new lens, new love

Yesterday I was on a quest for a new camera bag that doesn't hurt my back. I found one that I love but it isn't carried locally. And somehow, I managed to come home with a new lens. It's a 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Canon love machine. For those of you who speak gear, the technical specs can be found here. For those of you who aren't fluent in camera, let's just say that it's a sexy lens and I love it.
My favorite feature at the moment is the focus. Basically, I can autofocus and then make minor adjustments manually (without breaking the lens). The image stabilization was also a huge selling point for me but I haven't really had much of a chance to try it out yet. I did one test shot today and I can see a difference already. A girl could get used to this.
I was going to take my new lens to Chapel Trail but they closed early today. My test run around the neighborhood wasn't quite as exciting but I'm still impressed.








The only 'problem' I've found so far is that it's a little darker than I'm used to so I need to get into the habit of overexposing slightly from how the camera meters the scene. But then it will be so perfect.