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Photographer and veteran Olympic shooter Jeff Cable is at the Olympics again, and he’s given us another behind-the-scenes look at Canon's professional services setup at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan. Cable’s just released a new blog post, which takes us on an exclusive tour of Canon’s Canon Professional Services (CPS) loaner room at the Main Press Center in Milan. And like most other global events, such as FIFA and the Olympics, it is a Canon gear dream come true.
Canon never holds back when it comes to supporting the professionals who work these events. From what I recall, Canon states that in other Olympic Games, they pull equipment from all the CPS centers around the world to support the games, which explains why they can equip so much gear for specific periodic events.
This year’s Winter Games media center was massive, spanning four locations. The 2026 Winter Games media center consists of locations in Milan, Cortina, Levigno, and Tesero. As Jeff mentions, I can't imagine the logistical nightmare this presents for Canon and other manufacturers, as they would have to figure out which lenses and cameras to place in each location, how many staff members each location should have, and more. So unlike years past, the CPS center isn't a massive sprawling row upon row of equipment like we are used to seeing at these events, because they are split across 4 different locations.
It must have been a logistical nightmare for them (and the other camera companies), trying to figure out what gear to provide and determining the proper staff levels at each location.
Jeff writes about stepping into the Milan location and feeling like a kid in a candy store. One of Jeff's photos shows a bank of high-end telephoto lenses lined up like a fleet of high-performance sports cars. “Heck, this is like looking at a fleet of cars lined up,”
The center is lined with Canon's L series telephoto lenses, and the mental calculation on just how much value in the room is always staggering. Stacks of the Canon RF 800mm f/5.6 L IS USM primes, which cost nearly $19,000 apiece, as well as a healthy number of the fast RF 100-300mm f/2.8 L IS USM zooms, which cost around $10,600 apiece, and many RF 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM primes, which come in around $13,400 apiece. It's hard to wrap your mind around the investment that Canon and the other camera manufacturers make to ensure that the professionals get their images out to us.
The camera bodies that Canon brought to the event are just as impressive, with rows of brand-new EOS R1 flagship models (Jeff is shooting with two of these), R3s, R5 Mark II, R6 Mark II and III bodies, and Canon even made sure to support the professoinals that were still using DSLR's with the older 1D X Mark III DSLRs still on hand and as well, Canon also had a rack of legacy EF mount lenses on hand to support those photographers as well.
There are also walls of charging batteries for every one of these mirrorless cameras, and even a restricted back area where Canon repair specialists are quietly working on whatever comes in but no photos are allowed back there.
Jeff couldn’t resist using some of this glass for some of his own photos of the room. He used the brand-new RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM (announced just this month) for some wide-angle shots, and the brand-new RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM for some distortion-free versions of the same scene.
For more images and thoughts from Jeff, check out his blog, which details his work throughout the Olympic Games.
It's easy - they just charge us their sky high prices and we pay for the "investment". And, seeing them acts as free advertisements.
yes, it's always the first thing I do with a new battery type is to go out and get an aftermarket battery charger with a USB-C plug.
I think he means an external charger.
There is certainly a cost associated with supporting CPS everywhere that is 100% certain. and someone pays, they aren't a charity
Craig parses out that stuff, I'm just a peon.
I'm still in EF lens land - was there a non VCM version 2 stops slower recently released?
Charger =/= Power Supply but they usually get used interchangeably. I meant something that accepts USB-C input that charges a battery. Like look at that charging panel they setup. Would be way easier if they had USB-C chargers, not to mention more dual-chargers as well.
Right now I have a Smallrig dual USB-C charger that supports EL-E6P
I've used them from the R to the R5m2.
There's superior GaN chargers that are smaller and deliver more total power if needed
Sometimes just feels companies such as Canon are decades behind but if it works it works...