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Gail's Blog
Using the 55-250mm IS
AV mode and image sharpness
The Canon 55-250mm lens gives me sharp images with good contrast and beautiful color. But sharpness with any interchangeable lens is not a given...sometimes you just have to work at it.
Image sharpness improved since switching to aperture priority mode. I use smaller apertures when needed that give deeper depth of field, resulting in sharper images. For sharpest images, the "sweet spot" for this lens seems to be between F8 and F11, though it varies with focal length and distance the lens is from a subject.
Lens fastness
The Canon 55-250mm is not considered a fast lens. Not suprisingly, it does best in good light. However, with image stabilization enabled and raising the ISO, you can get some very good hand held low light shots. With my Canon XSi, I have no hesitation bumping the ISO up to 800, even 1600 if I must. To say on the safe side, I shoot RAW, or RAW + JPEG.
Lens flare
The lens exhibited flare in some photos I took of a sunset. I didn't use a lens hood, though it probably wouldn't have helped since the lens was pointed very close to the setting sun. Moving the lens slightly eliminated the flare.
I don't consider this a major problem since lens costing hundreds of dollars more can also be susceptible to flare. A lens hood helps!
Related reading: Composing and Focusing with a DSLR
Visit my online photo gallery for images taken with the Canon 55-250mm IS and kit lenses.
