Reviewed by
NeoTokyo , Intermediate

Price Paid
$46.00 at Local Pawn shop on E

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Sports

Summary
I bought a RebelX-Speedlite-bag-cleaning bundle on ebay just to get at this lense, I wanted to continue to grow my line of lenses for my Rebel XTi and it was cheap enough. If you divide the cost by the number of items I got (4) the lense only cost me $11.50

After using this lense with my XTi I found it to be a good quality lense. Sure it may not be "Stock Photography" quality if your looking for a sharp image, otherwise it offers a quality image. I found that it takes very nice soft pictures on the XTi's No-Flash pre-set in a medium lit room using a lamp with a cream lamp shade. A lens hood is a good partner for this lense.

The stock 18-55mm that came with my XTi is slightly sharper to give you an idea and a little heavier. They are both just as loud though the 35-80mm is rather slower and wouldnt be good for sports. The 18-55mm also has a larger apature.

Another reason that I bought this lens is that it can be modified into a poor mans maco lens. I saw some vividly sharp up close pictures used with this lens when modified. Just do a google search to find the information and pictures.

I can say that for the money this is a worth while lense to add to your collection. If you were to pay anything more than $50 for it though and it doesnt become as good of a deal.

Strengths
Cheap
Nice for soft Pictures
Dont care if you break it
Can be modified into a poor man's Macro lense.

Weaknesses
Light and cheap feel
smaller apature
Slow Focus
Not good where sharp is needed.

Reviewed by
Hubert , Professional

Price Paid
$0.00

Photography Experience
6-10 years , People

Summary
Here's the scoop as others have stated. Most people who own this lens got it free with a kit purchased in the mid-90's. That may be the only good thing about it. It is not sharp enough to be used for work that will be sold. The autofocus is not as accurate as it should be and it is very very slow. After a year or so of use the autofocus motor will begin to squeel like a pig.

If you can't recognize a non-sharp image then this may be the lens for you.

Strengths
You can pick one up with your lunch money

Weaknesses
It's a joke.

Similar Products Used
Most of the canon line.

Reviewed by
peapea , Casual

Price Paid
$40.00 at eBay

Photography Experience
2-5 years , People

Summary
I got this lens for an EOS film body just over a year ago. A month later I gave the camera to somebody else and got a digital body instead, with only this lens at first. I was very, very happy with the results I got from it, I have taken some beautiful sharp portraits and flower pictures with a very nice and "soft" bokeh with this "el-cheapo" lens (the bokeh was sure not something I'd expect, but it sure is there - subject sharp and nicely separated from a beautiful blurry background!). The only thing I missed, was a wide angle, using it on a 1.6X crop body, so I decided to also pick up an EF-S 18-55mm since I couldn't afford an extreme wide angle at that time. Since then I have also got some other lenses, amongst them the EF 50mm f1.8 and the EF 70-200mm f4L, but I have not for a minute considered dropping this one. It still sits in my bag for when I want a bit more focal length than the digital rebel kit lens gives combined with having zoom, and I also feel that it gives very pleasent colors and skin tones, so it is a clear winner for people photography in good lighting when I don't need the real long focal lengths. This lens is of course not of an "L-quality" build, but in my honest opinion it is more than well enough built for most of us. Most of us do treat our equipment carefully. I do think that it's build quality seems quite a bit better than the EF-S 18-55mm. For those who need something cheap to get them started, and they don't need wide angle too often, this is a real good choice, I think. If you plan on getting a real wide angle (as the EF-S 10-22, the Sigma 10-20 or something like that), this could be the perfect companion for that, IMO. And, it is really cheap, especially you can do a real bargain on these on eBay now (even cheaper than last year). You can e.g. pick up this used, a new Sigma 10-20 and a used EF 50/1.8 - as a quite reasonable alternative to one 2.8 wide-normal zoom. Then you should have a lot of photo opportunities covered (if you don't mind changing lenses that is). Not a bad option at all, if you ask me!

Strengths
Really cheap, sharp, nice bokeh (!). A lot of lens for your money!

Weaknesses
Really none given the price, optical quality etc. If I have to say something, it would have to be that it could have been faster (but then it wouldn't have had this price).

Similar Products Used
EF-S 18-55, EF 50/1.8, EF 70-200/4L, Sigma 70-300

Customer Service
Haven't had any need for customer service for any of my lenses (but I also bought all of them but one slightly used).

Reviewed by
Christiano , Professional

Price Paid
$50.00 at adorama

Photography Experience
11-20 years , People

Summary
This is a very very good lens for the price; you will get fine pics both w analogue as well as digital.
I and another friend an photog use this in our studio w an canon d30 with great results it is almost as sharp as the 70 -200 f 2,8 L in the 80 mm end,and better saturated!? the coatings seems very good.! please remember it holds an aspherical glass and one ud element inside.This factor makes it an very overseen lens and this version is better than the Usm version as well.
We use it both with D30 and 1 D and Eos -1 for film.The saturation is genius.
BUT it is ONLY If you find a GOOD sample.!! IF not it is Horrible!
Good hunting

Strengths
all.

Weaknesses
none

Similar Products Used
mnay

Customer Service
nope

Reviewed by
casch , Expert

Price Paid
$35.00 at E Bay used

Photography Experience
21+ years , Outdoor

Summary
Had the lens a short time and was very impressed with the photo quality. But alas it had three flaws... slow aperture, limited range, and cheap feel.
But it is all about pic quality and I got some very sharp pics from it at all focal lengths and apertures. Contrast was good too but what do you expect at f4 most lenses do begin to look good this one just starts there.

Strengths
Lens is acceptably sharp.
Good contrast.
Focus was spot on though slow.
Very inexpensive below 50 on EBay

Weaknesses
Cheap build.
Slow aperture.
Slow focus

Similar Products Used
28-90 Sigma/Quantaray
28-80 Canon 2.8-4L

Customer Service
Not needed.