Good Lense - Great Price

I will grant you that most professionals won't care much for this lense, as most have bashed it. But, then again most of us aren't professionals. I moved from Minolta to Cannon and this was the kit lense with the Rebel XT I purchased. This lenses does as well, or better, then most people will ever ask of it. It takes great close up shots, and provides you with a little distance as well. The photos are sharp and clear and focus is right on every time. The focusing is also fast and quiet, as well. I have purcahsed two additional lenses for the camera, one a Canon and the other a third party lense (filled the gap between my two Canon lenses), and this one out produces both the others, in my opinion. I read the reviews before purchasing the camera, but as I had no Canon lenses I went ahead and paid the extra ($50) for the kit lenses, and I could not be more then happier with it. Where else are you going to find a quality lense at this price? I am currently a Assistant Scout Leader for the local Boy Scout troop and we recently had a Court of Honor for the boys awards and I used this lense to shoot it. The photos came out remarkably better then I had hoped for (wished it had a little more length for the further away shots - as I was behing the parents and didn't want to get in their way). So yes most of the reviews on this lense are not that great, and I can see not purchasing it if you already have Canon lenses. But for someone like myself making a switch from another system to Canon, or someone moving from a point and shoot to an SLR, the I highly recommend spending the little extra and getting this in the kit, you will be glad you did. I am rating it as good, but if it was a little longer (say a 18mm to maybe a 70mm) then it would have had an Excellent.Read full review