Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Customer Review: The Good and The Bad...
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had this lens for a couple months on my XTI. I purchased it from Canada and it has North American warranty (both Canada and the U.S.) so I'm safely assuming it will be the same lens released here in May.
After hundreds of shots so far here are my thoughts:
The bad:
-On my copy the color is off. Skin colors have a slight gray hue and colors are not very saturated. In order to get vibrant hues post-processing is necessary.
-Front element rotates and extends while zooming
-It is an EF-S lens. Are you planning on upgrading to full frame soon? I am not so this is not necessarily "bad" but can be to those who are uninformed about the compatibility issues with this lens.
-People often complain about the quality of the plastic build. I am okay with it since this lens is a place holder until I have the money for an L class lens. I would rather have this lens now so I can capture the photos in this range than wait 6 months to a year until I can drop a couple grand on the lens I really want.
-Although it overlaps some with my Tamron 28-75 (which I absolutely adore)I like having the versatility to get a bit wider with this lens. It keeps me from carrying an extra lens when I know I will be shooting at the longer end but I still have the freedom to zoom out a bit to get more landscape if the moment strikes me.
The good:
-Sharp photos
-Decent bokeh
-IS is amazing on this lens. Shot a performance on a dimly lit stage at the long end of the zoom (5.6) without the flash and 85% of my images came out sharp. However, please realize IS controls the PHOTOGRAPHER'S shake/movement NOT NOT NOT the movement of the subject. So with the 15% of the images that weren't sharp (or flat out blurry) the subject moved at a decent rate. If you want to stop movement in less than bright environments a faster lens (2.8, 1.8, or 1.2) is necessary. Also, on my copy the IS is dead silent and I do not have the noise problem the other reviewer was describing.
-For the PRICE you will not find another lens in the 50-250-ish range with this level of performance, IS, and image quality. OF COURSE the 70-200's are better.. several hundred to thousands of dollars better. Cannot compare with Canon's L class lenses although people will (and have)...
Lost one star because of the less than vibrant colors and other reasons noted above... I almost want to give this lens 3.5 stars because I am not enamored with as many of the photos I have gotten out of this lens as I thought I would. I had the Sigma 70-300 APO (before they made the DG version) prior to this lens and I loved the color rendition. However, the lens lacked IS which cut out its ability to capture numerous shots. The Sigma is now broken and sitting on a shelf in case anyone was wondering why it was replaced.
Customer Review: Review: Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS Lens
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased the Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS telephoto zoom lens from Amazon last Saturday for a mere $208 with a free Tiffen UV Filter. I was not expecting much as far as superior optics or build quality, but like many, I was attracted to the small price tag, and abundance of features including Image Stabilization. Considering I have had the lens for a week, I have had enough time with it to give you an honest opinion review.
First of all, I would like to talk about the lens build quality. The lens is apart of the EF-S family, meaning the lens will not work on full-frame bodies, such as the 5D and 1D series. On my Rebel XTi, you will get a true 55mm short focal length and a true 250mm long focal length, with the crop factor working in your favor. I will put up a post later on explaining the crop factor. Anyways, the lens in completely plastic. The zoom barrel is a cheap feeling plastic, as is the lens mount. Considering this, I would have assumed the lens will suffer from a cheap feel. Not exactly. This Canon lens feels great. It's light enough to balance well on smaller bodies, but heavy enough to stable evenly in your hands. The lens features a 58mm filter thread, so it's pretty standard will most of Canon's inexpensive lenses. In my case, this worked out great because I could still use my filters from my other three lenses. As mentioned, the camera mount is plastic, which is a bit of a turn off, but if you take care of your lenses when storing them or putting them on your bodies, the plastic will hold up well.
Next, I would like to talk about the picture quality. On this lens, I noticed that many of the images lacked color. In short, many of them seemed washed out. It could just be the UV filter, but besides that, the quality is superb. The focus is spot on (most of the time), but when the AF is taking to long to hunt for a focus, which it does quite a bit, you can use the MF ring to your advantage. Sadly, there is no manual focus over ride, so you have to switch the lens into MF to focus manually. The IS works very well from my few tests. At longer focal lengths, the feature helps tremendously. On my 70-300mm USM, I noticed many of my photos were a bit blurry, but I can see that issue occur less often with this nifty feature. I will say just one thing, with IS on, the lens takes a very long time to hunt for a focus, and stabilized point, especially in low light environments.
All in all, this lens is a pretty good deal. It has been on my lens "wish list" since it came out. I'm glad I picked it up at such a low price.
Customer Review: Which lens to get
Summary: 4 Stars
I have a 18mm-55mm lens, and was in search for a telephoto, I read so many reviews that were so complex I didn't know what I was reading. I bought the 55mm-250mm lens and now understand some of the reviews.
To break it down in simply terms:
55mm (the lowest setting on the 55mm-250mm) you can not stand right on top of a subject, the lens makes you too close everything won't fit in the frame. That is Not what the lens is for & might be were some of the bad reviews come from. (Buy the 18-55mm for those close up shots)
It takes time for the auto focus, it still Fast but not as fast as my 18mm-55mm. Still your not going to miss taking a picture of a bird sitting in a tree far away. But at baseball game of a kid catching a 50mph ball I missed some shots (why I gave 4 stars). Not the lens fault more mine I should have used manual focus!!
On auto focus, after all it has a LOT of setting to go through 55 to 250mm settings. No duh the 18-55mm auto focus faster. Think of it as a deck of cards, you (and auto focus) can flip through 18-55 cards faster then a deck of 55-250 cards. Some of the reviews complain about the auto focus, it does work of course just not as fast as smaller lens.
No matter what if you are in the back row and your son on the stage at a school play, your picture will be Prefect and it will look like you were in the front row.
That is what this lens is for, where you can take time to set it up, adjust and take time to snap a picture. At a baseball game you need to use Manual focus, (you can turn the ring faster then auto) and you can get great pics, auto might let you down during fast action but not with still pictures!!
I suggest getting 18mm-55mm for everyday use, for those great up close, fast action, birthday shots; I Love that lens. Then get the 55mm-250mm for those far away school plays, scenery vacation, and birds sitting in a far away tree the lens is prefect for those kinds of pictures.
Customer Review: Excellent value for money, IS works very well, but not very sharp
Summary: 4 Stars
The Image Stabilization feature in this lens is most useful when you are trying to capture shots without using a tripod. At zoom lengths of 250mm (35mm equivalent 400mm) the IS feature allows you to take shots that would be too shaky without a tripod. You gain 2 or 3 f-stops with IS.
In bright light the quality of the images taken is very, very good, even at the max end of the lens. With a little post-processing the images can be made even sharper.
At the price, this is excellent value for money, and provides a handy companion to your regular lens.
However...
- The lens is not as sharp as you would like. Sort of expected in a lens that is not the Canon 'L' series, unlike, say, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras, or the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras.
- The build quality does not inspire a huge amount of confidence. If you take good care of the lens, and keep it in a bag when not in use, and do not go about knocking it against hard objects or dropping it, the build quality should not be a problem.
- This is an EF-S lens, so if at some point in the future Canon switches to full-frame sensors and the dSLR bodies stop accepting EF-S lenses, this lens could well become obsolete. As of now it does not look like the EF lenses are going away, so this is not as big a concern, for several years hopefully.
- No USM (Ultrasonic motor), so the time to focus can be slow, especially if the lens has to hunt.
Customer Review: It takes patience to test a lens
Summary: 4 Stars
I am new to DSLR photography having just moved from Canon point-and-shoot in September 2009. I purchased the Canon XSI with kit lens EFS 18-55mm and in the same order I bought the EFS 55-250mm. For the first couple months I used the full auto function and was disappointed in the results because they were not any better than the Canon PowerShot -- not bad but I expected more. Then I bought a DVD beginner course in DSLR photography for the XSI and started using the 'creative modes' and my pictures improved a great deal. I bought two more lenses the Canon EF mm50 1.4 and for some reason the competing EF mm50 1.8.
So for the last few months I have been taking many pictures with all four lenses in series starting with wide aperture and incrementally closing, which of course changes shutter speed and depth of field. Then I would use the shutter priority setting and play around with the white balance and the ISO setting. Then I carefully studied the pictures on my wide screen computer monitor and increased magnification to look more closely at the edges and color. I would try to determine for each lens the affect of aperture, shutter, ISO, white balance on the quality of the pictures.
I have found that I can get good and bad pictures from any of the lenses. However, the EFS 55-250 is probably the most consistent in terms of decent quality -- a little better than the kit lens. And of course it is a telephoto lens. The mm50 1.8 takes very sharp pictures but the mm50 1.4 can really take some beautiful color and the bokeh is wonderful. I like them all!
I guess that as I get more experience I could change my mind and of course there is still the wonderful world of the 'L' lenses.