictures, which is really a compliment for a lens. However, it is no sharp enough for enlarging beyond 8x10 : it lacks detail and shaprness, which gives a "muddy" feel. Since I bought 100m, 50mm and 24mm primes, I don't use it except when I REALLY need a zoom (which is not often).

This is therefore the ideal "beginner" lens, to start a pasion in photography. Think about the 24-85 too.

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Basic El Cheapo Canon 28-80

Relatively light-weight, fast and quite AF, good image quality, smooth AF/zoom movement.
Instant MF override by adjusting focus by hand.
Almost perfect zoom range, and far better than the 28-80 standard zoom.

3.5/f minimum.
Just a touch heavier and longer than the 28-80 lens, but not annoyingly so.

This Canon 28-105 lens includes almost the perfect zoom range for the majority of photographs - 28mm for wide angle portraits and landscapes, 105 for portraits and zooming in just enough to get those far away subjects. While it isn't as stunning in zoom range as the latest 28-300 super zooms, the 105 length is good enough that you really won't miss the longer ranges.

(remember, going from 50 to 100mm doubles image size. Going from 100 to 200 doubles it, but going from 200 to 300 only increases size by 1.5x. Usually, using 100 speed film, image quality is good enough that you can blow up an interesting subject by 2x w/o much problem. But 28-80 mm really isn't good enough because 50 to 80mm isn't 2x like 50 to 100mm is.)

The USM motor allows you to turn the focus ring manually at any time w/o having to switch from AF to MF mode, unlike a few of the other Canon lenses that don't have this features, esp. the cheaper 28-80 mm lens usually included in the Rebel 2000 camera packages.

Image quality, in general, is above average and sharp at all ranges. While not Leica lens stunning, this lens has enough features and zoom range to be worth the money, IMO, over the 28-80mm lens usually picked. Vs. a 28-200 Tamron Super lens, you will get similar or better image quality depending on the zoom range used - the image quality made by this lens appears sharper. Of course, if 4x6" prints are all you make, the 28-200 Tamron will do just fine for the same price as this lens -- but it will weigh more than the 28-105 Canon, and may be ill balanced for Canon's lighter cameras like the Rebel 2000 while AF'ing slower as well.

Similar Products Used:

None

Great range 28, 50 & 105; this is an all purpose lens. Like many USM lenses, has the full-time manual focus. Great value and great pictures.

None

I use this lens all the time, it stay on camera 75% of the time. Great first lens. I have the lens hood and have heard that some people have trouble with it. I have big fingers and no problem, just make sure that you put the lenscap on right. This lens just feels good in my hands. I am looking at the 28-135 IS USM, but for half the cost this is the lens for my limited budget.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Canon 50mm MkII, 75-300mm USM, 28-80mm, Tamaron 90mm Macro

Great range: I Really love the 28mm! and 105 is great for portrats
Internal focusing and non-rotating end great for polarizers.
lightwieght and compact.

lens hood causes bad vignetting.
also true with a single filter at wide angles and large aperatures, but not too bad.

This is the lens that LIVES on my camera. Great for all kinds of genral purpose use and small enough to take on grand adventures in the backcountry. Far superior to the crappy lens normally sold with the comsumer end EOS's. Upgrade to this lens for sure.

Similar Products Used:

Cannon 35-135 USM
Tamron 28-200