Canon 70-300 IS USM vs 55-250 IS

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So my telephoto budget brings me to a choice between these 2 lenses. I have read reviews online, but would much rather listen to people who have used these lenses and what they think of them.

Price wise there is about £150 in it, it will be mainly for holiday trips and a bit of show jumping here and there.

Use with primary be in good light.
 
I cant give any personal experience on the 55-250 but have seen some good comments on here about it.

I used to have a 70-300 and it is a cracking lens. Only sold it to upgrade to a 100-400L.

I dont think you will go wrong at the money with the 70-300 its reasonable fast and quite sharp.

Hope this is of some help!!
 
the 70-300 is a bit soft at the extremes? but pulling back from that you don't have to work on the extremes.
do you want the extra range?
 
70-300 is metal bodied and has a USM motor for the AF. If you want to shoot action, its the way to go.

IQ wise, both are pretty good, the 70-300 is slightly better but falls off a bit beyond about 250mm where it is f5.6, but of course you do have the extra 50mm and its not completely terrible.

Both are excellent CA wise, unlike all of Canon's previous models and the third party 70-300's.
 
I have owned both, and currently own a 70-200 F/4 IS.

I went from 55-250 to 70-300 to 70-200 (+TC when needed).

In terms of IQ there was very little noticeable difference between the 55-250 and 70-300mm. The 70-300 was built a lttle better but IMO was not worth double the price. I also missed the 55-70mm range more than I expected. This is a very useful zone on a crop camera. Out of the two the 50-250mm is better value, and almost as good, but I was always worried about the cheap plastic lens mount.
 
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that the 55-250 is an EF-S lens and will only work on a crop camera such as the 450D/500D/40D/50D/7D.

The 70 300 IS USM is an EF lens and will work on all of the above plus all full frame cameras such as the 5D/5DMkII/1DSMkI/II/III.

So if you see yourself upgrading to full frame in the not too distant future, the 70 300 IS USM may be the better choice.
 
i have had both , the 55-250 is deffo a better lens for a walkabout , happy with the 70-300 though , but its like most things , whatever you have is not quite long enough :eek: , i would love to be getting into the 500mm range for quite a lot of things :thumbs:
 
I did a comparison a while back and the image quality was as follows

1st 70-200F4
2nd 70-300IS very close to above... 300mm was'nt soft, well built
3rd 55-250IS feels cheap and flimsy
 
Reviews for the 70-300 are generally good, not as fast as the f4, but still a good lens and well built.
 
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