CanonEF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Lens

For the money this lens is a great buy. It isn't - and isn't meant to be - a professional quality item but for the beginner or someone on a budget it's hard to beat and it's entirely possible - easy, even - to get good photos with it. Its lightness and small size make it almost uniquely useful as a non-intrusive telephoto walkaround lens, and it would probably be the first option to look at for anyone looking to acquire a lens suitable for taking pictures of birds and other wildlife in the garden without breaking the bank.This is the second time Canon have updated their EF-S 55-250mm offering. This third iteration, while barely distinguishable from its predecessors in image quality terms, has two major advantages over them. The first of these is the stepping motor. This is so quiet that it can be slightly disconcerting to point the lens at a subject, half press the shutter button to autofocus and hear - and feel - nothing! Did it focus...?! I'm getting used to it now. The image stabiliser is also almost silent, which it wasn't in earlier versions. This is great for shooting video, which seems to have been Canon's main motive for developing such a quiet motor, but also to some degree for wildlife shooting, not that it'll quieten the shutter ...The second major improvement is that the front element no longer rotates when focussing, so you can now use polarising or graduated filters on it.Other good things about it include:Extremely light so you can carry it around all day.Surprisingly small for such a long lens so it won't take up a lot of your bag (although it does nearly double in length when zoomed out to 250mm).Pretty sharp through most of its focal length range.Good image stabilisation means you can get good results handheld right up to 250mm in good light.Of course a lens doesn't get to be this cheap without some corners being cut. These are the main shortcomings, in no particular order:Non-constant maximum aperture (this varies from f4 at 55mm to f5.6 above 200mm).Slow maximum aperture (see above) means it's not great in low light.A bit soft above 200mm - although in my experience this isn't nearly as bad as some reviews have claimed and I've certainly got good shots right up to 250mm.Quite severe vignetting on wider apertures, especially at longer focal lengths (worst wide open at 250mm). This, for me, is its worst shortcoming.The bokeh isn't great and colours can be a bit flat - Canon have clearly gone for maximum sharpness with the glass (within their chosen budget) at the expense of colours, contrast and bokeh - if you want those too you will need to pay a lot more. But colours and contrast are a lot more improvable after the fact than sharpness.There's noticeable red/green chromatic aberration in areas of high contrast, especially in the corners, but I've seen far worse.Autofocus hunts sometimes when trying to lock on to a smallish moving subject such as a bird in flight.It's entirely made out of plastic, including the mount, and doesn't feel terribly robust. So treat it gently!But all of these shortcomings are a result of corners being cut to fit the price - there isn't anything about this lens that makes it less than excellent value at the price I paid for it (£135 and it sometimes goes lower than that here). Better alternatives to this lens cost a lot more money. If it cost 3 or 4 times as much, it would be a 3 star item. But it doesn't, and it isn't!

This review is made as an Amateur photographer with no professional experience. It's aimed at the audience that will likely be purchasing this kind of lens, rather than an experienced photographer. As such, I will not be covering very small and in-depth details which a professional may care about..This is the zooming version of the very similar 18-55mm STM kit lens you get with mid range Canon cameras.As an amateur photographer I'm massively impressed with the zoom capabilities, clarity and price to performance of this lens.To break up my review I'll go into each of these separately and have included sample images of min (55mm) and max (250mm) focal lengths and also a cropped image of one of the 250mm photo to demonstrate an even closer look and potential capture when using editing software.Camera: Canon 200D (mid range Amateur DSLR camera)Zoom - Please note that I'm using a Canon 200D which as far as I'm aware will boost the "zoom" effect by 1.6 (i.e its more like 88-400mm lens with this camera, I don't know the technicalities of this though as I'm quite new to photography)I went to the zoo a few days ago with the standard 18-55mm kit lens and while I managed to get some great up close and personal shots, unfortunately when the subject is a little further away, 55mm is just not quite enough. This is where I decided that my next lens has to have a bigger focal length. The 250mm gives FAR more zoom and lets you get in close and personal with what you're taking a photo of.Clarity - Absolutely fantastic. The images below are taken on a bright but semi cloudy day and I noticed no issues with the clarity or blurriness. The image stabilisation and auto zoom were doing really well even at 250mm and this would be even better once you get your hands on a tripod.Price to performance: I purchased it at £135. This is one of the cheapest branded lenses I have seen online and probably only beaten in price by the 50mm "nifty fifty" from both canon and Yongnuo. While it may not be the most important lens for some photographers, it'll give you unbelievable value (especially when you can get your hands on it at around £125. It seems to jump between £125-£155Get this lens for photography at distance of 1metre+ and for capturing photos of shy subjects (human or otherwise) from further away.Hope this review has been helpful for you.

I actually returned this lens as I got an offer I could not refuse on Canon's 70-200 f4L USM lens. However, I did have some time to try out the 55-250mm STM, so here are my impressions:Build quality is fairly good - All plastic including the mount, but feels solid enough. Perfectly good enough for it's intended market (although no match for the L lens).Handling is very good - The lens is light and the controls are quite smooth. IS is superb and easily worth 3 stops. If you shoot video, the STM focuses fast and silent.Zoom range is excellent - The lens equates to 88 - 400mm (full frame equivalent) which is a huge range. But here lies a problem - at the 250mm end, the lens is very difficult to hand hold even with IS - But certainly possible in good light.Image quality - No problems here! - This lens is VERY capable and image quality is right up there - Shoot at f8 and the results are excellent - You will not be disappointed.I have dropped a star only because the build quality does not match the optical performance, but for the price and Canon's intended audience, this is only a minor issue. I would wholly recommend this lens - I would have kept it if not for the 70-200mm coming along at the right time.