If you own a Canon DSLR, take this one piece of advice, don't walk, RUN out and buy this lens. It will be the next best decision you ever made in photography, the first of course being to get a camera.
I too read the reviews before heading out to buy this lens. I read tons of them. The only negatives I could see were people complaining about some weakness in the auto-focus system. Due to the mainly plastic construction of this lens, you will have to take a little more precaution than with your other better made lenses.
This lens moves in and out of the barrel when focusing. If it is auto-focus mode, and you repeatedly manually force the lens into the barrel or body for example when squeezing into a bag, then you have a lens autofocus failure in your near future.
When the lens is on auto-focus and you try to manually turn the focus ring, then you may also cause damage and your auto-focus will be inoperable. It is an easy fix, but one that can be easily avoided.
With that out of the way, let's discuss the Image Quality. Right out of the box and indoors, you can notice how much light this lens allows to hit the sensor in the back of your camera. In very low light conditions, I was able to capture images that would have been impossible with my kit lens. The bokeh that I am able to create are out of this world. I wonder how I have been able to even have a DSLR all this years without this prime lens.
The coor rendition is faithful. Across the spectrum, colors are vivid, and would really flatter our subject, no matter how plain they are. Portraits will make you look like you are on the staff of LIFE Magazine, moonlighting to avoid boredom.
If you are still hesitating about this lens, then rent one and take it for a spin. Shoot anything that captures your fancy. At the end of the day, you will get to the same conclusion as I did, you will become a believer, this lens, should replace the kit lens on Canon DSLRs.
