Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Review by Larry D. Killebrew "LKillebrew" : great lens Xsi

The Canon Xsi package we bought came with an 18-55 fairly fast lens. I wanted a telephoto lens that went to 300 or more for mostly outdoor and sports shots, but the economy tanked... I couldnt bring myself to spend $$$ for my hobby. I started looking at Tamron and Vivitar as a solution, and while I own both for my old analog slr. I wanted to take full advantage of the Image Stabilazation and AutoFocus features on the Xsi. I have mixed and matched camera, flash, and lens brands in the past and knew there might be some issues.

I have used this lens a number of times in High school basketball games. I am very pleased with it. You can buy faster lenses, but for the money... this little lightweight lense is great! I get a few blurred shots when setting courtside at girls games. A few more blurred shots in boys games. But all in all... not many. And usually the blur is the ball or the feet or hands, which add an element of motion to the shot.

This has been a great lens for the action shots I want to take, it is great for the outdoor shots I take while motorcycle touring, is great for low light with a tripod. Shooting in RAW lets me clean up about any mistakes I make with software. (Except for blurred or out of focus shots), no software can fix those. The price was right. I read some reviewers talking about how light weight and cheezy it felt. Hey, I like the lightness of it. I have this sucker strapped to my neck and light is good.

I got a lot of lens for my dollar, coupled with a very capable camera, it is a good combination for recreational photography.

I ordered through Amazon, It was at my door in SC OKlahoma within 3 days.

thanks,

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Review by mom to 3 boys : Which lens to get

I have a 18mm-55mm lens, and was in search for a telephoto, I read so many reviews that were so complex I didn't know what I was reading. I bought the 55mm-250mm lens and now understand some of the reviews.

To break it down in simply terms:

55mm (the lowest setting on the 55mm-250mm) you can not stand right on top of a subject, the lens makes you too close everything won't fit in the frame. That is Not what the lens is for & might be were some of the bad reviews come from. (Buy the 18-55mm for those close up shots)

It takes time for the auto focus, it still Fast but not as fast as my 18mm-55mm. Still your not going to miss taking a picture of a bird sitting in a tree far away. But at baseball game of a kid catching a 50mph ball I missed some shots (why I gave 4 stars). Not the lens fault more mine I should have used manual focus!!

On auto focus, after all it has a LOT of setting to go through 55 to 250mm settings. No duh the 18-55mm auto focus faster. Think of it as a deck of cards, you (and auto focus) can flip through 18-55 cards faster then a deck of 55-250 cards. Some of the reviews complain about the auto focus, it does work of course just not as fast as smaller lens.

No matter what if you are in the back row and your son on the stage at a school play, your picture will be Prefect and it will look like you were in the front row.

That is what this lens is for, where you can take time to set it up, adjust and take time to snap a picture. At a baseball game you need to use Manual focus, (you can turn the ring faster then auto) and you can get great pics, auto might let you down during fast action but not with still pictures!!

I suggest getting 18mm-55mm for everyday use, for those great up close, fast action, birthday shots; I Love that lens. Then get the 55mm-250mm for those far away school plays, scenery vacation, and birds sitting in a far away tree the lens is prefect for those kinds of pictures.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Review by C. Oleksyk : IS is the way to go

okay so granted i just got this lens today and have limited use with it but i also own a canon 70-200 L series lens WITHOUT stabilization and the difference to me was immediately apparent. i am not one to carry around a tripod which is what you need with my other lens in order to get a clear shot all of the time. yes this lens does feel much cheaper and it was! but the point and shoot shots came out much clearer. i did not notice any color differences between the two lens as mentioned in a previous review. and i also gained mm on both ends which fits nicely with the kit lens. i am so satisfied that after one day i have already placed my other lens for sale on ebay. any takers!

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Review by JR Physics : Excellent value

This is a very good lens given its price. Like with any lens selection there
are compromises, and a more expensive lens is not necessarily better in all
respects. These are the main considerations for me:

* The lens comes with an excellent IS. One could probably save a hundred bucks
buying a non-IS lens in this focal range which may even be a bit better optically.
However, long range shots without IS are difficult, especially in low light. The
IS on this lens works very well, better compared to my Canon 28-135 IS and even
compared to the 100-400L. The IS really makes a lot of hand held shots possible
that one could not do with a non-IS lens.

* The lens is fairly cheaply built and has a plastic mount. However, the
trade-off is that it is also fairly small and light (the small size is also due
to the fact that it is a EF-S lens). My other tele-zoom is a 100-400L lens
which is built like tank, but it is also huge and weighs 3 pounds. In many cases
one does not want to carry that much weight around, and that is where this lens
comes in really handy.

* Image quality: No, it cannot quite match the 100-400L, but it comes surprisingly
close. Of course, the 100-400L costs 5 times as much. Lack of good color
saturation is the most notable deficiency. On the other hand images are very sharp.
For outdoors one should get a hood, there is quite a bit of glare in shots with
frontal sunlight.

* Zoom range: the 55-250mm range makes the lens quite versatile. 250mm is long
enough for most outdoor sports, many nature shots, people from afar, etc. At the
other end 55mm is still good for close action, for example at a soccer field.
That is almost a factor 2 shorter compared to 100-(300/400) lenses.
It also provides a nice overlap with walk-around lenses, like the Canon 28-135 IS.

* Aperture: F4-5.6 is nothing to brag about, however, a faster lens would also
have to be much bigger, heavier, and costlier. And as long as you objects don't
move too much the IS makes the lens effectively faster. If Canon's 4 stop
improvement holds it would be equivalent to a non-ISF1-1.4, although F1.4-2 is
probably more realistic. A F1.4-2 with that focal range would have to be big,
heavy, and expensive, if it even existed.

In summary, this is an excellent second lens to complement a short zoom or a
walk-around lens. Very versatile and a lot of bang for the buck. In my case,
even though I own a 100-400L I still keep this lens because it is often more
practical because of the shorter focal length and the smaller size.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Review by Mark Cassidy : very nice long-range affordable telephoto

I mainly use prime lenses but my longest lens maxes out at 85mm. So when I saw this lens 250mm (similar to 400mm on full-frame) with a reasonable price, I grabbed it.

The colors are rendered well, the IS works like a charm.

Note - this is an EF-S lens so you won't be able to use it on a full-sensor camera body later - only on the cropped-sensor cameras like the Rebel XTi.

My reason for not giving it 5 stars is that it occasionally gets confused while focusing. (I use spot-focus mostly - perhaps that has something to do with it.) If it happens, I zoom back to 55mm, focus, and then re-zoom, focus and it's all set.

While I haven't had it for long yet, I was able to get some very nice photos with this lens - one close-up shot all the way down a church aisle of someone performing at the other end in front of the church at night, close-up shots of bees in flight, dragonflies, etc.

The front element rotates but I would never think of using a polarizer on a zoom lens like this since you've already lost a lot of light.

Am I happy I bought it? Absolutely.