Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras, is a
very good lens given its price. Like with any lens selection there are
compromises, and a more expensive lens is not necessarily better in all respects.
These are the main considerations:
The lens
comes with an excellent IS. One could probably save a hundred bucks buying a
non-IS lens in this focal range which may even be a bit better optically. However,
long range shots without IS are difficult, especially in low light. The IS on
this lens works very well, better compared to my Canon 28-135 IS and even compared
to the 100-400L. The IS really makes a lot of hand held shots possible that one
could not do with a non-IS lens.
The lens is
fairly cheaply built and has a plastic mount. However, the trade-off is that it
is also fairly small and light (the small size is also due to the fact that it
is a EF-S lens). My other tele-zoom is a 100-400L lens which is built like
tank, but it is also huge and weighs 3 pounds. In many cases one does not want
to carry that much weight around, and that is where this lens comes in really
handy.
Image
quality: No, it cannot quite match the 100-400L, but it comes surprisingly close.
Of course, the 100-400L costs 5 times as much. Lack of good color saturation is
the most notable deficiency. On the other hand images are very sharp. For
outdoors one should get a hood, there is quite a bit of glare in shots with frontal
sunlight.
Zoom range:
The
55-250mm range makes the lens quite versatile. 250mm is long enough for most
outdoor sports, many nature shots, people from afar, etc. At the other end 55mm
is still good for close action, for example at a soccer field. That is almost a
factor 2 shorter compared to 100-(300/400) lenses. It also provides a nice
overlap with walk-around lenses, like the Canon 28-135 IS.
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| Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II Telephoto Zoom Lens |
Aperture:
F4-5.6 is
nothing to brag about, however, a faster lens would also have to be much
bigger, heavier, and costlier. And as long as you objects don't move too much
the IS makes the lens effectively faster. If Canon's 4 stop improvement holds
it would be equivalent to a non-ISF1-1.4, although F1.4-2 is probably more
realistic. A F1.4-2 with that focal range would have to be big,
heavy, and
expensive, if it even existed.
In summary,
this is an excellent second lens to complement a short zoom or a walk-around
lens. Very versatile and a lot of bang for the buck. In my case, even though I
own a 100-400L I still keep this lens because it is often more practical
because of the shorter focal length and the smaller size.
| Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II |
