Great First telephoto lens.

Well mine is the typical story.. I brought this lens second hand for $100.00 NZD because my kit 18-55 just wasn't getting the shots that I was after! For the price its unbeatable. Ok sure it has really bad zoom creep, its AF is slow and loud and it loves to hunt for focus, the IS is loud too.. BUT it all works and for my first telephoto lens it's great. To the point that quite a few of my best shots have been taken with this lens. Do I recommend this lens? Yes, if you are on a budget this is centrally worth a look.. I do like the fact that it does has IS, unlike the ef 75-300, which doesn't have IS, with the image quality produced with this lens and my 70D I can crop into 300mm and the image is sharp (most of the time) and in focus (most of the time) But hey I paid 100 bucks for it!

Thanks for your thoughts, After meeting someone while shooting that had the same lens we discussed them and they had the same thoughts as you did! I did buy mine second hand and one can't be sure how the previous owner treated it (although the glass is clean) I do plan on buying the STM soon unless anyone can recommend a better zoom lens? Cheers James

My first telephoto is a Quantaray 100-300 that I got in the late '90's. It still works on my 70d, and if I stop it down a bit I can get decent images. It's slow to focus, noisy and has a max aperture of 6.7 at the long end. But it has taught me a lot and delivered nice (not stunning) images. My point being is use what you have and enjoy. And if you are looking to replace it, check out the canon refurbished store this week for great deals. I think they had the upgraded 55-250 in stock for a nominal amount.

http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-s-55-250mm-f4-5-6-is-stm-telephoto-zoom-lens-refurbished

Edited to add link

The 55-250 STM is on sale at Canon refurb for $110 right now. 1-year warranty. Way better than used.