Going Pro (sort of) Part 1 of 3: Upgrading to USM

Recently I purchased a Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM.
This is widely regarded as one of the best value for money lenses on the market, it is extremely versatile and it has a genuine ultrasonic focus-motor, giving fast and accurate focus, without all the noise and jitter, also it has full-time manual focus and image stabiliser.

Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM f/4-5.6

While the kit lens that came with my camera (Canon EF-S 18-55mm mkII) is an alright lens for family and vacation photos, it does not serve the EOS 1000D right, it lacks capabilities and only has approximately 3x zoom.
Besides there is no point in buying a DSLR if you're only going to use the kit lens supplied, then you might as well buy a top of the range point-and-shoot camera.

The 17-85mm USM gives you the capabilities that makes it perfect for an all round lens:
 - Full time manual focus
 - Ultrasonic focus
 - 5x zoom
 - Internal focus
 - Image Stabiliser

All these features makes it the ideal lens to keep on the camera at all times, it doesn't do one thing perfectly, but it does however do a lot of things really well.
I have decided to buy the optional lens hood (Canon EW-73B) to avoid glare and protect the lens.

Lens hood attached

I will post a comprehensive review later, when I have gotten used to the lens and have example photos to show.

Next in this 3 part series: The Canon BG-E5 battery grip.