Canon lens question: At the risk of being chastised for not knowing camera equipment, I am going ask this question because I really have NO idea of how to understand this. I got an...

AnnaZ Loc: SW Wis.

At the risk of being chastised for not knowing camera equipment, I am going ask this question because I really have NO idea of how to understand this.

I got an email from B&H photo telling of the featured lens. This is what it said.......

Canon EFS 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM. 35mm equivalent focal length 88-400mm.

Would someone kindly (and I use that word literally, please be nice, not insinuating I have only half a brain) explain this to me?

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Canons EFS lenses will only work on their crop sensor bodies. Because this sensor is a smaller size, it does not capture the entire image projected by the lens. Only the middle portion of the image is actually captured/ This gives you the impression that the lens is actually of a longer focal length. To understand what that effective focal length will look like, you need to multiply the lenses focal length by the "crop factor" of your particular cameras sensor. In your case you have a 1.6X crop factor. So, a 55-250mm lens multiplied by 1.6 equals about a 88-400mm lens in 35mm film or full-frame digital sensor terms.
This really means you have a narrower field of view from that lens when used with your smaller sensor. The lens really is no different, it just will appear to be.

cosmo54 Loc: Easton, PA but will travel for photos

MTShooter - excellent explanation & very straight forward!! Not insulting at all......those of us still learning salute you. :-)

AnnaZ Loc: SW Wis.

Soooo............how would that work on the Canon 50D and 60D cameras?

Thank you for being nice, MT.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

AnnaZ wrote:

Soooo............how would that work on the Canon 50D and 60D cameras?

Thank you for being nice, MT.

Exactly as I just explained. Those are crop sensor bodies and the 1.6X factor will apply to ALL lenses mounted on those bodies.

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

AnnaZ wrote:

Soooo............how would that work on the Canon 50D and 60D cameras?

Thank you for being nice, MT.

just multiply the length of the lens by the crop factor of the sensor in the manual

60d is 1.6 so 1.6 x whatever the focal length is 200mm x 1.6 =

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

cosmo54 wrote:

MTShooter - excellent explanation & very straight forward!! Not insulting at all......those of us still learning salute you. :-)

Thank you. Just glad I got it typed before JR1 mouthed off here.

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

MT Shooter wrote:

Thank you. Just glad I got it typed before JR1 mouthed off here.

Another moron,why, no idea why he is but he is a moron and a thick comment for no idea just showing up his pratt attitude

I do think there are four from the USA who have to work hard at being loud mouthed idiots.

Thick comment for no reason.

I gave a reply, not rude, explained how anyone can work it out.

AnnaZ Loc: SW Wis.

Ok, I get that all now. And as far as "whatever the manual says for crop factor"........I am not home at present where my manual is-it is 900 miles away from me. Or I could have looked up "crop factor". There was no reason for anyone to start getting snippy at someone else's reply.

You know, this is one of the reasons why I hardly post any pix or ask any questions. Those that know SO much think they have to belittle those of us that are wanting information and ask what they think is a stupid question. And I won't get into how brutal some of you can be when asked for feedback on photos posted. Helpful information posted in a nice way is SO much better to read than a complete evisceration of photo AND the photographer.

Anyway, FWIW, thanks for the info and I will go "read my manual". When I get back to Wisconsin from New York.

I guess I just need to decide whether I HAVE to have this lens, or should cave and get The Big Sigma.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Coming back to the original question ...

The EF-S mount (identified by the white square on the lens mount and the camera mount) are specific to Canon's APS-C size sensors.

You can bookmark / favorite these wiki sites for quick reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Canon_EOS_digital_cameras - inventory of Canon digital cameras where you can look-up the specs on any model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EF-S_lens_mount - technical description of EF-S including which models use this mount

The STM detail of this new lens (full name = Canon EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6 IS STM) indicates STepping Motor technology allows smooth and silent autofocus to support near silent operation for recording video with no / less background noise in the audio contributed by the camera / lens.

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

JR1 wrote:

Another moron, why, no idea why he is but he is a moron and a thick comment for no idea just showing up his pratt attitude.

JR1 wrote:

Also I have (and others have) been insulted here, on personal levels and that is not called for.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-130511-5.html#2215244

No, it's not called for. 8-)

cosmo54 Loc: Easton, PA but will travel for photos

JR1 wrote:

Another moron,why, no idea why he is but he is a moron and a thick comment for no idea just showing up his pratt attitude

I do think there are four from the USA who have to work hard at being loud mouthed idiots.

Thick comment for no reason.

I gave a reply, not rude, explained how anyone can work it out.

Actually, I thought the same thing as MTShooter, but then I re-read your response and then realized what you were saying. All good answers

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

AnnaZ wrote:

At the risk of being chastised for not knowing camera equipment, I am going ask this question because I really have NO idea of how to understand this.

I got an email from B&H photo telling of the featured lens. This is what it said.......

Canon EFS 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM. 35mm equivalent focal length 88-400mm.

Would someone kindly (and I use that word literally, please be nice, not insinuating I have only half a brain) explain this to me?

Several people have tried to explain the 35mm equivalent field of view on a crop sensor Canon camera, and they are correct. But I think you may have wanted further assistance. This lens will give you short to long telephoto, which means you will be able to get close up pictures of things fairly far away, but it's not wide angle so for instance you would not be able to get several people into a group shot 10 or 15 feet in front of you. What are you hoping to use this lens for?

AnnaZ Loc: SW Wis.

Not really interested in "wide angle". More like "oh, I see something far away, I want to photograph it.........I wonder if this will zoom it in"...........that type of thing. Birds, animals, etc.

cindij Loc: New Lowell, Ontario, Canada

If you would like to be able to capture birds, etc. at a distance you should look into purchasing a 70-200 or a 75-300 mm lens.