{"id":31517,"date":"2023-01-24T18:03:56","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T23:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=31517"},"modified":"2025-06-19T23:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T04:08:22","slug":"240-lens-vs-2700-lens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=31517","title":{"rendered":"Pushing the Limits: $239 lens vs $2159 lens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bald Eagle, Home Lake. Canon SL3, EF-S 55-250mm lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Is a $239 lens as good as a $2159 lens? Much of the time, yes (see the first link at the end of this article). Sometimes no. It depends on the photo situation. I get lots of equipment questions and some of them have to do with photography on a tight budget. I’ve been comparing a refurbished Canon SL3 camera and a refurbished Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens to a Canon 7D Mark II camera with a Canon L series 100-400mm lens. <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

I was at a local lake and had the SL3 and 55-250mm lens in my hands when a bald eagle flew across the lake (top photo) and landed in a tree near the lake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bald Eagle in a tree near Home Lake. Canon SL3 and Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens at 250mm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I drove my car to a location as close as I could get to the eagle without disturbing it and created images with the SL3 and 55-250 lens. The image immediately above is uncropped. This is what I saw at 250mm with the eagle about 80 yards away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Google Earth Pro, car to eagle distance. Click for a larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I knew exactly where my car was parked on the road around the lake, and which tree the eagle was in. I used the measuring tool in Google Earth Pro to determine the eagle was 80 yards from my car, give or take a little. At that distance with a 250mm lens an eagle is pretty small in the frame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bald Eagle, Home Lake. Canon SL3 and 55-250mm lens, cropped from the original image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is cropped from the image above to fill the frame with the eagle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bald Eagle in a tree just south of Home Lake, Lamoni Iowa. Canon 7D2 with a Canon EF 100-400mm lens at 400mm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I picked up the Canon 7D2 and 100-400mm lens to do some comparison photos. The extra 150mm of focal length makes a difference and the eagle is not quite so small in this uncropped image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bald Eagle, Home Lake. Canon 7D2 and 100-400mm lens, cropped from the original image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A frame filling crop of the original image doesn’t look too bad, especially for an eagle that is 80 yards away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Side by side comparison. Click to see a larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This side by side comparison tells the tale. The image from 55-250mm lens at 250mm lens is looking shabby compared to the 100-400mm lens at 400mm lens. An eagle at 80 yards is just too much for the 55-250mm lens to handle. I have pushed the lens beyond its limits. The 100-400mm lens is at the edge of acceptability. If the eagle was much farther away, even the 100-400mm lens will not handle the job. Be sure to click the image to see a larger version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bald Eagle, Home Lake. Side by side 100% magnification. Click to see a larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another way to compare the two images is to look at the center of both images with a 100% magnification “actual pixels” crop. That means one pixel in the image file is one pixel on the computer monitor. Be sure to click the image to see the larger, 100% magnification image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I did this comparison, I set out to push the 55-250mm lens to its limits, and in this comparison I pushed it beyond its limits. If the eagle was closer, this would have been a different story. With subjects that are closer you would be hard put to tell which photos were taken with which lens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Canon 7D Mark II with Canon EF 100-400mm. Canon SL3 with Canon EF-S 55-250mm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n



I bought my SL3 and 55-250 lens as “refurbs” from Canon USA a couple of years ago. Here are some comparison prices as of the time of this article.

Canon SL3 camera body: $519 refurbished, $749 new.
Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens: $239 refurbished, $299 new.

Canon 7D Mark II body: $609 used, $1169 new.
Canon EF 100-400mm lens: $2159 refurbished, $2699 new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is a relatively inexpensive camera and lens combo can do a good job in most typical photo situations. The inexpensive combo, refurbished, is $758. The expensive combo, refurbished\/used, is $2768. Less expensive refurb options are available. See the second link below.

Link<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can a $239 Lens Do The Job of a $2159 Lens<\/a>

Get a Quality DSLR and Two Lenses for $500<\/a>https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/?p=37126<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is a $239 lens as good as a $2159 lens? Much of the time, yes (see the first link at the end of this article). Sometimes no. It depends on the photo situation. I get lots of equipment questions and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1,7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cameras","category-general","category-lenses","category-photo-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31517"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37145,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31517\/revisions\/37145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.jimdoty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}