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

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-£155 Get 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.

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!

Image Quality: For the price, you honestly can't beat it as you can see with some of the images I've provided, its incredibly sharp and crisp. It works very well with sports and wildlife photography especially as I go to a lot of air shows but can't afford the big expensive lenses, this does the job perfectly for me and it'll no doubt be used for many years to come. Speed: The lens is very fast at auto-focusing on a subject although sometimes it has been temperamental and I've had to zoom out and then zoom back in on a subject for it to focus properly. It can take some time to focus on a small object, such as a bird in a hedge but with time it will eventually focus on the subject you want. But for larger objects such as jets, cars, large birds, people, it's simply flawless. This lens is incredibly light-weight so there is no need to worry about lugging around a heavy telephoto lens, and the fact that it's 55-250mm gives you a huge focal range to play with and is especially useful when doing portrait shots as you can go from 55mm to 85mm in an instant and lose no quality in image. Even at 250mm the lens doesn't suffer with poor quality and is crisp. I'd recommend this lens to anyone starting out with photography as a must have providing you're using a camera with an EF-S mount due to having a CMOS sensor as it won't fit an EF mount.

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.

About 5 years ago I bought the mk1 version of this lens and had dropped out of use dslr scene for a while and i got lazy and was using my smart phone. However on a recent holiday I took my kit with me and rediscovered my frustrations with the old lens which was that it looked soft and lacked contrast at the 250mm end. I started to research the problem and almost bought a mk1 100-400mm L lens but wasn't sure if I fancied carrying the weight of it around, although the kudos of a 'white' lens had its charms. I then discovered that my existing lens had been upgraded and opted for that instead and I have been very impressed as it's much better in every respect and images no longer look like they've been through the washing machine at the 250mm end. Also, the STM focus is almost instant and silent which doesn't actually matter to me but it adds a quality feel to the lens and it will help with my longer term plan of upgrading from my 40D body to 7D to enable me to silently shoot video. I am considering upgrading my 18-55mm to and STM version since the silent focusing is much faster and feels much nicer to use. The lure of the 100-400mm mk1 is still there as it would offer more reach but looking at the MTF figures for both lenses the probably isn't much if any advantage from a quality point of view. I don't know if the image stabilazation has been improved but it seems to be better than my older version and I have shot some fairly impressive shots in low light. Overall I think it's a bargain and much improved over thebmk1 version which is to be expect ended as it seems to have had a fairly extensive optical redesign. From what i read the 18-55mm hasn't received the same optical treatment.

Fantastic lens at an incredible price. Just love using this lens. Have read many reviews good and bad but I think it is fantasticly good value as i only paid £135 for it and hope to get a further £25 back from the canon summer deal. The quality of the image is brilliant and so sharp and he focus is so quick. Love this lens. I have since had a reply from Canon and they have said that this seller is not eligible for the £25 summer cash back offer so the offer on amazon was misleading although it was advertised as eligible when I ordered this product. This is truly mis selling and I am trying to find a way to contact Amazon to make my point but it seems impossible to find a way to contact them directly to discuss this mis selling. the product is as I said extremely good but I only bought from this seller as it was at the time the best deal and intimated that it was possible to obtain the £25 cashback deal from Canon which it is clearly not!! I have had no problem getting cash back through Jessops earlier in the year for another lens I purchased through them, I wish I had bought through them this time. I would like amazon to contact me to explain why they advertise these deals when they are untrue. I believe there is a seller at the moment selling the same lens but I am sure it will also fail to get cash back as they are outside the EU. Update following contact from Amazon representative. This has been resolved to my complete satisfaction and re-established my faith in amazon customer service, thankyou.

Came well packaged, without being overdone with reams of paper. Canon box came with everything in except a warranty card. registering it online with canon wasn't a problem as serial number is on the lens. The EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens features the AF & Stabalizer switches. They work brilliantly with the 100d, with quick sharp focus on photos & video works supprisingly well too. The lens is great for handheld close up shots of the moon, Sharp & crisp in complete darkness except for the moonlight. Fantastic results from zoom shots on close up subjects when you need the background nicely blurred while the subject is in pin sharp focus 25cm away from the lens, even in poor light there's very little graining from the photos taken using this lens. A bit of blue hint on sharp contrast of colours & edges noticed sometimes on some mid range zoom photography. Could possibly be the jpg format as not taken any raw files yet to check this out properly. Had no problems fitting the 58mm uv filter on & off when not needed. Noticed slight change of hues due to uv filter that enhanced & complemented the photos taken with this lens nicely. The EF-S 55-250mm IS STM lens complements the EFS 18-55mm IS STM lens that came with the 100d camera. Overall, great lens for a good price of £140.00 & is a great addition to any lens kit :)

Bought this to replace my old mark 1 ef-s 55-250 is. Its a massive improvement on what was a fairly decent lens to start with. The STM focus is silent and fast. The stabiliser is way better than the original as well. The correction data was easy to add using the EOS utility (having first signed up to the Image gateway system) and is effective in correcting the fall off at longer lengths and wider apertures. And it's a real bargain at its current price - be aware the price fluctuates for some reason, I found it cheapest at weekends and at night, so keep an eye out on price changes. I paid £185. My son has a 70-200 f4 and this lens is as good (in all practical terms - I don't pixel peep around the edges and corners!) and I think the IS outweighs the narrower aperture, making it a much more usable lens.The close MFD is great and is really useful for things like flowers, butterflies and dragonflies, etc. Well worth the upgrade for the price I paid.