The combination of price, size and optical quality.

Not as sharp as my primes, but that's why I have and use both.

When I need the versatility of a zoom this lens can't be beat. It is Canon's best standard zoom in terms of price, size and image quality. If I need enhanced image quality I use my primes. That said, I've gotten tac sharp 11X14 black and white prints using this lens stopped down to f/8. Beats the f/2.8 and IS zooms on value and size/weight, and the "kit" zooms on image quality. A zoom is already a compromise; this one makes the most sense for me.

Customer Service

Not needed for this particular lens. Otherwise fair, honest and timely.

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Canon EF 28-80/3.5-5.6V (very poor) Canon EF 28/2.8 (great) Canon EF 50/1.8 (my personal favorite)

Lightweight! Picture quality stopped down. USM. Relativelly cheap.

Flare (no lens hood included) Significant distorsion at 28mm It's not a fast f/2.8 lens, but you can live with it.

Great lens for the price. As a consumer lens you should not expect extreme quality you'll find in the "L" class, but is good enought as a general purpose zoom lens. Range is good and picture quality (when stopped down) is very nice and sharp. I generally use fixed focal lenses, but this one is great for travel: lightweight, sharp and cheap. Flare is a little problem so better use a lens hood. I recommed to take the cannon 28mm f/2.8 fixed focal in your pocket also.

Customer Service

Not needed

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At this range: Canon 28mm f/2.8, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Tokina 24-200

- Cheap, but well constructed - Versatile zoom range - Shares filter size with many good primes in the Canon line

- Noticeable pincushion at the 28 end - Not too well sealed against dust - Lens hood costs an extra 20 bucks

The 28-105 is probably a better lens than the 28-80 sold with most lower end Canon bodies. While not a spectacular lens, it does a decent job in most situations. Given the fact that its price has dropped even more recently, it is a fairly good bargain. The USM on this lens is as fast as on the 300/4. The 58mm filter size on this lens means that you can later add better lenses such as the 100/2 or the 85/1.8 and use the same filters. Overall a resonably good value for money.

Customer Service

Have not had a need for, so far for any of my camera equipment

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Canon 300/4 Canon 50/1.8

sharp lens, quiet operation

A little heavy for lighter cameras

Great lens - it's a little heavy for my Rebel 2000 (it fits better with the BP-200 battery adapter/accessory grip). It's fast, appears to take sharper pictures wide open than a Sigma 28-4.0 Asph IF lens. USM motor - it's fast and quiet.

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Quantaray FD 28-80 3.5/5.6

Reasonably priced, fast and accurate focus, excellent pictures, Canon quality, light weight, ease of use.

None come to mind, but Canon has lots of lens that are WAY more expensive. (Maybe someday I''ll be able to buy one!)

When I switched from a manual-focus Olympus OM-1 to a Canon Elan 2E, I got this as my first lens. It was an excellent choice, going very nicely with the capabilities of the camera. I leave it on the camera all the time. Great for portraits and landscapes alike. An excellent all-purpose lens.

Customer Service

Haven''t needed it

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75-300 zoom

Decent build, useful zoom range.

Poor results - not nearly sharp enough for projection or any degree of enlargement and pretty flat colour rendition. Can flare quite badly, even with a hood. Not too expensive, but neither is it value for money.

The ''least bad'' of the Canon consumer zooms - but that isn''t saying much. Compared to most zooms packaged with Canon bodies it has decent build quality and the images are OK for machine-processed small prints. However, you can get better results cheaper and with greater convenience from most compacts with this zoom range. I took shots of the same scenes on Greek islands in wonderful light with this thing on an Eos5 and with an Olympus Superzoom 28-110mm P&S - and was so disappointed with the SLR results that I sold this lens soon after I got the prints back. The Olympus shots weren''t great but could stand reasonable enlargement, but those from the Canon lens were notably less sharp and contrasty. My advice is: save your money towards a decent Canon L-zoom like the 70-200mm f4 or use one of their good standard primes and the fixed 100mm. (incidently, don''t bother about IS, it adds to cost and detracts from image except where you cannot support the camera.) My experience in using a range of Canon lenses is that the zooms in particular vary a great deal in quality, and the cheaper ones are little more than retail candy to decorate bodies.

Customer Service

Didn''t need it.

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4 different SLR outfits. The Canon USM 28-80mm, 75-300mm and 75-300mm IS are even worse than this. My old Pentax K 75-150mm was much better as is my current Canon f4L 70-200mm. The Leica 80-200mm i

cheap. good zoom range. 3.5-4.5 aparture is not to bad. fast and very silent AF.

length changes when zoomed=dust eater. aparture changes when zoomed. badly built. the front element barrel "dances" in the outer barrel. opticly- not sharp, not contrasty, flare prone and has STRONG distorsion.

this is an amature zoom. it is not up to pro standards, but it is cheap.

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nikon 28-105/f3.5-4.5 ED- not as silent and fast as canon''s USM.

Good Above average consumer lens Sharp Good Contrast

Not for Pros

This was my first Cannon Lens which a really enjoyed. It was sharp, has great color and contrast…but nothing close to my primes…or any primes for that matter. This is a great consumer lens for which a beginner can learn to use or for travel. I never realized what a difference primes can make. The unfortunate part about all this is that I sold my zoom back to B & H for a lousy 85 bucks. Going home I realize after looking at all the pictures that I took with this lens that is was in fact a very good zoom lens. For an above average Consumer lens it’s a five star. But for a pro, it wouldn’t do it in my opinion. Thanks for the wonderful pictures….

Customer Service

Never needed it

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Cannon 50MM 1.4

- cover most useful focal lengths - USM II, really very very fast and silent - compact and cheap

- not so sharp when enlarged to 8R - a little bit flare - barrel quite serious when tilt up

Overall is good, esp the price and the focusing speed.

Customer Service

quite poor here.

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None

Full time manual focus, focal range 28-105, USM motor very quiet, optics for the price.

Optical quality, but what do you expect for little over $200.

This is a descent lens for the price, it is a good all purpose lens for entry and med level camera''''s. Sharpness is descent, as well as could be expected in this price range. I really like the full time manual focus, that comes in real handy at times. USM motor is very quick and quiet, it is a much better lens than the 28-80 4.5-5.6 USM. I have a Canon Elan 7E and it matches up great with that camera.

Customer Service

Never needed

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Canon 28-80 4.5-5.6 USM