Zoom-Zoom! New Lens 55-200mm!

I was really excited to get this new 55-200mm lens.  It was well reviewed here so I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  It has been some time but I decided to put up a few examples of the difference between 55mm, which was the max zoom of my old lens, and 200mm.  So here goes:

Here is my chuggy at 55

and here he is at 200mm:

Obviously Chuggy was overly excited about my new lens!  I love getting a nice close shot of the kids expression and trying to capture the moment.  I also loved a blurred background so that the focused image stands out, but I could never do that before without getting in the kids face.  Now I can be far away and get a really natural shot of their expressions.

Here is another one at 55mm:

and again at 200mm:

This lens is great in being able to get a picture of what you want.  At 55mm you can't even tell there is a bird in the photo, but at 200 it is much more obvious.  Below is an even better example

55mm:

and again at 200mm:

Obviously with animals that will run away if you get too close, or even children that run away, it is beneficial to stay at a distance, but it makes it hard to get a good shot.  This new lens allows me to zoom in on the object or animal or child and get a nice clean shot and get the blurred background effect that I want.  

Anyway it has been a lot of fun to play with the lens and hopefully it will improve my photos.  The only problem is when your in a tight area or standing close to something you want to take a pictur of, you either have to back away or you just can't get the shot without changes lenses.