Finding the best budget Canon telephoto lens, it turns out, is not easy. I have worked with the following definition of a budget telephoto lens: A focal length greater than 100mm and costing less than roughly $500. And these are fairly rare beasts. Especially when you think that we’re covering mirrorless cameras and DSLRs in both full frame and APS-C formats.
Our top pick is for Canon’s entry-level mirrorless cameras with the APS-C sensor and RF-S lens mount. A camera like the Canon EOS R100 would fit the bill. A perfect additional lens for this is our top recommendation, the Canon RF-S 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM lens. It offers excellent focal lengths, whisper-quiet STM autofocus, and image stabilization.
What Are the Budget Canon Telephoto Lenses?
Telephoto zoom lenses are, by their very nature, complex bits of kit. So it’s difficult to make them cheaply. Some of the lenses in this review are relatively unsophisticated, with no autofocus and sometimes a fixed aperture. This tends to keep costs down and improve the image quality.
Before we take an in-depth look at the lenses we’re recommending, here is a summary. You’ll find zooms, primes, and a range of mounts to choose from.
- Massive zoom range
- Very small and light
- Up to 4.5 stops of image stabilization
- Near-silent STM AF motor
- Excellent value for money
- Hand LCD information screen
- Superb image quality
- Built-in image stabilization
- Compact and lightweight
- Excellent value for money
- Impressive build quality
- Made in Japan
- Fast maximum f/2.5 aperture
- All-metal barrel and mount
- Ideal for videographers
- Superb value for money
- Catadioptric design for small size and weight
- Amazing value for a 500mm lens
- Made in Japan
- Metal barrel with engraved markings
- Huge focal length range
- STM AF motor is almost silent
- In-lens image stabilization
- Always-available manual focus
How to Choose the Best Budget Canon Telephoto Lens
You are obviously limited to what will fit your lens mount. Then you need to decide what you want from your lens. If you are doing sports photography, it’s unlikely you’ll want a manual focus lens. But it’s also unlikely you’ll find a budget lens to do everything you want. So, let’s see what each of these lenses is good for in some more detail.
1. Canon RF-S 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM
| Brand |
Brand
Canon
|
| Maximum Aperture |
Maximum Aperture
f/ 5
|
| Focal Length Range |
Focal Length Range
55-210 mm
|
| Image Stabilization |
Image Stabilization
 |
| Key Features |
Key Features
Full frame equivalent of 88-336mm, image stabilization
|
| Best For |
Best For
Extending your Canon APS-C mirrorless kit
|
The Canon RF-S 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM is the perfect addition to the kit lens that comes with the popular Canon EOS R100 mirrorless camera. It is perfectly suited to the popular APS-C body. The budget nature of the lens shows itself in the rather slow maximum aperture. At f/7.1, it could be very limiting. But the lens boasts up to 4.5 stops of image stabilization, which will help compensate for this.
The maximum telephoto focal length of 336mm full frame equivalent is impressive. It’s good enough for many sports as well as wildlife photography. On more expensive Canon RF-Mount cameras, the in-body stabilization will further compensate for this.
There are two Ultra-Low Dispersion elements in the lens, which help prevent flare and ghosts. Focusing is quiet and reliable. It is also nearly silent, thanks to the STM motor.
The striking thing about mirrorless cameras is often how compact and light they are. Again this RF-S lens emphasizes this aspect of the mirrorless world. It is surprising, given its reach, that it fits neatly in the palm of your hand. A kit containing an APS-C body, standard zoom lens, and this lens is extremely light and easy to carry. And it will cover most shooting scenarios.
The Canon RF-S 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM is a super way to enhance your mirrorless Canon camera setup. It will provide you with impressive reach and superb imaging. Its one drawback is the relatively slow speed. But in a budget lens, there will always be compromises.
2. Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM Zoom Lens
| Brand |
Brand
Canon
|
| Lens Mount |
Lens Mount
Canon EF
|
| Maximum Aperture |
Maximum Aperture
f/ 5.6
|
| Focal Length Range |
Focal Length Range
70-300 mm
|
| Image Stabilization |
Image Stabilization
 |
| Key Features |
Key Features
Superb value for a long telephoto zoom
|
| Best For |
Best For
Sports and wildlife photography
|
I used to have the Mark I version of the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM Zoom Lens. And I loved it! For a budget lens, it was fast and crisp. And I took some of my favorite travel pictures with it. The Mark II is even better and hard to beat if you have an EF full frame or APS-C body.
It is only one stop slower at 300mm than Canon’s L-series 70-200mm beast. And it’s significantly cheaper. Of course, you get a better build with the pro-level L-series lens. But nonetheless, this zoom lens is a gem.
The autofocus has been described as astonishing. It is fast, accurate, and nearly silent. There is a manual focus ring on the front of the barrel if you want it. And it’s more like a modern mirrorless lens with an LCD display on top of the barrel. This shows the focus distance and depth of field. Or you can switch modes to show focal length or camera shake.
Unlike Canon’s more expensive lenses, the lens grows longer as you zoom in. But this has no bearing on performance. There are switches for IS and AF and a mode button to change the LCD display.
If you have a Canon EF-mount camera, it’s hard to think of a reason not to buy the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM Zoom Lens.
3. Tokina SZX 400mm f/8 Reflex MF Lens for Canon EF
| Brand |
Brand
Tokina
|
| Lens Mount |
Lens Mount
Canon EF
|
| Maximum Aperture |
Maximum Aperture
f/ 5.6
|
| Focal Length Range |
Focal Length Range
400 mm
|
| Image Stabilization |
Image Stabilization
|
| Key Features |
Key Features
Excellent value for a long telephoto lens
|
| Best For |
Best For
Static subjects
|
The Tokina SZX 400mm f/8 Reflex MF Lens for Canon EF is perhaps the definition of a budget telephoto lens. It’s amazingly cheap, and at 400mm, it’s a long lens. And because of its reflex design, it’s not physically long. On the downside, it is manual focus only and has a fixed f/8 aperture.
This limits its practicality and use. That said, it’s probably the cheapest way of getting a new lens that will get you that close to your subject. I wouldn’t recommend it for sports photography unless you have the skills of a 1970s sports photographer and can focus manually at speed.
There are some inherent problems with reflex lenses, and this Tokina is no exception. But like I said, for a budget price, it might meet your needs. It will be useful where you can pre-focus on your target—perhaps a bird’s nest or badger’s sett. It has its issues, but don’t write off the Tokina SZX 400mm f/8 Reflex MF Lens for Canon EF.
4. Mitakon Zhongyi Creator 135mm f/2.5
| Brand |
Brand
Mitakon
|
| Maximum Aperture |
Maximum Aperture
f/ 2.5
|
| Focal Length Range |
Focal Length Range
135 mm
|
| Image Stabilization |
Image Stabilization
|
| Key Features |
Key Features
Very fast mid-range telephoto
|
| Best For |
Best For
Videography
|
Another lens that offers an exceptional price is the Mitakon Zhongyi Creator 135mm f/2.5. The name might not be familiar to you, but this Chinese lens has been winning over some fans. First of all, it’s a step back in time to an era when lens bodies were made of metal with engraved markings. The Mitakon has all that.
So it is also heavy. But it has a quality feel to it that justifies its price tag. You might be skeptical about a lens this cheap, and some users have reported some subpar quality control. But there’s no denying the quality of materials.
And then there’s the image quality. Here, the simplicity of a prime lens comes as a benefit. The optics, with two Extra-Low Dispersion elements (out of nine in total), produce images that justify its price. It’s not as punchy or contrasty as the best lenses, but it’s sharp and lacks color fringing.
The Mitakon is a manual focus lens. And the focus ring is geared for great precision, but this produces very slow focusing. And this leads us to consider that maybe the lens is more suited to video rather than stills. Especially because it shows almost no focus breathing.
5. Tokina SZ 500mm f/8 Reflex MF Lens
| Brand |
Brand
Tokina
|
| Lens Mount |
Lens Mount
Interchangeable mount (T)
|
| Maximum Aperture |
Maximum Aperture
f/ 8.0
|
| Focal Length Range |
Focal Length Range
500 mm
|
| Image Stabilization |
Image Stabilization
|
| Key Features |
Key Features
Super-telephoto length at a bargain price
|
| Best For |
Best For
Capturing slow-moving subjects at a distance
|
The Tokina SZ 500mm f/8 Reflex MF, like its slightly smaller 400mm sibling, is a catadioptric (or mirror) lens. This means it is lighter and smaller than a conventional prime lens. But it also means it has some issues with sharpness and contrast. Put simply, a mirror lens is inferior to a conventional lens for sharpness and tends to have less contrast.
For many buyers, this will be a dealbreaker. But it might be a sound choice for you. Say you want some good long-distance shots, and you know they will mainly be viewed on a phone. If you’re not going to be making gallery prints, then maybe the loss of quality doesn’t matter. And this is especially true if your budget is limited.
What you get is an affordable, well-made long lens. There’s no AF and the aperture is fixed. The mirror design all but eliminates chromatic aberration. And the unique doughnut-shaped bokeh is a love-it-or-hate-it feature. It’s made in Japan by a company with a rich history of manufacturing lenses.
In the right circumstances, the Tokina SZ 500mm f/8 Reflex MF will give you some impressive telephoto shots at a price that is hard to beat.
6. Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
| Brand |
Brand
Canon
|
| Lens Mount |
Lens Mount
Canon EF-S
|
| Maximum Aperture |
Maximum Aperture
f/ 5.6
|
| Focal Length Range |
Focal Length Range
18-135 mm
|
| Image Stabilization |
Image Stabilization
|
| Key Features |
Key Features
Nearly silent AF
|
| Best For |
Best For
Adding to or replacing your APS-C kit lens
|
The Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM brings pretty much every lens you’ll need into one unit. This lens ranges from the full frame equivalent of 29-216mm. That’s a very decent range for almost every occasion. Take your Canon APS-C DSLR and this lens on holiday, and you won’t be lugging tons of kit. And you’ll be able to get almost any shot you want!
The STM motor for autofocus is fast and, for all intents and purposes, silent. You’ll need to zoom first, then focus, but it’s quick and responsive. And although the maximum f/5.6 when fully zoomed isn’t fast, the IS will rescue you in many situations.
Manual focus is always available via the focus ring. And it can be selected permanently with the AF switch. And next to that is the IS switch, which you’ll probably want to leave on unless you’re using a tripod. The nine-blade diaphragm will give you good-looking sun stars when stopped down.
The Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM is a little gem of a lens that will make the most of your Canon APS-C DSLR.
Buyers Guide—FAQ About Telephoto Lenses
What Is a Telephoto Lens?
We usually use full frame/35mm sensor or film size as the basis for describing lenses. Every lens has a focal length. The industry standard for decades was the 50mm “standard lens.” That’s because it makes the world look roughly the same as our eyes. The big difference is that we have a much wider field of view. And we can rapidly move our eyes and head to gather more information.
As a result, the 50mm (“nifty-fifty”) can feel a little restrictive. That’s why compact cameras and mobile phones have a wide-angle lens as their main lens. An iPhone 13, for instance, has the equivalent of a 26mm lens. Any number smaller than 50mm is considered a wide-angle lens. And 24mm or wider is a super-wide-angle lens.
A telephoto lens, conversely, has a focal length longer than 50mm. That same iPhone Pro has the equivalent of a 70mm telephoto. Compared to a 50mm, that’s not much extra reach. But when you switch from your 26mm standard phone lens, it makes a difference.
The problem for phone manufacturers is that a long focal length generally means you need physical length to make a telephoto. And that is missing on a phone. The mirror lenses we have seen in this review solve the problem by bouncing the light off two mirrors in the lens. This means you need roughly half the distance to achieve the same focal length.
Phones often use a “periscope” lens, which also bounces the light off mirrors. But not through 180 degrees like a mirror lens.
The telephotos in this review are all more than 100mm. This is truly into the telephoto world of bringing distant objects nearer. And as we have seen, a 400mm or 500mm lens truly pulls in very distant objects.
What About Lens Mount?
As new types of cameras are brought onto the market, the picture becomes less clear. Until the Canon range of mirrorless cameras arrived, there were two mounts for interchangeable-lens Canon cameras. They were the original EF-Mount, from the days of film and the newer EF-S-Mount for their APS-C cameras.
These lenses were generally cheaper. Partly because they were consumer-oriented products. And partly because they can have smaller diameter elements. It is easier and cheaper to make lens-quality elements in these smaller diameters. And although you could use an EF lens on an EF-S camera, the opposite wasn’t true. The lens won’t fit, and this is mainly because you would get a heavily-vignetted image on the full frame camera.
Now we have to throw into the mix Canon’s mirrorless cameras. These take the M-Mount, RF-Mount, and RF-S-Mount lenses. The RF/RF-S range of cameras and lenses is very much like a mirrorless reincarnation of the EF-based DSLRs. In fact, while the EOS R3 is their flagship pro mirrorless camera, the EOS-1D X Mark III is no longer being produced. Mirrorless cameras are here to stay.
We have lenses in this review for all those mounts except for the M-Mount. These latter ones are very difficult to source. So you just need to look for the lens that suits your mount.
Maximum Aperture
The maximum aperture of a lens usually adds a lot of cost. Wide apertures cost money because they need lots of precision lens space. This is why so many budget zoom lenses are relatively slow, especially at longer focal lengths.
This is also the advantage some of the prime lenses have in this review. It is cheaper to make a manual focus prime lens with a reasonable aperture.
The problem of a slow lens has been made less by two things. Image stabilization—both in-lens and in-camera—makes a big difference. And the astonishing ability of modern digital cameras to shoot at absurdly-high ISOs without losing too much image quality.
An f/8 lens with IS and 6400 ISO is not a problem in the same way it was on an unstabilized film camera at 400 ISO.
Conclusion: The Budget Canon Telephoto Lenses
There aren’t that many budget telephoto lenses out there these days. That does make your choice easier. But if you have an RF-S compatible camera, we think the Canon RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM lens is a superb choice. It has excellent zoom range, sharp images, and is lightweight.
