Best camera lens five inches or less fully extended

[trailboss]

I'm going to a monster truck show at Ford Field, i'll be in the 27th row from the field.  My question is what would be the best lens five inches or less when fully extended to use on a 70D camera.  Right now the only lens I have is five inches or less a 10-20mm.

[kvbarkley]

If you want longer reach, the EF-S 55-250 is 4.4 inches. I doubt that is fully extended, though.

The EF-S 18-200 is only 6.4 " extended.

[ebiggs1]

The Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM  C is around 4 inches.  But I usually don't use the word "best" when describing all-in-one zooms.  IMHO, none of them are 'best'.  I am guessing there is a restriction on what camera gear you are allowed?  So you want something that covers a large range?

Of course I have been under the same restrictions many times in the past.  Is this a sport you like and are going to attend as much as possible in the future?  I am going to suggest a different route for you.  The Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II Digital Camera.  I have one and it goes everywhere I can't take my 1Dx.

Sometimes it isn't the lens that is the issue.  It is the camera itself.  Check out the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II Digital Camera with its 24-105mm f2 lens which is included.

[Waddizzle]

At five inches, or less, you probably do not want to use a DSLR. Consider a bridge camera, which cost roughly the same price as most consumer grade, telephoto lenses.

[TCampbell]

Ford Field's camera policy doesn't say anything about extended vs. non-extended.  I generally find those doing the inspection are looking at a camera "as is" ... they're usually aren't grabbing it and fiddling with it.

Canon makes a special "Diffactive Optics" version of the 70-300...

EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

Whereas Canon's "L" series lens have a red stripe/ring around the front of the lens barrel to indicate that it's an L series lens, the "DO" lenses get a green stripe/ring around the front of the lens barrel.

The point of diffractive optics is to allow for a much more compact lens than would otherwise be needed to achieve the focal lengths.  

Canon's spec page lists the length of this lens at 3.9" ... but roughly .3" fit inside the camera when mounted.  So the bit that sticks out is 3.6" long.  

The lens DOES EXEND longer... but there is a zoom-lock switch that you can engage to prevent it from extending.

If this is a one-time thing, then I'd consider renting one.  Rental is about $50 for 3 days... or about $70 for a week (rounded off price ... I looked at LensRentals and BorrowLenses websites.)

The "bridge" camera is a good suggestion.  That would be something like a Canon Powershot SX60 HS.  The whole camera body is 4.5" front to back (not just the lens) ... but again... that's the size when retracted, not extended.  I don't see extended lengths specified anywhere.  But the lens zooms to 247mm... in "35mm equivalent" (since this camera has a smaller sensor) that works out to 1365mm ... or in APS-C equivalence that's 2184mm.  So it's huge telephoto (optically it's not really going to compete and it is a tiny sensor camera).