Solid build, solid performance.
I purchased the EF 28-105 mm as a replacement for a stock kit 18-55mm. Before I continue, I should note my copy was treated well by former owners and came to me fully functional and almost blemish free....
I wanted a more solid build and solid feel, which the EF 28-105 mm delivers with a metal mount and a weight about twice that of the plastic kit lens. I also wanted a more versatile zoom range for use assisting with school-related photography at work. The 28-105mm range is great on a crop sensor camera for shooting up close or wide angle shots in an auditorium, a small gym, or for interesting field compression shots of a hurdle race, for intimate portrait-like shots of vaulters, jumpers, throwers, golfers, etc. Since there are few landscapes in a school, the range of 28-105 is far superior to 18-55 for me.
The image sharpness is equal or better than my kit 18-55mm IS at all comparable focal lengths with only slightly lower color saturation in low light. In bright light, my copy of the EF 28-105 has no glaring weakness, with good contrast and good color saturation in addition to good sharpness and a very fast, accurate, and virtually silent focus.
On the down side, my copy suffers unwanted zoom creep if the lens is aimed downward, so we improvised a stretchy athletic tape wrap that fixed the problem without interfering with the manual focus ring. Not really a negative, but noteworthy, is that this lens is not really much of an improvement over the kit lens for low light shots with its 3.5-4.5 aperture, but is at a wider aperture at equal focal length than the kit.
My copy ran about half the cost of the newest 18-55mm, about one third the cost of a new 18-135mm, and about one tenth the cost of "L" glass, so with no real gripes on image quality, this lens was a superb bang for the buck.
Assuming the copy you get is in good repair, I highly recommend it. I'd rate it a 5 out of 5 stars for a non-professional lens, especially in value for the money.Read full review
