Recommendations for an inexpensive telephoto

<p>Hey all,<br>

Just looking for your recommendations... I have a 5d3 with a Canon 70-200 2.8 IS2 I use as my primary sports rig, and recently my girlfriend has expressed interest in learning. I have a T1i for a backup wit the kit 18-55 EF-S lens (it was my first DSLR), so I will let her use that to learn on, but I need to add another telephoto lens. I want to stay under $200. (Obviously I'm not opposed to buying good gear, I just can't justify anything pricier.)</p>

<p>I do think I want to stay with an EF series lens, that way I can use it on my 5d3 if for some reason my good lens (god forbid) has to go to the shop, so that rules out the first thought - the 55-250 IS (which is an EF-S). </p>

<p>Under consideration was the Canon 75-300 III USM lens (I know it gets shabby reviews but I can get one refurb for $120).<br>

My other thought was the Sigma 70-300 for about $160, but it's not HSM.</p>

<p>I know the quality of the pictures will not be anything comparable to what I'm used to, but again, this is just so my girlfriend can get started. Based on that, should I maybe look at the 55-250 EF-S and not worry even try to use something this cheap as a backup for my 5d3?</p>

<p>I would say yes, just get a 55-250 EF-S and accept that you can't use it on the 5D3. It's an excellent lens for the money. The IS helps a lot with telephoto shooting.</p>

<p>The Tamron 70-300mm with VC (Tamron's version of IS) gets very good reviews and is relatively inexpensive at $450 at the NY stores BH and Adorama. It will work great on the 5D III. Good luck!</p>

<p>There's nothing under $200 worth buying new. I'd second a recommendation for the Tamron 70-300 VC. It's your best bet for a relatively inexpensive yet good quality EF telephoto lens.</p>

<p>The EF-S 55-250 is OK. I've seen the original version (not the latest STM version) selling for around $150. It's your best bet under $200, but not equal to the Tamron and not usable on your 5D3.</p>

<p>I'm with Alan. Get the EF-S 55-250mm and accept it as being a marvelously light combo with the T1i.</p>

 

Canon 55-250mm.

I had a 75-300 USM and did a series of real world tests with it. It wasn't at all sharp at the 300 end, and had poor contrast

throughout. I sold it for a song.

 

I'd forget about it, and either buy a better lens with IS, or wait till I could afford one. A good lens will last much longer than

your girlfriend's body!

<blockquote>

<p>I know the quality of the pictures will not be anything comparable to what I'm used to, but again, this is just so my girlfriend can get started. Based on that, should I maybe look at the 55-250 EF-S and not worry even try to use something this cheap as a backup for my 5d3?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I agree with just buying the EF-S 55 to 250 for the one purpose of learning and experiencing Photography. I had a Student who used a 450D; 18 to 55; 55 to 250 and a 35/2 who aced her two major work practical examinations: used that rig as a shooter for some jobs with me (and with good results); and has shoot some of her own pro jobs with that kit (also with good results).</p>

<p>Sure the 55 to 250 lens has limitations: but those three lenses make a set of inexpensive and practical lenses for learning and using with an APS-C camera.</p>

<p>***</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I have a 5d3 with a Canon 70-200 2.8 IS2 I use as my primary sports rig . . . [this second telephoto lens that I intend to buy] I can use it on my 5d3 if for some reason my good lens (god forbid) has to go to the shop.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>I don’t necessarily equate “Lens Redundancy” (aka “back up lenses”) with having them be the SAME type of lenses – buying a back up lens should not just be investing money solely for the purpose of back-up (as you have demonstrated in your question), but I think that for <strong><em>your</em></strong> purposes and tasks thinking about backing up your 70 to 200 with a couple of primes that might be otherwise useful to you (or your girlfriend) might be a better idea. </p>

<p>If you want quality but inexpensive Lens Redundancy (for your 70 to 200/2.8) for shooting sporting gigs and you have a back up APS-C Body and a 5D Series as you main shooting camera, then I’d advise considering an EF100F/2 and a EF50F/1.8MkII and drop the 100mm on the APS-C (160mm equivalent FoV) and the 50mm on the 5DSeries and simply use two cameras.</p>

<p>If you need a longer end to end FL compass, using two primes, then using an 85/1.8 on the 5D Series and a 135/2L on the APS-C would be very nice, but do not dismiss the 135F/2.8SF as an option, (depending upon the speed of AF that is required), but the 135F/2.8SF is not really all that slow AF. Or a 50mm and 135mm Prime-pair, would also work on a two camera rig. There are quite a few possibilities matching up very sharp, yet inexpensive and fast Prime Lenses, if you have two cameras to use. <br /> <br>

WW</p>

 

Did I miss it, or has nobody said that Canon sells two OPTICALLY-different 55-250 lenses? I am pretty sure the new STM

version is optically more complicated and reportedly better. I don't know how likely you are to find a used STM version for

your budget; it's a fairly new model. That said, my dad has the original 55-250, I've used it a couple of times, and it seems

like a very good lens for the price. I have the Tamron SP 70-300 USD, and like it a lot, but the rebate appears to have

ended, so those are now $450 new.

<p>If money is the very most important criterion, and you MUST have EF compatibility, you can get the original EF 75-300mm IS--that's right, the very first IS lens--for practically nothing. People scorn it, but it's better than its reputation and with IS, it's better than the non-IS versions.</p><div></div>

<p>You've got a great lens and body, so why screw around with inferior lenses? The EF 1.4x and 2.0x TC-IIIs are both excellent with that lens/body combination. Yes, they're $420 each, street price, but you'll be using them long after your 5D3 is retired.</p>

<p>Worst case, buy a used EF 1.4x TC-II until you can afford to get the III-series, then buy the 2.0x and later back fill later with the 1.4x TC-III. The 1.4x II and III have very similar IQ and either will be fast with your f/2.8 lens. OTOH, the 2.0x TC-II is not as sharp as the III-series, so I think that you should stay away from that until you can afford the III.</p>

<p>Here's the EF 2.0x TC-III on my EF 500mm f/4L IS. You can expect comparable results, just lesser focal length:</p>

<p><a title="Swainson's Hawk by dcstep, on Flickr" href=" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3896/15035836166_e034c3d862_c.jpg" alt="Swainson's Hawk" width="800" height="534" /></a></p>

<p>Once you've experienced lenses from the very top of the stack, I don't think you'll be happy with a compromise. You'll see it immediately.</p>

<p>Nice brick walls JDM !</p>

<p>Thanks, Wayne.</p>

<p>As I've noted before, no brick walls were harmed in the process of making those images.</p>

<p>Nor have the bricks been modified with Adobe, except to put in the numbers. ;)</p>

<p>BTW JDM, is that lens one of the ones that Canon provides Digital Lens Optimization for, or is just the newer generations?</p>

<p>Somebody, I wouldn't know who, might have put it into a file for Adobe ACR, but it's probably too old for 'automatic' correction files from Canon anyhow. Honestly I haven't tried to find any. I used it for a long time, happily enough; just pleased to have its IS feature.<br>

It's actually easy enough to correct it using the 'manual' lens correction tools in ACR.</p>

<p>If DLO is available for it, the the problems with those bricks would go away automatically.</p>

<p>I keep mentioning DLO because so few photographers seem unaware of its ready availability for many camera/lens combinations.</p>

<p>"I keep mentioning DLO because so few photographers seem unaware "<br>

<br>

Count me as one of those. What is DLO?</p>

<p>DLO is Digital Lens Optimization, which corrects for geometric distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberration, softness, etc. with a specific body/lens combination at every focal length and aperture combination automatically.</p>

<p>DxO pioneered DLO a few years back, then Adobe added it to Lightroom and, more recently, Canon finally added it to Digital Photo Professional. Canon only provides DLO of Canon lenses and Canon bodies, but the others allow for many more combinations.</p>

<p>Here's a very extreme example, with a 15mm fish-eye as taken and after correction:</p>

<p><a title="Fisheye Shot by David Stephens, on Flickr" href=" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3734/9375672044_acf8c8625e_z.jpg" alt="Fisheye Shot" width="640" height="427" /></a> <a title="De-fished Image by David Stephens, on Flickr" href=" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5524/9375674332_7590d25ece_z.jpg" alt="De-fished Image" width="640" height="427" /></a></p>

<p>DLO is obviously something to consider for lenses like ultra-wides, but wide to medium zooms or even medium to long zooms like the 70-300mm benefit. The only problem is that not every body/lens combination is covered. Older lenses, in particular, are likely not to be covered. JDM's brick shots would square up in a flash and it's all done automatically in Raw conversion. (It'll work on JPEGs, but for things like CA, Sharpness, etc. it's best done early in the process. Geometric corrections are not so critical).</p>

<blockquote>

<p>the problems with those bricks</p>

</blockquote>

<p>What "problems"? ;)<br>

If you can't stand a little distortion, you'll have to spend big bucks on lenses, or buy DxO in some costly version.</p>

<p>Adobe Camera Raw does it just fine, in the cases (like the bricks) where it shows.</p>

<p>Breaking News! This group has just wholeheartedly endorsed JDM von Weinberg's observations.</p>

<p>http://www.bacweb.org/</p>

<p>JDM said:</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>What "problems"? ;)<br /> If you can't stand a little distortion, you'll have to spend big bucks on lenses, or buy DxO in some costly version.<br>

Adobe Camera Raw does it just fine, in the cases (like the bricks) where it shows.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I see the Smiley, so I'm hoping we're still friends. ;-)</p>

<p>I bought DxO years ago for this capacity and some other things it does well. Anyone that buys a Canon DSLR gets Digital Photo Professional for free and it includes DLO. As an add-on for Lightroom, I think that DLO is free, but I don't know.<br /><br /><br /><br>

JDM intentionally left the bricks distorted in his post above, so you can see the excellent performance of the lens, before correction. I'm adding the DLO comment for those not aware that it's available for many lens/body combinations and will all but eliminate that geometric distortion automatically.</p>

<p>Haha hey all sorry it's been a crazy weekend. I appreciate all the feedback; I went with the older 55-250 ISII lens for her to learn on... found it for $115 in near perfect condition.</p>

<p>WW, I like your thought process - that's the exact perspective I needed. I used to have that lens before I got robbed so I know what I'm dealing with and at that price don't think I could have gone wrong.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice everyone!</p>

<p>Like everyone else, when you said "under $200," my first thought was the EF-S 55-250 IS II.</p>

<p>Then you said that it had to be EF.</p>

<p>The only EF lens I can think of that you MIGHT be able to find under $200 on the second-hand market would be the EF CANON 28-135MM F/3.5-5.6 IS MACRO USM. I never tried it on the 5D II (when I had camera), but it worked like a charm on the T2i.</p>

<p><strong><a href="/photo/15764292&size=lg"><em>THIS</em> </a></strong>was shot under horrific noonday conditions, but look at the corners. (Scroll down the comments to see an inline 100% crop near the right bottom corner.) <em>[stopped down to f/8]</em></p>

<p><a href="/photo/15875394&size=md"><em><strong>THIS</strong> </em></a>was shot hand-held after sunset from a moving car on Interstate 85 southwest of Charlotte. <em>[shot wide open at f/3.5]</em></p>

<p>There just isn't anything brand new in EF under $200--NOTHING.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

<p>[[There just isn't anything brand new in EF under $200--NOTHING.]]<br /> <br /> Of course there is, including a couple telephoto zoom lenses. B&H sells 8 unique items (10 total including grey market) for under $200. EF (not EF-S) mount, all brand new.<br>

<br /> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Lens+Format+Coverage_Full+Frame+Lenses&mnp=0&ci=274&N=4288584247+4108103567+4108103537&mxp=201</p>