imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

That is a very decent lens ! You could try a Kenko 1.4X TC but, probably the AF will be unusable. The best you can hope for is to get closer, use good long lens shooting techniques, try and shoot at f8, CROP, and use pixel enlargement software if need be.

williejoha

Unless you are using it with a very expensive lens ( f 1.4- f2 ) forget it. The downside effects and troubles far outweigh the MAYBE benefits.

WJH

agillot

if you want to go on the cheap , and if you dont mine manual everything , then a 500mm oshiro [ T mount ]could be for you . [ $ 150 ] .do a google .

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

I would opt for the 500mm mirror or an older long lens like my Spiratone. The long lens has f6.3-32 and the mirror is just f8. Not that you get much DOF with any long lens. Either lens is on EBay with adapters for under $150. I find that my long lens is slightly better resolution. You definitely need to use a tripod with these slow lenses. But the price is good. Happy shooting

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I have the discontinued T-mount Phoenix 500mm mirror lens, f8. I bought it for about $95 in 2009. It was a stubborn, time consuming lens to set up. But in daylight, it took decent photos. Haven't used it in years though.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

No... a teleconverter is not a very workable option with that lens. In fact, most teleconverters won't even fit on an EF-S lens.

Canon's own teleconverters won't fit (they have a protruding front element that fits inside the rear barrel of any lens they are attached too... which precludes using them on any EF-S lens, as well as quite a few EF lenses. Canon's also are EF mount only... not EF-S.)

Only a few third party teleconverters will fit an EF-S lens... I know the Kenko "HD" 1.4X or 2X are specifically designed to work with EF-S (Kenko Pro 300 and MC-4 models are not not compatible with EF-S, they are EF only).

But there also is light loss whenever you add a teleconverter, so your camera and lens w/TC will not be able to autofocus. That lens is f/5.6 at 250mm... Add a 1.4X teleconverter will only get you to 350mm, but the combo also loses one stop of light so "becomes f/8"... no autofocus on a T3. A 2X would get you to 500mm, but two stops of light loss make for an "f/11" combo which not only will not autofocus, but also will make for a very dim viewfinder to try to focus manually.

Also, if your 55-250mm is not the "STM" version, if it's the slightly less expensive micro motor version that's often sold in kit with entry-level T3, you would have to be absolutely certain to turn off the AF at the switch before focusing manually. If you fail to do that, you'll damage the lens' autofocus mechanism.

The $50 more expensive and faster/smoother/quieter STM version of that lens can be manually overridden without first turning off the AF at the switch. Doing so won't damage it. However, STM are a "fly-by-wire" focusing system, which means you have to hold the shutter button half-pressed to "power up" the lens before you'll be able to manually focus the lens. When a "fly-by-wire" lens' AF isn't powered up, turning the focus ring will have no effect at all.

There also is some loss of image quality whenever you add any optics. It's hard to say how much with that lens. In general teleconverters work better with prime lens than they do with zooms. The better the lens quality, the better images will be when it's combined with a quality teleconverter. And a 2X "costs" a lot more loss of image quality than a weaker 1.4X. And some lens/TC combos simply work better together than others. There are nearly infinite possible combos, so you would need to find someone using the specific teleconverter you're considering, combined with the specific lens.

The Kenko HD DGX 1.4X costs $150 and the 2X costs $190. But, once again, when used on a 55-250mm you will have no autofocus and manual focus will be a bit tricky.

Frankly, IMO you'd be much better served to just saving up for a longer focal length lens instead. Buy used or refurbished to save some money.

They are now discontinued, but Sigma offered 120-400mm OS HSM and 150-500mm OS HSM lenses in the past, both of which were pretty good and can be found used for about $450 to $600. The Tamron 150-600mm VC USD original version also is selling for a lot less money now, since the new and improved G2 version has been introduced. It's possible to find the earlier version for $850 to $900 new, maybe a little less used.

The original version of the Canon EF 100-400L IS USM (push/pull zoom) can be found for around $850 used.... or sometimes even brand new for about $1250. (The newer "Mark II" version of it is no longer a push/pull design and sells for upwards of $2000, but is a great lens.)

I've also recently seen used Canon 300mm f4L IS USM for around $750... I have two of those and can tell you they work very well with a quality 1.4X teleconverter, to give a 420mm f/5.6 combo (Mine is a Canon "Mark II" 1.4X, which can be found used for about $200).

Or, the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM can be found used/refurbished for under $1000. It's super sharp and fast focusing, but doesn't have image stabilization so a tripod or monopod might be needed.

You might look at vintage telephotos that can easily be adapted for use on modern EOS... some were cheap junk, but there also were very good, too. Some of the latter might be good values. Any of them will be manual focus and manual aperture only, though, so a bit slower to shoot with. Info about adapting vintage lenses can be found at: http://bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html

There are a number of vintage 400mm and 500mm "mirror" lenses. Those are relatively compact and affordable, but will be manual focus only and have "fixed" f/8 apertures in most cases (some that claim f//8 seem to be closer to f/11... some actually are f/11.... and a few bigger ones or shorter focal length are f/5.6). The fixed aperture means you have to vary ISO and shutter speed with them.... though it's possible to use a neutral density filter on many of them to reduce the amount of light passing through. They also do not have image stabilization, so can be a bit challenging to get a steady shot handheld. Mirror lenses range in quality wildly... from pure junk to pretty darned good. A mirror lens I used a lot and found very good was the Tamron SP 500mm f/8 "Adaptall" (Adaptall mounts for EOS are easily found and inexpensive.... I paid $40 for a "chipped" one, shipped direct from China. It works very well on a Tamron Adaptall macro lens I use.)

Those are some of the most affordable "long telephoto" options... but be aware that all of them will be a little to a lot larger and a little to a lot heavier than your 55-250mm. They also all will be more challenging to work with. On a crop sensor camera such as yours, even 250mm that you already have is a whole lot "longer" than most film camera shooters ever owned! 400mm, 500mm or 600mm are extremely long focal lengths on an APS-C camera!

myrnat Loc: Rising Fawn, Ga

Thanks for the info.

myrnat Loc: Rising Fawn, Ga

Thanks will look will check out your information

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

I recently bought the EF 70-300 IS II USM for my 80D and am very happy with it. On a crop censor camera it is the FF equivalent to a 480mm lens; that could be your answer. Canon now has it for $499.99.

rbfanman

Long range zooms are fuzzy to begin with. A 3X, or less, zoom-when the highest focal length number is three times, or less, the lowest number-can be sharp enough for general non pro use....So a 35-70mm, or 50-150mm, is OK. For longer zooms....5X, 10X, etc, the image is less worthwhile. You won't be getting National Geographic Cover photos from a 28-210mm,or such, lens. If you take a long zoom lens, and then add some form of adaptor, or digital modification, to get more magnification, you will not be happy with the results.

rbfanman

For bears, use a shorter lens, with no adaptors, get closer, build a blind to stay out of sight, and keep a loaded S&W M29 on hand for emergencies.