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

A. Long

at 10:06 am

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….
Rating: 5 / 5

Mr. J. DEBACKER

at 1:18 pm

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!”.
Rating: 4 / 5

John H

at 3:16 pm

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.
Rating: 5 / 5