Best Telephoto Camera Lenses of 2025

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Telephoto camera lenses are a popular choice for photographers who want to capture distant subjects with clarity and detail. These lenses have a longer focal length than standard lenses, allowing the photographer to magnify the image and bring it closer. They are ideal for wildlife and sports photography, as well as for capturing landscapes from a distance. Telephoto lenses are available in a range of sizes and prices, from affordable consumer models to professional-grade lenses that can cost thousands of dollars. They are compatible with a variety of camera brands and models, making them a versatile addition to any photographer's toolkit.
At a Glance: Our Top Picks
Top 10 Telephoto Camera Lenses
Big Mike's 420-1600mm Telephoto Lens
The Big Mike's Telephoto Lens offers incredible versatility for capturing distant subjects with its impressive zoom range of 420mm to 1600mm. This lens is perfect for wildlife and sports photography, allowing you to get closer to your subjects without disturbing them. Its compatibility with various Canon cameras means you can easily attach it to your existing gear. With a sophisticated f/8.3 aperture, you can expect sharp, clear images, even at long distances. Plus, the manual focus feature gives you complete control over your shots, ensuring you capture every detail beautifully.
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens
The Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens is a great choice for amateur photographers looking for a budget-friendly telephoto lens. It features a DC Autofocus Motor, 4.9' Minimum Focus Distance, and 58mm Filter Thread Diameter. It has a 32- to 8-degree diagonal angle of view and improved mechanism for smoother zooming. Customers have praised its sharpness and color, as well as its auto focus capabilities. It is an excellent value for the price.
JINTU 420-1600mm Telephoto Lens
The JINTU Telephoto Lens is designed for capturing stunning long-distance shots, perfect for sports and wildlife photography. With its impressive 2X teleconverter, you can extend your reach to an incredible 1600mm, allowing you to photograph distant landscapes and elusive creatures with ease. This lens is compatible with a wide range of Canon EOS cameras, making it versatile for various users. Built with a robust metal body and advanced glass coatings, it ensures exceptional clarity while offering full control through manual focus, so you can achieve the perfect shot every time.
Canon Telephoto Zoom Lens with 75-300mm Focal Length
This Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens is made up of 13 elements in 9 groups with a focal length of 75-300mm 1:4-5.6. It has a front group rotating extension system with Micromotor for focus adjustment, the lens construction provides 32° 11' - 8° 15' diagonal angle of view and closest focusing distance of 1.5m/ 4.9 ft. It is a great choice for SLR camera lenses.
JINTU 420-800mm f/8.3-F16 Telephoto Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras
The JINTU 420-800mm MF Super HD Telephoto lens is a lightweight, solidly built lens with a full metal body and a compact size of 10.6 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches. It offers ultra-high-definition image quality with Japan's design, multi-coated low-dispersion glass, and oxidation on the lens body for paint loss and wear resistance. This lens is compatible with Canon Digital SLR Cameras, making it perfect for wildlife or nature photography, sports, and moon shots. It comes with a 2-year warranty and is manual with no auto-focus feature.
Lightdow 420-800mm f/8.3 Manual Zoom Super Telephoto Lens
The Lightdow 420-800mm f/8.3 Manual Zoom Super Telephoto Lens is a great choice for those looking for a budget-friendly telephoto lens. It features multi-coated low-dispersion glass, anti-reflection coating, and manual focus telephoto zoom lens for DSLR SLR cameras. It is compatible with Canon EF and EF-S mountings and comes with a T-mount adapter for easy installation. Customers have praised the lens for its impressive image quality, solid construction, and affordability.
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens is a renewed lens with a f/4-5.6 maximum aperture, compatible with Canon DSLR Cameras, and comes with a 58mm UV filter for lens protection. The improved mechanism makes zooming smoother. It works well with Canon Rebel and EOS models, as well as full-frame cameras.
Lightdow 420-800mm Telephoto Lens
The Lightdow Telephoto Lens offers a focal range of 420-800mm, allowing you to capture distant subjects like wildlife, the moon, and landscapes in stunning detail. This fully manual lens provides you with complete control over focus, enabling you to create unique images tailored to your vision. While it requires manual adjustments for optimal settings, this feature enhances your photography skills. Additionally, it is compatible with various Canon EOS Rebel models, making it a versatile choice for Canon users looking to elevate their photography experience.
JINTU 500mm/1000mm Telephoto Lens
The JINTU Telephoto Lens is designed for capturing stunning long-distance images, making it perfect for sports and wildlife photography. Its lightweight design means you can easily take it on your adventures. With high-quality imaging capabilities, this lens produces a beautiful bokeh effect, enhancing your photos with a pleasing background blur. Additionally, the included 2X teleconverter effectively doubles the lens's reach, allowing you to photograph distant landscapes or celestial objects with ease. This manual focus lens gives you full control over your shots, ensuring you can achieve the perfect focus every time.
BENOISON 420-800mm Telephoto Lens
The BENOISON Telephoto Lens is a manual focus lens designed specifically for Canon DSLR cameras. With a focal length range of 420-800mm, it allows you to capture stunning wildlife or moon shots from a distance. The lens features a fixed aperture of F/8.3-16, providing clarity in various lighting conditions. Its EF/EF-S mount ensures easy compatibility with a wide range of Canon models without the need for additional adapters. Built with high-quality materials, this lens is durable and perfect for outdoor photography enthusiasts looking to enhance their skills.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. WHAT is A telephoto lens good for?
Telephoto lenses have longer focal lengths and are great for bringing distant scenes and subjects closer. Like wide-angle lenses, they come in both prime (fixed focal length) and zoom varieties.
2. What lens is best for zoom?
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master OSS More than anything, though, this is a lens that fully deserves its G (Gold) stamp and high place on our best zoom lenses list. It's pretty sharp with the aperture wide open and improves throughout its aperture range – albeit most astrophotographers will be at the opened-up end.
3. What is telephoto lens in camera?
A telephoto lens is a long-focus lens that allows photographers to utilize a focal length that is in fact shorter than the lens' physical length. A telephoto lens will attach to the camera body of your SLR or DSLR camera, such as those manufactured by Canon, Nikon, and other leading brands.
4. Which is better telephoto or zoom lens?
Zoom simply means that the focal length (apparent magnification) of the lens can be changed, ie, it looks like it can look at things either closer up or further away by adjusting it. Telephoto, roughly, means that the lens has a relatively narrow field of view, thus it can be used to look at things further away.
During our telephoto camera lense research, we found 16 telephoto camera lense products and shortlisted 10 quality products. We collected and analyzed 18,109 customer reviews through our big data system to write the telephoto camera lenses list. We found that most customers choose telephoto camera lenses with an average price of $105.21.
The telephoto camera lenses are available for purchase. We have researched hundreds of brands and picked the top brands of telephoto camera lenses, including Big Mike's, Canon, JINTU, lightdow, BENOISON. The seller of top 1 product has received honest feedback from 1,323 consumers with an average rating of 4.9.

Alan Eaton is a seasoned writer whose expertise is in anything related to electronics, such as headphones, monitoring equipment, computer, and so on, built over a 15-year career in the technology industry. Working in the trade during his youth, he accumulated a great deal of knowledge about machinery.