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Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's

by Canon
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (176 customer reviews)

List Price: $860.00
Price: $489.00 & FREE Shipping. Details
You Save: $371.00 (43%)
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  • 17-85mm standard zoom lens with f/4-5.6 maximum aperture for EOS digital SLR cameras
  • Image Stabilization system reduces camera shake to extend use in low-light levels
  • Aspheric element and 2 aspherical surfaces deliver excellent optical quality
  • Ring-type ultra-sonic monitor (USM) for superior autofocusing; 1.15-feet close focusing
  • Measures 3.1 inches in diameter and 3.6 inches long; weighs 16.8 ounces; 1-year warranty
  • Focal length is 17-85mm, aperture is 1:4-5.6 and filter size is 67mm
  • Lens construction is 17 elements in 12 groups
  • Diagonal angle of view is ° 78° 30 ft. - 18° 25 ft.
  • Ring USM zoom system
  • Closest focusing distance is 1.15 feet

Frequently Bought Together

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR's + Tiffen 67mm UV Protection Filter + Canon EW-73B Lens Hood For 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS EF-S and 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lenses
Price for all three: $515.25

Buy the selected items together



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Technical Details

  • Brand Name: Canon
  • Model: 9517A002
  • Lens Type: zoom
  • Minimum focal length: 17 millimeters
  • Maximum focal length: 85 millimeters
  See more technical details

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens: Recommended by dpreview.com
Read the full Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR lens review at dpreview.com
The EF-S 17-85mm is a major step up from Canon’s EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 II kit lens, adding an extended focal length range, image stabilisation, fast and silent autofocus with a decent manual focus option, and substantially improved build quality. This makes it, at first sight at least, an ideal all-in-one ‘walkaround’ lens for Canon’s APS-C SLRs, which will cover the majority of photographic opportunities when travelling light.

Read the full Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR lens review at dpreview.com


Product Details

  • Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.5 x 4.3 inches ; 1 pounds
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
  • ASIN: B0002Y5WXO
  • Item model number: 9517A002
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (176 customer reviews)
  • Date first available at Amazon.com: March 28, 2006

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Equivalent to a 28-135mm lens, this new EF-S lens brings true wide-angle to tele coverage to EOS 20D and Digital Rebel shooters. It has Canon's Image Stabilization system, allowing safe hand-holding at speeds up to three stops slower than otherwise possible. And of course, it's optically optimized for digital SLRs. A ring-type USM means both fast and silent AF, as well as full-time manual focus when in the AF mode.

Features

  • Compact, lightweight design with a 5x zoom ratio -- 28 to 135mm equivalent
  • Excellent optical quality: Aspheric element with two Aspherical surfaces utilized
  • Close-focusing to 1.15 feet -- at 135mm, fills the frame with subject 3 x 4.4 inches
  • Ring-type Ultrasonic motor for superior AF performance; allows full-time MF
  • Image Stabilization extends the lens's usefulness in low-light levels
  • Circular aperture design -- natural highlights, even stopped down two stops
  • Non-rotating front element; lens length does not change during zooming
  • EF-S lens mount -- exclusively for EOS 20D and Digital Rebel bodies

Product Description

Canon’s 9517A002 EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens is equivalent to a 28-135mm lens and brings true wide-angle to tele coverage to EOS 60D, EOS 7D and Digital Rebel cameras. It has Canon’s Image Stabilization system, allowing safe hand-holding at speeds up to three stops slower than otherwise possible. Of course, it’s optically optimized for digital SLRs. A ring-type USM means both fast and silent AF, as well as full-time manual focus when in the AF mode.

Customer Reviews

Of course, it is significantly heavier than the kit lens but the quality is well worth it. Ogen Perry  |  25 reviewers made a similar statement
This lens has the worst aberration and vignetting at 17mm. Y. Dolinsky  |  14 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
381 of 389 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Looking for a walk-around lens? December 23, 2005
By Dave
Then you might consider getting a copy of the Canon EF 17-85 IS. If you have a Digital Rebel, XT, or 20D and have been shooting with a kit lens, this is one of the lenses that a lot of people buy as their first upgrade. Some people just buy it in place of the kit lens when they purchase the camera body. It's an extremely popular lens because the range and size are just right for taking anywhere. I personally debated getting this lens because I wasn't sure about the quality of the glass and my main concern was that it wasn't fast enough for all occasions. One of the more frustrating things for me about the kit lens, as great as it was for such minimal cost, was that the aperture wasn't fixed. I found myself having to bump up the ISO to make up for the lack of an f-stop or two. For those who are new to photography, that basically means you have to compensate for the fact that the lens can't let enough light into the sensor so you have to make the sensor more sensitive (but also at the cost of lower quality and more grainy results) with the higher ISO setting.

I decided I didn't want to take that risk and went all out since it was supposed to be my walk-around lens that I'd carry all the time. I picked up the expensive EF 24-70 f/2.8L lens that so many pros use because I thought it had a decent enough focal length range and at 2.8 it was fast enough for all my lightning needs. It cost $1100 and after actually hanging it around my neck, I decided it wasn't going to work for my current needs. The lens itself is relatively huge and weighs a ton on a 20D. I returned the lens after talking to a friend who is a professional photographer who basically recommended picking up the 17-85 IS. He owned both (among others) and said that it was perfect for walking around because it had both the wide end and a decent telephoto length. That and it cost half as much! He allayed all my fears that the picture quality wouldn't be very good. I was also going to be taking a trip for a few weeks to Europe and really wanted a lens that could do it all. So I bought it and have been pretty happy with my results.

Is it a pro lens? Not by any means. I know that if I kept the 24-70 the results would probably be better. But that being said, I am getting good results for half the price. When I was in Europe having the 17-85 range was about as perfect as I could have wanted. It was light and small enough that I could fit it into my compact Tamron Velocity 6 bag and the additional weight was negligible. The IS is a nice feature but don't think that it makes up for the lack of aperture width. I tried to fool myself into thinking that when I bought the lens, but I see now that having a fixed 2.8 is something you just can't make up with IS. But other than that, I'm very satisfied with this purchase. Another lens you might want to look into if you're checking this one out is the Canon EF 17-40 f/4. It's comparable in price, has a fixed f/4 but just doesn't have the additional zoom length to it. Pictures are great though and it's also relatively compact. To learn more about this and other lenses, check out a site I made for Canon Digital SLR users at www.eosrebels.com. Hopefully you'll find it helpful in deciding which walkaround lens is right for you.
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92 of 93 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not great, all around lens. September 27, 2006
By Jeff
From a pure image quality standpoint, this lens will not please the pixel peepers. On the wide end of the zoom, which I personally use more often than the telephoto end, this lens is not very sharp, and it suffers from fairly bad distortion. Worse than that, for me, are the chromatic abberations; this lens is quite prone to significant CA when shot at the wide end, which can look a lot worse than a little bit of distortion or softness. Given the price of this lens, one should expect a higher level of optical performance.

The maximum aperture of this lens is not very large, being f/4 on the wide end, and f/5.6 on the telephoto end. The image stabilization makes up for this some, as you can comfortably shoot at much slower shutter speeds than otherwise, but, let's be honest here; this lens is a poor performer if you want to shoot in low light with no tripod. The small aperture makes for a dark viewfinder, which can be a very big problem if you are trying to compose a picture in the dark (using a tripod).

Yet, I still gave this very imperfect lens four stars, and this is not without reason.

First of all, the focal length range is quite handy. It isn't a mega-zoom that does everything, however, it covers the most often used focal length ranges, and is an appropriate lens to use for the vast majority of situations. The little bit of extra zoom on the telephoto end is handy on occasion, and it's also worth noting that the lens sharpens up quite a bit when you zoom in some - it might be soft on the wide end, but zoomed in, it's quite good.

I have printed as large as 20x30" using this lens on a Digital Rebel, and have no qualms with the results. Yes, there are sharper lenses out there, but you are a lot more likely to see the difference in sharpness on your computer monitor than in a print.

This lens has ring USM, which enables it to focus very quietly, and very quickly, whereas the slightly cheaper (and F2.8) options from the 3rd parties have normal focusing motors that are slow and noisy by comparison.

If you want to use this lens indoors, you are best off getting a flash to go with it, such as a 430EX. The lens is usable in fantastic indoor lighting, or during the day, but won't give you good results in low light with no flash.

If you will be shooting in lower light situations (people in particular), Tamron and Sigma have some good options in the 17-50mm range with F2.8 apertures, and I would recommend those lenses over this one. If you'd prefer the extra telephoto range, the image stabilization so you can shoot with smaller aperture in poorer lighting situations for greater depth of field (instead of needing to shoot a landscape at f/4, for instance, without image stabilization, you could use f/11 on this lens, and get a sharp picture with better depth of field. This is even more useful in the close focus range - while this isn't a true macro lens, if you take closeup photos without a tripod, you will want to stop the lens down for greater depth of field, and the IS helps with that quite a bit.

Overall, I've been fairly pleased with the performance of this lens. If you like to worry about splitting hairs, and zooming all the way in on pictures on your computer, this lens is likely to dissapoint you. If, however, you are willing to sacrifice optical perfection to get a very well rounded, useful lens, then I'd recommend it, however, would also recommend that you consider the 3rd party options, as they are also great lenses, and do offer a somewhat better value.
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355 of 376 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great lens, but worth the price? October 14, 2004
By rk
I have been using this lens for a week and getting absolutely flawless pictures - no flares, fringing etc. I also did some semi-controlled tests with Image Stablizer and it works as advertised, resulting in much sharper pics indoors. USM focusing works great too, and the lens is/feels well built.

One gripe - at $600, I would have liked it to come with a hood ("sold" separately but not available yet) and a case (also "sold" separately).

The real question IMO is not whether it's a great lens or not, but whether it's worth $600 as opposed to the kit lens (EF-S 18-55) + EF 28-135 IS. This combo is $100 cheaper and gives greater coverage on the telephoto end. On the other hand, EF-S 17-85 lens claims to have better optics, circular aperture, convenience of a single workhorse lens and IS on the wide end too.

Ultimately it's your call. My take is that if you spend $800 to $1500 on a digital SLR, you owe it to yourself to spend $600 on good lenses (and another $200 on 420ex flash ;-).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars I like it, but...
I purchased this lens, when my stock lens stopped doing auto focus. It's a good lens, but not exactly suited for taking images at a closer range. Read more
Published 7 hours ago by Lee Schlatter
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but for the price I'd keep looking
It's good as a general purpose walk around lens, but it's not very sharp between 17-23 or so, and also is kind of weak past 75-85- everything in the middle is great. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Michael
4.0 out of 5 stars almost disappointed me
after using this 17-85mm lens for a while it got stuck on 17mm which was annoying but i managed to fix it with help online. But it's a great lens for me
Published 1 month ago by Gideon Ambrose
5.0 out of 5 stars very sharp and versatile!
I am really happy with my new lens! It really exceeded my expectations! Of course it's not a prime lens but it's very good if you can't spend more money! Very sharp and versatile!
Published 2 months ago by Renata Freire
5.0 out of 5 stars The lens is exactly as advertised
I love the lens, i would buy it again if i broke the one i have, which is why i bought it in the first place
Published 2 months ago by Robin A Rongey
5.0 out of 5 stars Too expensive? Consider buying used
Several reviewers have commented on the fact that the EF-S 17-85 lens is good but costs too much. A good quality Canon lens should last for years with proper care. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Oregon reader
4.0 out of 5 stars What I expected.
No, supprise, as what I expected.
little finger print on the lense. But that is not a problem for me.
Published 3 months ago by Henry Su
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Upgrade to the 18-55mm IS II Kit Lens...
I researched quite a bit before deciding to buy this lens, and the reviews were all over the place. The concensus is it's a nice lens optically, but it suffers from strong... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Frank
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Kit Lens
I got this lens to upgrade the kit 18-85 that came with my Canon T3i. Great landscape lens. Auto-focus is smooth and quiet.
Published 3 months ago by J. Whitehorn
5.0 out of 5 stars Versatile and very well built
This is a good investment, lasts for years, works in most situations, if you have to carry only one lens, that would be this one (I've had it for 4+ years, no hiccups)
Published 3 months ago by MUHAMMAD SAMIR
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