The Canon EF-S 55-200mm is equivalent to a 88-400mm lens on a film camera. This makes it a great all-round telephoto lens that’s capable of capturing the action even when it’s a long way away; football, rugby and cricket matches are good examples, as well as most types of motorsports. It should also prove ideal for fans of wildlife photography, and would make an ideal portrait lens – its shortest focal length, equivalent to 88mm, is ideal for producing flattering facial perspectives, while still allowing you to shoot in a relatively small studio space.

This is not one of Canon’s ‘pro’ lenses. They have tank-like construction and cost thousands rather than hundreds. Instead, the EF-S 55-250mm is aimed at the amateur market, though it’s none the worse for that. Pro lenses aren’t necessarily vastly different in optical quality – what you’re paying for is large maximum apertures and all-metal construction that can survive tough, hard usage.

By contrast, the EF-S 55-200mm clearly uses lots of plastics, right down to the lens mount itself. In theory, this means it will wear out sooner; in practice, few photographers are likely to swap lenses so many times that this actually happens.

This use of plastics brings some advantages, and they’re not all related to cost. They help make this lens surprisingly light, and this means two things: first, you can slot it into a compartment in your camera bag, carry it around with you all day and hardly know it’s there. Second, it doesn’t overbalance the camera, so that it remains comfortable and easy to use even when fitted to a compact, lightweight body like the EOS 400D.

It is surprisingly nice to use. The zoom action is light but firm, it’s easy to zoom in and out, but there’s no zoom creep when the camera’s tilted downwards. The Focus ring is quite smooth too, although it’s likely you’ll rely mostly on the autofocus. AF is pretty fast for a lens with this range, not to mention quiet.

Canon claims the IS (Image Stabiliser) technology in this lens enables you to shoot up to four shutter speeds slower without camera shake. Its advantage isn’t just in cutting shake, though. At the focal lengths this lens offers it’s quite hard to keep the subject centred in the frame; the IS, however, steadies it up nicely and makes it much easier to shoot subjects at long range. The only thing you have to watch out for is that the IS can tempt you into using some crazy shutter speeds. This lens can produce images which appear sharp at speeds beyond its theoretical 4x advantage, though in reality they’ve already lost their edge, as close examination will reveal.

The test results produced some odd data. For some reason, in lab conditions the resolution figures fluctuated wildly, even when the tests were repeated. This must have been caused by some glitch involving the body being used, the light levels and the properties of the test chart, because in the field there were no such problems, and the results were commendably sharp even at maximum focal length.

This lens’s materials and ‘feel’ are not impressive, but its performance and everyday practicality certainly are. It would be a great choice for any EOS SLR owner looking for a telephoto zoom to supplement their standard kit lens.

Final Verdict An ‘amateur’ lens with lots of plastic, but lightweight and portable. For everyday use, this is a great second lens for the kit bag OVERALL

Our lens reviewer, and technical expert, Rod is a veritable photographic encyclopaedia. His illustrious CV has seen him write for many mags, websites and journals.