For the price , I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this lense. A little tight on zooming, but better than too loose. Optics pretty good at most ranges and fairly sharp. Good at macro and sharp if stable. For someone on a budget this is a very good 28-90mm zoom lense. Nothing to be ashamed about.

Cannon is undoubtedly making the best digital cameras and lenses in the business. Shots are crystal clear. The zoom is easy to use and dynamic in function.

I am a hobby shooter so this was a perfect solution for me. I needed something with a bit more reach than my kit 18-55mm but wanted something fairly versatile. This lens was cheap and takes great shots. I am sure something with better glass and stabilization would be better, but for the price I am 100% satisfied.

The lens is compact and I have taken several hundred city-scape shots as well as several hundred sports action shots with awesome results. I love this lens, it is probably the most versatile lens I have.

I've only started using this lens a couple of days ago, so I can't say I have that much experience with it, but so far I am VERY PLEASED with it.
To begin with, its very lightweight, which is nice on the old Film-based Canon body. I have an EOS7 that weighs a ton.
Secondly, the lens is very sharp and I love the wide angle it gives. As this comes with a nice zoom to boot, I think I'm going to enjoy using it for a long time.

Edit: After having this lens for a while, I'm getting a little frustrated with the range and the iris. 28mm is not bad, but going out to 90 is often times close but not enough. If I could "do it again" i'd have sprung for a more telephoto lens. I still stand by the idea that the lens is good for beginners maybe marginally better than the "kit" 18-55mm lens, but again, you'll look to change it up soon after.

Original:
I am by no means a pro (or even a pro-sumer), but I think i was expecting a slightly wider range of zoom on this lens. 28mm is plenty wide for most applications, but I'm a nut for wiide shots and this didn't really do it for me. And the zoom gets you close, but you will probably be zooming with your feet to get that real shot you want. However, i wouldn't go much longer in zoom without looking at image stabilization.

As a beginner, I'm glad i got it because it has some range without doing all the work for you of considering your own placement in relation to the picture you want to capture. But I'm already looking for another lens.