Outrageous bargain for a Canon EFS telephoto

This lens cost $65 delivered, from Ebay, in May 2017.  I screwed it on my ancient 20D and went outside and started taking these photos with it.

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I guess it might do better, if I used a newer camera, or tried taking a picture of something standing still.

I'm learning all this photography hobby as I go along, and I'm starting to believe that the cost of the camera and the lens has very little to do with the quality of the photographs.

There is no way these cheap lenses equal the best L lenses.

But if there's somebody out there that has a crop sensor Canon EF-S camera with the kit lens, and they think they would like a kit telephoto lens, then the Canon 55-250mm IS kit telephoto gives that customer a whole lot of telephoto lens for peanuts.  Even a brand new STM version of this lens is about $150, and the 55-250 IS Second series is only a hundred bucks, brand new.  But these cost about sixty five bucks, and they work great.

This lens is stabilized.  The auto focus is fast, and it works even on older cameras.

Short of somebody giving you a telephoto lens, this is as cheap as a good, stabilized zoom lens gets for a Canon EF-S camera body.

.. the EF 70-210 3.5-4.5 USM. Simply superb, bought mine for all of $60. May be a hair slower on Autofocus, but beats the EF-S lens in speed, and IMHO, sharpness and colors. Plus, it's a great lens to move into the FF arena with.

The birds were focused, but were blurry because I didn't set the shutter speed high enough.

After I turned the camera to Sports, the white SUV at about 35 miles an hour, forty yards away,  at a right angle, were in focus.

Imagine how much better, an experienced photographer could do with this lens, if I can do those shots without trying hard?

Humansvillian wrote:

There is no way these cheap lenses equal the best L lenses.

But if there's somebody out there that has a crop sensor Canon EF-S camera with the kit lens, and they think they would like a kit telephoto lens, then the Canon 55-250mm IS kit telephoto gives that customer a whole lot of telephoto lens for peanuts. Even a brand new STM version of this lens is about $150, and the 55-250 IS Second series is only a hundred bucks, brand new. But these cost about sixty five bucks, and they work great.

This lens is stabilized. The auto focus is fast, and it works even on older cameras.

Short of somebody giving you a telephoto lens, this is as cheap as a good, stabilized zoom lens gets for a Canon EF-S camera body.

I agree 100%!  That is why, in spite of owning a bunch of L lenses, I also bought the 10-18, the 18-55, and the 55-250 from the Canon refurb store. I use them when I want to be light and quick, without worrying too much about my gear. I also plan, one day, to get the 18-135mm nano USM lens, too.  If I ever want to lend someone a camera, the old 70D and one of these will work just fine.   99% of people will think they are totally great, too.

We have plenty of great bodies and L glass for our business, and a 5D Mark IV with something like the 70-200 f2.8 IS L II, say, will still provide some of the best image quality available. But for travel, we love our EFS STM lenses on cheaper bodies.

No, they don't offer L quality optics. They certainly aren't built anywhere close to L standards. And they're pretty dark (max aperture) by comparison. But those things aren't the point.

The EFS (and STM versions, subsequently and specifically) are designed for amateur and enthusiast level use, to be sure. But they still offer quite good image quality, thanks to modern computer optical design technology, and incredible speed with the right camera. They are very quiet to operate, too, and even feature built in stabilization. But where they excel is in putting all of this into a package just a fraction of the size of comparable full-frame glass. It's incredible to realize that the 55-250 STM offers a comparable/similar focal length (on an APS-C sensor) as large and heavy Canon's 100-400... and that's even with comparable f-stops! That the 55-250 can be bought in new/refurb direct from Canon for just over $100 can really cause someone to question the virtue of, say, an 80D with 55-250 costing $1200 or so versus a 5DIII with a 100-400 costing FOUR TIMES that.

Obviously, there are plenty of other differences between the two hypothetical kits just mentioned, but I do believe that the comparison is warranted for the amateur/enthusiast who primarily shoots outdoors at these focal lengths and equivalents.

The real bang for the buck is with the STM version of that lens. That is what I'd recommend folks to get.

plantdoc wrote:

I also think the STM version is a great value. My $129 refurb has made some excellent 13 x 19 prints. Of course, it's not built like an L or 2.8, but the optics can be quite impressive for folks on a budget. Also, very light to carry.

Greg

ditto: