Memory Shooter [Archive] - The-Digital-Picture.com Community

Maloyraju

02-21-2010, 03:45 AM

Daya

02-22-2010, 12:57 AM

Hi,

I am no pro but just my individual inputs

Many have created pictorial wonders with the kit lenses you have. As you shoot for memory i tend to think as below:

70-200 f/4 L will help you gain a lot in terms of image quality provided you have stable hands as you are planning to buy a non IS version. L series lenses have solid build quality and come with good weather sealing. Also, if you wait for sometime the prices may fall down as newer lenses with latest IS technology implementation are being released. Be ready to get bitten by the L bug; these glasses are pro grade & very tempting.

70-300 IS USM will help you increase your reach and with IS you wont have to bother much about blurry images. In case you dont have very stable hands and want sharp imagesgo for this one you will enjoy it equally. Also saves you some money; with which you could maybe buy a decent tripod. But then no weather sealing and not as high quality pro images as L series.

For comparison of images and more details you can go through Bryan's review of these 2 lenses. Also, compare the weight factor for both these lenses against the lenses you have. I think 70-300 gives you IS advantage and extra reach.

But if you opt for 70-200 f4 L with IS i would go for that one :)

Good luck,

Daya

Sheiky

02-22-2010, 04:51 PM

Hello

first of all, the 70-200 non IS isn't weathersealed! Be carefull it's only with the IS-versions.

Furthermore the choice of lens depends mostly on your needs. And of course what you think will improve.

Both lenses are probably better with IQ then your 55-250, but... maybe you don't even really notice that difference.

What is it excactly that you don't like about your lens or need to improve? Your picture will not get better with any of both lenses. The image-quality will probably. I must say the 70-200 f4 is a beast of a lens for such bargain, but you might miss the IS a lot. You need a bit of light when shooting at 200mm with 1/200 minimum speed and f4 minimum. At least if you don't want to pump up your iso.

I would recommend that you try and turn off the IS on your 55-250 and see if you like it and you could work with it. If so, definitely buy the 70-200! If not, take a closer look at the 70-300 and see if you think it would suit you more than your 55-250.

Also take a look at the review of the 55-250, there's at least one mouse over with all 3 lenses you mentioned.

Good luck picking!

Jan

Maloyraju

02-23-2010, 06:41 AM

neuroanatomist

02-23-2010, 07:56 AM

The three lenses you are talking about, in order of image quality - EF 70-200mm f/4L USM is better than EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM is quite a bit better than EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS.

Jan's suggestion to turn off IS on your 55-250mm lens is a great one - if you can live without the IS, the EF 70-200mm f/4L will give you the best image quality of the three. You won't miss the 55-70mm region, and in comparing the 70-200 with the 70-300, keep in mind that the optically worst region of the 70-300mm is the 200-300mm range.

Maloyraju

02-23-2010, 09:31 AM

barba

02-23-2010, 10:17 AM

The review of the 55-250 ef-s has a comparison shot between the three lenses you are talking about.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-55-250mm-f-4-5.6-IS-Lens-Review.aspx ("http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-55-250mm-f-4-5.6-IS-Lens-Review.aspx)

Maloyraju

02-23-2010, 10:46 AM

Fantastic. I would like to see some more like this.

Sheiky

02-24-2010, 10:32 AM

Thanks Maloy,

first of all, I never had the 70-300 nor the 55-250 so I can't really comment on the image quality. I have had the 70-200 f4 non-IS and I must say it delivers great quality! Really good colors, contrast and superb sharpness. In image-quality terms it will beat down the 55-250 and the 70-300 without a doubt, at least if conditions like lighting are great.

I do a lot of hiking myself and I just recently sold my 70-200. For me the lack of IS is a bit of a problem, also I didn't use it enough. Where I live, the Netherlands, you have quite grey and "dark" winters. There's not a lot of sun and light... When I walked early in the morning or later during the day, the lack of IS did make me a bit unhappy. You need at least 1/200 of a second to make sharp out of hand pictures. When there isn't a lot of light and your minimum aperture is only f4 you need to boost your ISO a lot. Which I really disliked on my 50D and I guess it's not much better on your 350D.

That's where the IS comes in. If you could make the same picture 2-3 stops slower and thus having the opportunity to also lessen your ISO 2-3 stops you could maybe get a nicer picture from an 55-250 than from a 70-200 L-lens (brutally said). At least if your camera's high iso capability isn't that great.

That's why I mentioned that you should try out to shoot some photos with your 55-250 with turning IS off and then figure out if you could live with it or not.

So my point: in good circumstances the 70-200 will win hands-down, but in other circumstances, mostly personal, you might not really get the results you hoped to get. Please try your lens out with IS-off and tell us what your findings are.

Jan

Maloyraju

02-25-2010, 02:03 AM

Thanks Sheiky

Yes. Tomorrow i will try some with 55-250. I would like to share the result of those photos. How can i upload the photographs?

Maloyraju

Sheiky

02-25-2010, 06:17 AM

No problem.

If you're typing your reply on this forum, you can click on the "moviewheel"icon 2 steps left of your emoticon icon. There it says insert media. Then click upload a file and upload your own file. Then select your file and insert it. Shouldn't be too hard.

Remember the maximum width of this forum is 800 pixels, so size your image down. If you want to show us full-sized images, you've got to find another way to upload your photos. Hope this helps enough.

Looking forward to your photos.

Jan

Maloyraju

02-26-2010, 11:23 AM

Here they are.Time:13:47/48pm [Canon 55-250 IS] Both the picture are crop.

Focal Length:250mm, Shutter speed 1/250

/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.28.73/IS-on.jpg

IS on

/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.28.73/IS-off.jpg

IS off

Now what? What to do?

Sheiky

02-27-2010, 06:50 AM

Now what? What to do?

Well I don't think you really got my point [:P] It's not a comparison. For me it was important that you knew how to work with a lens without IS. (the 70-200 f4L) Therefor it is important that you know how to handle a lens like that.

My point was that now you can take pictures at 200mm at about 1/30th 1/50th of a second and with the 70-200 you're bound to let's say a minimum of 1/200th to have a good keeper-rate. I wanted to know if you are happy with the results if you have to shoot at a minimum of 1/200th? In that case you have to push your iso a little and also have to be more steady than with a 55-250.

I hope it's getting clearer now? If you think you could live without IS, you should definitely consider buying the 70-200 f4L, because it will be worth it.

Thanks for taking time though.

Jan

scalesusa

03-02-2010, 05:17 PM

The 70-200 is a very nice lens, and very well built, I have one and love it. That said,what you get with it is the better sharpness at large apertures, and the excellent construction. As long as you are stopping the lens down to 5.6-8, there will not be much difference in the image quality. If you want to shoot at F4, then its a big improvement. All lenses look very sharp at F8.

Since you are shooting in daylight, it probably won't be a big difference in IQ, if any at all.

One thing you might want to experiment with is depth of field. Buy a cheap 50mm F 1.8 lens and start practicing with large apertures and shallow depth of field. This will isolate your subject from the background and create some very memorable images.

Sheiky

03-03-2010, 06:41 AM

All lenses look very sharp at F8.

Since you are shooting in daylight, it probably won't be a big difference in IQ, if any at all.

You should see this:http://www.The-Digital-Picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=104&Camera=452&Sample=0&FLI=3&API= 3&LensComp=456&CameraComp=452&SampleComp=0&FLIComp =5&APIComp=3 ("http://www.The-Digital-Picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=104&Camera=452&Sample=0&FLI=3&API= 3&LensComp=456&CameraComp=452&SampleComp=0&FLIComp =5&APIComp=3)

At f8 you could see a difference in sharpness, not even to speak of color and contrast, chromatic aberrations etc etc. The 70-200 is much more valuable. IfMaloyrajucould live with shooting without IS. The 70-200 will certainly make him very happy! Much more then his 55-250.

As long as you are stopping the lens down to 5.6-8, there will not be much difference in the image quality

Thus I strongly disagree with you on this one.

If you want to shoot at F4, then its a big improvement.

That's for sure. The 70-200 is very usable at f4, it really kicks ass.

My idea remains: if he could live without IS, he would definitely be very happy with all aspects of the 70-200 f4. One downside of the 70-200 is the white/grey color, which makes you less stealthy, that's the only downside I can think of. And it's a downside which is very personal and very easy to solve so....