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Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding lens!
Review: I have never bought a non-Canon lens because I just love the look, feel, and optical quality of the Canon line particularly the L series lenses. But I kept reading glowing reviews about this lens. On multiple websites. So, I went out and took a look.
First impression: the build quality is not as good as a Canon L series lens. Duh! It costs about 1/4 as much for goodness sake. This is a plastic lens - not metal. But I must admit that the build quality was pretty darn good. Better, I think, than the Sigma lenses I've seen. Fit and finish was very nice and tight. I'd give the build quality a 4/5. Not bad. I figured I could live with it.
Next, I put the lens on my camera. I'd read reviews complaining about the speed of the focusing. It may not be quite as quick as my 200 f2.8 L series lens but it was pretty darn good and for my purposes, plenty fast. A 4.5/5
I'd read reviews complaining about the noise and the fact that the AF was not USM. I thought the AF worked very quietly. Not at all distracting and barely discernable. Noise - not an issue.
Then, I took pictures with the lens and I was absolutely floored! How in the world did Tamron manage to produce a lens that performed so well optically for such a reasonable price?! Beautiful contrast, excellent resolution, gorgeous colors, and extremely sharp, particularly above f2.8. But, f2.8 is very good as well.
Obviously the first comparison that comes to mind is between this lens and the Canon 24-70 f2.8 L. I would say, I kid you not, that this lens is in every respect optically the equal of the Canon or better than the Canon. I could not believe it.
I tested this lens directly against a brand new copy of the Canon 24-70 f2.8L. Method: I tested both lenses on a tripod @ F 2.8 and 8.0 @ 28mm 50mm and 70mm. Target limestone wall 9.5 feet parallel to the sensor plane. Remote release employed. No mirror lockup. Center and all four corners were evaluated to my naked eye on a monitor using 100% crops. Both lenses were new copies received within the last 7 days.
The limestone wall lent itself perfectly to evaluating sharpness and subtle contrast and color rendition. There was enormous detail present in the wall with subtle colorations present.
Findings:
28MM F8: Tamron definitely sharper in the center and corners
28MM F2.8: Tamron definitely sharper in the center and corners
50MM F8: Tamron slightly sharper in the center and very slightly sharper in corners
50MM F2.8: Tamron slightly sharper in center and equal in corners.
70MM F2.8: Canon sharper in center and at corners. Incidentally noted was inability of Tamron to focus as sharply as I was able to achieve with manual focusing.
70MM F8: Tamron sharper in center with Canon slightly sharper in corners.
Some have said that there is less flare with the Canon, but if you use the lens hood that should not be a problem. I didn't notice excessive flare in my copy.
Admittedly there is significant copy to copy variation in both the Canon and the Tamron, but my findings convinced me that at 1/4 the price, and with the Tamron weighing 1 pound less than the Canon that the Tamron was the lens for me. Optically 5/5!!
I cannot recommend this lens highly enough. It is the first non-Canon lens I have owned and I am thrilled.
Rating:
Summary: great all around lens
Review: I've used a ton of different lenses and this one is the one that I like the most besides my friend's canon 24-70L lens. The shorter lenses like the stocker 18-55 isn't very zoomable but does have a wide angle aspect. The digital SLRs with 1.6 or 1.3 crop factors benefit greatly from the 28-75mm lens for uses where ultra wide and telephoto is not required. This is a very useable walk about lens. the fast 2.8 aperature is very helpful.
For the price, you can get other canon or non-canon consumer grade lenses that may have a bit more 'reach' than the 75mm reach of this lens, BUT, they have either much slower lenses (harder to take low light situations without a tripod) or even with image stabilization (that this one doesn't have) or the image quality is far less.
You will be VERY surprised with the quality of this lens. I have never been one to blindly buy a lens just because it is a Canon lens. Even some of the "L" lenses are easily comparable to the off-brand sigma or tamrons.
Rating: 
Summary: My standard Digital lens
Review: The Tamron became my standard all-purpose lens for my Canon 10D, covering the range of 45-120 (with the conversion factor of 1.6). Love the constant aperture of the whole zoom range, makes nice portrait shots. I prefer to have it at around 4 - 11 aperture, if crispness is really crucial, that's where it performs really nice. Slightly off around the sides at lower apertures, but that's not really an issue. I's a keeper, anyway!
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