…. i have to say that digital SLR lens’ focal lengths are different to the old manual SLR cameras that came before. So although it was a 300mm in fact it was comparable to a 400 (ish) mm lens of old. So my new Canon 70 – 250mm lens is more than suitable for what I need. And it has built in stabilizer so cuts out (or down) any camera shake. AND it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it was going to be. Got it from Argos. Check them out.

😀

Tony.

Hi Tony,

Its not the lens “length” that is different it is the camera sensor, on the “smaller” Canon DSLRs (anything from the EOS1000D up to and including the EOS 7D body IIRC) the digital sensor “crops” the image as compared to a 35mm negative body fitted with same focal length lens. The crop factor is approx 1.4x, so a 70 – 250mm zoom (as it would be known in 35mm film days) effectively becomes a 98 – 350mm lens on your EOS 600D.

This is useful ‘benefit’ when the camera/lens is used for airshows etc, though it does mean that even a 35mm wide(r) angle lens acts like a 50mm did in “old money” which can be bloomin’ frustrating in cramped spaces – to get a 35mm lens effect as you would have got on a film SLR you need a ca. 25mm lens on the EOS 600D body. Hope this makes sense?

I have the sister Canon 70 – 300mm IS lens (used for around five years on my old EOS 350D body and more recently a 40D body), I agree they give good results for the money they cost. I would recommend against using them at maximum zoom, as the images tend to go a little soft, I find it better to zoom out a little, and then crop the image on the PC later, seems to give a sharper end result. Canons IS Image stabilisation system really does work too, definitely allows me to shoot two shutter speeds lower than without it – though it does tend to use up battery charge quickly make sure you have a spare battery handy.

Also, as was mentioned in the thread earlier, try to set the camera so that it stops the zoom lens down to maybe F11 or more if you are using it at it’s longer zoom lengths, this helps keep images sharper too.

Paul F