Budget Telephoto Lens

Personally I'd get a Canon 70/210 3.5/4.5 second hand if I was on that sort of budget, they go for about £125 & pp. Near L quality images in a slightly less well built body.
Both the above are pretty soft over 200mm anyway.
Failing that the ef-s 55-250 gets a good write-up.
 
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For the first question I'm not sure. The Canon 75-300 is very average indeed, so much so that I bought a 70-200F4L as my first telephoto.

For the second question.....
IS if you are shooting people/events/sports
Tripod if you are shooting landscapes/still life/portraits
 
alexnail said:
For the first question I'm not sure. The Canon 75-300 is very average indeed, so much so that I bought a 70-200F4L as my first telephoto.

For the second question.....
IS if you are shooting people/events/sports
Tripod if you are shooting landscapes/still life/portraits
Click to expand...

Looks like the 70-200F4L is out of my price range for now :(

PS - Like your landscape photo on your website, what camara and lenses do you use for these photos
 
alexnail said:
For the second question.....
IS if you are shooting people/events/sports
Tripod if you are shooting landscapes/still life/portraits
Click to expand...

IS is mostly useless for sports.. pretty much useless for events and suppose may be used in the right conditions for people?
 
Thanks guys, looks like the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS is the way to go
 
Another vote for the 55-250 IS, fantastic lens for the money.
 
I got a 75-300 MkIII as an extra kit lens when I got my 550D at xmas 2010. I only kept it about 2 months and about half the time I was waiting for it to sell (which it did, and made me a profit). All I can say is, it's the only lens I've ever used that I have no photos saved from it. It was very slow and very noisy AF, poor IQ and no IS, it has to be about the worst lens Canon has ever made IMO.

Like a few others have said, the 55-250 IS is the way to go. It's got great IQ, good AF which is fast enough to get most shots. The worst thing with the one I bought is I hardly ever get to use it as the wife has it practically glued to her camera.
 
Yeah I can say from experience do not get the 75-300mm, mine came as part of a kit with my camera but it was not good! I sold it and changed to a 55-250mm and can't believe the difference for a lens that is so similarly priced!
 
The 75-300mm is a bit of a dog. The 70-300mm is far better, but more expensive at about £300 odd, and probably out of your budget (there's an L version too, but that's in the £1000 range).

Don't think you'd go wrong with the 55-250mm. It gets excellent write ups for the money, and it's a popular lens, so you could probably sell it on later if you want to upgrade to one of the 70-200mm f4.0 L zooms.
 
I bought a Sigma 18-250 as a walk about ( Kit) lens- does what it says on the tin

Les (y)
 
Hi

I'd certainly look at the Canon 55-250IS over the 75-300, the 55-250IS is a belter of a lens especially for the price.

If funds allow, the Canon 70-300IS is a great buy and worth a look at...
 
Got the Canon 55-250 IS over the weekend along with a Canon 17-85mm IS USM

Thanks all for your input
 
what about the Sigma 70-300 APO version ? I think they come in at around 170 new. Optically its better I think than the tamron, its still a bit soft wide open and at max focal rnage, however due to the APO glass it suffers a lot less from fringing that the other 2 I think.
 
techno79 said:
I think I'll be investing in a 55-250 lens once I've gotten over my initial learning curve to the DSLR scene.
Click to expand...
Same here. Would probably never even considered it before reading all the positive reviews in this thread.
 
Fla5h said:
Got the Canon 55-250 IS over the weekend along with a Canon 17-85mm IS USM

Thanks all for your input
Click to expand...

Up until recently these were my two main lenses. Great value for money, with both lenses producing good quality results. The 55-250mm, in particular, is extremely good value for money.
 
if your looking for a telephoto lens on a tight budget you won't go far wrong with one of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-EF-...rs_Lenses&hash=item46021e6fbd#ht_11463wt_1110

there quite old but are f4 straight through and produce half decent images if you can find a good example

this was taken with one in 2008 using a 350d i would imagine with a more modern body the results would be even better

3dc323a9.jpg
 
Another for the 55-250 IS

I only got back into photography recently and this was the first lens I purchased. IS is useful and it is fairly sharp :)
 
I've had a fair few telephoto lenses.

I hated the 75-300. STEER CLEAR. I even have the IS version for a while, it is terrible also.

I very much enjoyed the old canon 50-200mm F/3.5-4.5 shown on the top of this page:
http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/eos/EF-lenses/EF50200mmf3545L/index.htm

And also the 70-210mm F/4 of a similar design. Both nice lenses, very well built but slow and noisy AF.
 
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