Is the kit lens for the new Canon 40d any good?

[jcanon701]

or should i just use the money for a better general purpose lens? which one?

[Photo-John]

Which kit lens? There are two EOS 40D kits. One has the 28-135mm IS and the other has the EF-S 17-85mm IS. They're both good lenses. They aren't pro lenses - but they're still good lenses. They're better than the kit lens that comes with the 400D / XTi. The 28-135 IS was one of the first lenses I bought and I used it for years. It made me a fair amount of money. The 17-85mm IS is basically a digital version of the 28-135. It's an EF-S lens, made for Canon's smaller sensor digital SLRs and equivalent to 28-135mm on a 35mm film camera (or full-frame DSLR). There are plenty of reviews for both lenses in our review section:

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens Reviews >>
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens Reviews >>

Between those two lenses, I would probably recommend the 17-85 over the 28-135mm lens. The 28-135mm doesn't offer real wide-angle performance on the 40D because of the 1.6x digital crop factor. It's basically equivalent to a 45-216mm lens on a 35mm film camera. So if you want to shoot wide at all, you will be unhappy. But you do get great telephoto performance. The 17-85mm lens makes a great all-purpose lens, but doesn't have the reach of the 28-135mm IS. But keep in mind that it's an EF-S lens and won't work with any of Canon's larger sensored cameras like the EOS 5D or the EOS-1D bodies.