First EF lens I've ever owned. It's fast (considering I just upgraded from FD, basically), has great optics, works great as a portrait lens. I dispute claims that it's noisy, as it sounds quite silent next to the sound of my 20D's shutter.Unfortunately it feels like it came out of a cereal box. The lack of a metal mount makes me wonder. And I worry that my lens doesn't say "MADE IN JAPAN". Still, the day I got it it fell off my printer onto the floor, about a four foot drop, which it survived entirely without a scratch... we'll see how that goes. One major ergonomic disadvantage, apart from the fact that in your hands the lens feels like something that came out of the cereal box, is the fact that the focusing ring is, like, right at the end of the lens, and is easily turned while holding the lens. I don't have a hood yet, so I sometimes run into problems when I'm holding the lens. 

Question: Does the optics good?
Answer: has great optics