Seems sturdy.
More than adequate picture quality for my use.
Quick focusing(when operational)
Fast enough for most of my uses.
Broad focal length

Makes the rig a little front heavy with the Dgital Rebel XT
Reliablilty is a concern.

I purchased this as part of a kit with my Digital Rebel XT. I have been more than happy with the picture quality with this lens. I am hoping to get more involved in the hobby and I know I need more lenses than just one but this is almost perfect for everyday use. I can easily envision a 3 lens kit with this as the multi-purpose general use lens. The canon 10-22(I think that's right) EF-S would be the perfect wide angle complement, in my opinion. Add a zoom with a 400mm top end or a telephoto in that range and you are covered.
The lens is just heavy enough to seem sturdy but NOT too heavy to be a drag. This is ironic considering the following....
This has not been a perfect experience however. The lense began to malfunction within a month of purchase with very light use. The autofocuse would function intermittently. I did not send it back right away because I wanted the lense/camera available(even at 60%) for Christmas. It was only when the combination became a full manual only set up that still functioned less than 50% of the time that I was ready to send the comb back. The fact that the holidays were over helped.
Canon fixed the problem and had the camera back in less than 14 days. It turns out that the lens AND the body were both defective.

Customer Service

Fantastic. I wish I had not need them but they were great!

Similar Products Used:

35mm SLR lenses from quantaray. There is no comparison. Canon wins!

Perfect range for a walk around lens, Image Stabilisation.

Poor performance, especially at wide angle: purple fringings, very soft/unsharp, light fall-off, overpriced

The 17-85 came as a kit lens with my EOS 20D but I have already contacted the store to change it for a 17-40 f4/L. This lens is very, very soft (may I even call it unsharp) at 17mm, almost troughout the whole aperture range. Even huge amounts of Unsharp Mask can't solve this. Low light makes things even worse. At f14 things are improving just a little bit. Purple fringings are so prominent that it is visable even at medium sized prints . And did I mention light fall-off? From 35mm and up picture quality improves dramatically and I managed to get some great, sharp shots without vignetting and just minimal (=acceptable) C.A. but since I do a lot of wide angle shooting this lens is of no use for me. I have had very good experience in the past with the 17-40L and although I will loose half the range and the IS, it is still better than working with this lens. I am by no means an "L" snob but I just want to get the best out of my 20D.

Customer Service

Didn't made it that far. Goes back to the store.

Good build. Good sharpness (in lit areas)

Poor resolution and contrast in darker areas

In the end, it always comes back to what you pay and this lens is no exception. It represents the logical step up from the OEM 18-55mm lens. Its sharpness is as others have described it and with mild barrel distortion at edges. Yes it is reasonably sharp for the price, but oh that poor resolution and contrast in shady areas when compared to other admitedly more expensive zoom lenses. For that poor shade area resolution and contrast I am downgrading this lens making allowance for its price (which is high compared with the OEM 18-55mm zoom).

Customer Service

Not required.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 10-22mm wideangle Canon 70-200 f4 Canon 60mm macro

Range 17-85 Build Sharpness Color Contrast

Mild distortion wide f 4.0-5.6

This lens I use on my 20d and it great. Sharp side to side and has great color and contrast. The build is good and the lens is very fast (AF). It has mild distortion at 17mm but is gone at 20mm and is only seen when shooting building.

Customer Service

Great

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-75 Tamron 17-35

1. Quality lens for a non-L lens. 2. IS feature. 3. Very good optics.

1. Can only mount on EOS 10 and 20D.

I previously had a Canon 28-135 mm IS. I have used this the most of all my lenses. With the recent purchase of a Canon 20D, I had to buy the 17-85 mm. IS to have a comparable lens because of the 1.6X image sensor. The color, contrast and IS are excellent for a non-L lens. I recently enlarged a photo I took in Anza-Borrego State Park to 16 X 20 with outstanding results.

Customer Service

Not needed yet.

Similar Products Used:

1. Canon 28-135 mm IS 2. Canon 100-400 mm IS L. 3. Canon 100 mm macro

Great zoom range. Image stabilization works well and makes this a faster lens.

Wish it was a bit faster, but IS works well. It may be a bit overpriced, but takes great pictures and zoom range is about as good as it gets.

Excellent walk-around lens. My pictures have been sharp and contrasty. I think this lens is criticized because it's a bit pricey, but most wide angles are more expensive. I've been very pleased with pictures from this lens.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-135

17-85mm coverage, IS.

Slow.......F4-5.6 and expensive

Initially, I was disspointed about this lens. I took about 200 test shoots with varies steps (even at F8 at bright sunny day), 85% of my shoots comes out blur. I did a lot of research on the net and seems like there might be QA issue with this lens. Some copies are better than other. Instead of give up and RMA it, I sent it to Canon for inspection (17-85mm covers the exact range that I want, 17-40mm L F4 is just too short for me). Canon calibrate it and now it works like charm. My pictures are clear and sharp.

Customer Service

Great service! I took to Irvine service center in CA and got it back in a week.

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF18-55mm

Good focal range Fast Focus IS

Poor optical quality to say the least

I purchased this lens with my 20D as I felt it would be a good "holiday" lens. I found the lens to be easy to use - quick focusing and the IS was a bonus. Optically the lens was very disappointing and one wonders where the "quality control" has gone. The first lens I purchased was replaced as it had what appeared to be a double image on the last 25mm on the left hand side of a 6x4 print. The second lens was generally sharper (also replaced) but had a similiar problem on the right hand side and the third lens (also replaced) was quite soft with a similiar problem on both sides. For the cost of the lens I would have expected the optics to be of a higher standard.

Customer Service

Very helpfull

Similar Products Used:

Canon EFS 28-135mm IS USM Canon EFS 24-85mm USM Sigma 18-125mm DC Sigma 70-300mm APO Nikon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 Nikon 70-300mm Nikon 28-200mm Nikon 24-120mm VR

good focal range IS fast focus light gives the 20D a well balanced feel

could be a bit cheaper and you'll get the L-snobs commenting about it.

I bought the 20D as a kit with the lens and bought it over the lower price 18-55 kit because the lens gives a wider range and has IS. provides good wide angle on a DSLR with a decent zoom too. it focus's fast and produces sharp results. couple this less with a longer zoom and a macro lens and you have a complete range of lenses for a normal day to day photography. if your a professional then your not going to have the 20D as your main camera so comparing it to an L series is pointless as it won't fit any other camera bar the lower spec 300D

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF-S 18-55mm Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro USM Canon EF 28-105mm USM Sigma 17-35 EX HSM Aspherical

Good construction quality,light, perfect zoom range for DSLR'S like 20D and 300D, IS works good.

As expected, not par to L series lenses.

I purchased this lens for my 20D, because of course for its wide range. I’ve shot about 500 pics and my first impressions are positive. Its light and rather small for this range, and the end is exceeding when zooming. The quality of the lens is good but not par to the L series. Is coming with no hood (which I purchased ) and case. Comparing to my other lenses 17-40 L and 24-70L there is a difference in the delivered photos in terms of color saturation, contrast and sharpness. The difference id bigger comparing with the 24-70L rather than 17-40L. Anyway the lens is delivering good photos for it’s price and the IS really works. For the 20D it’a an all around lens, ideal for traveling. It’s not a fast lens, but for 20D that can shoot until 800 or even 1600 ASA with no problem and considering the IS, it’s very usable even under non ideal lighting conditions.

Customer Service

Not neeeded for the moment

Similar Products Used:

Canon AF 17-40L Canon AF 24-70L Canon AF 70-200 f.4 L Sigma AF 24-70 DX