Canon EF-S 55-250mm Review

#1 Brian Holloway

This review has a very strange conclusion IMO - "My recommendation is to get the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM Lens over the 55-250....the extra cost is worth it in my opinion.”

I've just ordered a 55-250 and paid around $50 less than half what the L lens would have cost me, that really doesn't put it in the same league at all. After reading a number of reviews, it seems like it will be a great lens for the money.

11:10 am - Monday, February 25, 2008

#2 Fredy Ross

Why compare two IS lens to a non IS lens. Doesn't make sense.

12:53 pm - Monday, February 25, 2008

#3 dezy

"My recommendation is to get the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM Lens over the 55-250....the extra cost is worth it in my opinion.”

For people that are not on a budget maybe , but for the majority of people who would be looking at the Canon 55-250 .. that can't afford the luxury of L series glass ... what would you recomend instead ?

How you can recomend somthing double the price beats me.

4:09 pm - Thursday, May 29, 2008

#4 Chris

What a shame. I'd read a few of your reviews before this one, and had rather liked them, but this one seems to have completely lost the plot.

I don't know about elsewhere, but in the UK, the IS version of that L lens is over 4 times the price of the 55-250, so why are you even bothering to compare them?

I'd be frankly worried if the L lens wasn't significantly better for the huge extra cost, but then I'd be worried if a 747 wasn't faster and more comfortable to fly in than a Cessna.

10:06 pm - Friday, August 29, 2008

#5 Nabil

I find this lens to be quite popular with customers as well. In my store this is a great seller

2:20 am - Monday, September 1, 2008

#6 Alan

These reviews are very confusing! I just read about this lens in a magazine and they said the optics were great, this review states otherwise.
Who can you trust? I used to praise the net for being able to gain useful information for making decisons, it's becoming difficult to do, the magazines are usually biased so I like to get a few extra reviews to see if the overall impressions compare with each other, this review is totally against what I have read. Oh well, hopefully some reviews from users of this lens can elaborate on their findings.
Thanks

9:17 am - Thursday, September 25, 2008

#7 tom

Canon and any other name brand lens makers do NOT make junk lenes. don't belive everthing you read.
they make lenes for everyboy.

6:28 pm - Tuesday, July 6, 2010

#8 TOM R

For the price of this lens you can't go wrong!
This is not a PRO LENS SO DON'T JUDGE IT LIKE THAT.
This is a great lens for us everyday photo snapers
Parks , Socer, Baseball, Family shoots, wildlif etc.
If you put it up aginst an L lens you don't belong here.

10:17 pm - Saturday, July 24, 2010

#9 JUDY

Ya L lens $700 to 5000 and more. I'll get an L lens as soon as I get my???? F_______.
Get real.

10:25 pm - Saturday, July 24, 2010

#10 Georges

I agree with all. For the money this lense is brilliant and you cannot go wrong with it. I took numerous pictures of planes at Air Tattoo Show and the images are fantastic, fast AF for fast flying planes. Go to flickr and search for aramas58 (under people) and see my show photos taken with this lense despite the miserable weather

9:22 pm - Sunday, July 25, 2010

#11 JUDY

People who buy the L lens do not belong here.

4:51 pm - Friday, September 3, 2010

#12 satish

Yes after all your thoughts and my analysis on dif reviews, this lense(55-250) is worth buy for the money that we spend. I have an observation from few reviews towards the performance. This lense has vignetting issue itseems. I hate vignetting. I thought of buying the lense(55-250) this week but, after reading the vignetting issue, I am bit confused and rethinking to buy EF 70-300mm IS USM. Because I donot want any manual correction on my clicks. Yes, it is 3times costly but I donot wants to compramise on the quality. As a plus: I am getting addtional telephoto rage here. Please note: I have 18-55 IS lense with me.

Please share your thoughts and help me to decide.

11:32 am - Friday, September 17, 2010

#13 Andrew

I own both lenses, and TDP review is sound. Yes, its good for the money, but its less than half the price of the other lens, so you get less than half the quality.

If all you are going to do is take pictures of your kids running around a field and put them on facebook, its a great lens.

If you ever intend to blow up and print your pictures to A4 or larger, this lens won't be good enough.

It doesn't have a vignetting "issue", it just vinignets like most lenses. You can fix this in aperture or light room easily, but again, if you print your images large, you notice the image degradation in the corners.

Canon don't make junk lenses, but they do make lenses of varying quality for different people. This lense is aimed at casual users who don't enlarge their pictures for printing. If that's you, get it and be happy. If its not, save a little longer and get the better lens.

Lets face it, you;re probably going to have this lense for ten years or more, so over that time period the extra cost pays off a little for the extra quality you will always have.

5:47 am - Sunday, July 3, 2011