Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM some advise

[Ronster]

I have heard some very good things about this lens.

Was wondering if anyone has it and has used it on the 7d in video mode?

I was using my friends Tamaron 17 to 50mm lens and I noticed that when I tried to rack focus with this lens in video mode it "breathed" heavily. The image would shift as I racked from one object in the foreground to an object in the background. It was really unusable. The image not only racked the focus but the actuall image shifted on the rack. Not good!

I know I used my friends L series 70 to 200mm lens and did some racks in video mode on the 7d and the breathing was very minimal.

Wondering if anyone has used the Canon 17 to 55mm and what their experiences were with the rack focus? Is there a lot of "breathing" in this lens?

Also if you were to go handheld with this lens would you use the Image Stabilizer (IS)? Has anyone used that feature with this lens in video mode on the 7d?

Reading the reviews this lens is actually rated very highly. I just wasn't aware how it worked in video mode on the 7d? I think that is a whole other level of testing that needs to be done with the lenses now that the 7d and 5d are shooting video.

Any other thoughts or feelings about this lens would be appreciated.

[Humanoid Typhoon]

It has very minimal breathing. I use it extensively for video. I've shot hand held with the IS and it's totally usable if you can hand hold a regular camcorder without much shake.

[Ronster]

It has very minimal breathing. I use it extensively for video. I've shot hand held with the IS and it's totally usable if you can hand hold a regular camcorder without much shake.

Humanoid,

So for you when you can you engage the IS feature when going hand held?

Ronster

[Rory_B]

Unless I am on a tripod or some sort of stabilizer I just keep IS on. IS on this lens is fantastic for handheld work.

[andykwilkinson]

I have the Canon 17-55 F2.8 USM IS EF-S for my 7D and it's a cracking good lens for video or stills alike. Little bit soft (very little, at the edges mainly) at full wide if wide open on aperture (can only be seen on stills if you zoom in on a large 1920x180 monitor...and all well within the expected design tolerances of this lens for its price point. IS is very useful for all hand held stuff but switch it off if you put it on a tripod. Also, see it and engadgets take on this lens and the 7D in particular ...and using Zoom H4n here...Basic stuff but worth a quick look of both the text and the two videos...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/canon-eos-7d-impressions-for-filmmaker-wannabes/