Great all purpose walk around lens for under $470.00

My primary persuasion in purchasing this lens was to reduce the amount of lenses I have to lug around.

Carrying a Canon 30D, Canon 17-40 L, Tamron mid zoom, and a Canon 70-200L f2.8is makes things very heavy and clumsy. Not too mention it just takes the joy out of an outing or vacation as the lenses are always in the way plus swapping lenses is a paint at times and not always convenient.

Short of selling this camera and getting a Sony DSC-R1 which I may still purchase I needed to find options and this is the only lens that fits my needs-on paper at least.

The lens itself is very compact and light. In fact so compact that I was concerned of it's overall abilities at first as I normally equate heavy with quality though I admit that rarely holds true in this day.

I first took a couple of shots with it stepped down one full stop to achieve the best image quality.

I must say that the the camera makes the lens better than it is as it is not very fast so the low noise ability of the 30D compensates for this with higher ISO abilities cranking out 800ISO pics with very little noise.

The lens quality itself is good though the zoom mechanics not very linear and somewhat clunky towards the high end of the zoom. The mount was solid and no issues there.

Bokey is fine though not spectacular. Contrast is OK at best and needs touching up but which is no issue as most owners of DSLR cameras touch up their photos anyhow.

Image crispness is another thing and this is where this camera has issues. At 250mm and no image stabilization you had better use a fast setting to prevent the shakes. Image softness is the most common complaint on this lens-again hit and miss. Use a tripod and the images come out nice and sharp.

Autofocus is quick and accurate with very little hunting.

For the price and ability this lens is a decent piece of glass and I recommend one as a good daily walking lens.

Lee Dye
Simi Valley,CA