Originally posted by y0chang How is the 55-300mm on Full frame? Did you use crop mode? If it works well on full frame...that would be an affordable mid range zoom for me, and I regret selling it.
The close-up of the kudu above is uncropped (in FF mode) at 300mm. You can see what's left of the vignetting after correcting it in Lightroom.
I never use crop mode. There is a variable amount of vignetting. I'd say there's next to no vignetting around 190-230mm, and quite heavy vignetting at shorter focal lengths - but I think it varies a bit with focus distance, too. Even at its worst you will end up a with larger than APS-C image. Most of the time I can get away with a 5:4 or 16:9 crop. One thing I have meant to test, but have never gotten around to, is how much the hood influences the vignetting. I always shoot with the hood, but I would not at all be surprised if it at least partly is causing the vignetting at wider focal lengths.
Mine is the old SMC DA55-300. It's my lens of choice for safaris. Yes, it's too short at times, but there is no way I'm willing to carry a 150-450 when travelling, especially not on walks. Besides, a 55 mm that requires some cropping is still considerably wider than 150 mm - which means I can get away with only one body (I have a GR for even wider shots).