Buying new lens for general purpose photography

[amro.amrawy]

Hey Guys how u doin

[Kayaker72]

Welcome to the forum Amro......a first quick question that I think will help a lot of people answer your question. What would you like to use this lens for?


The 55-250 is more of a telephoto lens. Is that what you are looking for?

[Rocco]

What he said. What type of pictures do you take most often? I use my 17-55mm f/2.8 for general photography.

[Rocco]

Amro,


You may find Bryan

[neuroanatomist]

.. i wanted to know if the 55-250mm IS is recommended for me or not ?? or to wait for the 55-250 IS II ?

As stated, if you need a telephoto zoom lens and have a limited budget, it's a good choice. If you do decide the lens is for you, don't wait for the MkII - the only differences are cosmetic (they altered it to save a little bit on production costs, which with the large numbers of that popular lens that Canon sells means significant profit). Optically, the original and MkII are identical.

[ham]

If you just want to upgrade your currently lens, the general consensus is either the 17-55mm f/2.8 or the 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6


It seems the former just just just edges on image quality, and is a decent bit quicker, but the latter is a bit cheaper, a bit smaller and with more focal length range.


I

[erno james]

i suggest a "fast 50." the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM makes wonderful photos from f/2 and up; i haven

[amro.amrawy]

I like to photograph everything ... starting from landscapes & architecture to the sports , nature , portraits and products .... simply EVERYTHING ... so i needed a lens that focuses quickly, can help me in taking stunning portraits with a gr8 DOP, a lens that helps me to focus well on moving subjects for sports and wildlife , i need a lens that i can use everyday in everything ... so what do u recommend for me ??


i

[thekingb]

landscapes & architecture to the sports , nature , portraits and products .... simply EVERYTHING ... so i needed a lens that focuses quickly, can help me in taking stunning portraits with a gr8 DOP, a lens that helps me to focus well on moving subjects for sports and wildlife , i need a lens that i can use everyday in everything

Landscapes and especially architecture generally require a wide angle of view; portraits a medium telephoto; and nature a long telephoto. So the bad news is that even with an unlimited budget, the only lenses that could even approach your criteria are the mega zooms like the Tamron 18-270 ($650 on Amazon) or Canon's 28-300 ($2600 and very heavy). Even Canon's mediocre 18-200mm lens is almost $600. The general rule is that the larger the zoom range, the more you compromise in image quality.


So I think you have 3 options:

1. spend some $ and buy one of the "compromise" one size fits all lenses (compromise doesn't mean poor, BTW; there are people who mount the Tamron 18-270 and never look back)
2. spend some $ and buy a higher image quality lens with a more limited range such as the EF 70-200 f/4 (non-IS version at $700) or the EF 70-300 IS ($500)
3. limit your budget to $120-$300 and get either the EF 50 f/1.8 or the 55-250 that you mentioned. The 50 f/1.8 will produce better image quality and will open up the whole world of low light photography without a flash, but of course it doesn't zoom; the 55-250 will get you a nice zoom range and decent image quality.

Good luck!