Best but affordable super telephoto lens for wildlife photography on EOS M50 Mk2

Hi there, just joined this forum and read some really useful tips! I've had my EOS M50 Mk2 now for probably 6-9 months now, and I've got both the 15-45mm stock lens and also the 55-200mm lens. Love them both, but whenever I've taken photos at full zoom of wildlife hasn't been as good as I've hoped. So I've been considering getting a super telephoto lens but am clueless about which one to get. I've bought an ef/ef-s mount adapter to increase my options. Does anyone have any suggestions, please? I think I'll probably have to buy a used one as I suspect they're very expensive new.

 

best wildlife lens for the M50 is the sigma 100-400mm c, i've had the lens 3 3/4 years now and its been excellent, if i had to i'd by it again in a heartbeat

for me the lens is an easy hand held walk about lens, i did first start using it with a black rapid shoulder / body strap, for around a month or so but it was more from the fear of dropping it as i was very new to photography in general, with the M50 attatched via the canon ef to efm adapter it fits in my regular ladies shoulder bag, so i can just about call it a compact, well after you had the 150-600mm out it seems like a small lens again lol

in the UK its around the £700 mark new, might get a good second hand one on MPB.com, i use them alot for second hand lenses and adapters etc, they are excellent to deal with.

price wise the lens is well worth the asking price, it will keep you happy for a number of years, 400mm is good for uk song birds so its go for the small stuff

i too started out with the two lenses you have, i didn't discover the canon efm 18-150mm until a fair bit later, after i had the 100-400mm,
with the two lenses i was constantly changing between them as 55mm was a bit too tight and 45mm was a bit too wide for stuff, when i found out about the 18-150mm and got that i retired the two lenses to collect dust, well i gave the 15-45mm to my gf for her video stuff on her M50, the 55-200mm has recently found a place back in my shooting as a companion lens to the sigma 17-50mm ef

why am i mentioning the shorter range 18-150mm?, well if you are going to get the 100-400mm the 18-150mm is a much better fit than the two lenses you currently have, there is less over lap and it also fits in very well at the other end with the 11-22mm efm, if you ever need a super wide, its ben a useful little lens too

the 18-150mm also has a closer minimum focus distance to flowers and insects than the 55-200mm, optically they are around the same

so it might be a swap / trade in you might want to consider at a later date,

back to the search for a longer wildlife lens, the canon 75-300mm might be a lens that tempts you as its usually a cheaper lens for the 300mm, but be warned its often reported as soft at the long end, some like it so copy variations maybe a foot here, one to test for critical focus before you buy it of have a good return policy if its your only choice

the 150-600mm c sigma, i have this lens too, i waited till i really needed it as i knew by its weight and size it was going to be a tripod lens for me (53 years old now), the extra 200mmis most definatly worth it, it works very well on the M50 with the canon adapter
(i get all my adapters second hand as there is very little to go wrong with them, i have one on every ef / ef-s lens)

as you already have the 55-200mm there is little point in going for the 55-250 as its just a small improvment in focal, i've not used any other long lenses over the 200mm mark than the ones mentioned, quite simply the sigma 100-400mm c has been so good i had no need to look elsewhere other than going that bit longer for jupiter and saturn
nor could i realistically afford a longer lens or a higher quality optic at that mm, also the weight of the higher end lenses like the canon ones have quite a bit more weight

another option that might be cheaper is sigma's EX range, they are an older series, the Art lenses of their day, i have a couple of them, including the incredibly sharp 50-150mm EX OS APO ƒ2.8, i havent looked into getting the longer ones other than a curiosity to what they build back then as i had pure focal legnth covered in the C versions but their APO lenses are a bit special though, so you may find a bargin out there, the 50-150mm i got was a brand new old stock lens never used, couldnt hit the buy it now button fast enough,

so the choice really is how much weight do you fell like carrying around if you are a walk about shooter, wll money might be a concern but hey, you don't need both kidneys?

One of the latest images i took on the 100-400mm c, a small british wren

 

Thank you. Looks like I need to look out for a second hand one then! Since I googled this the other day I'm being flooded with adverts for many different resellers. Bit terrified of spending that much without knowing how reputable they are. Know of any good sites I can look for used lenses?

 

Hey, thank you so much for this brilliant reply! Will definitely check that site out. and look out for those two sigma lenses I think. I bought a Canon ef-m 22mm f/2 STM lens yesterday on Prime Day as a wider lens, so I think, from reading your message the two sigmas may be the best to complement the three I've got now. That picture of the wren is stunning by the way! How far away were you out of interest? That's definitely high on my list on that basis. Thank you.

 

A very nice image, Caladina, it appears it is suffering a little flatulence.

 

around 20 meters away,
bit further on this one,

 

pushing the 150-600mm + x2 extender to its limits with a simple jpeg on the M50, not too bad as its from north london looking south