We characterize the transmission spectra of out-of-plane, normal-incidence light of two-dimensional silicon photonic crystal slabs and observe excellent agreement between the measured data and finite-difference time-domain simulations over the 1050-1600-nm wavelength range. Crystals that are 340 nm thick and have holes of 330-nm radius on a square lattice of 998-nm pitch show 20-dB extinction in transmission from 1220 to 1255 nm. Increasing the hole radius to 450 nm broadens the extinction band further, and we obtain >85% extinction from 1310 to 1550 nm. Discrepancies between simulation and measurement are ascribed to disorder in the photonic lattice, which is measured through image processing on high-resolution scanning electron micrographs. Analysis of crystal imperfections indicates that they tend to average out narrowband spectral features, while having relatively small effects on broadband features.