New 55-250 STM; am I reading the MTFs correctly?

http://www.canonwatch.com/canon-ef-s-55-250mm-lenses-spec-comparison/

Is it just me or do those MTFs for the new lens look mighty encouraging? It appears to be sharp wide open at both ends with minimal advantage from stopping down. The long end in particular looks promising.

So far, no reviews though the-digital-picture posted sharpness results in their database: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/News/News-Post.aspx?News=7881

Pritzl wrote:

http://www.canonwatch.com/canon-ef-s-55-250mm-lenses-spec-comparison/

Is it just me or do those MTFs for the new lens look mighty encouraging? It appears to be sharp wide open at both ends with minimal advantage from stopping down. The long end in particular looks promising.

So far, no reviews though the-digital-picture posted sharpness results in their database: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/News/News-Post.aspx?News=7881

Wide open on the tele end the results on the-digital-picture are quite frankly *amazing*.  If the price drops to $200 level this is the tele bargain for perhaps the decade and makes overpriced slower equivalents pale in comparison!  Simply outstanding IMO for the size/weight/cost!

Quality of this tele is good enough for where I *will* be joining Canon APS-C again (I'm still shooting Canon FF but left APS-C for a bit and looked into Sony NEX or MFT).  This  is a killer lens for the Canon and should be a system mover.

Compare the venerable 70-200 f4 IS L on 60D to this lens and be *AMAZED*.

Timbukto wrote:

Compare the venerable 70-200 f4 IS L on 60D to this lens and be *AMAZED*.

Woah... I hadn't thought of comparing it against higher grade glass, just the old 55-250 which I have. Apart from a little more vignetting and corner aberrations, it certainly compares favourably for a ~$350 lens. To be honest, I'm in a bit of a quandary now as I was considering a new tele-photo and had resigned myself to getting a higher quality and faster lens in spite of the extra weight and cost. (with the 70-200 f4 IS among the leading contenders) Now, I'm not so sure.

I already had the 70-200 f4/IS on a FF camera.  The IS was only 'ok' on it but I remembered the IS on the budget 55-250 being a tad better.  There is a *substantial* size and weight difference.  I've been through a lot of lenses and looked at enough charts and tested my own lens to know that this new 55-250 STM looks *stellar* from what I've seen so far.  It even comes with DPP/DLO profiling to do a number on CA and other optical aberrations, etc.

Go ahead and try the more expensive lens...but I've already been there and can say without a doubt that I would buy the 55-250 STM, enjoy the slightly longer range, huge cost, size, and weight savings and *never* look back.  After PP you would never know the difference, you are trading 1 stop for some extra range (a common scenario anyways when it comes to telephoto unless you lose more weight in the wallet and carry more weight on your shoulders).

Thanks. I love my 55-250 too. Especially since I got the Raynox DCR-150 close up lens giving me a decent telephoto zoom and a 1.6x macro for less than $500. Just a touch of gear lust I guess. The biggest advantage as you said is I almost always have it with me since it weighs so little. The new one is even lighter and significantly sharper at the long end. Throw in non-rotating front-element, (yay!) full-time MF over-ride and silent STM focusing and I think it's worth it even if I can't sell the old one.

I am waiting for a few more reviews but I think I might pick one up with a 70D+18-135STM kit.

You might be interested in this thread of using it on an EOS M

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52197216

Especially the post with the zoo video http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52223310

Ideal video lens as expected