Comment on Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Image Stabilizer Telephoto Zoom Lens – Grey Market non US Product by Stephen M. Lerch.
Great piece of kit for the price,
When looking at lenses, generally you know what type of photography you are hoping to do. This one is great for wild life photography.
There are some caveats. The biggest issue I have is with the speed of the auto focus. Yes, auto focus is built in and it works well, however it can seem to be glacial when trying to snap photographs of animals (or anything) in motion. Slow auto focus generally won’t be an issue with macro photography (assuming you aren’t photographing insects and such). I have missed shots and when I think I may want faster focus I put it on manual and adjust out to a specific distance and try to ensure what I am photographing is always that distance. Of course, this isn’t perfect either as I’ve gotten blurred subjects due to an incorrect focus plane.
Image stabilization is tremendous. It works rather well and as others have stated, it enables you to take a photograph a few f-stops lower than usual as it will accurately compensate for vibration.
One issue professionals may not approve of is the use of plastic housings. For normal, non-professional (and even some professionals), the plastic housing will be fine and you won’t notice a difference. For the photo-pro though, metal is obviously more sturdy and hardy, allowing for some bumps and bruises along the way while it travels in your kit bag. Plastic also makes the lens lighter.
The only other problem I have, and it’s only a problem when I forget proper flashes, is that the aperture is designed more for outdoor photography in decent to great lighting conditions. I’ve missed shots indoors (yeah, I’ve used it indoors) because of this.
Of course, if you’re looking for a lens that doesn’t have any of these issues, double or triple the amount of money you are willing to spend on a lens, as fast focusing lenses with better apertures will cost you.
Over all though, this is a great piece of kit, especially at this price. I bought mine elsewhere and bought it as a Canon refurb, but it was well worth what I paid and would be well worth Amazon’s asking price. No question about it.
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