Canon EF-S 15-85mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens

Although I'm still learning to master still photography, this is a great standard lens in my opinion. I purchased a Canon 60D and wanted something a bit more wide and spotted this for bid on ebay. You can't go wrong with Image Stabilizer capabilities and I'm impressed how well auto focus worked with my camera when shooting my daughters school dance which was almost no light. I tried manually focusing my shots and is was close to impossible. The combination of the 60D and this lens did great!

First of all, if Canon made any L lenses in the EF-S size, this would be one of them. Unfortunately Canon does not give the L designation to EF-S lenses, but luckily this ends up saving money for the consumer. The EF-S 15-85mm lens is tack sharp at every focal point in its range. At 15mm (24mm effective on 1.6 crop bodies) you will be able to take nice, wide photos. There is a little bit of barrel distortion in the center of the frame at 15mm, but it's very minor and the sharpness makes up for it in my opinion. There is a trade off for a lens that is this wide. If you are looking at the 15-85mm, then you have probably compared it to the 10-22mm. At only 5mm gained on the short end, and minus 63mm on the long end, the 10-22mm just is not as good of a lens. Considering that the 15-85mm is much sharper, this sealed the deal for me. Full time manual focus with a quick auto focus and solid build quality are all strengths of this lens. The f3.5-5.6 is not a really "fast" lens but it's not slow either. This is great for enclosed places such as small family rooms, where getting a candid can be difficult. In fact, the 15-85mm is the only lens I will use in place of the 50mm f1.8 for candids. This lens is also very nice for landscape and waterscape photography. With the wide range of uses, I always have this lens in my kit bag. Highly recommend.

I purchased this lens as a replacement for the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my T3i. I was looking for a good "walkaround" lens, and this fit the bill perfectly! The lens feels very solid...I like the circumference and the weight in my hand, yet it isn't too cumbersome for being out and about for a day of shooting.


Before I purchased this lens, I had already upgraded from the kit lenses to a Canon 18-200mm lens, which I also liked a lot. However, I found that lens to be a bit too long to have on my camera all the time, and I decided to sell that lens and go with two lenses instead of the one superzoom.


The 15-85mm has superior IQ...I would say it's one of the best, if not the best, EF-S lenses Canon manufactures. It is not inexpensive, but for image quality that approaches far more costly L glass, it is fairly priced. The only thing that would improve the lens is if it was a bit faster, but then again speed would make the lens weigh more and cost more!


I would choose this lens again, and I have already recommended it to other photography enthusiasts!

This is, hands down, the best all purpose zoom for a Canon cropped body. I also have the 17-55 f2.8 which is also excellent having the wider aperture, but you can't beat the range of this lens. Super wide and plenty long enough. A bit hefty and similar in size and weight to the 17-55, but much more versatile if you can deal with the slower speed. Great to have the 24mm equivalent on the wide end. If you need to go longer, you can always crop in post. I shot a test chart with all my lenses, and this was right up there in quality. Sharpest range is 5.6-11. Easy to keep it there by adjusting shutter speed or ISO. You will love this lens! Just a bit pricey. If you can't afford it, I would look at the 18-135 which I do not own. Half the price, not as wide, but it looks like a real nice size/weight. I am going to buy that lens for my daughter. I got a perfect copy on eBay for 664 with hood. Good luck!

This is one of Canon's best zoom lens. The range from 24 to 136MM in 35MM terms is excellent. Even at 15MM and 3.5F sharpness is quite good and the resolution thru the zoom range is very good. Image colors and contrast are impressive. The image stabilization is usable for a good 4 F stops. The auto focus is fast, accurate and nearly silent. Build quality is good.