Great Range. Good build quality. IS! Good color balance. Very sharp from 28-70, reasonably sharp from 70-135.

A little soft at 135, but not excessively so. Telescoping zoom not quite sealed. 5.6 at the high end is pretty slow.

Can't criticize this lens for being slow, or for not being as sharp as the 28-70 2.8L, etc. For what I would have paid for the 28-70, I bought this lens, the hood, a UV filter, a Bogen tripod and head, and a 20-35 3.5 zoom. You can't beat this lens for the cash, and for most purposes, the sharpness is more than sufficient. I'm not a pro. This lens has so much range over the 28-70 that it makes it worthwhile for the casual photographer. 135 is 65 mm longer than 70! Think about it! If you really need the sharpness (and it's really almost quite as good as the 28-70), get this lens and 28, 50 and 85 primes. It'll still cost you less... Did I mention the IS allows you to handhold at 1/10 at 135mm? I verified this on a light table, with a very sharp loupe and Provia 100F. The advantage at 28mm is not as great, as you can only get down to 1/8 or so.

Customer Service

Never needed

Similar Products Used:

28-105
28-80 3.5-5.6
70-200 2.8L
20-35 3.5
200 2.8L
50 1.8

See the "Bottom Line" below.

Somewhat loose zooming mechanism that can sometimes extend under the pull of gravity alone (no manual tensioning adjustment is available on the lens, either)

Does not have an exceptionally durable feel in its build. Somewhat "plasticky", not bad, but a little.

A tad fuzzy at 135mm.

Small maximum aperture, but hey, you know that when you buy it so I guess you can't complain.

Some barrel distortion at 28mm end of zoom.

This has got to be the best "all purpose" (if there is such a thing) lens known to man. The zoom range makes it useful for just about any regular (read non-special application) picture taking you may do. When I travel on my motorcycle and can only carry a 35mm body with one lens, this is the only choice.

The Image Stabilizer works great--believe the hype; the lens is not overly big or heavy, and it looks pretty beefy and high-tech despite being a bit "plasticky" as I listed in the weaknesses category above.

When just pleasure shooting pictures, I use slide film exclusively (Fuji Provia 100f about 95% of the time). I have shot hundreds of slides with this lens and most of them are very, very sharp. Most are good enough for professional work, although I still wouldn't rate this as a professional lens (which, of course, it isn't by Canon's own standards either). Pictures taken at the f/8-f/11 range in the mid-zoom ranges are decidedly crisp. I have limited experience with some more economically priced competitors' lenses and while some may be appealing with their amazing 28-200mm zoom ranges, they don't come close to this for sharpness. (Bottom line: spend the xtra dough, lose a little in the overall focal length, and get a much sharper lens. You won't be dissappointed.) The color renditions are dead on in my opinion. And although extremely accurate technical data may prove me wrong, I can't see any noticeable color shift from pro, L-series lenses.

The 105mm range and up is great for portraits since the increased focal length gives great blurring of backgrounds despite the lens not having a great maximum aperture. The full-time manual focus is great too--no more manual focus lock-up and no need to flip the AF/MF switch to fine tune your focus in tricky situations. This is a great convenience to anyone with experience using some of Canon's consumer lenses that don't offer this. The ultrasonic autofocus is very fast, extremely smooth, and noise-free--unlike the regular Canon non-USM lenses and most Nikon lenses. The lens hood can be easily reversed for storage right on the lens without taking up any extra length.

I recommend this lens to anyone who is more than an SLR snap-shooter. If you're an amateur who is longing for something more than the 28-80mm lens that came with your EOS Rebel kit, than this is the lens for you. You won't believe how much easier taking nice pictures will be and with any shots with decent composition, your friends will think you're a semi-pro even if you're not. You'll think you got a new camera. And if you're a professional who needs something compact and highly versatile for photojournalism, outdoor sports, or just plain having fun, this fits the bill perfectly. Not bad to have around as a back-up, either. It's strengths far outweigh its weaknesses and I don't leave home without it.

Customer Service

Very good--After 9 mos. of regular use, something came loose inside the lens and was interfering with the zoom. I called Canon, sent it in with a explanative letter, got it back in about 2-2 1/2 weeks completely fixed at no charge and with no questions asked.

Similar Products Used:

28-70mm f/2.8L
Other consumer grade Canon and Nikon lenses

IS is it's main strength.it's easy to get spoiled.

i wanted to use the lens as a portrait lens primarily at the 135 range only to discover that at that focal length at portrait range(ie aprox 5-10ft.)it's FL drops to around 90-100mm.,a far greater loss than I expected.if I want a 135mm portrait lens i'll have to buy a fixed lens.

IS is what makes this lens worth buying.optical quality is decent but not up to L standards.

Customer Service

most of the canon tech.reps i've talked to don't know much.if it's not in their tech.reference lit.that they have access to they don't have much of an answer for you.

Similar Products Used:

20-35L,70-200L,misc.off brand zooms.

The 28-135 range is perfect, USM internal focusing is awsome, IS is great when the lights go low when you didn't expect it.

A bit large and heavy, but well worth it.

If you're more than just a "vacation shooter" and want something of higher quality than this lens is it. If you're just shooting your average shots the smaller and lighter 28-105 may be your lens.

Customer Service

great

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-80

Versatile. Can hand hold at slow shutter speeds.

Not sharp when shot wide open.

Good all around lense especially for amateur. OK for hiking etc.
but sharpness wide open limits it use for high quality images.

Customer Service

good

Similar Products Used:

Canon 20-35 2.8L
Canon 70-200 2.8L
Contax rangefinder lenses

The focal range is great for general purpose use. The pictures are sharp and contrasty -- much more than others that I have used/seen. I am very impressed with the quality, focal range, macro ability (even though not 1:1 -- still not bad for general purpose) and the image stabilization.

None

This is a great lens. I have never been anything less than impressed with what it has done. It is a great general purpose lens that works for most situations.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

28-105 (Canon), 28-200 Tamaron, 28-300 Tamaron

Also own: 100-400 IS, 28-105 (for my wife's camera) and 85.

IS works *great*. I can hand hold shutter speeds down to 1/15 or so at the whole range. The zoom range covers all of the most-often used lengths.

Barrel distortion at wide end. Aperture is a bit small, but that's to be expected at this price.

A great lens to carry when you only want to carry one lens. IS works better than you'd think. If this was 28-135/2.8 IS, it would be perfect.

Similar Products Used:

None

The single most versatile high-quality lens I've ever seen! Handles almost all my photojournalism assignments from cockpit interiors to people shots to high school hockey. (Yes, I wish it was a 17-300mm, but that will come some day). The Image Stabilization is too good to be true. At 135mm a freehand 1/30 sec is rock steady. The USM autofocusing is dead-on wide open. Optical quality surpasses my expectations and usually exceeds my own capabilities. After 1000+ rolls its durability has frankly surpised me.

Dust particles sucked in between lens groups by the zooming action.

They'll have to pry my cold dead fingers ...

Customer Service

None used.

Similar Products Used:

There are none similar.

Extremely sharp lens. Slow shutter used -- 1/20th all the time, 1/5 on occasion.

IS uses more battery power. Max. aperature not large. A bit pricey at $500. A bit big compared to the 28-105.

Best standard lens you can buy. 2X as good as 28-105 and 2X the price, but worth it. I use it for 95% of my people candids. Image Stablization makes it like having a tripod all the time.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-105 f/3.5-4.5

Wide zoom range without compromisng image quality. Image stabilizer really works.

Some chromatic abberation when scanned at >2000 dpi.

Not a typical super-zoom, ain't cheap either. Don't mix-up Canon EF28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM with those crappy junk like Sigma/Tamron 28-105. If you only want to buy one lens, this is it.

Similar Products Used:

None