Canon EF S 15 85mm f 3 5 5 6 IS USM UD Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM extra wide-angle to telephoto zoom lens with 35mm equivalent of 24-136mm * compatible with Canon APS-C format digital SLR cameras * Image Stabilization allows in-focus shots with longer exposure times (up to four stops slower shutter speed) * ring-type Ultrasonic Motor for fast, silent autofocus * available full-time manual focusing (automatically overrides autofocus) * minimum focus distance: approximately 14 inches * lens is 3-7/8″ long, 3-1/4″ in diameter *
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Good walkaround lens
I bought this lens to make it one of two lenses to walk around, being the other one the Canon EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS USM.
This lens has a good color saturation, sharp image quality and fast Autofocus. the 85mm focal length is very useful to zoom at something without having to carry your longer zoom around. I use this lens mostly at day time, and the 17-55mm F2.8 is my inside-night time lens, although I can stretch the IS and make good pictures in low light.
After having lenses from Tamron and one Sigma, I can really say that Canon is the best way to go if you aren’t in a tight budget.
4 Stars Excelllent Lens, Heavy
I bought this lens because I had dropped my Cannon Rebel XSi and damaged the lens that came with the original camera kit. I am an amateur. This lens is easy to use, hardy, takes pictures very quickly and gives me great close-ups. It does definitely add more weight to the camera.
5 Stars Fantastic Walk-around for APS-C dSLRs
I was one of the early fans of this lens, and to my knowledge, one of the first guys to get their hands on one and play with it, from the moment I held this lens, I knew she was a winner
Lets start with the build quality, its fantastic, ok its not quite L-level, but it is considerably better than the old 17-55 f/2.8 IS I owned, as in its put together much better, the build is similar to a midrange Nikon lens [Such as the 16-85 VR] which is a good thing, the zoom and focus rings both operate smoothly, but are also reassuringly firm, there is a slight bit of zoom creep between 24-35 I’ve found, but nothing major to worry about
AF-wise, its a very quick performer, probubly one of the faster USM lenses out there, and its also very quiet, even for a USM lens the soft noise is well..softer…and the IS functions completely silently and smoothly, and as advertised, its good for at least 4 stops of stabilization, I’ve managed 1/4 shots with ease at 85mm for instance…
Optically, this lens impresses, people may criticize its variable aperture nature but its tack sharp wide open, even at 15mm, distortions are very good [They test even less than the 24-105 f/4L on a full frame camera] and the colors have a very nice zest to them, The only down side is the chromatic aberration, which is a tidge high, but its also easily correctable from what I’ve seen, and certainly not as bad as some people would make it sound, overall I’ve been very impressed with this lens optically, its one of the best lenses I’ve had [And I've owned the 24-105 f/4L IS and the 17-55 f/2.8 IS] and its my favorite walk-around lens ever
My only other complaints are the fact that it should include a hood for the price, Canon is still the only manufacturer who forces you to buy $45 lens hoods for $700-800 lenses just because they’re not an L lens…Its quite annoying to be honest..but again, I knew that going into this..
Overall, its a fantastic lens, don’t mock it till you try it 
4 Stars good not great
This lens is the perfect walkabout lens covering 23-135 with the 1.6 factor.
Distortion is at a minimum, and although not a fast lens, the IS makes even hand held shots sharp.
The downside of this lens is that both in sunlight, and in studio flash conditions chromatic aberration (purple/green fringe) is evident in all shots. Granted it is less pronounced than with the cheap kit lens (for the 7D) but none the less at 1:1 resolution there is chromatic aberration in every shot where dark and bright come together in high contrast.
The Canon software that comes with DSLRs does a very good job of removing the fringe from photos, however that means unlike Nikon’s in-camera processing of the image to remove fringe, an extra manual step of doing that on the Canon is necessary for any images that are more than casual snapshots.
If you want 1 lens for a very wide to slight tele range, this is probably the best thing available for 1.6 crop factor. However even if the price is near L lenses, this is not an L lens and it will be apparent when zooming in 1:1.
4 Stars Excellent walk-around lens
If you have to pick one high-quality walk-around lens for your Canon APS-C (1.6x) dSLR, this is it. I debated between this one and the Canon 17-55m f/2.8 IS; the additional range won over (the extra 2mm on the wide end helps noticeably, and longer telephoto reach is nice too), and being 25% cheaper didn’t hurt. The big advantage of the other lens’ f2.8 max aperture could be important to some. I shoot a decent bit of video and don’t mind the smaller aperture for a little more latitude in focusing errors; even my stills are rarely shot below f5.6, though I do have other lenses to cover other needs (50mm f/1.4 USM and 70-200 f/2.8L IS).
Coupled with the EOS 7D, this lens is perfect as a fairly compact and very capable kit. Images are sharp and colorful, focusing is quick. Build quality feels solid. No issues at all!
Why 4 stars only then? Dunno, found it hard to give 5 stars when I compare it with my faster L lenses, even though those are much more expensive. Guess it’s an absolute rating scale for me
