Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS: Good Lens for People with a Tight Budget

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

Santa came early for me this December when my brother-in-law gave me a nifty holiday gift: a Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 IS lens. I was surprised because this gift came in two months early as I was supposed to get it in February 2009. Good thing – I recently sold my much loved EF 100-400 f/5.6 AFD because I needed the cash to get something for the wife. Now, I got a new telephoto zoom to play with.

Sure, it’s a kit lens and some of you are scoffing by merely the thought of the word “kit” but for those of us who are on a tight budget but would like a very decent telephoto, this baby fits the bill. While this US$ 200 baby is made of plastic and is not built like a tank (like it’s pricier L cousins), build quality is very decent and abuse tolerances are pretty tight. What I like about it this baby is that it isn’t heavy: I can do handheld shots comfortably. The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Lens is quite small, delightfully light and “very good priced” telephoto zoom with a long focal length range that complements my 18-55mm f/3.5 – 5.6 kit lens.

For those of you fellers who are used to the more expense L line of lenses, you’ll find that the focusing ring and zooming ring of this lens is not the smoothest available i.e. a bit stiff. However, it’s not that bad and I am pretty sure that there are stiffer focusing and zooming mechanisms out there. AF is pretty good and the AF-m motor is quite silent. Full-time manual focusing is not available, however. During the AF process, it’s best to keep one’s hands away as the focusing ring turns physically as this could damage gears or even the motor as it would restrict movement. It says so on the manual, anyways. As with all non-L lenses, the hood for this baby comes in as an optional add-in. If you have this lens and is in the market for a lens hood, don’t get the petal type as the front element of this lens rotates. The best hood for this thing is the Canon ET-60. Be warned though: as the hood is a bit deep, reaching down to attach or remove the lens cap would be a bit a challenge especially for persons who have big hands. Oh, for CPL users you also need to keep an eye on front-element rotation as you need to rotate your CPL as well (after you focus) to produce your desired effect.

Mounted on a Canon XTi/400D

The best feature I like about the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS is it’s 4-stop Image Stabilization system that has vertical and horizontal panning detection. Great for handheld shots! Although I read somewhere that one can hear clicking sounds while the IS is engaged, I didn’t hear anything at all. Based on the tests I did (and from what I read), this lens will give you 3 stops at 55mm and at 250mm. As this lens if quite light, it was a bit of a challenge to determine the specific assistance that the IS system was giving me as it was kind of difficult to hold this light and small lens at full 25omm focal length. Anyways, the 250mm length is the weakest for sharpness as I noticed that the edges of the resulting image was a bit soft.

The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS is not the sharpest lens in the market. While the center and mid-way portions are quite good, the edges of photos taken at full focal length are a bit soft. The center of the lens is best at the wide-end and degrades a bit at the max focal length where a bit of pincushioning distortion is noticeable (after close scrutiny). To improve sharpness and overall image quality, stop down. A one-stop narrow aperture makes a real noticeable difference. Color contrast is relatively low but the chromatic aberration and flare are very well controlled – no color casts found.

Sure, the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 has a number of “drawbacks” compared to its more expensive L brethren but one can’t ignore the fact that this is an inexpensive IS lens. If you’re like me who is just a weekend photographer operating on a shoe-string budget and is happy with the 18-55 lens, then this baby will make you a happy camper. I believe that the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 has great performance potential and resolution is quite good across the range. Build quality is fairly decent for a tele zoom with IS in the $ 200-250 price range.

Sample photos:

Coke bottle. Macro shot. Distance to subject: 4.5 feet. Focal length: 250mm. IS: off.

Neighbor's dog. Focal length: 55mm. IS: on. Distance to subject: 30 feet.

Neighbor's dog. Focal length: 135mm. IS: on. Distance to subject: 30 feet.

Neighbor's dog. Focal length: 250mm. IS: on. Distance to subject: 30 feet.