Is it worth doing a part exchange for a lens upgrade ?

Jwar1976

Jwar1976

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John
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Hi all,

Even tho I have been loving the use of my 55-250 II for zoo shots, I found that I was able to get better shots from my Dads 70-300 with blurring out the wiring / bars for animals that were higher up. I don't know if this is due to the aperture on the 55-250 changing to 5.6 from almost the 100mm mark. Anyhow I have been in touch with WEX & they have offered me £65 credit for my 55-250, I was wondering if it is worth trading it in to get a lens with a slightly better reach, or would I be better just saving for a 70-300 & keeping the 55-250 for other things ?

Many Thanks :)
 
Thanks for the heads up on that Mark :), I will give it some thought. I should be going to Africa Alive tomorrow, so will have another attempt with the 55-250 but concentrate more on some animals that I can get quite close to, so that I can have a 4/4.5 aperture between the 55mm & up to about the 100mm mark on the lens, before it changes to 5.6 at the longer lens. I really need to improve more on my current lens, before I think about indulging in one which has a slightly longer reach.
 
I don't think the aperture has much, if anything, to do with it, certainly not from my experience as I often eliminate the enclosure mesh using a 70-300L at f5.6. It seems to me that the longer the focal length the easier it is to eliminate the mesh, but also try to get as close to the mesh as you can. Obviously subjects close to the mesh or large subjects further away from the mesh (if you want to photograph the whole subject) will not facilitate using a long focal length and hence mesh will not be eliminated, e.g., if I'm taking pictures of large birds such as hornbills I often find that using a long focal length to eliminate the mesh means that I get too close to the bird for a full body shot and end up just getting head shots, which is not a bad thing. Zooming out (shorter focal length) to get the whole bird in picture results in the mesh appearing in the image. Does any of that make any sense?
 
Yes that does make quite a bit of sense, I did find that the mesh was easier to eliminate on the 70-300 than it was on the 55-250. I think that this is because the animal was closer to me at the wider end of the lens, so didn't need to zoom much to fit more than the head in the photo.
 
cosmicma said:
you'll probably get a better price selling private on here or elswhere
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I'm not sure on Canon prices. But I sold my Fuji 18mm to Wex in January for £230.00, when they were averaging about £180.00 on here and around £210 (minus fees) on ebay. Sometimes it's less hastle to part ex.
 
Its a combination of focal length and aperture ( the wider and longer the better ) .
In an ideal world a 70-200 f2.8 would be just the thing but would cost a lot, so try and get the widest you can within budget, I don't know the price but how does the 70-200 f4 non IS fit in to your budget, the benefit being constant aperture
 
A 70-200 with constant F4 would take me a long time to save unfortunately due to being medically retired. I was taking a look at the 70-300 IS Canon & Tamron, the IS is pretty much essential as I do suffer from camera shake, so a non IS lens would require a monopod or tripod as an essential extra, monopod preferred as I am not allowed to drive, so need something that is fairly light to carry around. I noticed that on the 70-300 IS Canon, has the following table for focal length & Aperture, which should just be about right for the zoos that I visit & within my price range.

70mm F4.0
100mm F4.5
135mm F5.0
200mm F5.0
300mm F5.6
 
Jwar1976 said:
Hi all,

Even tho I have been loving the use of my 55-250 II for zoo shots, I found that I was able to get better shots from my Dads 70-300 with blurring out the wiring / bars for animals that were higher up. I don't know if this is due to the aperture on the 55-250 changing to 5.6 from almost the 100mm mark. Anyhow I have been in touch with WEX & they have offered me £65 credit for my 55-250, I was wondering if it is worth trading it in to get a lens with a slightly better reach, or would I be better just saving for a 70-300 & keeping the 55-250 for other things ?

Many Thanks :)
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Hi John

My daughter has the 55-250IS lens and loves it and gets great results with it, I had the Canon 70-300IS lens which I really liked and have recommended on lots of occasions...

Whether it's worth an upgrade for you - personal choice really.
Do you want to spend this extra money ?
Don't forget the 70-300 is a heavier lens than the 55-250IS
Finally - do you need to spend the money to buy one, can you not just borrow it when required ?

Hope this is of help
 
Hi Andy

I am willing to spend the extra money if it gets me the results I want at mainly zoos & have also felt the weight of it when I used my Dads 70-300, which in all honesty wasn't too bad, once I got a feel for the lens, my only regret is that we wasn't at the zoo long enough due to my Dad not feeling 100%, for me to take full advantage of using it for the day. My Dad would let me borrow the lens anytime that I needed to or wanted to, the only problem being is that he lives over 200 miles away, so borrowing it isn't the easiest of methods of using the lens without buying it. But yes your post has helped as you have been a previous owner of the lens in question. :)
 
Jwar1976 said:
the only problem being is that he lives over 200 miles away,. :)
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Aah, that adds a bit of an extra problem then - I'd try to borrow it from him for a couple of weeks, go to the zoo etc with both lenses and shoot away, being on your own, you can swap lenses, reshoot etc etc and see whether the 70-300 is enough of a difference for you to spend some money...


Alternatively, borrow it long term :D
 
andyred said:
Aah, that adds a bit of an extra problem then - I'd try to borrow it from him for a couple of weeks, go to the zoo etc with both lenses and shoot away, being on your own, you can swap lenses, reshoot etc etc and see whether the 70-300 is enough of a difference for you to spend some money...


Alternatively, borrow it long term :D
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I am due to visit him again in a few weeks time, so I could plan to borrow his lens for the day, go to Chester or Dudley zoo which are quite local to him & if I get better results than from my 55-250, I know that I could go after the 70-300. I guess I was just trying to be a bit of an eager beaver & get more new glass asap. :D
 
I really don't think that 250 f5.6 or 300 f5.6 will be much different.

Getting as close as you can to the enclosure will always help a lot.

I also always carry a point and shoot zoom camera and if I can I get right up to the enclosure fencing and stick the point and shoot lens up against the mesh or through an opening in the mesh, then that's what I do when I can't get the shots with my DSLR.

If this involves climbing over some barrier intended to prevent people getting right up to the enclosure fencing then so be it, that's what I do.
 
Jackwow said:
I really don't think that 250 f5.6 or 300 f5.6 will be much different.

Getting as close as you can to the enclosure will always help a lot.

I also always carry a point and shoot zoom camera and if I can I get right up to the enclosure fencing and stick the point and shoot lens up against the mesh or through an opening in the mesh, then that's what I do when I can't get the shots with my DSLR.

If this involves climbing over some barrier intended to prevent people getting right up to the enclosure fencing then so be it, that's what I do.
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Thanks for the tip there Neil :), strangely enough before I got given the DSLR I was going to get one of those 50x superzoom bridge cameras, but will keep the point and shoot in mind, along with the barrier.
 
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