Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM OR Sigma 70-300mm F/4-5.6 DG OS SLD

[santosh86]

Hey guys!
After a lot of research and thought, I need to decide between the above 2 Lenses for my EOS 450D. Please help me on which one should I go for. (only among the 2). It would be better if the emphasis is more on the "quality" rather than the price. (I am alright with the price of both).
I hope this is the correct section.

 

[Brendon]

IMO you should disregard the Sigma. I have heard only bad things about Sigma's quality control and the lens is not too sharp.

Here are two similar tests (Tamron 70-300mm and Sigma 70-300mm OS)

- Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro Interchangeable Lens Review

- Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG OS Interchangeable Lens Review

You can see that the Tamron is sharper and cheaper. So why pay more for the Sigma ?

The Canon 70-300mm IS lens is a good lens but for the 27 - 30k that it retails for I would choose the Canon 70-200mm f4 L lens instead for about 35k for the better build quality and better control of DOF.

 

[sumchamp]

You can also consider Sigma APO DG macro lens which is sharper than its non APO counterpart and it retails for 11k. But I would advise getting Canon 55-250 IS lens if you are on budget(which is not the the case ). Hence as suggested by my friend Brendon , 70-200 f/4 L lens is what you need.

 

[santosh86]

I was thinking about about the 70-200mm too, but then realised that I wanted more zooming power. Do you think there is much of a difference between 200mm and 300mm?
I was also thinking about buying the Canon EF-S55-250mm but heard it had that it has cheap build and image quality. I am only willing to spend more if if the quality difference is lot.:S

P.S: Also, does IS make a huge difference??
If I go for 70-200mm canon, then am confused between normal 70-200mm and 70-200mm f/4 L IS.

 

[-D.Payne-]

1. IS makes a massive difference to anything above 150mm, but in daylight you should be able to get away with all shots above 1/200s.

2. Yes, there's a noticeable difference between 200 and 300mm especially if you're shooting wildlife or being voyeur at beaches
Simply put, 300/200 = 1.5 crop. Which means a 200mm shot cropped to 300mm equiv on your 12MP 450D sensor would be only 5 megapixels!

3. The 55-250 is a great budget lens, but yes it is plastic. But are you going to be hugging it while going to sleep and wanting to feel some nice cold metal against you?

4. Most budget to medium price telephotos lenses are soft above 200mm. The ones which are truly sharp are truly expensive as well (100-400 L etc). That said the Canon 70-300 seems to be a good choice in that range.

5. As always, it all comes down to what you shoot. So summing it up:

- 70-300 USM IS if you want to shoot wildlife and birds on a decent budget
- 70-200 f4 L for portraits, long range candids and some large wildlife, even birds.
- 55-250 IS if you don't what you want to shoot and just want some zoooom on your 450D. Why spend 15k more if you aren't even sure you can perceive the difference?

The 70-200 f4 L IS is nearly Rs.60,000.

Cheers!
Payne

 

[santosh86]

You are right. It does not make much sense in spending so much just for a little difference. I'll leave the 70-300 IS to the professionals. Thank you for your inputs.

 

[Anish]

If you aren't looking for low light shots you can always buy the 70-200 f4L and slap a 1.4x TC on it.

The image quality between a 70-200 and 55-250 is definitely worth the extra 15k undoubtedly.