Canon 55-250mm IS vs Canon 70-300mm IS USM

[Friso]

You always put the hood on? (here comes a stupid question [:$]) You put it also on at night and in the evening?

[neuroanatomist]

You always put the hood on?You put it also on at night and in the evening?

I can't speak for Jan, but I do. True - at night and in the evening, the chances of flare affecting a shot are much less. But, in dim light the chances that I'll accidentally whack the lens against some solid object are no less than in bright light, and may even be greater. Keep in mind, the hood protects the image from stray light, but also serves a protective function for the lens. (I use UV filters on all my lenses, too - but B+W MRC UV filters aren't cheap, so the protection resulting from having the hood in place is still quite relevant.)


--John

[Sheiky]

You always put the hood on?You put it also on at night and in the evening?

I can't speak for Jan, but I do. True - at night and in the evening, the chances of flare affecting a shot are much less. But, in dim light the chances that I'll accidentally whack the lens against some solid object are no less than in bright light, and may even be greater. Keep in mind, the hood protects the image from stray light, but also serves a protective function for the lens. (I use UV filters on all my lenses, too - but B+W MRC UV filters aren't cheap, so the protection resulting from having the hood in place is still quite relevant.)


--John

All of that and...


Yes I do always put the lens hood on. Don't be fooled by the Dutch word for it. Zonnekap=Solarhood is good, however it's not just the sun that it blocks, so I prefer the English name: lens hood.


It has multiple uses:


As John mentioned it protects your lens in a way from bumping into items, flying debris etc etc


It protects your mages from light falling directly into it, mostly seen as flare. However such light(can also be streetlights at night, lamps in your room etc) will also have a negative effect in the entire photo. While not that obvious at all times it can decrease your contrast and colors for that matter. So yes, put the lens hood on whenever, wherever. It's not that much extra work and if you get used to it, it becomes automatic handling. At least I think so.


There can be circumstances where you don't attach the lens hood: using in-camera flash (or you must like the hard shadow which the hood provides) and in my case with macro-photography where there is little space in front of the lens and the chances that you overshadow or bump into your subject are pretty great. Also with a ring flash you are unable to use a lenshood in the normal way, but that's really specific.


Hope this helped,


Jan

[Pieter]

hi Friso,


I''ve used the 55-250 IS for over a year on a rebel xs/1000D, and I'm pretty happy with it. Off course, especially at the long end it isn't really sharp and focus in dim light is a hell. I'm saving at the moment to buy a 70-200 f/4 IS, because that is clearly a better lens, but for the 1000€ that it will cost you can also buy: the 55-250+speedlite+tripod+ballhead+filters, or anything else. Also, for me the 55-250 is nice because it fits in the canon camerabag that came with the camera. And it fits tightly, so I guess the 70-300 might not fit, that's at least one thing tokeep in mind.