Product Description

Canon is recognized around the world for its innovations and advancements in the field of optical technology. Nothing is more of a testament to this than the EOS EF lenses. Canon EF lenses incorporate the latest in optical technology including Diffractive Optics and Image Stabilization. Only Canon provides a variety as wide as this for all your photographic needs.

Product Details

• Brand: Canon
• Model: 9517A008AA
• Dimensions: .39" h x .39" w x .39" l, 1.05 pounds

Customer Reviews

All-purpose lens
This is an ideal all-around lens. 85mm is great for portraits while 17mm creates a beautiful wide angle shot. The f-stop bottoms out at 4-5.6 but the IS makes up for this. For the money, this is a great lens for 1.6 crop cameras.

I give the lens 4 stars because there is some CA at 17mm, but depending on the subject its hardly ever noticed. In fact, I love using this lens at 17mm, at that zoom, you can get much more creative aw-inspiring images.

Makes a good photographer better
Wanting to have a light kit for four months on the (rail)roads in Europe, I acquired a Canon XTi, 10-22mm zoom, the 17-85 IS zoom and 70-300 USM III IS zoom. I got them all in the six months before going and tested them thoroughly in my typical shooting of flowers, scenery, animals and grandkids.

On the trip I was surprised at how tough the little XTi was--and how good the sensor. Another surprise was the fact that the 17-85mm was used virtually all the time. The wide zoom was used for about ten percent of the 8600 images I shot and the 70-300 very rarely. If I were to go on another such journey, I would not hesitate to use the 17-85mm IS lens on an APS-sensor Canon as my only lens--it proved to be that good. I might add a polarising filter for reducing reflections and a walking stick and small beanbag for those places where monopods are not welcomed.

The photos have proved stunning, whether macro, panoramic scenes or street scenes. The European Union has passed some rather stringent rules protecting a person's rights to their own image, so you have to be careful not to do closeups of individuals without permission or you will be explaining very quickly that you are not shooting for commercial purposes.

I've seen many comparisons where this lens is not rated as highly as the L glass, but even in this computer-crafted technology, there are individual lenses that rise above the standard or sink below it. Perhaps I've always been lucky, because I've never been disappointed by Canon.

Highly recommend
I recently purchased this lens as a complement to the other two IS lenses I have. The Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras and the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras.

The IS function allows a 2 to 3 stop slower shutter speed. Fantastic when shooting where flash is not allowed or where you want the extra depth of field a smaller aperature will give you.

As a bonus it has Macro capabilities.

See my images under user images...