| Review

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Good Lens for Beginner, Sunday, 17 December 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		4.3
Sharpness		3.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		4.0
Value for Money		5.0

If you are looking for a Lens to replace the kid Lens, and don't want to spend too much extra $$. This is the right one. The product quality is much better than EF-S entry level Lens. Image is OK for this price range. But the image is soft when F is wide open, it gets a decent picture until F is above 8. For low light condition, you need a flash to get a quality picture.
This Lens is "Make in Taiwan", I can not find any of this Lens in the market is "Make in Japan" so far. But, it still worths every penny -
Small and not heavy, goes very well with my new XTI.
Best product in terms of $$$ and quality.

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Great Zoom Lens, Monday, 13 November 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		4.5
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		4.0
AF Speed		4.0
Value for Money		5.0

I searched and researched the lens to purchase with my Canon Rebel XTI for weeks because I knew that I did not want the kit lens. I also did not have the money to spend on a 5, 6, or $700 dollar lens. In the end after reading countless reviews, ones implementing professional techniques and ones using just opinion, this lens looked to be the best value. For the money I really don't think that you can beat this lens. It focuses quickly, it is really quiet while doing it, and it is sharp enough for the money. Plus it has full time manual focus, which is a really big plus for a lens in this price range. The only problem is it is a little on the narrow side with the 1.6 crop factor on the Rebel XTI, but I would much rather have to deal with that than a sub-par image. In summary I would recommend this lens in place of the kit lens to anyone who doesn't have the money to buy an "L" series lens. It is really a great value.

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As a compromise l;ens this may be all you need - m, Saturday, 26 August 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		4.3
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		4.0
AF Speed		4.0
Value for Money		4.0

This is an update on my first review of this lens.
initially I had many issues with this lens but after sending it into Canon for repair it has come back much sharper. This is an issue I've heard from others regarding Canon lenses. The moral is: If the lens has a woble when you get it new, send it in to Canon for their free factory service immediately.

While this is infinately better than the kit lens and a steady on zoom, the colors are still not completely accurate. If you are looking for perfect color accuracy you will be dissapointed. The zoom functions quietly and smoothly though and focus is nice throughout. There is a decent Bokeh (for this type lens) at 3.5 and even 4.5 if th4e background is seperated a bit from the forground.

The zoom range is good as a walking around, but not quite enough for nature photography. It doesn't have the closeup focus capability you might hope for to get a nice image of a flower nor the zoom capability to get a nice image of a bird or a deer. It's just in between booth of these.

For shots of people and places though, it's just right. This has been a very useful lens but if I were making the purchase again, I would go for something that either extended out to 200mm or shot closer in rather than this compromise that is not quite enough of either.

As a first lens upgrade from a kit lens, this is a pretty good economical choice. No doubt many people will upgrade to this lens and stop there finding their needs fully satisfied.

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marvelous lens from Canon, Saturday, 26 August 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		5.0
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

I'm very happy with this lens. It offer's an ample variety of options, high image quality and it is light.

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ALL ABOUT VALUE, Tuesday, 25 July 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		5.0
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

I bought this lens to replace the kit lens on the Rebel XT. I find this lens to be a very good value, a very good value. I also have the canon 28-135 3.5 ... And find the 28-105 lens to be a very stong lens for the price. It might even be just a notch clearer then the 28-135 but at half the price. It's size is nice and light weight and fits nice on the Rebel since it is a smaller DSLR.

All in all, a great lens at a budet price but it dosn't act like it. Fast focus, fair range, nice size, easy to lug around. I would sugest this lens to any one and first on my list to someone who is not wanting to go crazy on lenses and extras for their camera, and just want to simply get some nice pics without spending all their lunch money. Also the lens takes the same size filters as the kit lens, so if you have spent a few dollers on a few filters for the kit lens your in luck. I know I was happy to still use the 3 filters I've already got.

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Great lens for the price!, Thursday, 08 June 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		4.5
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		4.0
Value for Money		4.0

This lens is truly a 'must have' if you don't have lots of cash to spend. Simply put, it is an excellent performer for the money. I recently got this lens for my Rebel XT, and noticed a HUGE improvement over the 18-55mm kit lens. Sharpness has improved considerably. The 18-55mm has some SERIOUS issues in that area. First of all, sharpness was REALLY bad at large apertures. But smaller apertures were not really much better. The 28-105mm still is not the best performer at large apertures. But it is MUCH better than the 18-55mm. However, at around f8 or higher, the 28-105mm is tack sharp. In addition, this lens does not suffer from the problem of having a clear foreground and soft background that my 18-55mm suffers from.

Color accuracy has also GREATLY improved with the 28-105mm. Colors look MUCH more natural with this lens than with the 18-55mm lens. This is particularly true of lighter colors, especially when you go to increase saturation with Photoshop (or other software). Increasing saturation to improve the appearance of dark colors on a picture taken with the 18-55mm would typically make lighter colored objects look VERY unnatural. This sort of problem is MUCH reduced with the 28-105mm. I should also say that this lens appears to overexpose somewhat compared with the 18-55mm. This is more good than bad, however, as it has the effect of making the lens faster.

Of course, this lens is not without its drawbacks. I mentioned the slight softness at large apertures, for instance. Also, it is not the fastest lens out there. But then again, what do you expect for the price? And finally, 28mm is not exactly wide angle on a cropped sensor digital SLR like the Rebels or the 20D. But despite these drawbacks, this lens really performs like a champ. And when used in its element (ie higher f-numbers), it works quite well. Also, since it is not an EF-S lens, it will not become a paperweight should you decide to upgrade to a 5D.

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I'm happy I chose this EF instead of the alternate, Thursday, 01 June 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		5.0
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

THE BOTTOM LINE:
I needed to replace the lens on my Canon Rebel XT D-SLR. The EF-S on first glance seemed like the perfect replacement since Canon produced the EF-S series specifically for the compressed sensor D-SLR line. After weighing the pros and cons of the two, I chose this EF lens largely on the basis of price. It was the right choice, and I haven't found any loss of features or quality.

Multiplying the range by 1.6 for a 35mm equivalence (if you have a Rebel XT, 20D or 30D), this model is really just a slightly wide angle to stronger telephoto zoom. (about 45mm-170mm if it was a 35mm film camera) If this range suits you, then this lens is an excellent value over a EF-S wide-angle/telephoto zoom. You'll keep all of the features, save money and have a faster lens.

The EF series meshes well with the current line of Canon digital SLRs. In addition, unlike the EF-S series, they are compatible with all of the Canon EOS products including higher-end cameras like the Mark II.

SPECIFIC OBSERVATIONS FROM WEEKS OF USE:
My first concern before purchasing this lens was the MINIMUM FOCUS DISTANCE of 0.5 meters, or approximately 18 inches. I do a lot of macro work transferring images into digital, so I was a tad worried. However, after getting the lens and zooming in, I realized that the focusing distance wasn't really an issue after all. In most cases, I could manage to stand six or so inches further away and still get a highly magnified shot. So that you can see that the macro function works well, I've uploaded an image of a small hamster photographed at 102mm.

My second concern was lens QUALITY AND SHARPNESS, particularly in the wide-angle setting near the edges of the photo. This lens exceeded my expectations. So that you can see the quality of this lens, I've uploaded an uncropped picture of the SF Bay Bridge taken at the 28mm wide-angle setting. You'll see that the photo is sharp all the way through the edges of the frame. (it is a web-sized jpeg, so you should take that into consideration and use it mainly to see the sharpness of the photo, particularly near the outside edges)

I did get an unexpected bonus with this lens. The MANUAL FOCUS ring is in the front. I love it. Disabling the auto-focus is a snap, and the position and feel of the manual focus is perfect for sports or social activities where the subject is often not the closest object. The ring itself is ridged and made of rubber, making handling a breeze.

While I hadn't expected to replace my stock lens so soon, I think it ended up for the best. This lens is actually superior to the one that came with the XT. I lost some wide-angle function but gained much more telephoto. The price is excellent and the quality of the lens is high.

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This lenses are adorable, Tuesday, 30 May 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		4.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

For the price and quality I rated this lenses with 5 stars.
If you really want to see how good this lens are see the photos I took in Europe. I too around 5000 photos. I posted a few on the web (See link below).

For the price I recommend this lens as walk around lens. The zoom is pretty usefull They are very realiable and (almost) very sharp. Get this lens instead of the kit lens (18-55 mm) until you are ready to spend more.

Here are some of my pictures taken in Europe with this lens (Images have been compressed):

http://www.laplazita.net/europa/

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I'm sending it back...., Thursday, 23 March 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		1.8
Sharpness		1.0
Build Quality		2.0
AF Speed		1.0
Value for Money		3.0

I bought this lens and was pretty excited about it, but I've been disappointed. Previous to this I bought the 50mm 1.8 for $70 and that lens completely puts this one to shame. I need a wider angle lens and went for this one, but all too often found myself quite disappointed with the results. Edges of subjects were all messy and just looked terrible, even at higher f stops. I shoot with a 20D.

The USM is awesome though and will for sure be an option in whatever lens I choose to buy in place of this one. The focal range of 28-105 was also very nice, but to me the picture quality was not so good.

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Good Zoom Range for a Walk Around Lens, Thursday, 02 March 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		3.3
Sharpness		2.0
Build Quality		3.0
AF Speed		4.0
Value for Money		4.0

This is my walk around lens for a 20d quickly replacing the kits lens that came with it. For the price you are getting a good performer optically and focus speed is snappy. Although I do find that most shots need some lite photoshop touches to bring out the detail. Recommend using f/8 to avoid softness in the lower f settings.

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Great lens for the Price, Tuesday, 28 February 2006


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		4.0

I was given this lens after my Sigma 28-135mm lens broke. While that lens has been fixed, I haven't used it since attatching the Canon lens on my camera. The Canon 28-105mm may have a smaller zoom range, but other than that is clearly a superior lens in every respect. It's sturdy, fast-focusing, sharp, and has good color. In short, it's what you hope to find when purchasing a consumer grade lens. There are other cheaper lenses on the market, like Sigma's lens or Canon's f/4-5.6, but this lens is worth the extra $100 for its reliability, sharpness and overall usability.

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Very good lens., Tuesday, 20 September 2005


Overall rating (weighted)		4.8
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		4.0

I am a novice - but this lens makes me look like a pro. I have my pictures developed in a mate finish and everyone raves about the pictures. I purchased this lens to replace one that I broke when I dropped my camera. I take close up pictures of my grandaughter which the lens is good for - highly recommend.

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Excellent Lens!, Friday, 15 July 2005


Overall rating (weighted)		4.5
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		4.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		4.0

This lens has replaced my stock 18-55mm lens on the Canon Digital Rebel. The lens is very sharp for the photos I take (close-ups as well as longer distance pictures). One "negative" - the lens is a little heavier than the stock lens which came with the camera. Not a real problem though. One difference - the manual focus ring is to the rear whereas the stock manual focus ring is in the front. The motor is extremely quiet and quick! Am extremely pleased that I purchased this lens and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

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Great lens!!, Tuesday, 01 March 2005


Overall rating (weighted)		5.0
Sharpness		5.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		5.0
Value for Money		5.0

This is a great lens. I bought the digital rebel kit recently and soon 'outgrew' the efs 18-55 kit lens. It is particularly soft at large apertures and makes it totally unsuitable for indoor handheld photography. I decided to go for 35 mm lenses rather than 'digital' format lenses as an upgrade to the kit lens. They are lower in price (relatively) and you also only see the center of the lens where the picture quality is the best. The Quantaray 28-200 (this is actualy a tamron) was the first lens I considered. i returned it after just 2 photos. it was much worse than the kit lens. Then I did extensive research and finally decided on the 28-105 canon. This equates to 45-160 which is good walking around range. Also fro outdoor wide angle landscapes, the kit lens good enough stopped down. I got the lens today from adorama and the indoor test photos are GREAT and show fine detail. The shallow DOF in macro mode is also nice. The kit lens is no comparison to this lens. I would highly recommend this to new enthusiast dslr (like Drebel)users on a tight budget but also crave for more from their digital rebel. All in all a wonderful lens. And did I say the build quality is great too not to mention the ghostly silent lightening fast focussing?

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Good lens for the price, Wednesday, 26 January 2005


Overall rating (weighted)		4.5
Sharpness		4.0
Build Quality		5.0
AF Speed		4.0
Value for Money		5.0

This is a good, general purpose lens. It feels solidly built, and has a nice distance window.

This lens is light, but well built. I highly encourage you to buy the lens hood with this lens, as it is prone to flare.

Overall, I have been very satisfied with this lens. Not as good as an "L" lens, but at the low price of $250, you can't get better.

I am very happy with this lens.

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