Weather-resistant construction
Affordable L series lens
Light weight

The lens hood blocks the built in flash in my former Canon 30D

I use to have the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. I sacrificed the f2.8 max aperture for Canon L glass and build quality. I'm glad I did. My past Tamron accumulated much dust over its use and non-Canon lenses have poor resale value. the image quality from this lens is what you would expect from a Canon L: series lens. The f4 aperture has been enough for my occasional indoor non-flash shots.

This lens on full frame has a fun yet mild fish eye effect. On a 1.6 crop factor DSLR, it's a good walk around lens.

My only problem is that the lens hood blocked the pop up flash on my past Canon 30D.

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 17-50 f2.8

Excellent Lens!

The 17-40 I mostly use it for real estate photography on a 5D. I also use it for aerial pictures although it is a bit heavy for it.

For interior shots it is great because you need not worry about the F/4.

Image quality is also good. Weight for average use is good as well.

It is good at wide 17, however there is distortion as you can see: www.usafromabove.com

Look for the interior pictures. I have tried to eliminate distortion but I couldn’t 100%

I would recommend it.

Sharp,fast focus, handles great,dynomite colors--OUTSTANDING!

None

This is a great lens! I was surprised at how fast it will focus and how sharp the photos are. I only wish I would have purchased it years ago. I have photos that would have been great if they had been taken with this lens. This is my first L lens, but a 70-200 F4 will be on it's way next week. also, I can't say enough good things about ordering from B&H. This was the fifth time I have ordered from them, and I have never had a problem.

If you are looking for a great wide angle zoom, THIS IS IT! A great match for my 20D, and I am sure it will be great for the Canon 5D that is in my near future.

Customer Service

NONE NEEDED

Similar Products Used:

Canon 18-55--Canon 28F 2.8--

Weight, overall picture quality.
Price (especially refurbished).
This camera has WAY better build than my sigma 24-70 f/2.8, and picture quality, and AF is MUCH faster on my 20D

Not f/2.8, could use a wider zoom range.

I have bought this lens refurbished at Adorama.
My powerhorse lens, no doubt, on my Canon 20D Camera.
I have used it in:
Thailand, China, Ski tours, the Israeli desert, skiing resorts in Europe, California, Canada, from below freezing to scorching heat.
0 problems. Id give it a 4, as larger zoom range and IS would make it a 5.

Customer Service

Extremely poor in Israel. Not with product, but with other Canon products.
NEVER visit the dealer, and go with Golden Camera or Erlich.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 24-70 f/2.8

Great build quality and nice to use. Good colours.

First, I use it on a Canon 5D, so weaknesses are more obvious than on an APS-C sensor camera. I find it a bit on the soft side, and corners definitely soft at f/8. On the other hand I have not owned a critically sharp wide-angle that goes down to 20mm or less. I previously owned the 16-35/2.8 (first version), and it was also very soft in the corners, but a little sharper in the center.

Good value for money.

Customer Service

Not used.

Similar Products Used:

Tokina 17/3.5, Canon 20/2.8, Canon 16-35/2.8, Canon 10-22 on 20D

This is my workhorse lens and I love it. It's not as fast as the 16-35 f/2.8 and sometimes I do want the extra f/stop - but the size difference and portability make up the difference in spades. I use this lens every day. It has never failed on me, even in the rain or on the beach (yes, it got hit by a Pacific Ocean curve-ball) and it is about as sharp as it gets. Best professional lens for the money - no doubt!

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8

Great build. Feels so sturdy and a serious piece of equipment. I've never had USM focussing (ultra-sonic motor) but it's so fast at focussing I had to keep checking that the focus barrel had changed. The grips for zooming feels very comfortable. I love the full time manual focussing too so you can focus manually even if you are in AF mode. The images have a gorgeous, contrasty look and shooting at around F8 the image seems to be sharp from centre to edge. It seems to perform best from 30mm - 40 but works beautifuly across the range. I used to have the Tamron 17-35 but this is much better in terms of colour, contrast, sharpness & build. Contrast & colour is better than 50mm 1.8 II which I thought was already a stunning lens for the price. Comparing images with the kit lens, the kit lens has a muddie, brown colout and is a lot softer. The 'L' build keeps out dust better than the kit lens.

It is very big compared with the kit lens meaning I need a new camera case and it's bit heavier, but not excessively so. New it is very expensive which is why I bought it used online and a very good 1 yr old lens at that. F4 is not that wide and requires shooting with higher iso settings. Does not reach as far as the kit lens.

A fantastic and necessary lens for Canon dslrs with a 1.6 crop factor, ie 20D, 30D, 350D etc giving you a great standard zoom length. In 35mm terms equivalent to 27-64mm.

Similar Products Used:

Kit lens
Tamron 17-35

Sharp, great colors, awesome image quality, great price.

Slower than I'd like.

This lens is an incredible bargain for the price. Great quality and sharpness on a really wide lens (especially with a full frame sensor). I bought it for an ultrawide landscape lens for my 5D and it has performed very well, even on the demanding full frame sensor.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 12-24
Canon 10-22
Canon 18-55

Is it enough that it's an L-series of lens? :) Seriously, this is the sharpest lens I've ever had (no, I'm not a pro neither a millionair, so I can't afford buying primes at 1 mm from each other, and unfortunately I don't have the money for the 24-70/2.8L, yet), with really nice color rendition, and nice blur in the background. No chromatic aberration that I could notice (though I have to remind myself that the full frame results may have some surprises...).

Only one thing. The front element moves as you zoom (in quite a similar way the front element of the EF-S 18-55 moves when zooming), though the tube stays still. For a price tag like this, it could have been designed to be totally weather (and dust) sealed. Now you need to have a fliter in the front. Get one, it will worth the extra bucks (it's up to you which one you chose, but I can recommend Hoya Super HMC Pro1 UV(0), it's a bit hard to clean but optically it's prefect, I haven't noticed any difference between shooting with or without it). Could be a bit more longer as well so I wouldn't need to switch lenses so often, but I knew what I was purchasing so it's not a big deal for me. I don't want to treat distortion as a weakness, because IMO it's a normal wide angle behaviour.

I could get a hold of this lens about a month ago, and finally I was able to have some test shots with it using the D-Rebel and the Elan 7NE. Still waiting for the results from the Elan, but the results with the D-Rebel convinced me that this glass is a small wonder. Unfortunately it's not that cheap in Hungary, you almost have to pay 50% more than in the US, but it's up to you if you are willing to take the risk of getting a nice penalty for smuggling... I didn't dare to. So the price shown is the Hungarian price and be surprised, it's still a bit below the average Hungarian price...
I don't want to write trites, yes, it's super wide on FF and quite wide on APS-C size sensors, but that's what you expect of it, don't you? But one thing is for sure: this lens showed me the difference between consumer grade and pro lenses. Based on the really fine results I got from this, I decided to move on and switch to L (due to budget concerns, this will take a lot of time...).
Should one buy it? I'm on quite a tight budget, but I bought one and I can really see the difference. So don't buy a cheapie, spend some more time saving the extra money for this instead, and hopefully you'll be at least as pleased as I am.
Why 4 stars on the value rating? Because of not being completely sealed and it's quite pricy. Yes, it has some distortion, but hey, it is wide angle!

Customer Service

Not needed, yet...

Similar Products Used:

EF-S 18-55 f3.5-5.6 (optically not that bad, but its build is terrible...), EF 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS USM (of course inferior to 17-40 mainly due to its chromatic aberration, and after half a year of usage it's full of dust particles, however, its sharpness is quite OK).

WELL Made..it feels and looks strong!!....price and SEALING(Jep) and result -its sharp and good w good colors-perfect lens for FOV crop factor like the canon 10 d 20 d 30 d and alike..!!

hmmm..not super sharp but ok.

Now it is my turn to write a review abot this legend of lens;as a working pro PJ i am very demanding,as you may know this 17-40 has a big brother the famed 16-35 2,8L .I tested both and found that the winner was this gem;it is very sharp and good and with fine details and the famed L colour,is the result of good files you get with this one.But please note it is NOT as good as say..Nikon 17-35 or alike.!For a zoom of this price you almost have a best buy for few dollars. BOY i do like the sealing of this lens..thats why it is a keepe...!!..r I DO certainly hope canon will do that for ALL L lenses in the future. This lens is good for a zoom and worth the dollars.

Customer Service

nope

Similar Products Used:

NIKON 17-35(YAHU IT RULEZ)...Canon 16-35..(ok)