Hi, I'm a relative new comer to DSLR and have just purchased a Canon 400D (XTi) and a 17-55 f/2.8 IS. There is a lot of praise for the sharpness of this lens; at the same time it's also mentioned that there are unsharp copies of the lens out there too.Pictures straight of the camera look a bit soft to me, but this could be that I have been contaminated by the high artificial sharpening of my P&S cameras all these years.Given only one lens, how do I determine mine is reasonably sharp? There seems to be no place locally to get another reference copy. In theory, I could order another copy online and just keep the sharper one, but I don't think it's fair for the retailer to be hit with a return of such an expensive lens.Can I take a test picture so that people with the same lens can comment on whether or not I have an acceptable copy? If so, what subject and settings and times of day should I use?Thanks a lot!

I would like to know that too. I just bought a 400D + 17-55 combo myself.

There are some full size crops at the bottom of Photozone.http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_1755_28/index.htmNot sure what settings or processing Klaus has done, but I think my copy gives similar results after I use smart sharpen (I use the lowest possible in camera sharpening).