Customer Reviews

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom AF Lens for Selected Digital SLR

5 star:		(133)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have spent years suffering with an old Tamron 28-200mm zoom lens and had got used to crappy results.
I was therefore not expecting much from this budget Canon lens.
It therefore came as a very pleasant surprise when I reviewed the first few dozen photographs I took while testing out the lens's capabilities in relatively poor light (right at the end of the day).
The results are truly amazing. The pictures are pin sharp. I managed to capture pictures of birds in flight where the individual hairs on the feathers are clearly distinguishable.
The build quality is leaps ahead of the poor quality 18-55mm lens that came with my 20D.
At this point I can honestly say I'm a very happy bunny indeed....

This is my third lens for my 550D. The 18-55mm kit lens has done some stellar work and the 50mm 1.4 has been brilliant so why do I need another one?! Well, it's the question of zoom. It's not always practical to get closer to your subject - for instance, you wouldn't want to join a lion in its enclosure would you? Sometimes you want to be discreet and just leave people to their own business. I know how hard it can be trying to photograph my niece and nephew as they have a tendency to hide when the camera is out!

Build quality wise, this lens is along the lines of the 18-55mm kit lens. It is plasticky but quite heavy. The zoom ring is surprisingly very smooth and there's hardly any lens creep.

Now, there's one thing that no one has mentioned in their review - this lens uses a fair bit of power from the camera battery. You can hear it humming virtually all of the time. Of course, considering the number of bits of glass inside the barrel, it does need power to align and focus. Just be prepared to carry a spare battery with you or use the lens sparingly.

In operation, the lens is noisy when focusing but after all, this is a cheap lens but don't let that put you off. The picture quality compensates for the build quality of the lens and the output is very good - in fact, I would hasten to say it is better than the 18-55mm kit lens. Pictures taken in well lit areas will demonstrate how sharp this lens is at 250mm. I was taken back by the results of being able to ascertain the title on a book. The built-in image stabiliser is definitely worth having if you're taking photos at maximum zoom. However, this lens doesn't excel in low light conditions but after all, it isn't really designed to perform in low light unless you use a flashgun.

This is an excellent lens for someone beginning in DSLR territory. You get a lot of lens for not much money but be aware that it is noisy and drains the battery.

I'm by no means a photographer, I bought this lens as part of my first DSLR kit. I'm really very pleased I did though, it offers great picture quality (when attached to my Canon 450d), focus is quick and sharp, the zoom range is pretty decent and starts off where the 450d kit lens leaves off, manual focus is easy and accurate, and the inclusion of image stabilisation is a real winner for a lens in this price bracket.

For a lens at under two hundred pounds you can't really go wrong with this one! For any other DSLR newbies like myself, don't be put off by 250mm seeming quite short, don't forget to multiply that by the focus multiplier of your camera (typically 1.6 for a Canon), making this lens a much more respectable 400mm lens in 35mm equivalent all in the size of a 250mm.

It's only very recently that I have progressed from a 4mp compact to a 'proper' camera (Canon EOS 300D) so using manual settings etc is still a steep learning curve for me. It has to be said that with the IS (Image Stabiliser) feature on this lens, taking a clean picture at long zoom is like cutting warm butter!
To begin with my kit lens is the plastic 18-55mm lens which does the job nicely for a complete novice but it doesn't take long before you want more (push it more!). I invested in a second hand Sigma 28-200mm lens which had trouble speaking to my camera body. Not sure why, but most times I tried to use it I got greeted with "Err 99". Rubbish in the field (although in fairness I hear that sigmas have to be rechipped commonly with canon bodies and I'm told it's not a bad lens), and quite aggravating due to the number of shots I'd miss out on.
So I figured time to get a general purpose zoom that would take up somewhere where the kit lens leaves off.
Image then my surprise, when I find that Canon had brought out an IS (image Stabilised) lens that carries on right where the kit lens leaves off!
It's advertised as being RRP £240 but I got mine on a well known auction site for £140 inclusive of postage, although paid a little bit of import duty when I received it.
Well, on receival I was impressed that for a plastic mount/general construction it seems fairly sturdy (albeit lightweight).
As far as the zoom range goes, this one goes to 11! Going from 55-250mm is a boon, and includes a lot of popular ranges. Sure, the lens system doesn't quite have the Nasa like clarity of the L-series glass, but I've got 5 kids to feed and that sort of gear sadly is out of my range for now.
This lens is an excellent intro to DSLR telephoto I think.

Granted I'm a novice, but compared to other products I've seen for this kind of money, it gives a superb spec that will give you a fairly decent result.

To summarise, if you are just venturing into the realm of DSLRs then hey presto! This could be 'just the lens you're looking for' as they say.
I'd say it's a pretty good bargain and to use an old fashioned addage, "I'd buy THAT for a dollar!".

I bought this lens after I bought an 18-55 IS zoom to replace the earlier model. I have a Sigma 70-300 zoom, which I thought was quite good optically but is large and heavy in comparison and makes my Canon 400D unbalanced. As I was off to the US on a holiday I felt that the Sigma was just too large but I still wanted a telephoto zoom.

I always check reviews before I buy and especially check those that give low scores. I want to know what the problems are, as well as the benefits. In this case the low score reviews are complaints about non delivery (an abuse of a product review) or that the lens will not fit Canon's full framed DSLRs. The lens is clearly labelled EF-S both in the product designation and in the product description. That means it will fit all Canon's current range of DSLR's except for the professional standard 5D and 1D cameras. Nor for that matter will it fit old my old 35mm EOS 600 or EOS IX7 APS cameras.

Optically, I've been impressed by the lens. It beats the Sigma easily, and it's light and well balanced. However the construction is actually quite good. It is designed to pair with the 18-55 IS and does so very well, providing a range that will cover virtually all everyday needs, though of course more specialist needs can be met by additional lenses.

I used the lens on a test at Martin Mere, and got some really excellent close ups of otters, something I'd failed to do with the Sigma. The IS system works well, though I've not done enough shooting to confirm the claims of +3 stops. When I first started using film SLRs the general rule of thumb was that the shutter speed should be the reciprocal of the focal length - thus for a 250mm lens the minimum shutter speed should be 1/250 second. As the Canon APS-C sensor is 'cropped' this lens at maximum zoom is the equivalent of a 400mm lens on a full frame camera. So 1/400 second should be the minimum shutter speed. A three stop gain should mean a reasonably good chance of getting sharp photos at 1/50 second or so. I certainly got this on some of my shots, which produced very usable results. I'll check this over a large number of shots and see how it holds up.

If you are a professional, then this lens is not for you (except on holidays) but for the large majority of Canon DSLR users this is going to be a great addition to the kit.

I started out wanting to get the Canon 70-200 F4 L IS USM, but after considering the pros and cons it's clear I was being silly. Here's a quick comparison with the Canon 55-250 f4/5.6 IS, to prevent you making a costly mistake:

* Price: About a fifth the price of the stabilised version of the L series lens.

* Weight:
55-250: 390g
70-200: 705g (My neck hurts!)

* Size:
55-250: 108mm long.
70-200: 172mm long (awkward, fills up my camera bag too much)

* Image Stabilisation:
55-250: Standard
70-200: Extra

* Zoom range:
55-250: Very good.
70-200: Very ordinary.

* Focusing speed:
55-250: It focuses as quickly as I can say "zip".
70-200: Errr, a slightly shorter "zip"?

* Tripod work:
55-250: No collar necessary, this lens is so small and light.
70-200: Canon tripod collar is a grossly overpriced extra.

* Theft risk / what if I damage it?:
55-250: Low / never mind, another few quid to replace.
70-200: Very high / that's it, I can't afford another one.

SUMMARY:
The Canon 55-250 f4/5.6 is possibly the best value lens Canon has ever made. It has some UD glass, giving tiny levels of chromatic abberration, and all its other measurements are excellent (see other technical review sites). If there are any small deficiences in the 55-250's images (relative to an L series lens), they can simply be cured with a touch of sharpening and contrast on the computer.

In short, just click 'Add to Basket' now - you can't go wrong at this price.

This is the natural partner for the 18-55 lens that came as kit with the body.
The lens is not actually 100% plastic as most of the people states, it is in part made by plastic, but the part that attacches to the camera body is painted alluminium, it looks and weights like plastic but is metal!
The IS is amazing, and the lens very sharp, even at 250mm... once attached to your body, the only limit is your creativity.
this is the best zoom lens around for a cheap budget if you own as EOS camera.

Best Lens 195 pounds can buy.

Its a shame that Amazon were not quick enough to stock this lens as I needed it, however I will write a few words commenting that having received this lens yesterday I have been playing with it and find the IS=Image Stabilizer functionality truly awesome. There is massive difference in your ability to take a distance shot with the IS switched on and then off.

The build quality of the lens is nothing amazing although it does hold well under daily use. My existing 56mm filters and hood from other lens transition well to this lens so this was another reason I decided to go for it. This lens is supposed to be lighter and more compact than its bigger brother 70-300mm that was a main reason why I chose this one, for its overall size.

I bought this lens to use with my Eos 350d because it continues to zoom where the kit lens leaves off, plus it was cheap at well under £200 inc delivery.
In use I find that the Image Stablization works surprisingly well meaning that decent results are easily achieved at full zoom without a tripod even on cloudy days. plus its very light so that means it gets taken out every time my camera goes out unlike my good old heavy tamron lens which required a tripod resulting in more weight and baggage.
The construction is all plastic with a plastic mount which is par for the course considering the cost, and like the kit lens it has a little bit of play on the barrel though this doesn't seem to affect its performance.
Its good in that the zoom doesn't creep when pointing the camera steeply up or down.
The Optics are surprisingly good for a cheap lens giving clear well focused images even at full zoom.
I reckon for the money this lens is hard to beat as it runs circles round similarly priced Russian imports.

After much investigation, I opted for this Canon lens to supplement the kit lens 18-55mm for my 450D. The picture quality is excellent, focus is quick and the lens is relatively light compared with others. I got this lens with a view to snap pics at zoo's, however I find this is ideal for pictures of people as you can be less intrusive i.e. don't have to be a metre away from someone's face! I've had some great shots in the last month or so I've had this lens.

The Canon magazine (photoplus) have just rated this lens at 93%, stating the only negative, is no lens hood! Sop no worries. They also have an average price of £222, so to get this on Amazon was a steal.

The image stabalizer is a must on a lens of this length, even with a tripod, and this has a 4 stop anti-shake. I've also noted that though it must use more battery, it tends to be no different from the smaller lens really.

The 250mm is ample, I've certainly not needed the extra 50mm! It's the quality that counts hey...