Help with changing my lenses

Hi there.
Until recently, I was running a daily photo blog and used the following equipment.
1 x Canon 500D/T1i Rebel body
1 x Canon 700D/T5i Rebel Body
1 x EFS 18-55 f3.5-5.6 IS STM lens (kit lens with the 700D)
1 x Tamron AF 18-200 f2.5-6.3 macro
1 x Tamron SP AF 70-300 f4-5.6 DT VC USD

I am considering consolidating down to one body and two lens.

The acquisition of the Canon 18-55 has shown me that even though it is their cheap kit lens, being their very latest design, I get better images with it than with the Tamron lenses. However, so that you can see what I can do with the Tamron 70-300, check out this post.

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1318559

Now to the nitty gritty. I want to keep the 18-55 as this is a great little lens when I am out and about with the wife - she hates it when I have a big lens on my camera! What I am thinking of doing is getting rid of the 500D and both Tamron lenses and replacing them with a single Canon lens. The two possibles that I am know are as follows:

Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 USM/IS which has a three stop image stabilisation. This costs £368.00 in the UK.
Can EF-S 55-250 f4-5.6 IS II which has a four stop stabilisation and is, I believe, the other kit lens you get if you buy a 700D with two lenses. This costs just £147.95 in the UK.

Consider that I live on the fourth floor of an apartment block overlooking an active Marina and Commercial Port so a good telephoto is important. However, I enjoy photographing landscapes so a nice wide shot is also good. As we face directly west, we get tremendous sunsets almost every night but I tend to use a tripod and manual settings to get the best out of them.

You can see my general photographic range on Flickr at

http://www.flickr.com/​photos/73124767@N05/

I would be very grateful for any suggestions about my best way forward. I need to keep within the budget of what I have. I think that if I sell the 500D body and the two lenses on EBay, I will get around £550.00 pounds.

Thoughts please?
David

If I'm calculating this correctly, a 70-200 f4 should be right around 550 new after vat. Its a very good lens if it's long enough for you. Faster as well.

This is assuming that pre-tax prices are similar between the us and UK.

I dont think you'll gain much by switching from tamron 70-300 to canon kit lenses. I haven't used them, but IMHO the consumer zooms are very similar to each other.

The next big step is 70-200 f/4 L or a prime of some sort... and a first prime should not be a telephoto.

I'd keep shooting with the canon kit lens and tamron 70-300

I would think your Tamron (70-300) has better performance than the 55-250. The Canon 70-300 for its price, from images and in stores never impressed me (Unless you're talking about the L - in that case yes).

The 18-200 is a super zoom and they almost never are good, so your kit should be better.

I could see selling the T1i, the 18-200, and your kit lens and getting a better "normal" zoom.

Based on your comments, you seem to like the idea of IS. I do not see getting much better than your Tamron 70-300mm on the budget you specified. Unless you got lucky finding something used or you receive one as a gift. Skipping the stabilization, then yes you can upgrade.

Also as far as upgrading, your wife will not be happy. If she doesn't like when you have a big lens on the camera. I'm assuming she means size and not FL. I believe your 70-300 is your largest lens, and it's not big. Any real upgrade in the 70-XXmm FL will be bigger than any lens you currently own.