Best Digital SLR Cameras

To meet user demands for a fast EF-S zoom lens, Canon has specially designed a new lens with a large aperture of f/2.8 for select Canon Digital SLR cameras. The large circular aperture produces a shallow depth-of-field, creating background blur that draws attention to the photographic subject. The lens construction includes UD and aspherical elements, which deliver impressive image quality throughout the entire zoom range. Image Stabilizer lens groups shift to compensate for camera movement so that the image appears steady on the image plane, ensuring clear, crisp images, even in dim light. With a Ring-type USM, inner focusing and new AF algorithms, this lens achieves autofocus quickly and quietly, and with full-time mechanical manual focusing, manually adjusting the focus is possible even in AF mode.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Absolutely great on a crop body
I got this lens with my EOS 50D instead of the kit lens. It is a fine lens and, if you have a crop (non-full frame) sensor like a 50D or 40D or Rebel XSi, it is the best choice in this focus range. It is a lot lighter than the 24-70 L lens and does the same job. I bought the Canon lens hood to go with it and also keep a B+W multicoated uv filter on the front.

If you are considering the 24-70 L and have a 50D body or similar then you should probably go with this lens, the 17-55/2.8. I have heard of photographers who use it and put the 24-70 L away, mainly becuase the 17-55 is lighter, has image stabilization, and takes excellent pictures.

Do get the lens hood also. The lens hood prevents flare (extraneous light) which can happen particularly with wide-angle lenses. A lens hood also provides physical protection for the lens.

A uv filter removes atomspheric haze and also protects the front of the lens. Don’t use a cheap filter- use the multicoated ones and name brands like B+W, Heliopan, etc. Some people don’t use a uv filter- it’s one of those eternal debates in photograhy.

4 Stars Great L lens optics, flairs badly, and build like a $300 lens
Pro:

AF, IQ, IS, Contrast, edge to edge sharpness, consistency, definitely in the L league.

Con:

For the price, the flair problem, the plastic used, the extended barrow, the stiff zoom ring, and the lack of the hood (like all Canon consumer lenses) are quite unacceptable. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone got dust problem or others got IS gone in a year. Just cross my fingers and hope mines IS survive longer. It gives this faint and unsettling zzzz sound from time to time, unlike the humble 18-55 IS kit lens. The IS on the latter happens to be dead quiet.

I agree with some that this is Canon’s signal for everybody to move to their pro full frame line over time – their EF-S lens can be great but won’t last. For the time beaing, I happen to love the light weight ef-s lines better. By the way, this Canon 17-55 is not heavy at all. Feels well balanced in hand with the 40D. Just that the build quality is about the same as the 28-135, only one notch above the humble kit lens, which is about 1/10 of the cost!

But the bottom line is, this lens got the very best IQ with extremely effective IS that no other can match. So I can’t blame Canon for getting away with murder here.

By the way, the IS on this lens is quite useful to me catching small child’s expression in low light. Their hands maybe moving, but often their expression changes much slower, enough for the IS to be helpful. Also, the new 18-55 IS kit lens got high marks on the web. So I did some rough comparison shots in low light at f5.6. The 17-55 wins hands down in sharpness and clarity all around.

Oh, this lens flair and ghost like hell. So do watch out for the unwanted artistic expressions in your shots.

Cheers

4 Stars Almost, but not L quality images
The best part of this lens is that it is stabilized and f/2.8. I can take had held shots at weddings regardless of the lighting.

The downside is that it is not nearly as sharp or high quality as a L lens. It sucks a lot of dust inside which doesn’t affect the pictures but could eventually be a mechanical issue. It is not sharp until around f/8 and does not handle contrast or vivid colors as well as L glass.

I would recommend buying this if you need to take hand held shots with a zoom, in low light. Otherwise buy a L or a couple primes.

5 Stars Quality Glass
My first reason for looking for a lens in this focal range was to shoot my daughter’s cheerleading in the school gym. On the Canon 1.6x FOVCF (Field of View Crop Factor) cameras which use the EF-S series lenses, the 17-55mm focal length range equates to a 27.2-88mm lens mounted on a full-frame DSLR or film 35mm camera. This turns out to be a great range for the tight shooting I do frequently. The optics of the lens are outstanding. It blows away the EF-S 18-55mm kit lens – as it should given the price difference. The auto focus is quick and quiet. The vignetting is very minimal, really only in the corners and the lens is sharp through the whole focal length, even in the corners. It is flare-prone in bright light and sunlight; see my comment regarding the EW-83J lens hood below.

I have seen some reviews mention dust as an issue with this lens, but I have not experienced any problems in that regard so far. I do, however, keep the lens in a LowePro 1 case when I am not using it, just the lens not with the lens hood. If you want to store it with the hood you need the LowePro 1W case (I do not have any ties to LowePro, I just know from experience that this lens will fit those cases, there are other lens cases out there). That leads to my one complaint I, like many, am disappointed that for @$1000 you do not get the EW-83J lens hood. You really do want to purchase one keep the stray light out that plagues DSLRs more than film SLRs. It does help with the flare, and should be included.

4 Stars Good, but not exceptional
This lens is good, but not what I had hoped for for $1000. The image stabilization is excellent, the focusing is good, and the sharpness is excellent at the center and good on the edges. There is a significant amount of vignetting and chromatic aberration. The build quality is downright cheap compared to an L lens. So it’s a fine lens, but you get a lot more bang-for-your-buck with the Sigma 17-70 at 1/3 the price.

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