2 thoughts on “Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras”

1. 674 of 690 people found the following review helpful:

   
   I Love It For IS and Zoom Range at this Price, Not Pure Performance, March 18, 2008

   By 

   J. Kirlin (Bangor, Maine USA) –
   
     
   
     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

   I was determined to love this lens based on the specs and price point alone. Canon really needed to come out with this lens at this price because Nikon offers a very decent Vibration Reduction lens at roughly the same range for the same price, leaving me to make apologies for Canon and their neglect to all my Nikon friends.

   The IS can be switched off to save battery life but I haven’t noticed a difference in battery performance with it. The IS is only activiated when you press the shutter halfway for auto focus. Although it FEELS like there is a small lag for the IS to start, I don’t think I’ve had any photos messed up because of it.

   You can HEAR the IS. A little bizarre after using point and shoots that have IS that is silent, but it doesn’t seem to affect performance

   Pro: Great price for an image stabilized zoom lens. I paid 299 and am very pleased even though Amazon is selling it for 280 a week later. ALso arrive 2 months sooner than Amazon initially promised. This lens has NEVER been 400 dollars. Its MSRP from Canon prior to release was 299.00. Shame Amazon!

   Pro: Images are very sharp.

   Pro: Image stabilization does a VERY nice job. Four stops as advertised by Canon? I’m not so sure. GREATLY enhancing the composition experience at 250mm? Absolutely.

   Pro: Much smaller and lighter than the 70-300 of any manufacturer and much sharper than my Sigma 70-300.

   Con: Cheapish feel. But just use it, quit feeling it already. Plastic mount. But if you NEED a metal mount, may I suggest you are being a little rough with your camera. *UPDATE* The plastic flanges on back were able to hold the camera securely to the lens, but NOT hold the rear cap securely to the lens. I’ve tried many different rear lens caps that fit snugly on other lenses. So I think this is beyond cheap feel and has to be called CHEAP BUILD.

   Con: This lens is a little (ok, maybe not so little) slow to focus in dim light, sometimes it misses altogether when I think other lenses of mine would have had no difficulty.

   Con: I never gave Inner Focusing much thought on my other lenses until I used this. The front of this lens rotates AND moves in and out a LOT while focusing, so much so that you MAY even want to recompose your shot. The length of this lens changes almost an inch across the focus range. I just checked my Sigma 70-300 and found that it does also, but I’ve never seen it make as much difference in the viewfinder as I have with this Canon. Your perception may vary.

   This lens and the soon to be arriving 18-55 IS as the XSi kit lens will allow me to carry one less lens to achieve an 18-250 IS range. For a little more money than the cost of both lenses you can get the Tamrom 18-250 but not have Image Stabilization. And now Sigma has an 18-200 WITH Optical Stablization for about what these 2 lenses cost retail, but in testing the 2 Canons produced better images.

   Conclusion: A great EF-S lens for Canon users. (even if Nikon had to force Canon to make it for us.)

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2. 201 of 204 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Which lens to get, June 15, 2009

   By 

   mom to 3 boys (usa) –

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

   I have a 18mm-55mm lens, and was in search for a telephoto, I read so many reviews that were so complex I didn’t know what I was reading. I bought the 55mm-250mm lens and now understand some of the reviews.

   To break it down in simply terms:

   55mm (the lowest setting on the 55mm-250mm) you can not stand right on top of a subject, the lens makes you too close everything won’t fit in the frame. That is Not what the lens is for & might be were some of the bad reviews come from. (Buy the 18-55mm for those close up shots)

   It takes time for the auto focus, it still Fast but not as fast as my 18mm-55mm. Still your not going to miss taking a picture of a bird sitting in a tree far away. But at baseball game of a kid catching a 50mph ball I missed some shots (why I gave 4 stars). Not the lens fault more mine I should have used manual focus!!

   On auto focus, after all it has a LOT of setting to go through 55 to 250mm settings. No duh the 18-55mm auto focus faster. Think of it as a deck of cards, you (and auto focus) can flip through 18-55 cards faster then a deck of 55-250 cards. Some of the reviews complain about the auto focus, it does work of course just not as fast as smaller lens.

   No matter what if you are in the back row and your son on the stage at a school play, your picture will be Prefect and it will look like you were in the front row.

   That is what this lens is for, where you can take time to set it up, adjust and take time to snap a picture. At a baseball game you need to use Manual focus, (you can turn the ring faster then auto) and you can get great pics, auto might let you down during fast action but not with still pictures!!

   I suggest getting 18mm-55mm for everyday use, for those great up close, fast action, birthday shots; I Love that lens. Then get the 55mm-250mm for those far away school plays, scenery vacation, and birds sitting in a far away tree the lens is prefect for those kinds of pictures.

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