Filter Reviews

This lens is simply an AMAZING - fast, quiet, great picture quality and color, and MACRO. If you don't already have a Macro (and not the pseudo-macros like the 28-135), you should strongly consider getting one, you'll be quite suprised by the difference it makes.

Ive had this lens for quite a while and used it in several EOS cameras without one single complaint. I was excited when Canon rolled out the Digital Rebel, since it would allow me to use this fine lens in a digital setting. The results are quite good, with fast focusing and excellent image definition. Using it with the Rebel requires some work in Photoshop (unsharp mask) to obtain superlative results. Overall it is one of the finest macros (if not the finest) that I have ever used.

This lens without a doubt deserves the "L" label that Canon only puts on their 'best' lenses. Not only are the pictures *incredibly* sharp, but the focusing is fast (includes a USM motor with overridable manual focus), quiet, and the lens is constructed like a tank. It's my favorite lens and I highly recommend it.

Very light and compact. This makes a great "traveling" lens. I take about 15% of my pictures with this lens, mostly out on hikes where I don't want to haul around my expensive & heavy 70-200 f/2.8 L. This lens paired with an EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM or EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM will give you a compact, light-weight package that you can take along on trips or nature hikes, and cover all of the useful focal lengths.

Much better image quality than Canon's EF 75-300 lenses. Ring USM for fast auto-focus, but no image stabilization. Good build quality for the money spent.

Sharpness drops off noticably past 200mm or so, with some flaws around the edges, but images are still acceptable for the most part. Great lens for 10D/Rebel/300D digital cameras, since the 1.6x cropping will eliminate the flaws at the egdes of the picture at the longer focal lengths, and make this lens effetively a 150-450mm.

Best used stopped down to f/8 or f/11, in good light or with fast film (or digital camera set at ISO 400+). Not recommended for low-light situations, but could be useful for indoor flash close-up portraits.

For the $250-$300 price range, this lens can't be beat. To get noticeably better image quality, you would have to spend twice as much. If you're inclined to do so, check out the Canon EF 70-200 f/4 L.

I love this camera! My husband gave it to be for Christmas last year. It is easier to use than my compact 35-mm camera is. Very, very easy to use. Just took it on vacation and pictures came out fabulous. When on vacation, I had several people comment on the camera and ask how I liked it. When I was purchasing souveniers at one vacation spot, I was asked if I was a professional photography. I had a good laugh over that one. So far have only used it in the totally automatic mode and have not been disappointed. Tested it this summer with close-ups to see what it could do and was not disappointed there either. I think I'll ask for the 300 mm lense this Christmas.

This lens is very good. Picture is very sharp with 100-200 mm. and it's perfect for head&body portrait. I love this lens. In 300 mm area you can see softness but it's not much.

And I compared with 28-105,this one is sharper at 100 than28-105 @105, and it shows much less distortion.

Compared with 75-300mm USM, this one seems sharper than 75-300, with the focus speed almost the same.

Of course, there are other better ones(like 70-200 f2.8L or other fixed focal telephoto lenses), but look what you pay for, it's really a good deal for amateur photographers.

While I considered purchasing a Canon 10D, I also started looking for a good first lens. Most of the reviewers and Canonites on the various forums suggested this lens as a good starting point.

The 28-135mm IS USM Zoom is the one I use all the time now on the Canon 10D, and that will be the case until I get over the sticker shock of the 10D/28--135mm combo and start adding other lenses to my kit.

In the meantime, this lens gets the job done very well. It gives you good range for a variety of of shots, from portraits to telephotos. There is even a macro mode, which gives you the opportunity to do close-ups--not really a true macro, but okay for shots of flowers, your kitty cat's face, etc. It is the flexibility of this lens that makes it so appealing if all you have is just one lens. And remember that if you mount this lens on a digital camera, like the 10D, the range is actually extended by a factor of 1.6.

The USM focuses fast, and the Image Stabilization (IS) really works. In fact, I've been spoiled by it, and IS is now a must for any of the longer lenses I might purchase in the future.

The IS system "locks" on target so that camera shake is eliminated or at least seriously minimized. This means fewer shots ruined by camera shake, and the IS system allows the user to shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds. This isn't just advertising hype. It works.

The image quality is quite good. I get good color saturation, contrast, and sharpness. After tweaking some shots in Photoshop, I was able to turn out some excellent 13x19 inch prints.

As others have pointed out, if you are just starting out with a Canon DSLR or SLR and want one good general purpose lens, this is it.

I bought this lens to use on a Digital Rebel and a Canon Elan II. What sold me on it was the image stabilization feature which allows photographers to take pictures in lower light without requiring a tripod for stabilization. The image stabilization feature works extremely well. I tested it on my first outing with this lens by taking it to 6th street in Austin just as the sun was going down. I took several sets of pictures, some with IS on and some with it off. I also took seven or eight comparison sets where I shot first without IS and then with it. This system really works, and pictures shot with the Image Stabilizer were much sharper in lower light.

What has also impressed me about this lens is the image quality. It is definitely a step above the Digital Rebel kit lens, and shows much finer detail than that lens. It also shows better contrast. There is a very slight amount of chromatic aberration, but it's only noticable on very close inspection, and is no worse than any other zoom lens I've used. Overall, this is an excellent addition to any Canon user's outfit.

I bought this lens four years ago and have shot around 6,000 photos with it (4000 digital, 2000 35mm). Autofocus is very fast and quiet, which is typical of the Canon USM lenses. I would not recommend a Canon lens that does not have the ultrasonic motor (USM) focusing. Optics are sharp throughout the focusing range.

The lens is fairly heavy and after a few months of use, you will likely find that the weight of the glass is enough to make the lens telescope out when it's around your neck. If you want a compact lens that will let you take great pictures in a wide range of settings, this is probably the best lens you could get for a Canon camera. If you're a pro, you'll probably have a backpack full of lenses and you're not reading this anyway, so I'm not talking to you. If you want something you can sling over your shoulder and not think about when you take the kids to Disney World, get a cheaper, lighter lens.

The Image Stabilizer (IS) makes the lens a lot more expensive (some lenses are offered with and without it), so you should know what you're paying for. Some notes about the Image Stabilizer:

- The image stabilizer itself is basically a spinning lens element (piece of glass) that acts as a gyroscope. When the lens moves slightly, such as camera shake caused by your pulse, the gyroscopic element stays put while the other elements move. Because the gyroscopic element is no longer in line with the other elements, it effectively bends the light just enough to compensate for the lens moving.

- Having the IS feature does not mean that you can take crisp photos with a 1/20 sec exposure while jumping on a trampoline. What it means is that you can often get away with not carrying a tripod in normal lighting, and in low light when your photos would be very blurry (assuming you're not using really fast film), the IS will make the images significantly less blurry. An obvious corollary is that you can avoid using a flash in many situations when a flash is undesirable or prohibited.

- The rule of thumb to get crisp photos without image stabilization is that your shutter speed should not be longer than 1 over your focal length. So if you are taking a picture zoomed in at 135mm, your shutter speed needs to be 1/135 sec or faster, and since no camera I know of has a 1/135 setting, that means going up to 1/160 sec (on cameras with stops in 1/3 increments) or faster. The image stabilizer means that you can go 2 f-stops slower than you normally could using the rule I just explained. So if you're shooting at 135mm and you have the IS switched on, you can shoot at 1/40 sec instead of 1/160 sec. That means four times as much light goes past the shutter, or that you can get the same quality results with 1/4 of the ambient light you would normally need.

- There are some times when you SHOULD NOT use the IS feature. You should definitely not use it if you are in a car, on a roller coaster, if you are walking, or in any other situation where the camera is moving or vibrating a lot. You will get blurrier than normal images because the gyroscopic element is constantly moving all over the place, trying to prevent the image from moving. Only have IS switched on when you are using the camera in a normal, stationary, handheld manner. You should also not use IS when you are using a tripod, or when you have the camera resting on a vibration-less surface for an image. The reason is that the gyroscopic element will be spinning even though it's not needed, and while this isn't really bad, the motion could decrease photo quality (I've never noticed this, but this is what Canon claims), and it is unnecessarily using battery power.

- Finally, not all of Canon's IS lenses use the same IS technology; many of the more expensive and newer lenses are better, but it was hard enough for me to come up with what this lens cost--it'll be awhile before I can rationalize three times as much for an upgrade.

One last note about third-party lenses, in case you're thinking about it. I know the price may be compelling but there genuinely does seem to be major quality differences, and while all Canon EOS lenses work will all Canon EOS cameras, no matter how many years apart they are in design, it has happened several times that even the best of the third party lenses (Sigma, some others) do not function properly with new Canon cameras. I happily buy knock-offs with other things, but not with lenses, flashes, or other camera components that actually communicate with my camera.

Canon EF Lenses Have A Built In AF Motor..Compared To Camera Body-Based AF Motors, Lens-Based Motors Have Driving Energy With Lower Transmission Loss...The AF Operation Is Therefore Quick, Quiet, And Highly Precise...All EF Lenses Also Have EMD (Electromagnetic Diaphragm) To Control The Aperture Electronically...The Aperture Can Be Set Either With An Electronic Dial Or With The Electronic Pulse Signal Sent According To The Exposure Reading...The Aperture Control Is Therefore Precise And Umnatched...

To Go With Canon's Reputation, They Introduce A Lens That Is Truely Immaculate...Its Telephoto Zoom From 80mm-200mm Is A Great Addition To A Current Setup With A 28-80mm Lens And Is Ideal For Shooting Sports, Wildlife, Or Portraits...It Can Compress An Image To Give Dramatic Effects...The Optics And Construction Are Compact And Lightweight (Compared To My Nikon FM Setup) And The 4x Zoom Is Great...A Very Steady Shot Even At Maximum Zoom...The Apature Stops Are Adaquate, Being f4.5-f5.6, But Could Be Wider...All In All An Awesome Lens For The Money...Another Canon Hit...

*Specs Taken From Canon's Catalogue...

This is the other lens I got when I bought my Canon body (the main one being a 35-80). It lasted me a long time, especially when you drop a tele-convertor into the mix. It is most definately an amateur lens. Don't expect poster sharp results. But then, look at the price. You get what you pay for and for what you pay for this lens you get a great deal. I've since upgraded to a 75-300 and passed this lens on to a friend who also loves it. If you can afford the extra (about ($) more) I'd recommend the 75-300 for extra range. If not, I've no complaints about this lens.

As an added bonus, if you get the other 'starter' lens, the 35-80, the filter screw size is the same so you'll need to buy fewer filters as they will be usable on both lenses.

It is an excellent extension to your 28-80 lens. At 149.00 its worth every dime. The ease of attachment is what canon is all about. The lens gives your the extra mile to increase your view. Bottom Line : its a must buy for every canon camera owner