Camera Labs

(Note: For additional pictures taken with this lens, check out the lens gallery)

About a week ago i bought the Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS. I have had my played around with it now, and here is a beginners thoughts on the lens.

First lets have a look at the lens itself, the 2 shots are the lens mounted on my EOS 400D, first shot at 55mm and second at 250mm.





As you can see it does extend quite a bit, but at 55mm it's actaully not a whole lot bigger than the kit lens. Also it's pretty light wheight (390g) so carrying it isn't a problem. I am however glad that i have a battery grib, because fully it is a little 'big' for such a small camera.
Also if you want the lens hood, it has to be puchased seperatly (shame on you Canon) and it's the ET-60 you're gonna need.

Before looking at some shots, lets have a look at the autofocus. It doesn't have USM, which concerned me a little. However i think the AF is both pretty fast and silent. It might need beat the L-series lenses, but then again, it's only half the price.

The zoomrange is 55-250mm and to show how much that is, here is it at 55mm and 250mm.



Pretty nice zoom range i think, and remember that 55mm is where the kit lens ends.

It also was my first meeting with image stabilisation (IS) and I must say i'm very pleased with it. Below you can see 2 shots at 250mm and both taken with a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second (yes that way too slow, but i wanted to prove a point), first one is with IS off, and second is with IS on. I hope the difference is pretty clear, at least i think so.




As a last thing i took a random landscape shot and did some crops from it as well. However its not a very good shot and i will try to get a better one soon, but for now you will have to look for yourself.

Full image:


Centercrop:


Cornercrop:


Verdict
The lens has decent autofocus, image stabilisation and takes pretty sharp pictures (to my eye at least). In addition it comes at a pretty low price compared to other stabilised zoom lenses. All in all I really like this lens so far and i think that it's a lens that everyone who's on a budget should consider. Only downside i can find is that you have to purchase the lenshood seperatly, as i mentioned ealier

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Jake

Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF 50mm f/1.8
My Photos - My webpage (danish)

Great review thanks! Very useful for anyone in the market on a tight budget!
Slightly off topic though - i recall you were leaning towards the EF 70-300mm, may i ask why you went for the 55-250mm instead?

Hi Jake,

Thank you very much for your review. Good work and I'm sure it will be very useful for members considering this lens.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Simply because it costs about 30% less including everything. For the money i saved buying a lens thats almost as good, i can put them in a jar saving some money so that i can go travel someday

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Jake

Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF 50mm f/1.8
My Photos - My webpage (danish)

well thought!!!

I know it's an old review, but i thought i'd make an update, since the lens is still one of the most interesting budget zoom lenses on the market.

The image quality has not been an issue to me so far. Maybe it will if you come from a higher standard, but if it's your first tele lens (which it might very well be), then you won't be disappointed.

The autofocus could be faster, and there is points where i could've wished for the USM motor. But then again, i can't think of any other lens at this price with USM. And just because something is better, doesnt mean that the AF micro motor is bad.

The aperture is decent, even though i missed a lower aperture in the rainforrest. It was pretty dark and hard to get fast enough exposure (monkeys doesnt like the use of flash). The image Stabilization did a good job here though. And honestly, if you want lower aperture, you have to go for stuff like the 70-200 F2.8 which is an entirely different world of lenses.

Weather sealing is another thing that you dont get in a lens like this. And that did result in a little dust in the camera. But after 2 weeks on roads, mainly made of dirt, it's what you should expect. Again, i can't see what other lens would solve the problem, without requiring you to rob a bank first (please do not rob a bank, i don't wanna get in any trouble because of that line).

All in all it has been a really good purchase for me. Unfortunatly i don't have any other tele lenses to test it against, but i still feel confident in saying that if you need a cheap, but good zoomlens you should have a closer look at this one.


The pictures below are samples taken with the lens. They might have been lightly edited, but nothing big. Should still give you a good idea of what the lens can be used for.




Focal Lenght: 250mm (400mm eq)
Shutterspeed: 1/800 sec
Aperture: F6.3
ISO 200



Focal Lenght: 100mm (160mm eq)
Shutterspeed: 1/500 sec
Aperture: F6.3
ISO 400



Focal Lenght: 55mm (88mm eq)
Shutterspeed: 1/30 sec
Aperture: F4.0
ISO 1600

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Jake

Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF 50mm f/1.8
My Photos - My webpage (danish)

Thanks Noceo, excellent review. Makes me glad I purchased the twin lense kit that comes with that lense included (others, not on this forum, told me to only get the single lense kit and purchase a better lense). But looking at your photos and comments, I know I have made the right choice.

Excellent photos by the way.

At this stage I am still learning about the camera and photography in general.

Thanks again,
David

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Canon EOS 450D
18-55 and 55-250 IS lens
Panasonic DMC-FZ5 for that quick pic.

awesome, a great review especially because i'm interested in this lens on the same body so it's perfect. i almost made up my mind about this. thanks a lot.