Top Twenty EOS compatible lenses
This is a list of the top twenty highest rated SLR camera lenses based on user submitted ratings. Currently all these lenses are available in a Canon EOS compatible mount or can be mounted on Canon EOS bodies via an adapter. A minimum of 10 user ratings is required before a lens is displayed in order to have a statistically meaningful average. The more ratings a lens has, the more reliable the average rating will be.
One of the problems with user ratings of camera can be seen in some cases, where the same lens has received ratings anywhere from 5 to 10. Whether the extreme scores represent particularly good and bad samples of a lens or whether they reflect differences in user standards, experience, expectations and frustrations is hard to tell. It's also quite possible (even likely) that a few less well-adjusted visitors might give either high or low unjustified ratings simply to "mess with" the numbers or give random ratings to lenses they've never used. It's impossible to totally eliminate such activity. Hopefully by limiting this list to lenses with 10 or more ratings the effects of unusually high and low scores will be averaged out.
In addition the final "average" rating of a camera lens may be a weighted average rather than a simple average. Some filtering of the raw data may be done in order to minimize the effects of ratings by individuals who seem to be out to deliberately skew the ratings. The exact nature of the rating algorithm will not be published but it is designed to give the most accurate indication of average user opinions on a lens.
For those familiar with statistics, the standard deviation of the set of ratings for each lens is also listed.
| Lens (click on link for full data) | Average User Rating |
# of User Ratings |
Max Rating | Min Rating | Std. Dev. |
| 1 - Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM | 9.8 | 92 | 10 | 5 | 0.7493 |
| 2 - Canon EF 85mm f1.2L USM Mark II | 9.8 | 118 | 10 | 5 | 0.8478 |
| 3 - Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM | 9.8 | 130 | 10 | 5 | 0.6268 |
| 4 - Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM | 9.8 | 230 | 10 | 5 | 0.7019 |
| 5 - Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x | 9.8 | 33 | 10 | 9 | 0.4285 |
| 6 - Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 | 9.8 | 41 | 10 | 7 | 0.5751 |
| 7 - Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L USM | 9.7 | 57 | 10 | 5 | 0.7615 |
| 8 - Canon EF 500mm f/4.0L IS USM | 9.7 | 71 | 10 | 6 | 0.7683 |
| 9 - Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM | 9.7 | 134 | 10 | 8 | 0.4946 |
| 10 - Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM | 9.7 | 32 | 10 | 5 | 0.9556 |
| |||||
| 11 - Canon EF 200/1.8L USM | 9.6 | 105 | 10 | 5 | 1.1295 |
| 12 - Canon EF 70-200mm f4.0L IS USM | 9.6 | 182 | 10 | 5 | 0.8888 |
| 13 - Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro | 9.6 | 228 | 10 | 5 | 0.7836 |
| 14 - Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM | 9.5 | 293 | 10 | 5 | 0.9103 |
| 15 - Canon EF 600mm f/4.0L IS USM | 9.5 | 36 | 10 | 5 | 1.1899 |
| 16 - Canon EF 500/4.5L USM | 9.5 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 0.6708 |
| 17 - Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM | 9.5 | 90 | 10 | 5 | 0.9684 |
| 18 - Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro | 9.4 | 71 | 10 | 5 | 0.9602 |
| 19 - Canon EF 100mm f/2.0 USM | 9.4 | 62 | 10 | 7 | 0.6564 |
| 20 - Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM | 9.4 | 210 | 10 | 5 | 1.1026 |
Of course some, if not most, of the top 20 lenses are pretty expensive, and many people just can't afford to pay over $1000 for a lens, no matter how good it is.
With this in mind, here are the top rated lenses costing under $500. Again only lenses with 10 or more ratings are listed so that the average rating isn't highly influenced by any one score.
| Lens (click on link for full data) | Average User Rating |
# of User Ratings |
Price | ||
| 1 - Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro | 9.6 | 228 | 470 | ||
| 2 - Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro | 9.4 | 71 | 489 | ||
| 3 - Canon EF 100mm f/2.0 USM | 9.4 | 62 | 390 | ||
| 4 - Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM Macro | 9.4 | 154 | 370 | ||
| 5 - Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM | 9.3 | 187 | 350 | ||
| 6 - Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di-II LD Asph. IF | 9.2 | 146 | 450 | ||
| 7 - Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124AF Pro DX | 9.1 | 85 | 490 | ||
| 8 - Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM | 9.1 | 276 | 320 | ||
| 9 - Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro | 9 | 62 | 399 | ||
| 10 - Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro | 8.9 | 55 | 240 | ||
|
| |||||
| 11 - Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 | 8.9 | 79 | 230 | ||
| 12 - Canon EF 20-35mm f2.8L | 8.8 | 17 | 500 | ||
| 13 - Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro | 8.8 | 41 | 269 | ||
| 14 - Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 | 8.8 | 38 | 170 | ||
| 15 - Canon EF 50mm f1.8 | 8.8 | 106 | 125 | ||
| 16 - Vivitar 100mm f/3.5 Macro | 8.8 | 12 | 150 | ||
| 17 - Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC Macro | 8.7 | 159 | 340 | ||
| 18 - Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM | 8.7 | 144 | 450 | ||
| 19 - Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro | 8.7 | 42 | 325 | ||
| 20 - Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS | 8.7 | 38 | 199 | ||
You can improve the statistics of the user ratings by linking to this website and so attracting more users who will add more ratings.
You can link to the main lens database page by using the following HTML:
<a href="http://www.lensplay.com/lenses/lens_query.php">The LensPlay Database</a>
You can also place a small linked banner 
on your website using the following code::
<a href="http://www.lensplay.com/lenses/lens_query.php"><img src="http://www.lensplay.com/common/lplogo.jpg" height="25" width="100" Alt="LensPlay.com - A lens information database" border="0"></a>