Lens Advice Please!

[Juan Grande]

Photography gurus,

I bought my wife a new Canon EOS Rebel XTI for Xmas and am looking to purchase a zoom lens for her birthday. She's an amateur photographer and I'm just looking for something that would allow her to zoom in on our daughter from a ways away.

I'm looking for a lens in the $200 price range. A buddy of mine recommended the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS telephoto lens which they have on Amazon for $265. It's more than I wanted to spend, but he thinks it would be wise to go with that one vs. the 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III or USM which are about $65-100 cheaper.

The camera is mostly used for family pics, outdoor shots, etc.

I'd really appreciate any input I can get.

Thanks!

[Dbl]

Juan, its always about the money isn't it? In this case I think your friend has the best recommendation. The 55-250 costing a bit more does give you the added benefit of IS. This could prove to be very useful for your stated uses of the lens.

Many folks like the sharpness, color and contrast this lens produces. I think it is a better lens than the 75-300 you mentioned. Good luck with your decision and hopefully we will see a few photos of whichever lens you buy.

[Steve Foss]

I agree with Dan and your buddy, Juan.

[polarsusd81]

Just like Steve and Dan, I will give a third thumbs up on the 55-250. I had the 75-300 and got rid of it after I picked up a 70-200 F4L. The big thing I didn't like about the lens was that without having perfect light, I got a lot of chromatic abberation (purple fringe) with the lens and it was quite bothersome. The IS of the 55-250 will help you in a lot of situations but it will eat more battery power than the non-IS lenses.

I got this piece of advice from a fellow who holds a big crappie in a red flannel shirt... check out the batteries from sterling tek. Do a google search and pick up a couple of those batteries for her too if you haven't already done so. They will last easily twice as long as the stock battery from Canon.

[Steve Foss]

I got this piece of advice from a fellow who holds a big crappie in a red flannel shirt...

C'mon, Tom, that crappie is NOT wearing a red flannel shirt.

I think my first set of SterlingTek batteries are three years old now and still hold a charge as well as they did when I bought them. Wish I could say the same about the Canon batteries.

Canon's ballpark number for IS using battery faster than non IS is about 30 percent faster, last I looked. That truly varies widely, depending on how long you leave IS engaged and such. And I'm the original boy scout with batteries and memory cards anyway. I have battery grips for all my bodies and several sets of replacement batteries. Sure is a good feeling knowing you're covered with spares. And now I don't even own an IS lens anymore!

Juan, my reading indicates the 55-250 is just an all-around better piece of glass than the 75-300, and in the end your wife will thank you for the better image quality and the IS. Check out Canoga Camera online to see if they've a better price than Amazon. I've done all my online business with Canoga for the last four years or so, and they are great.

[Juan Grande]

Thanks for the great info guys! Sounds like I better pony up for the 55-250.

I'll take some pics with the new lens and post them in this forum.

Thanks again!

[Steve Foss]

I'll take some pics with the new lens and post them in this forum.

Uh, I thought this lens was for your wife's camera! Is this the same type of deal where you want a new fishing rod so you buy it for your wife, who never really uses it? So Juanita Grande has no idea she already has a digital camera, not to mention a new lens coming?

[Juan Grande]

LOL, she uses it...trust me. I think we have about 4 million shots of my daughter on our computer.

The great thing about buying her the SLR was that our old camera (Canon Powershot A70) is now permanently housed in my tackle box

[Jim Almquist]

Quote:

I think we have about 4 million shots of my daughter on our computer.

Make sure to backup those photos to another hard drive or CD or DVD so you don,t lose them if the computer should crash.