Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens

great value!

This lens was over budget for me until I considered buying it used from Adorama. I was a bit reluctant to buy a used lens, but I'm thrilled with this purchase. The lens looks brand new, came with a hood, and included a generous store warranty period. Best

By Cat on Adorama - Aug 28, 2012

Canon EF_S 17-55mm f2/8 IS USM lens

Strengths: The best walk around zoom lens for 1.6 crop. Extremely high optical quality. F2.8 + IS allow low light shooting that even FF does not have yet.

Weakness: Some flaring when shooting at a bright light such as spot light or sun.

Optically speaking, this lens beats or matches all the L's and primes that Canon made. I think is is the sharpest zoom lens Canon has made. Based on my testing, it is one step sharper than all of these lenses: 24-70 f2.8L, 70-200 f/4L, 70-200 IS, 50 f/1.4. It is two steps sharper than my 17-40L. Comparing to the ef-s 60mm macro, in my opinion the sharpest prime that Canon made, it is very close...
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Optically speaking, this lens beats or matches all the L's and primes that Canon made. I think is is the sharpest zoom lens Canon has made. Based on my testing, it is one step sharper than all of these lenses: 24-70 f2.8L, 70-200 f/4L, 70-200 IS, 50 f/1.4. It is two steps sharper than my 17-40L. Comparing to the ef-s 60mm macro, in my opinion the sharpest prime that Canon made, it is very close in optical quality. When I use my 17-40L, I need to do some moderate sharpening with Photoshop CS2. With this lens, minimal sharpening is needed. My tests are confirmed by numerous other users, the Digital-Picture.com and Photozine. After using this lens for one week, it has displaced my 17-40L as the general walk around on my Rebel XT. Before I bought this lens, I thought of buying a FF and 24-105 F/4l one day. This lens postpones that decision indefinitely. One weakness of this lens is there is some flaring when shooting at a very bright light such as a spot light or the sun.
Is this lens too expensive? The Nikon 17-55mm has a better build, a lens hood but no IS at about $1,150. I bought mine at Badgers Graphics for $1,069 plus $44 for a lens hood, for a total of $1,113. If you consider IS worth the same as the better build plus a lens hood, then the Canon is priced close to the market. I personally like the IS feature better. This lens weighs at 22.8 oz, certainly not light, but the Nikon weighs almost 25.6 oz. I don't think you will regret buying this lens.

By allenko - Jun 21, 2006

Excellent but expensive lens

Strengths: Sharp, wide aperture. Image stabilizatin helps in low-light handheld work

Weakness: Expensive. Slightly heavy. Doesn't come with lens hood.

Very sharp lens with beautiful bokeh. Wide aperture provides a bright viewfinder. Solid construction despite some plastic parts. No obvious vignetting, chromatic aberration or distortion on everyday use. Image stabilization at f/2.8 allows night-time photography without tripod with excellent shots. However, the lens was 200g heavier and at least $500 more expensive than similar lenses without...
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Very sharp lens with beautiful bokeh. Wide aperture provides a bright viewfinder. Solid construction despite some plastic parts. No obvious vignetting, chromatic aberration or distortion on everyday use. Image stabilization at f/2.8 allows night-time photography without tripod with excellent shots.

However, the lens was 200g heavier and at least $500 more expensive than similar lenses without image stabilization. Hard to tell whether the image stabilization was worth the cost or the weight. Now that I own it, I really love using it and definitely did not regret the purchase. For the price though, you would expect Canon to at least provide a lens hood.

By ecwleung - Jun 19, 2006

EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras

Strengths: Fast Lens, able to take action pictures indoors w/ out a flash, Sharp Crisp pictures. versatile focal length

Weakness: Priced as an L lens w/ out the build quality. Relatively Heavy

I am currently using the Digital Rebel body. I had been using the kit lens 18-55mm, 50 mm 1.4 and 55-200mm. I mainly take pictures of Martial Arts events, and weddings. I found that I was using the kit lens the majority of the time. I sold my 3 lenses to purchase the EF-S 17-55mm f/ 2.8 IS USM. When I first received the lens my initial response was that the build quality was not as nice as the...
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I am currently using the Digital Rebel body. I had been using the kit lens 18-55mm, 50 mm 1.4 and 55-200mm. I mainly take pictures of Martial Arts events, and weddings. I found that I was using the kit lens the majority of the time. I sold my 3 lenses to purchase the EF-S 17-55mm f/ 2.8 IS USM.

When I first received the lens my initial response was that the build quality was not as nice as the 50mm 1.4 lens, it did not feel as substantial or smooth. The zoom became smoother after a few uses. The lens is relatively heavy but feels balanced when mounted on my camera body.

I got to put the lens thru a trial this weekend. The lens was fast as far as light and speed of focusing. The pictures were of excellent quality! Clean crisp and sharp. I am very happy w/ my purchase! The focal length is perfect for the types of shots I normally take. The lens has a very versatile focus length, it works well for large group shots to close-ups. The 2.8 and ISM is a must for being able to take action shots indoors. This lens allows me to take quality pictures w/ out the use of a flash. I would recommend the purchase of this lens to anyone looking for a versatile lens for taking indoor shots, action shots or portraits.

By guitarstop - Aug 23, 2006

Just what I've been waiting for.

Strengths: f/2.8. Image stabilization. All the usual strengths of USM lenses.

Weakness: Price. Wish it was 17-85. Or even 17-70.

I got this lens just in time to shoot a wedding this weekend and a couple of outdoor portrait sessions since then. I was previously using the EF-S 17-85mm. The f/2.8 makes a world of difference shooting indoor weddings and at dusk when light is the best for portraits. The constant aperture is a "must have" as far as I'm concerned because the variable aperture on the 17-85 was frustrating when...
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I got this lens just in time to shoot a wedding this weekend and a couple of outdoor portrait sessions since then. I was previously using the EF-S 17-85mm. The f/2.8 makes a world of difference shooting indoor weddings and at dusk when light is the best for portraits. The constant aperture is a "must have" as far as I'm concerned because the variable aperture on the 17-85 was frustrating when using manual exposure or aperture priority settings, which are what I use about 95% of the time.

I use this lens and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS for everything now. Fabulous combination for the 20d/30d. If I could change anything it would be to make this lens extend to 70mm to fill the gap it leaves between this and the 70-200, or better yet, go to 85mm as the cheaper lens does. But we can't have everything, can we?

The 17-55 seems to focus quickly, even in low light. It's quiet. It works just as well or better than my other USM lenses, even as well as the L lenses.

Oh yeah, it's expensive, and it's not even an "L" lens! But it's exactly the lens I've been waiting for, and I'm very happy with its performance so far. I would recommend it to anyone who is doing portrait or wedding work with the 20d/30d. (But the less expensive 17-85mm is also a great lens, with more zoom range, and only falls short if you have to shoot without a tripod in low light situations such as indoor weddings.) If you shoot weddings, this is the lens you want.

By rbmealey - Jun 6, 2006