The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens is a great starter lens for those with entry level DSLRs, or beginner photographers. It is the perfect lens to use when you are getting used to how your camera works and photography in general. The range on this lens makes it useful for many different situations, from portraits to landscapes! This review will discuss everything that you need to know about this camera lens before buying it, so keep reading!
The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens is a great starter lens for those with entry level DSLRs, or beginner photographers. It is the perfect lens to use when you are getting used to how your camera works and photography in general. The range on this lens makes it useful for many different situations, from portraits to landscapes! This review will discuss everything that you need to know about this camera lens before buying it, so keep reading!
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Overview
The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens is an entry level telephoto zoom. It offers a lot of versatility, in that it has the ability to take great close up detail shots or wide angle landscape photos. This camera lenses focal range starts at 55 mm and goes all the way out to 250mm which makes this lens very useful for sporting events as well! The aperture ranges from F/45 all the way down to F/36 so there are lots of different light options you can choose with this particular camera lens.
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Specifications
The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM was first announced on 08/22/2013 with a Canon EF-S mount type. Below is a summary of this len’s specifications:
Indicative Price: $350
Focal Range: 55-250mm
Aperture: F/ 4-5.6
Filter Diameter (millimeters): 58
Maximum Diameter (millimeters): 70
Number Of Lenses: 15
Length (millimeters): 111.2
AF Motor: STM
Stabilization: Yes
Zoom Type: Ring
Tripod Mount: None
Colors Available: Black
Full-Time Manual Focus: None
Weight (grams): 375
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Performance
The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens has a great optical performance, with only some slight edge softness when used at its 250 mm range. This camera lenses autofocus is very fast and responsive in all lighting conditions which makes it the perfect choice for trying to get that perfect shot of your kids playing sports or any other fast paced action! The images produced by this particular lens are sharp throughout most of the zoom range but there is also noticeable vignetting (darkening) around the edges when shooting wide open.
Build and Handling Quality
The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens is a little on the heavy side, weighing in at 375g and measures 111.22 mm x 83.52 mm (Diameter x Length). It has an Optical Image Stabilization function to correct small vibrations that can blur your photos without you even realizing it! All of these features make this camera lenses build quality great as well as its physical handling characteristics.
Autofocus Performance
The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens is a great camera lenses for taking close up detail shots. It has very responsive autofocus capabilities in all lighting conditions, so it’s perfect for capturing fast action scenes or if you are photographing kids playing sports! The image quality produced by this particular lens is excellent throughout the majority of its range but there is noticeable vignetting when shooting at full wide open aperture which makes your subject appear darker around the edges once they are captured on film (or digital sensor). This isn’t too much of an issue though because most photographers like to shoot with that effect anyways since it provides nice bokeh effects and draws more attention to your main subject.
Sharpness
This Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens has a sharpness level that is very good throughout most of its range. The autofocus in this camera lenses works quickly and accurately in all different lighting conditions, so it’s perfect for when you need to get the shot no matter what! This particular camera lenses optical performance is great from F/45 through to 250 mm with only slight edge softness at around 250 mm but overall image quality remains excellent. Vignetting levels are also low which makes images appear more natural looking when they are captured on film (or digital sensor).
Vignetting
Vignetting levels are low with this Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens which makes images appear more natural looking when they are captured on film (or digital sensor). This particular camera lenses optical performance is great from F/45 through to 250 mm with only slight edge softness at around 250 mm but overall image quality remains excellent. The autofocus in this camera lenses works quickly and accurately in all different lighting conditions, so it’s perfect for when you need to get the shot no matter what!
Chromatic Aberration
Unfortunately this Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens does suffer from chromatic aberration, which appears as colored fringing around high contrast edges in your images. This is quite noticeable throughout its entire zoom range but tends to be most prevalent at the longer end! It’s not uncommon for lenses to have some form of chromatic aberration though so it shouldn’t really affect too much unless you plan on making large prints and examining them closely under a magnifying glass (or loupe). You can easily remove any traces of CA by editing your RAW files with Adobe Camera Raw within Photoshop.
Distortion
Unfortunately this Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens does suffer from some noticeable barrel distortion at shorter focal lengths, but it is very easy to fix in post production. The amount of distortion that you will experience varies depending on the camera body that you are shooting with, so if your camera has a full frame sensor then expect more significant distortions throughout its entire zoom range!
Image Quality
Overall this Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens offers excellent image quality, sharpness levels are good throughout most of its range.
Bokeh
Bokeh is the term used to describe out of focus areas in your images and this Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens produces a very nice bokeh effect, especially between F/45 – 250 mm. Edge sharpness across its entire zoom range is good but there are slight softness issues at around 250 mm which may be caused by barrel distortion or spherical aberration.
How Does The Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Score?
Below are the metric scores we’ve graded for this camera lens:
- Performance and Image Quality: 8/10
- Features: 7/10
- Bokeh: 8/10
- Build Quality: 7.5/10
- AutoFocus Quality: 6.5/10
- Handling: 6.5/10
- Value: 7.5/10
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Pros and Cons
Below we’ll discuss the pros and cons for this specific camera lens:
Pros:
- Very nice bokeh effect, especially between F/45 – 250 mm.
- Edge sharpness throughout most of its range is good but there are slight softness issues at around 250 mm which may be caused by barrel distortion or spherical aberration.
Cons:
- Chromatic aberration, which appears as colored fringing around high contrast edges in your images.
- Some noticeable barrel distortion
Conclusion
So, should you buy the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/55-56 IS STM lens? The answer is absolutely! With its great image quality and fast autofocus capabilities this camera lens makes it easy to capture all of your favorite memories without any hassle or worry about focusing inaccuracies which can often lead to blurry images that are hard to salvage in post processing. This review has covered everything you need to know before buying this particular camera lens so now go out there and start taking some amazing photos with the Canon 55-250 mm IS STM telephoto zoom lens!
