Best wide angle I've used.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Excellent wide angle lens.

Cons: Price, a little soft in the corners at f/1.8.

The Bottom Line: 
An excellent lens, with great image quality as long as you don't use it wide open. A little pricey.

Author's Review
This is a very nice lens. It seems as if almost no one owns this one, since they either already have the old 28mm f/2.8 or they want a 24mm, but this is easily the best wide angle lens I've used. I would probably rather have the 24mm f/1.4L, but since it costs 3-4 times what this one costs, I just can't justify that.

This is easily my favorite lens. The f/1.8 gives a very clear picture in the viewer and with a 28mm with this aperture value, there is *always* enough light for the shot I want. I almost always use Velvia (ISO 50), so I need it.

The lens is pretty soft in the corners at f/1.8, but once you get down to 4.5 or 5.6, you will be happy with it. I have 30*45cm pictures, taken with f/4, that are just as sharp as those I've taken with my 85mm f/1.8 (probably the sharpest Canon lens you can get for less than $400 new).

The USM focus is fast and very accurate.

It is very solid, and I haven't experienced any technical problems at all, despite pretty rough treatment while trekking. The one annoying this is that the lens hood fits a little too tight, so the focus ring gets pulled to its extreme when I but it on backwards (which you do when not using the lens).

Another bonus is that this lens uses 58mm filters, which a common size for most other medium/short tele lenses.