what can a 55-300mm lens do?


iceshu

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Jan 3, 2011
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I bought the a DSLR kit that included a 55-300mm lens on top of the 18-55 kit lens. However, after half a year of usage, I've rarely used the 55-300mm. Firstly, it was too bulky and heavy for me to bring it out all the time. Secondly, I felt that the 18-55mm lens covered most of what I needed.

Could anyone enlighten me on the usefulness of a 55-300? From my noob understand it's good for shooting birds, animals, people at long distances. Is there any other situation where I would want to zoom?
 

I bought the a DSLR kit that included a 55-300mm lens on top of the 18-55 kit lens. However, after half a year of usage, I've rarely used the 55-300mm. Firstly, it was too bulky and heavy for me to bring it out all the time. Secondly, I felt that the 18-55mm lens covered most of what I needed.

Could anyone enlighten me on the usefulness of a 55-300? From my noob understand it's good for shooting birds, animals, people at long distances. Is there any other situation where I would want to zoom?

you can use it to take very nice bokeh picture.
 

you can use it to take very nice bokeh picture.

you can use it to get a picture with shallow DOF and blur the background into a mess.. but whether the bokeh is nice or not, we'll need images to see.

a 55-300mm lens is more like a all-in-one for long range shooting. there isn't a definite purpose like birding, animals etc.. how you use the lens, determines what it'll be used for. e.g. while most people say Wide Angle lenses are for landscape, there are some who use it for street photography, or even portraits.

and you can also use it for other purposes.

like hammering a nail into a plank.

:p
 

What do you shoot most often, and what is your style? If you don't find yourself using the 55-300mm, it may be because it doesn't suite your style, the things you shoot, or you just haven't got the hang of the perspective a telephoto lens can provide. This focal length range (ignoring the speed of the lens for now) can be used when you go for events where you cannot get too close to the action, birds and animals, portraits, certain landscapes, and even some close ups of flowers, insects and products.

You can get a decent idea of what people use this lens for here: http://www.pbase.com/cameras/pentax/smc_da_55-300mm_f4-58_ed. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there's still a large number of birds and animals in there. :)
 

and you can also use it for other purposes.

like hammering a nail into a plank.

:p


Literally made me laugh.:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:



Hi TS, I've been in that dilemma before and eventually sold off my 55-200mm ever since I discovered most of my shots were taken at 18-85mm focal range. I only slap it on whenever I need to 'feel' like a pro LOL. Changed to 18-250mm, and now to 28-105mm just so if I need shallower DoF. Not too long, not too short.

Anyhow, like what all the other bros here have said. There's no strict rule where you can use your lenses. Now, if you find this certain lens underutilised then ditch it by all means. I mean, half a year of non-usage should tell you something already.;)
 

Last edited:
digitalpimp said:
Literally made me laugh.:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:

Hi TS, I've been in that dilemma before and eventually sold off my 55-200mm ever since I discovered most of my shots were taken at 18-85mm focal range. I only slap it on whenever I need to 'feel' like a pro LOL. Changed to 18-250mm, and now to 28-105mm just so if I need shallower DoF. Not too long, not too short.

Anyhow, like what all the other bros here have said. There's no strict rule where you can use your lenses. Now, if you find this certain lens underutilised then ditch it by all means. I mean, half a year of non-usage should tell you something already.;)

Some people go smaller. Some people go bigger (70-200). TS you have to figure out if you really need it or not. Sometimes you need the reach for that one shot. And 55-300 is actually very light an compact, compared to the other tele zooms out there.

;)
 

Thank you for the advice.

Maybe I should try bringing it out one day and see what I get out of it. I still think it's ridiculously huge though lol.
 

you can use it to take very nice bokeh picture.

Why do you say so?

Sorry I dont really understand how focal length affects the quality of bokeh. Isnt bokeh more affected by the number of aperture blades and your f-stop?
 

Why do you say so?

Sorry I dont really understand how focal length affects the quality of bokeh. Isnt bokeh more affected by the number of aperture blades and your f-stop?

yup.. you're right on that. focal length will only create more blur
 

Thank you for the advice.

Maybe I should try bringing it out one day and see what I get out of it. I still think it's ridiculously huge though lol.

It's really not big at all as telephoto lenses go, if you ever see a need for anything in this focal length range, a 55-300mm is a relatively compact package to carry around already...
 

Sell it. Lol.
Btw, is the lens nikon 55-300mm VR?
If yes, better sell it. I have tried it before the focusing very slow at 250-300mm sometimes cannot focus at all.
 

Sell it. Lol.
Btw, is the lens nikon 55-300mm VR?
If yes, better sell it. I have tried it before the focusing very slow at 250-300mm sometimes cannot focus at all.

Nope. Pentax DAL 55-300.
 

I bought the a DSLR kit that included a 55-300mm lens on top of the 18-55 kit lens. However, after half a year of usage, I've rarely used the 55-300mm. Firstly, it was too bulky and heavy for me to bring it out all the time. Secondly, I felt that the 18-55mm lens covered most of what I needed.

Could anyone enlighten me on the usefulness of a 55-300? From my noob understand it's good for shooting birds, animals, people at long distances. Is there any other situation where I would want to zoom?
Visit the zoo and you will know what it can do....
 

Why do you say so?

Sorry I dont really understand how focal length affects the quality of bokeh. Isnt bokeh more affected by the number of aperture blades and your f-stop?

Google Lens Perspective.

You can bring the bokeh background nearer to the object compare to a prime lens.

e.g if a building is far away from the object, using a prime lens will capture the building plus the surrounding, however, using a zooms, the background will consist mainly the building only.
 

lcheowl said:
Google Lens Perspective.

You can bring the bokeh background nearer to the object compare to a prime lens.

Not true. There are primes that can reach 300mm as well. Primes are not only limited to short and mid-tele focal lengths. You can also get primes at 300mm, 400mm and so on. But if you're talking price-wise, and size-wise, then a zoom would be better suited.

And i don't get what you mean by "bringing" the bokeh background closer to the subject"
 

Google Lens Perspective.

You can bring the bokeh background nearer to the object compare to a prime lens.

e.g if a building is far away from the object, using a prime lens will capture the building plus the surrounding, however, using a zooms, the background will consist mainly the building only.

Perspective has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with primes vs zooms... when you said zoom, you really mean longer focal lengths. There are prime lenses with very long focal lengths. Prime = fixed focal length lens and zoom = variable focal length lens, that's all.
 

Google Lens Perspective.

You can bring the bokeh background nearer to the object compare to a prime lens.

e.g if a building is far away from the object, using a prime lens will capture the building plus the surrounding, however, using a zooms, the background will consist mainly the building only.

wad u said seems so wrong. only focal length affects this. it has nothing got to do with primes vs zooms. as others mentioned, there r tele primes as well.
 

You can bring the bokeh background nearer to the object compare to a prime lens.

Please don't misuse the word "bokeh" like that, and please try reading up on what a "prime" lens is. Learn the basics before trying to give advice that's wrong.