IS is a Godsend...10/sec at 135mm; great all-around lens

Some spherical aberation at the edges

when shooting wide open on stars(great test),spherical aberation compared to my fixed Zeiss lenses, to be expected with a zoom;coupled with the blinding AF speed of the EOS 3, an absolute class performer. All pics are reasonably sharp except those taken when I forgot to reset the lens from manual to automatic.Highly versatile.

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Zeiss fixed lenses
Canon fixed lenses
Astro-Physics triplet-Super ED telescopes(the finest lenses focused on infin

IS really, really works! USM focuses quickly and quietly. You can switch IS off for tripod shots. You can also switch AF off for manual focusing.

IS makes a slight motor noise. Lens hood did not come with Lens.

IS works better than I thought. Got sharp exposures at 1/5@100 mm hand held! The price is good if you keep in mind that a 2.8 28-105 constant aperture can cost you 200 hundred more! Sharpness is better than the Sigmas.

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Sigma 28-105mm, Canon 28-80mm. Canon 75-200mm.

Two Letters: IS This is my primary lens. The IS feature can produce stunning results in situations where you wouldn't think about shooting before (sans tripod). I'm constantly amazed with what I get away with using this lens. Others have commented about the price being a bit high, but I don't think that is a valid concern with this lens. It can be had for less then $500 mail order and is worth every penny. Considering the nearly "L" class performance of this lens, the price is a bargain.

It's heavy, but I don't care. I just like the pictures I get with it. Sure, it could be faster, but, it could be a lot more expensive too.

I bought this lens to replace the kit lens that came with my camera. I know now that I should have forgone the kit lens altogether and just purchased this lens. My shooting consists primarily of nature/landscapes and travel photography. This lens is the perfect single lens solution for both. Of course, it's not my only lens. It is complemented with a 20-35 and a 75-300. The bottom line, if you shoot Canon EOS, buy this lens, and the len hood, and the battery pack to power the gyros since watching the stable image is so much fun.

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None needed.

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This is my second IS lens, the other is the 75-300/4-5.6

IS feature is great. It really works, and allows handheld operation in marginal lighting. Lens is very sharp for a zoom.

A bit heavy, both to carry and in terms of price. You do get what you pay for though, and this lens is worth the extra money.

I bought this from KEH used, and it was worth it. It is optically the best zoom I have ever used, and the IS feature is revolutionary in its ability to provide crisp images at ridiculously low shutter speeds. I get clear images at 1/15 of a second at 135mm, handheld. The main usefulness of the IS feature, though, is that it allows you to set a very small f stop of, say, 13 or 16 in shadowy conditions. Since most lenses perform better optically when stopped down, the IS allows you to not have to shoot wide open all the time with slow film or in dim light. This is very helpful, and is impossible with a regular zoom. If you use Canon, you should own this lens.

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Consumer zooms from canon, 28-80 and 75-300. Tamron 28-200

Image Stabilizer, excellent image quality, good zoom range, nice smooth focus ring operation

Big, heavy.

The bottom line is that this is the best lens I've ever owned (of 6 total). Its size and weight are the only things I don't like, and I overlook these "defects" because of the amazing images it produces. Image Stabilizing works wonderfully--for example, I was able to hand-hold a 1/3 second shot at 100mm focal length at f4 with perfect sharpness--no shake perceptible in the final image. The autofocus is great--my Sigma's autofocus sounded like an electric razor, but this lens is very quiet.

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I e-mailed them with an inquiry about depth-of-field markings on the lens barrel, and they responded very quickly and mailed me three pages of charts, which was more than I needed. No complaints!

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Sigma 75-300 for Minolta

Image Stabilization is great. Good sharpness. Flare well controlled. Fast focusing.

Big and heavy. Expensive. Needs wider maximum aperture. Heavy distortion.

Good overall lens. If you can only carry one lens this would be a good choice. IS gives you the ability to shoot at very slow shutter speeds. Not as sharp as some of the L lenses but very close.

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Many Canon lenses both FD and EF

Amazing sharpness. The optical distance between the Asphericals is stabilized by the Image Stabilizer, which really works. The distortionscan be corrected with manual overlay of the Ft-m. Colour contrast is crisp and even at f.8,/ 1/15, it worked with in spectrums in Dark Silhouttes portrait experiments. Excellent.

The distortions may worry you, but i have had distortions even with the 100-400.IS/Usm.
Due to its largeness the pop-up flash creates low black archs with zoom. it requires a speedlight.

This is probably the best Zoom ratio(Wide-Tele), lens by Canon, until it is overcome by a better. The price is comfortable compared to the 100-400 IS USM. I always carry it ready on my mount. It never dissapointed me. A fantastic buy, with the Image Stabilzers. On the whole I would have preffered a larger f. stop. A speedlight is always a better choice for Fill flash, though i never prefer a pop-up gun, which makes the camera vulnerable. On one word the lens is par excellence.

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Haven't tried yet.

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Canon 28-105.mm
Canon 100-400.mm IS USM
Canon 85.mm 1.8
Canon 24.mm 1.4L USM
Canon 300.mm 2.8 IS USM

Sharp optics! Fast, silent focusing with full-time manual focusing (due to ring USM motor). Fast focusing with non-rotating front element (due to inner focusing). And IS is a miraculous technology; believe the hype - it really, really works.

Considering its physical size, it really ought to be about a stop faster than it is. Large front element tends to block the pop-up flash unit on your camera - if you do flash work with this lens, you'll want an accessory flash. Significant distortion at short end - but that's normal for a zoom, particularly a consumer zoom.

I thought my 28-105 was great, until I bought this one and shot some test frames (see http://staff.ussinc.com/~steved/photos/writings/eflenses.html for a writeup). This is a heck of a good lens - very useful zoom range, IS, and great optics. I haven't had a chance to test how much of a difference the lens hood makes, but from past experience and logic (large, exposed front element plus a lot of elements in the design), you definitely want the hood on this lens. It's rather expensive, but if you can afford to move up to it, you will NOT regret it.

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Canon EF 28-105 f/3.4-4.5 USM

Good build quality (not great, but that is the realm of the 'L' lenses!), incredible image quality with IS, MTF tests rate this equiv. to the Minolta 'G' lenses, and other high-end Canon and Nikon lenses, BUT if you refigure the lens MTF scores minus the 71-135 range, in other words, add the figures and divide for the average only using the 28-70 scores for this lens and it comes EXTREMELY close to the scores for Canon's 'L' lenses and the top of the line Nikons.

A little on the 'plasticky' side, but hey, its plastic! Lens barrel that it, not the elements inside.

A great lenses, the IS works better than claimed by Canon, other comments prior to mine apply. It is a wondrous device for those of us with less than steady hands but who must shoot on the fly!

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Not yet needed

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Other higher range (28-200) lenses--all poor, Contax G system lenses, Minolta

The image stabilization is absolutely amazing! I really didn't expect the improvement to be as signifigant as I've seen. A tripod is still required for really low light or for critical composition but IS has made the guilt of going handheld disappear. I wonder why Canon really doesn't market this feature more aggressively.

The quality of the lens itself is good for a zoom. My shooting tends to be in the F8-F11 range, so I'm probably hitting the sweet spot more often than not.

The lens feels cheap. But I have learned over the last few years that there is no direct correlation between feeling cheap and it's true durability. We will see.

It pains me to switch from my familiar Pentax 35mm cameras that have much better ergononmic design than the Canon bodies. But the IS system makes a such a huge difference that I can't ignore it.

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No online registration for camera equipment. Otherwise, not used yet.

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Pentax user for 20 years.