Canon Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Image Stabilizer USM Autofocus Lens

So you have a shiny new SLR, (or at least, a new-to-you SLR) and you need a lens. I've recommended this lens to many people due to its solid performance across a wide range and the image stabilization. Plus, it's quite affordable. I swap lenses all the time and it really is quite a hassle. This lens is great for backyard picnics, where you'll be both close and far from your subjects in a medium-size environment. I brought this to the zoo once and it just didn't have the reach to fill an animal in the frame, even with the 1.6x crop factor. However, I noticed it was perfect for photographing the parents and kids around me! As it got darker, the IS worked quite well.

If you're going to get just ONE lens, I highly recommend this lens if you have a Canon 10D or earlier. If you have a Rebel, Rebel XT, or 20D and you want to compensate for the 1.6x crop, the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS is the alternative. I would have gone for this option, but I was seeking a lens for my Canon 10D, which cannot use EF-S lenses.

I picked this lens up with my initial camera purchase as it fit my favorite shooting range. It has quickly become one of my favorite walk around lenses and coupled with IS you can’t go wrong. I find this to be the ideal lens for my outdoors, family events and vacations. It was perfectly suited for a recent trip to Disney and almost exclusively used. I was perfect for capturing all the daily events and with IS still being able to hand hold the camera and capture night time shows, fireworks, and indoor 'Character Meals' with almost all the pictures coming out sharp and clear (wish I could attach samples to show just how sharp).

Image quality produced of both color and sharpness are really very good with this particular lens. It is very close to the infamous L-Series glass falling only slightly shorter on color saturation/tonal depth, but still creating very accurate renditions. I have found sharpness only starts to have a noticeable difference at about 300% magnification when I compared similar shots taken with an L at the same focal distance. And I know, build quality doesn't equal L, but it is much better than most other non-L lenses. With USM, it is also very quiet with autofocus being fairly quick.

I have been very happy with this lens any time I have used it and for the price I would recommend it to anyone looking at it. I had seen a suggestion to the 17-85mm IS for true non-crop range. Personally I found the 17-85 lens to have too much barrel distortion for me to live with which is why I ruled it out quickly.

If I had any complaints one would be that there is an extremely minute amount of stiffness in the zoom ring, so that it almost feels as though it might stick …but it doesn’t. The other would be that I wished it started at 24mm end or slightly lower, but then that would make it compete too much with Canon’s 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at more than half the price.

I gave this an excellent rating, because it would take a lens more than twice the price to give you better. And for non-pro situations many people don't need that level of build quality and overly clear sharpness (you won't see it in a 4X6 or 5X7 print).

I recently purchased this lens, and have absolutely no regrets about it. This lens focuses extremely fast, and is super quiet. The photos come out awesome in both sharpness and color. I could not be happier. Haveing no L lenses I can't compre it to them, but I find it hard to believe that they would be that much better then this one as far as quality of the photos are concerned. I have tried it in all lighting situations, and yes the IS system really does help in low light situations. The range of this lens covers most shooting areas (28-135mm)that anyone will encouter, especially with the 1.6 crop factor taken into consideration on the Rebels and 10/20/30Ds (makes it a 45-216mm). So this is a great walk around lens, and has become the one that stays on my camera now probably 95% of the time.

I have removed two of my other lenses from my camera bag since purchasing this one, one of which is the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, which is an awesome lens in itself.

This is one superb lens that I would highly recommend to anyone using a camera made by Canon that utilizes the Ef lens mount. The only other Canon lens compariable is the 24-105 "L", but for less then half the price you can get this one. So for those on a budget, like myself, that doesn't include the "L" glass, then this is definately a must have lens for your camera bag.

Pros:
1. IS System (awesome for low light)
2. USM (super fast and accurate focusing)
3. Quality of photos (always a must)
4. Could list multiple more reasons to have this lens, but will stop here.

Cons:
Haven't found any as of yet, and at this point I don't think I will.

I use this lens as my walk around lens on a Canon 20D. The Image Stabilization works great and adds at least a stop in low light for hand held pictures. This lens is well built with USM for fast auto focus. The images I get with this lens match up optically to the L lens I use and that is why it is on my camera more then the rest. My L lens are used for wildlife and scenic photography and this is used for my people shots, close up's of flowers, and walking around. This lens lets you focus up close and you have almost a macro lens when used at 135mm.
If you are on a limited budget this lens is a best buy and the most value for your money. I've sold as many images taken with this lens as the L series lens in my bag.
Lens Kit owned
Canon EF 300mm f4 IS L lens
Canon EF 400mm f5.6 L lens
Canon EF 17-40mm f4 L lens
Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L Lens
Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro
Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens

The 28-135mm IS lens is light and very easy to carry and to use to get great images. The image quality in terms of looking at images taken on a photo shoot when compared to the L lens in my bag is similar enough to not be noticeable. The lens has a different use then most of the lens I use but it works well and the images are crisp and sharp with great color.
I have owned at one time or other shooting film and now digital most of the lens in Canon's EF lineup that had a reputation for shooting excellent images and this lens matches up very well with all of them.