Choosing your perfect beginner telephoto lens

There’s a lot to consider when choosing a new lens – It can be quite daunting especially if you are new to the photography scene evaluating between the many lenses to choose from. Here are some tips on picking your perfect beginner telephoto lens.

What do the lens names mean?

E.g., 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

RF - Mount system

24-105mm - Focal length

f/4 - Aperture

IS - Stabilization

USM - Motor type

Telephoto lenses make your subject appear closer to the camera. They offer great magnification when shooting subjects far away.

Telephoto lenses are handy when you are taking photos of things that you can't, or don't want to get close to, such as wildlife or sports.

They can help to enhance the visual relationships between the subject and its environment, creating compression in the relationship between the two. You can also utilise these to create that beautiful blurry background for portraits. Roughly speaking, the longer the focal length and wider the aperture, the more of this blur you will get.

Shot on Canon EOS M50 Mark II with EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM

Here are some beginner telephoto lens suggestions for the different Canon systems:

RF System: Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM Lens

EF System: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM Lens

EF-S System: Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Lens

EF-M System: Canon EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens 

Here are some videos to give you a bit of an insight for telephoto lenses