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Refurb Canon 55-250 IS for 199

Is this a new Canon lens? I don't remember seeing this two years ago when I bought an el-cheapo Tamrom 70-300 zoom, which broke when I stupidly dropped it. Image quality was pretty bad anyway, maybe I should pick this up. I remember everything close to the Tamron's range being 500+ smackers.
 
Originally posted by: Triumph
Is this a new Canon lens? I don't remember seeing this two years ago when I bought an el-cheapo Tamrom 70-300 zoom, which broke when I stupidly dropped it. Image quality was pretty bad anyway, maybe I should pick this up. I remember everything close to the Tamron's range being 500+ smackers.
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It's about a year or 1.5 years old. Definitely a great lens for the money if you can stand the slow aperture.
 
A couple of good older Canon lenses are worth considering if you're looking at the 55-250 IS.

-The 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 USM can be found on eBay for under $200, and sometimes for just $120 or so! This is a lens that Canon discontinued in the late 1990s (most likely to prevent competition with their newer 70-200mm f/4L). It features true ring-type USM which focuses faster than the 55-250, full time manual override, and a decently fast aperture.

-The 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM is virtually identical optically to the 70-210, but trades the faster aperture for 90mm more reach.

Both of these are full-frame compatible and have better build quality than the 55-250 IS; also, both have distance scales built right in, metal lens mounts, and non-rotating front elements. If you look around on eBay, you can snatch one up for about $50 less than the price of a refurbished 55-250 IS.
 
Originally posted by: Sawyer
And they would produce iq as good or better than the 55-250?
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I haven't seen resolution numbers for the 70-210, but it is the better lens optically of the two lenses I mentioned.

Photozone has reviewed the 100-300mm, and it is on par with the 55-250 up to to about 200mm or so, after which it is slightly softer.

The 70-210 USM, though, has often been called the "poor man's L." It is one of the best consumer-grade lenses made by Canon. I have one, and I love it. The AF speed is light-years ahead of any other budget tele zoom, and the lens is capable of some great shots. The only small gripe I have is that this lens tends to have a bit of purple fringing at 210mm, but that's easily correctable in software.

Review at POTN
 
Originally posted by: Triumph
Almost all of the 70-210mm's on ebay right now are the f/4 version. 🙁
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The f/4 version is actually also pretty decent from what I hear, although the AF is slow as molasses and the styling is way retro.
 
Good deal on getting the 55-250mm IS. Glad that you got it over the other two imho unless you must have FF compatibility.

The image quality of the 55-250mm is *amazing* especially for the price. Honestly very unlikely you could tell the difference between shots made by it and made by a 70-200mm f4L. IQ wise it's that good. And it's small and light. People forget that yes, the "build quality" isn't as good as an L lens, BUT since it's for crop sensors only, it's TINY compared to an L, or even compared to the 70-300mm IS! It's tiny and light.

The only downside of the "nifty 250" is that it focuses slowly.

And the IS works amazingly well. If you do eventually spend a lot more money and want a FF compatible lens that is similar but even better + focuses way faster, then get the 70-200mm f4 IS. The F2.8 is obviously nice but WAYYYYYY bigger and heavier.
 
I won't mind the build, my other lens are the 50 1.8 and the 18-55 IS. I think I have a good trio for the money, 200 for the 55-250, 55 for my 50 1.8 and 100 for my 18-55 IS
 
I have a Rebel XSi with the 18-55mm kit lens and the 55-250mm IS lens. They compliment each other very well and work well for my non-professional needs.

I also have the f/1.8 50mm plastic fantastic. I used the 55-250 on a trip to Gatlinburg and got a lot of good shots out of it. I'm still learning how to use XSi and SLRs though.
 

I own the 100-300 USM and its a bit soft at the long end unless you stop it down to f:8. And, there isn't many situation that you can shoot at f:8 with a 300mm handheld.

IMHO, 300mm & above is more of a territory for fast sharp prime lenses, and 200mm or less zoom are adequate most of the time.

 
Originally posted by: extra

The image quality of the 55-250mm is *amazing* especially for the price. Honestly very unlikely you could tell the difference between shots made by it and made by a 70-200mm f4L. IQ wise it's that good. And it's small and light. People forget that yes, the "build quality" isn't as good as an L lens, BUT since it's for crop sensors only, it's TINY compared to an L, or even compared to the 70-300mm IS! It's tiny and light.
.
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it's just as wide as the (non-US) 90-300 and only .2" shorter when zoomed all the way out (to be expected). being for a crop sensor has nothing to do with it, being slow has everything to do with it.
 
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