This Canon EF series lens offers fast, silent autofocus, and a versatile focal range for wide-angle and telephoto shooting with the EOS 5D, EOS 30D, and all Digital Rebel cameras. But its big claim to fame is its renowned Image Stabilization (IS) technology, which lets you take sharp, in-focus photographs in all sorts of lighting conditions. Here's how it works.

We've all taken a picture and had it turn out blurry because our hands moved a little while we were capturing the shot. Image Stabilization works around this problem. Built-in vibration sensors steer a special set of optical elements inside the lens, neatly compensating for camera movement and stabilizing the image. You get much sharper pictures — even in low-light conditions where hand motion can easily cause blurred images with a regular lens. IS lenses are much loved by photographers who don't like to carry along a tripod on every excursion, but who require crisp photos as a matter of course.

High-tech Image Stabilization isn't the only advantage provided by this lens. A built-in ring-type Ultrasonic Motor makes autofocus very fast and very quiet. There's also its wide-angle picture-taking capability — great for capturing panoramic landscapes, or snapping large group shots of folks in tight quarters. And it even excels at taking precise close-ups of objects as near as 20 inches.