Canon EF 35-135mm f/4-5.6 USM

Ultimate Travel Lens The 35-135mm lens is a great alternative to the much larger, much more expensive and much sought after 28-135mm lens. Overall, I would say the differences between this lens and the 28-135 are actually quite minimal in terms of sharpness and contrast (image quality, in other words); however, the 28-135mm obviously holds an advantage in the slightly wider angle. The 28-135mm hits the sweet spot for full frame and film cameras in terms of focal length, but the 35-135mm is my recommendation if you're on a budget and you need a travel/do-it-all lens. Just pop your body, this lens and a 50mm f/1.8 into your backpack, and you should be good for 95% of your shots. It has "real" USM, where you can do slight manual adjustments to the lens even while it is in auto mode- a great advantage for situations involving shallow depth of field, or perhaps some sports photography. Either way, the lens focuses extremely fast. If you have an APS-C camera, this lens becomes a telephoto zoom, becoming a 56-216mm zoom lens, which makes it the perfect complement to the kit 18-55 lenses. If you cannot afford/find a 28-135mm, I would recommend this lens for use as a "do it all" lens.Read full review

Average zoom lens. Not for low light. I got this lens just recently and took it out on the town. Its Canon's first rear focusing lens. Replaces the older (80s) push/pull f3.5-5.6 variant. My camera is a 400D.... The good: *On an APS-C camera its a mid range zoom. Starts right above the kit lens, goes to 216mm. *Image quality is about as good as the 28-135mm that replaced it. *Better color than kit lens. *FTM - Its a ring type USM. Not that I use it much. *Quiet focusing. *Focus distance window. *Front doesn't rotate so your circular polarisers work. The bad: *Very slow. F4 only at 35mm. Then F4.5 at 70mm. After that its all f5.6. You will have problems indoors and in low light. *Worse low light performance than the kit lens. *AF tends to hunt a bit. Some shots come out blurry so watch out. *No IS - May not be a problem on a full size camera but on APS-C the jitter starts when set to 100mm+. At speeds below 1/45 its an issue. Conclusion: Get this if you're broke and need some extra reach. Not going to do much better for under $100. Believe me, I looked hard. If you have the $200+ to spend (or can beat up someone with a 7D) get the EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 as it is faster, wider and has IS.Read full review

Canon EF 35-135mm Great Older Lens For the couple of weeks that I have owned this lens it has performed very well. The focus is quick and accurate. I'm not a camera or lens expert, but this lens for the price is excellent. It's a nice walk around lens and will handle virtually any situation on a vacation or hike. It does not have IS (image stability) but unless you are really shakey you will capture some nice shots. I took it to the local high school and shot a baseball game and got some very clear action shots of the pitcher and a nice shot of the second basemen tagging out a runner on a steal (thrown out by at least 3 feet!) It's an older lens produced in the early 90s and the build quality is pretty good. It's got a metal mount and does not feel cheap. Mine's a used lens and there is some lens creep, but I fixed that with a small piece of black electrical tape running under the barrel. You can find this lens on eBay for between $120 and $150. I got mine for $116.50 including freight. Again, for the money a good USM lens even if it does not have IS.Read full review