I bough this lens for a relative who bought my old canon rebel xti from me (at a great price). Since she is pregnant with her 5th kid, I recommended this budget lens as an all-purpose affordable lens that gives a lot of bang for the buck. Personally, i shoot with the 50mm 1.4 which I love, but this does the trick, especially on a 1.6x body like the rebel xti. Anyone learning photography is wise to get a prime lens and learn to frame shots by moving around. Some say zoom lenses make people lazy. By moving around you can actually find better angles and shots than if you could just adjust a zoom. Sure, zooms are great, but prime's are both cheaper and better, and make better photographers, especially for someone just starting out with a dslr on a budget. The main difference to the 1.4 is the build quality is better on the 1.4 and the bokeh is smoother, not to mention a lower f-stop means lower light shooting without cranking up the ISO but not by much. This is perfectly adequate and for $104 on amazon, a no brainer. 

Question: How is the build of the canon t1i and kit lenses?
Answer: is is the 1.4