I had this lens for not very long when the AF stopped working. I cannot focus manually with it either. I started reading some new reviews and found that other people have had the same problem. One or two people have had to have theirs fixed twice and it costs $175 to have Canon fix it. The lens cost almost $400 to start so why invest more money in something that needs work? Shame on Canon for what seemed a very good lens that turned out to be junk. It needs to go back to the drawing board.

From fredmiranda.com - Reviews:

"Not sharp wide open, but it does well by f/2.

Bokeh is about what you expect for the focal length and design. Better than the 1.8, but not as nice as a longer lens. Can be busy/nervous with some scenes.

I haven't had any focus problems with mine, but it did benefit from a small amount of micro-adjust.

The build is ok, but focus mechanism durability concerns me. Because of this I set focus to infinity when I put it away to prevent the inner barrel from protruding. Have had no trouble after several years of travel and use."


And the above words are echoed throughout the linked discussion.

The latter paragraph might a consideration, or an ounce of prevention on the note of the quality of build.. for those that are looking for a 'good' lens at a reasonable cost.

That is where I read the reviews that led me to buy the lens. Go to Amazon and see the people who had the same problem as I do. Canon is no infallible and this may be a bad copy of the lens. So much for quality control at Canon. Wrote to them three days ago and I'm still waiting for their response as to why this happens.