70/300mm Buying Advice, Best Buy with 300/400$ budget

<p>For Canon, What will be the BEST BUY when shopping for 70/300mm zoom or any other zoom in that range.</p>

<p>I have a budget of 300/400$</p>

<p>Where can I see reviews and test?</p>

<p>Thank you for your help and support</p>

<p>For reviews, see <a href="http://www.photozone.de/all-tests">Photozone.de</a>. I have found them consistent and reliable. Like most other reviews, you have to recognize that they typically only test one lens, and there is some sample variation in this class of products.<br /> For your budget, there is not a huge range of choices, and I'd remind you that even the worst 70/300 sort of lenses out there nowadays are hugely better than what used to be "just fine".</p>

<p>You may want to consider used lenses or refurbished ones. These can be bought from outfits like KEH, B&H, and Adorama, to mention three fine retailers. They will have short warranties from the seller, unlike eBay as a rule (although sometimes brick-and-mortar retailers do sell on eBay these days).</p>

<p>For an APS-C camera, you may want to look at the EF-S 55-255mm IS lens. It's a heck of a bargain and will remain a lightweight travel lens for you even if you later decide to 'upgrade'.</p>

<p>Canon 55-250/4-5.6 IS is a bargain at under $300.</p>

<p>Tamron 70-300/4-5.6 VC comes in at $449, but there's a $50 mail-in rebate right now. That puts it at $399, just under the wire.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Yes, it's 55-250, not 255, we're talking about the same critter here. Mea culpa.</p>

Bob Atkins (Photo.net moderator) has a review of the Tamron 70-300 and compares it to the performance of the Canon 70-300 .

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/tamron_70-300_vc_review.html

 

While either lens may still be out of your price range, I would also recommend the 55-250IS, which looks like a good alternative.

<p>I've had the Tamron 70-300mm VC for about eight months now, and I've been very pleased with it. I think it's a steal at $400 (with the rebate) and meets your "best buy" criteria. </p>

<p>If you are patient and could extend your budget by another $100 you could likely find a used Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L.</p>

<p>A bargain lens these days that fits your budget is a used Canon EF 100-300mm f5.6 L. I have no experience with this lens but I suspect image quality would be superior to all the zooms in this range except the new expensive 70-300 IS L. The reason the 100-300/5.6 L is so cheap is because it has the older slower focus and because Canon blew them out at half price at the end of their production run several years ago.</p>

<p>I've been using the Tamron SP 70-300 VC since May. I would buy it again for 400.00 if something happened to this one.</p><div></div>

<p>I would also consider purchasing Sigma 70-300 APO Macro. I've been using this lens for 5 years and so far it works perfectly well.<br>

Advantages:<br>

- low price,<br>

- very good quality between 70 and 200 mm, acceptable at long end,<br>

- useful macro capabilities 1:2<br>

Disadvantages:<br>

- no stabilization, but you didn't mention this feature as important requirement... :-)</p><div></div>

<p>And the same lens in macro mode.</p><div></div>

<p>I agree with JDM and others above who cite the</p>

<p>Canon 55-250 IS - best value for APS-C sensor size cameras<br /> Tamron 70-300 f4-5.6 VC<strong><em> or </em></strong>Canon 70-300 IS f4-5.6 - for full frame cameras</p>

<p>I have the Canon 70-300 f4-5.6 and can testify to its very good performance. It is a little down from the 70-200 f4 L mentioned by John Crowe. This is indeed a really excellent lens but for travel I found it a little too big and has no IS.</p>

<p>I would dismiss any lens without image stabilisation as they get too many failed shots at the long end in normal use.</p>

<p>Another vote for the Sigma 70=300 APO. Picked mine up used from KEH for less than 100 bucks in bargain condition. I agree word for word with what Jack says.....plus I like the light weight of this lens and relatively small size when collapsed. I really debated on what to do when researching this lens, but for the money I think it performs very well.</p>