How to pick the right zoom lens

[boostedfury]

Hey Guys.. I am in the market for a zoom lens for my 550D but have no idea how to really choose what will be right for my application. I like to shoot cars obviously, but want to slowly expand to landscape and outdoor photography as my time allows. I am just racking my brain of trying to decide what would be a good fit so I am open to some suggestions or ideas.

Budget is around the $300 range, but could say maybe up to $400 priced new, if I can try to get it for $300 used some place for a deal.

Would also like to stick with Canon but other ideas again are options!


TIA!

:)

[Renegade_]

EF-S 55-250 IS

Best budget telephoto in canon's line for a crop. IS isn't shabby at all...

[SoStock92]

Yup - your only option, really, is a 55-250. Anything other than that will be out of the price range.

[Sublime1304]

My 18-135mm IS is very nice but if I'm correct they sell for around $500. Maybe you can find a good used one

[mann]

If you are looking to do landscape or outdoor photography, then you don't want anything on the tele range unless you are looking for birds or doing portrait work. 95% of my pictures are 50mm or less with a crop camera.

Maybe stick to a used 17-50 2.8 tamron (non vc), you can get that for ~300 mint and have the best image quality in that range, which will be both suitable for landscapes and cars, as well some portrait type stuff at the 50mm end with the larger aperture.