17-40L do you own it- what are your thoughts?

Evening all,

Well i am thinking of purchasing this lens after the hassle of the return of my 70-200 2.8ISL. I believe i deserve an L, so i bumping for a cheaper wide angle, and will leave the 70-200 for next summer.

I have seen one bad review of this lens on the forum here, and i know there are such things as bad copies, but i would just like a wider concensus.

I would like to hear from anyone, but especially UK residents who may have imported lenses, to avoid VAT
Has anyone had a bad experience with this lens? id hate to but 2 dud lenses in a row.

Thank you all.

Would you take the opionion of a Texan?

I LOVE mine!!!!!!!!!

Agreed. An excellent optic indeed. And its built like a tank.

Regards,

It is an outstanding lens. It was the first lens I purchased for my 20D as I didn't think the kit lens was worth the ~$100 they were asking for. It is my walkaround lens and my only wide angle. I can't recommend it more highly!

It´s a very good lens. Sharp pics, ultra-silent AF and very well built.

The only con I can find is that somethimes wide open you can see some barrel distortion on buildings - but that is easily fixed in Photoshop.

I can highly recommend this lens. I love mine.
.

I love mine too, it is great!

Absolutely love it.

I bought it because the price was really good. When I started using it, I was amazed about how sharp it was. Since I bought it, I would say it is the lense that I use the most.

A few samples taken in the last few weeks:

A few snapshots

Kings Landing Historical Settlement Pictures

If I would be forced to keep one lense... I would keep that one.

Leo.

Very nice lens in terms of AF speed, build quality and colors.
Do a search, its a very popular item.

its the only zoom i use all my other lenses are prime's - its that good
Rob.

Literally ditto.

Good advice and I'll add that while I have others its the one that gets the most attention in my bag.

Treat me like a tourist wrote:
Evening all,

Well i am thinking of purchasing this lens after the hassle of the return of my 70-200 2.8ISL. I believe i deserve an L, so i bumping for a cheaper wide angle, and will leave the 70-200 for next summer.

I have seen one bad review of this lens on the forum here, and i know there are such things as bad copies, but i would just like a wider concensus.

I would like to hear from anyone, but especially UK residents who may have imported lenses, to avoid VAT
Has anyone had a bad experience with this lens? id hate to but 2 dud lenses in a row.

Thank you all.

the 17-40 has been getting dissed quite a bit since the recent release of the 17-55 and of course you have the f2.8 gang that knocks the lens because it's f4.

i recently bought a 17-40 and i absolutely love the lens. it is totally usable @ f4 and is even sharper than my 24-105 wide open.

i bought it for landscapes but i have also found that it a capable walkaround.

great lens.

ed rader

I really like mine - bought it last month from Kerso on these forums, so avoided the tax and also claimed the Canon Cashback - so all-in-all I got it for approx £370

Build quality seems fine, and it's not too heavy.

Cool, thanks guys. I love this forum you get an answer so quickly.

Its good to hear positive comments, negative ones despite being so few have a habit of drawing more attention.
If anyone else has a comment please post it, i am always eager to learn what peoples opinions are. I am looking at using this lens for landscape shots, the only other competitor is the 10-22 efs, which i know would be useless if i ever went for the 5d.

Thanks again,A.

mine's perfect in every regard. if f/4 is fast enough for you, there is nothing better imo. fwiw, after using mine for roughly eight months, i don't find f/4 fast enough for me, so i'll be replacing it with the 16-35, which imo is the exact same lens- other than the fact that its twice as fast and twice as expensive.
it's just like the 70-200 class- you have three options (as far as canon goes). all three have excellent build, af speed, iq, etc; it's really just a matter of what kind of light you'll be using it in.