EF-s 55-250 ƒ4-5.6 IS Lens Thread

[ctwentytwo]

Just got this lens today, along with some other general crap I needed for gear.

For beginners, this lens is a steal at $299. Took some quick test shots, and looking at the results, I am pleased with it's sharpness. In fact, I'm shocked. I'm by far not the steadiest of hand, and the out of focus areas are not nervous looking. Is this because of it's circular aperture blades? I don't know, but I can't wait to shoot the car, along with some street photography with this. I'll be posting some tripod mounted newspaper shots at different focal lengths later, just to see how sharp it is corner to corner.

The following pic was shot handheld, IS on, wide open aperture at ƒ5.6, fully zoomed at 250mm, and a shutter speed of 1/125. Camera Picture style settings: Neutral (contrast: 0, tone: 0, saturation: 0, sharpness: 0). Adjustments to sharpness made on Canon's DPP software, which pretty much is what you'll have if you adjusted sharpness in camera.


Resized with DPP. Settings on camera: Neutral on picture styles (every on picture style setting on "0").


100% crop with DPP. Settings on camera: Neutral on picture styles (every on picture style setting on "0").


100% crop with DPP. Settings on camera: Neutral on picture styles (every on picture style setting on "0" but sharpness set to 5).


100% crop with DPP. Settings on camera: Neutral on picture styles (every on picture style setting on "0" but sharpness set to 10 [max]).

[noodleman]

IS is ftw.

[ctwentytwo]

All the following samples were shot in RAW and converted with DPP. All these shots could have come off the camera as only minimal adjustments were done. No cropping in any of these. All shots were handheld!!! I posted these sample to give an idea of what's coming from the lens, and less from Post Processing.

This lens is amazing. I have the EFS 60mm macro, which is said to be one of the sharpest in Canon's line-up including L lenses, and this seems to come close to it in terms of sharpness. This sucker is sharp, even wide open. The out-of-focus blur (shallow depth of field [DOF]) is awesome, not nervous looking even with IS on. The 250mm focal length allows for a shallow DOF, and also pulls the background in, and pushes the foreground back. I'll be posting photoshop processed pics later.

[bhendjol]

nice pics!

[turtle503]

what process do you use to watermark your photos??

[ctwentytwo]

Originally Posted by turtle503

what process do you use to watermark your photos??

iWatermark

http://www.scriptsoftware.com/iwatermark/

You can just use fonts on your computer, or you may want to make it like mine by adding a pic. Use Photoshop to make the graphic you want, make a mask, and save it as a PNG file.

[turtle503]

thanks alot...i was going to use photoshop batching but it was too slow and not as easy as this.. plus when you have pictures of different sizes and vertical pics the watermark is placed in odd positions and sizes... thanks again!

[iStan]

I like the lens so far as well. I suck at panning.

[ctwentytwo]

... I'll be getting more samples other than my car later.

[ctwentytwo]

Been reading Light, Science & Magic. If you're in you baby steps in photography, you must read this book before you take another picture!

Shot with a single backlight (cause that's all I had). Tried the 430ex & 580ex II on either side of them also, but they did not come out too well. I'll need to practice with the angles more before using strobes on this tricky shaped bottle.

I've got more ideas on how to light this guy once I buy more cheap lights. Damn, just when you think you got everything you want, there's these things called monolights and booms ...

Obviously, taken with the 55-250.

[ctwentytwo]

[ahero4eternity]

never get tired of looking at your work/car.

[erickim080387]

Originally Posted by ahero4eternity

never get tired of looking at your work/car.

+1.. i think hes my fave photographer on this forum!

[ctwentytwo]

Thanks guys. Really though, my work is good, but not great. I still have a lot to learn about composition and light.

Who doesn't like looking at a good shot right? People just need to stop thinking they are "picture whoring" and just share.

And there are so many great pros here that could share so much of their knowledge, but don't.

[erickim080387]

^lol are u serious? the shots of the nautica cologne bottle looks like a shot from a magazine!

[erickim080387]

Originally Posted by ctwentytwo

hows this?
taken with D40 and kit lens.

[erickim080387]

your colors look more... rich? basically, my shot looks like a regular crt tv, and your shot looks like an HDTV.. my white balance was set to the white photo.

[ctwentytwo]

Originally Posted by erickim080387

your colors look more... rich? basically, my shot looks like a regular crt tv, and your shot looks like an HDTV.. my white balance was set to the white photo.

Those images were not adjusted or processed in any way except for the resize... but....

Are you shooting in RAW? If not, start to do so. It lets you adjust the shot with "out of the camera" results. If you can, upload the full high res shot somewhere, and I can show you what good post processing can do. Almost every great image you see on the 'net is post processed. You can save alot of bad shots.

Or, go into the settings of the camera and boost saturation settings. The picture you posted is suffering from either a shaky hand, or bad focusing of the lens, or user error . In that shot, I would focus on what you want to emphasize... either the "Z" emblem on the steering wheel, or the guages. Set your focus point on the camera to the center only. Point the camera on the part you want in focus, then recompose the shot. The contrast is also bad. Why? There is no true black (darkest black) anywhere in the image. Most image editors let you click "auto contrast" which simplifies contrast adjustment to a single click, if you feel uncomfortable using the image editing program.

Damn, you motivated me to retake that shot! Here's a pic with simple saturation, white balance, contrast, and highlights and shadows adjusted. Also notice how the long 250mm focal length brings the gauges closer to the wheel compared to a shorter focal length like the 55mm you used. In the end though, it's up to you what focal length you choose.


Also, most importantly, calibrate your monitor...

Read this thread if you haven't:

...nevermind... see you already have... but calibrate if you haven't already!

... and more shots from this lens.


Faking the macro look with wide open aperture (ƒ/5.6) at max focal length (250mm).


A 30sec shot without the LCD screen and gauge lights blown! I only had the lights and screen on about 3 seconds.




This shot had the knob painted by a LED flashlight as environmental lighting (sun) disappeared almost fully. I thought it would look good with the "snoot" effect of the flashlight.

[GiftOfGab]

i want that shift knob...how much was it? is that black plastic piece at the base of the knob custom?

[ctwentytwo]

Originally Posted by GiftOfGab

i want that shift knob...how much was it? is that black plastic piece at the base of the knob custom?

The nismo Ti GT is not cheap $140 and change.

Yes it's custom... I basically used the toilet ballcock washer and grinded it down by mounting it on a drill. I also used a sprinkler tube for the extension. Yeah, it fits my hand perfectly.

I'll post an FAQ soon.