It was a rather wet weekend here, but Saturday morning it was just overcast so we headed to Lilacia Park to see the tulips and lilacs. It was actually a more comfortable visit than last year because it was only in the 60’s. On top of that, the previous day’s storms left pretty water drops all over the tulips and the lack of harsh sunlight made the photos more evenly lit.
Afterward we visited Cosley Zoo so I could test out my new Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM lens I had ordered earlier in the week. I really wanted the 70-300mm lens but the price has been holding steady at $650 for nearly a year now, so I decided to compromise with 50mm less range for half the price. The lens I got sells for $300 pretty much everywhere, but I ordered it from Buydig.com because they threw in some accessories, including a protective filter for the lens, for free.
I like the reach this lens affords me now. The bobcats are always in the back of their enclosure so I could never get a decent shot of them until buying this lens.
On top of that, the auto-focus on the lens is very quick and the image stabilization works even better than I was anticipating. All my shots came out very sharp even with the added zoom. I’m very excited to use it at other zoos!