Telephoto lens for Canon 500D

[maddy_in65]

I own canon 500D with kit lens and now looking for good budget telephoto lens. I searched a lot and found canon 50-250 having good review but 70-300 also come with same price. I confused now and want good lens as i will not purchase any lens after this. Please help me to choose which have good image quality. I will go for other brands like sigma, tamaron if they have good quality.

[ddr]

for the budget range, the 55-250 IS would have to be the best choice. the IS helps a lot at maximum focal length

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by ddr

for the budget range, the 55-250 IS would have to be the best choice. the IS helps a lot at maximum focal length

+1. Great addition.

[BCampbell]

As always I vote for the 70-200 f/4L (non IS). $600 and vastly superior optical quality over the other lenses you mentioned.

But it depends on what you plan on shooting, 200mm on a crop body is good for most applications, but if you want to do things like small wildlife you'll need more (actually lots more, more than 300mm even).

[OsmosisStudios]

The only real issue with the 70-200 f/4L is size/weight. Its a GREAT lens, at a great price ($640? sign me up!) but it's bigger and considerably heavier than the "consumer" offerings. I would also greatly recommend something stabilized for anything above 100mm. That almost doubles the price (just over $1200) and is 4 times what the 55-250 costs.

[BCampbell]

Yep, really dpeends on what it's used for, the IS can make or break depending.

[maddy_in65]

What is the difference between (Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS) and (Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III USM Autofocus Lens) in terms of image quality, reliability. I will get 6 month vendor warranty here instead of canon. Is there any problem if i go for vendor warranty.

Any other 3rd party lens option which will comparable with these. Please suggest.

[inkista]

You want great image quality, but no stabilization for about $600, then the EF 70-200 f/4L USM is the one you want (non-IS version). If you want very good image quality with stabilization for about $600, then the EF 70-300 IS USM is the one you want.

For el-cheapo ok image quality, then the EF-S 55-250 IS is the choice, but it doesn't have USM, so its autofocus performance is a little slower, and it's slow, so for fast action photography, particularly in low light, it's not a terrific choice.

The el-cheapo eh image quality lens is the EF 75-300 III. This lens is the most limited of all the choices, and the one thing it's great at is being cheap.

If you want eh-to-ok image quality for less than the EF-S 55-250 IS, then go for one of the Sigma 70-300 APO. However, if you go for the OS (stabilized) version, your pricetag is going to be close enough to the 70-300 IS USM, that I'd recommend that lens instead.

[maddy_in65]

After some reseach found SIGMA 70-300MM F4-5.6 DG MACRO LENS have some good review. Any user here how good is this lens. Is it comaparable to canon 55-250 IS.

[qualityresults]

I have the Sigma 70-300 and it is a half decent lens but I have now moved to the Tamron 18 - 270 VC which is a little more money but gives you an all in one lens with Vibration Control (similar to IS on canon lenses). for the price the SIgma will give you good quality but if you can wait and have the opportunity the Tamron has received rave reviews across the board.

The Tamron is the only lens I keep on my Camera except when doing specialty work, then I dig out my 50mm or my sigma 150-500 OS (for natural wildlife shots and sports). It will mainly depend on what plans you have and how soon you will move beyond the capabilities of the lens.

The macro on the Sigma works very well.

This was taken with the Sigma 70-300 in Macro