8.Can capture very sharp portriats with blurred back background and
9.Decent Macro capability
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Good but definitely is very limiting, January 10, 2006
Reviewer: J. Chen "weez"

This lens is of decent optical quality and should satisfy most amature photographer who has more concern about sharpness and constrast in their photos than the normal kit lens on low end DSLRs could provide, however this is not a very versatile lens for two major reasons:
1. Maximum Aperture of only f/4-5.6: this severely limits the DOF aspect of the lens and also generates the side effect of forcing longer shutter speeds, although the slower shutter speed can be partially remedied by the IS option on the lens the DOF limitation can not be avoided. Not able to open up the aperture will limit creativity possibilities with this lens.
2. This is a EF-S lens that is designed for a 1.5 to 1.6 cropped sub-35mm frame sensor which means it can only be used with Canon EF-S mount cameras (Rebel, 20D). This limits the upgrade path in camera body. This lens have to be scrapped once the photographer upgrades to anything larger than the 1.5x crop factor camera bodies (such as Canon 1D, 1Ds line or the 5D, and most likely more and more new DSLR from Canon will probably go the full frame route) and it can not be used with a film Canon SLR camera.
For the price that this lens demands and the limitation provided above, it is a very tough decision to buy this lens. While it does indeed provide good walk around zoom range and OK optical quality, more descriminating photographers should definitely look at third party full EF mount lens that offer superior optical performance without the above mentioned limitations at lower prices (such as the Tamron 28-74mm F/2.8 EF mount lens), for they're much better long term investments than this lens.
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Very Disappointed!, January 6, 2006
Reviewer: Daniel L. Marion

Today I received the Canon EF-S 17-85mm and I was very excited. II have been shooting with the kit lense my Rebel XT came with and had been getting okay results. I wanted to upgrade to a better lense to met my growing expectations for picture quality and diversity. Well, after a day of shooting in different situations, I am returning this lense. I was amazed that the picture quality was very similar to my 18-55mm kit lense. I am no professional, but I and a friend of mine could not see one bit of difference between the $130 kit lense and the $600 17-85mm. It was a tough toss-up between this lense and the 24-105mm F/4 L. After seeing the pictures produced by the 17-85mm, I am going with the L-series lense hoping it will be much better. The IS is a great feature but cannot compensate for the F-stop. Even though the 17-85mm is F/ 4-5.6. You will do almost all your shooting in 5.6. It's like it is stuck in 5.6. Even with manual adjustment, the widest I could get it was 5.0. I hope this review helps others in making the right choice. If you have the money go with the L-series. The extra focal length is just not worth $600 for the same quality

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 Looking for a walk-around lens?, December 23, 2005
Reviewer: Dave "
Then you might consider getting a copy of the Canon EF 17-85 IS. If you have a Digital Rebel, XT, or 20D and have been shooting with a kit lens, this is one of the lenses that a lot of people buy as their first upgrade. Some people just buy it in place of the kit lens when they purchase the camera body. It's an extremely popular lens because the range and size are just right for taking anywhere. I personally debated getting this lens because I wasn't sure about the quality of the glass and my main concern was that it wasn't fast enough for all occasions. One of the more frustrating things for me about the kit lens, as great as it was for such minimal cost, was that the aperture wasn't fixed. I found myself having to bump up the ISO to make up for the lack of an f-stop or two. For those who are new to photography, that basically means you have to compensate for the fact that the lens can't let enough light into the sensor so you have to make the sensor more sensitive (but also at the cost of lower quality and more grainy results) with the higher ISO setting.

I decided I didn't want to take that risk and went all out since it was supposed to be my walk-around lens that I'd carry all the time. I picked up the expensive EF 24-70 f/2.8L lens that so many pros use because I thought it had a decent enough focal length range and at 2.8 it was fast enough for all my lightning needs. It cost $1100 and after actually hanging it around my neck, I decided it wasn't going to work for my current needs. The lens itself is relatively huge and weighs a ton on a 20D. I returned the lens after talking to a friend who is a professional photographer who basically recommended picking up the 17-85 IS. He owned both (among others) and said that it was perfect for walking around because it had both the wide end and a decent telephoto length. That and it cost half as much! He allayed all my fears that the picture quality wouldn't be very good. I was also going to be taking a trip for a few weeks to Europe and really wanted a lens that could do it all. So I bought it and have been pretty happy with my results.

Is it a pro lens? Not by any means. I know that if I kept the 24-70 the results would probably be better. But that being said, I am getting good results for half the price. When I was in Europe having the 17-85 range was about as perfect as I could have wanted. It was light and small enough that I could fit it into my compact Tamron Velocity 6 bag and the additional weight was negligible. The IS is a nice feature but don't think that it makes up for the lack of aperture width. I tried to fool myself into thinking that when I bought the lens, but I see now that having a fixed 2.8 is something you just can't make up with IS. But other than that, I'm very satisfied with this purchase. Another lens you might want to look into if you're checking this one out is the Canon EF 17-40 f/4. It's comparable in price, has a fixed f/4 but just doesn't have the additional zoom length to it. Pictures are great though and it's also relatively compact.

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