It's the best wide angle to moderate telephoto lens I've ever purchased.

I bought this to replace the kit lens (18-55) for my 450d, I also got to put my 28-75mm on the shelf. The focal range of this lens was the big attraction for me. I am happy with the look and feel of this lens, nice and tight, no creeping with camera down. Manual focus overide, will focus fairly colse too. Focus is fast and quiet, the IS function is quiet and works great, Canon gets better at this with every new lens. background blur is very nice as Canon states a round apature opening to aid in this. It is very sharp at the point of focus, even wide open. Upon reading professional reviews I was almost dissuaded by the vignetting and chromatic abberation issues. They both only come into play at very wide angles and you can help the CA by stopping down. Every lens has its flaws, but if it was perfect what would you buy from them next year?! Overall I really like this lens and I am glad I purchased it.

This is now my everyday use lens. I LOVE it. Quiet motor. Fast and Sharp picture taking. Just did a portrait photo shoot and the pic's turned ou excellent. $200.00 cheaper than our Canada stores. Highly reccomend.

Great lens. Very heavy duty and much better than the kit lens that came with our Canon EOS. The only issue is that in the wide angle you do get some almost fish eye effect as I guess would be expected. Photos have turned out excellent!

The pictures are very crisp, the lens is very quiet. The lens itself is under 4 inches and what most venues are requiring. I am unsure of the durability, 2 of my lens are at Canon getting repaired, so I'm not a huge believer in their durability (it may be me too, this lens will tell)