Canon 55-250mm V Tamron 18-200mm

I realize that these lenses really are not the same. But all I have is a 18-55mm kit lens with my T1i.

I would love to have a "do it all" lens such as the 18-200mm lens, but I was wondering image quality wise which would win?

So far the trade offs are te Tamron doesnt have the same reach, but you dont need to switch lenses. The 55-250mm can reach farther but closer shots wouldnt be as easy.

Thanks in advance.

- The reason I bring this up is because newegg has a $100 rebate off the Tamron.

The Tamron 18-200 was the first lens I ever bought. I loved it at first but I can't recommend it. I used it for a little over a year and then I ended up selling it and getting the Tamron 17-50mm and the Canon 70-200f4. It's an ok outdoors lens but it has some problems I couldn't live with. The focus just can't lock on in anything but perfect lighting. This would drive me nuts if I tried to use it indoors, I would miss so many pictures. On top of that focus is slow, build quality isn't terrible but it's not great. It has a lot of distortion at 18mm and it's really slow on the long end at f6.3. Color, contrast and sharpness are all just average. It's a jack of all trades master of none type of lens. I don't mean to make it sound terrible because it's not, it's just limited to use outdoors in the sun. If you can get it for cheap enough (less than $200), it's an OK buy but I wouldn't pay any more than that for it. The Canon 55-250IS is a much nicer lens for around the same price. Yes you miss out on the wide end but you gain IS, a faster max aperture, an extra 50mm on the long end, and a sharper, better focusing lens.

InfiniteGrim wrote in post #11402043
I would love to have a "do it all" lens such as the 18-200mm lens, but I was wondering image quality wise which would win?

Actual pictures from a Tamron 18-200mm lens.

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

DC Fan wrote in post #11402548
Actual pictures from a Tamron 18-200mm lens.

| Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

| Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

No complaints from actual use of the lens in a variety of uncontrolled circumstances.

Thanks for the reply. How far away would you say the last picture was taken from?

I am looking to possibly use the lens at football games. I am a student at Penn State and go to a lot of the football games in the student section. I think it would be neat to get some photoes while in there. I'm thinking the 55-250 might not get wide enough of a shot to get close up stuff or a good pictures of the whole stadium, but it does have more reach which is what is making the decision hard.