Strengths:Excellent build quality, silent and fast focus, not much lens flare, fairly sharp at f/4 and very sharp at smaller apertures like f/8, good walkaround lens on a 1.6 crop dSLR like the 350D and 20D.
Posted Aug 29, 2005 - I'm very satisfied with this lens on my Canon Rebel XT (350D). On a 1.6 crop digital SLR like the 350D, the 17-40 f/4L is no longer a super zoom like it is on full frame 35mm film cameras and the much more expensive digital SLRs. Instead, it's a very usable 27-64 mm zoom. I find that I use this lens for a wide variety of shots which includes landscapes, architecture, portraits, etc. It really is a great walkaround lens on my 350D. The build quality is solid and the size of this lens isn't too big, even on the compact 350D. The sharpness and colors this lens produces is awesome. Considering the quality of this L lens, it's also well-priced.
Supposedly, the included lens hood isn't very useful on a 1.6 crop dSLR, but it still works well for me. I'm told that there are other hoods made for other lenses that will fit on this lens and do a better job, but I have yet to try that out. Beware that using a different hood will likely cause heavy vignetting on a full frame SLR. Also, the supplied hood does take up a lot of space in storage. You can attach it on the lens in reverse, but the wide petal-shaped design means it will still require a wide area for storage.
Down the road, when full frame dSLR cameras are cheaper and plentiful, I do plan on upgrading to one. Even then, I intend on keeping this lens as it will do a good job of covering the super wide angle range.
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