Lots of brands offer budget telephoto zoom lenses as a kit with your camera. But those aren’t that incredible. However, just as you also don’t need to give up on dreams of owning a nicer car, there are some good budget telephoto zoom lenses for most passionate photographers. We’re rounding up a bunch of the best ones we’ve tested for various mirrorless camera systems. Curious? Dive into our list of the best budget telephoto zoom lenses for your camera with us!
The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed in these roundups. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
How We Chose the Best Budget Telephoto Zoom Lenses
Here’s some insight into how we chose the best budget telephoto zoom lenses in this list:
- Our ethics don’t allow us to include products in these roundups that we haven’t tested. So, we fully reviewed all of these products. You can check them out as we’re providing hyperlinks to them. And trust us, we really have tested the best budget telephoto zoom lenses and much more.
- All the product images and sample images were shot by our staff.
- You’re probably going to look through this and wonder why there isn’t an option for Nikon on this list? Well, there is. Tamron makes lenses for Sony, Fujifilm, and Nikon mirrorless cameras as of this publishing.
- We’re choosing these lenses based on build quality, image quality, autofocus speed, pricing, and image stabilization.
- You’ll get beautiful images from these lenses, we’re positive about that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be calling them the best budget telephoto zoom lenses.
- No photographer in the world wants to be carrying around something that’s overly heavy.
Canon RF 100-500mm f5.6-8
PROS
- Nice image quality!
- Fast autofocus
- Lightweight
- Really affordable
- Image stabilization is very good and noticeable for sure. You can shoot a stop slower on the Canon EOS R5 than you can on the Canon EOS R.
CONS
- The smart and subject recognition is nowhere as good as it is with the 100-500mm RF L lens.
- Come on, Canon, no weather sealing? You have to stop reserving that feature for just your L-series lenses.
- Frustrating to use on the Canon EOS R if you’re photographing birds or animals
In our review, we said:
The Canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 IS USM is a good lens. But it will be a more solid performer on any camera body that has built-in bird and animal detection. Those camera bodies tend to have weather sealing, while this lens doesn’t. Still, it’s incredibly lightweight and only $649.
Fujifilm 70-300mm f4-5.6 LM R WR OIS
PROS
- Ergonomic
- Versatile
- Fast autofocusing from 5m to infinity in well-lit environments
- Image Stabilization
- Weather sealed
CONS
- Slower to focus in less than ideal lighting situations
- Autofocus has difficulty in high contrast situations with a lot of texture
- Bokeh easily produces cat’s eye and onion ring effects, if you care about that
In our review, we said:
The Fujifilm 70-300mm f4-5.6 lens isn’t the first of its kind to offer such a broad range of focal lengths. It’s also not the first Fujifilm lens to offer the beloved aperture control ring. However, it is one of the first zoom lenses to offer an entry-level price tag for high-end features. This lens boasts weather sealing and image stabilization that we’ve come accustomed to seeing in higher-end lenses. It’s also one of the first telephoto zoom lenses at this price point to offer all this in a very ergonomic, compact design.
Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD
PROS
- Impressively sharp for the price point
- Weather sealed
- Speedy autofocus performance
- Lightweight
- Very, very affordable at $549 for Sony FE and Nikon Z
CONS
- I wish it had a zoom lock
- I also wish it had a focus limiter
In our review, we said:
I tried this lens mostly with the Sony a7r III, but I also used it a bit with the original Sony a7. The autofocus is pretty comparable to one another. But overall, the focus with this lens is accurate, fast, and reliable. I nailed pretty much 92% of the shots. Any time I missed the shot, I’d blame Sony. Trying to find birds in the trees can sometimes be a bit tough for the Sony a7r III. It’s even tougher with leaves and branches in the way.
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