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The dog days of July are nearly upon us. Historically, but not always, not much happens during July. It's a slow month for retailers, and usually a slow month for announcements. There have been no roadmaps of any kind presented to anyone that is usually privy to them.
No one knows if the tariffs will delay new product announcements, or if the supply chain is once again being challenged to keep the negative impact of the tariffs down. We think this is more of an issue with camera bodies than it is with lenses.
It'd be nice if things could get back to “normal”.
New Cameras
So far in 2025, we have seen the EOS R50 V and PowerShot V1 announced. Both cameras are very good, even if they didn't excite photographers as much as videographers.
We do expect to see new R series camera bodies as well as Cinema EOS cameras announced in Q4. Whenever new cameras are announced, it will be a few of them at once, like we've seen in the past with both full-frame and APS-C cameras.
Pushing camera announcements late into Q4 and not shipping them until 2026 is highly probable in our opinion.
New Lenses
Last year Canon announced 7 new lenses, with the RF 28-70 f/2.8 IS STM, RF 24mm f/1.4L VCM, RF 50mm f/1.4L VCM and RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Z being announed in Q4.
As for 2025, Canon has an announced the RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM, RF-S 14-30mm f/4-6.3 IS STM PZ and the RF 20mm f/1.4L VCM. So it wouldn't surprise us to see 3-5 more lenses announced in the last quarter of this year.
We do think there is a “backlog” for lack of a better word, of new lenses to be announced. There are a lot of claims of lenses being tested in the wild, from new RF-S lenses up to new super telephoto lenses. Though we think the latter will be for 2026 at the point with all the big sporting events happening next year.
New Firmware
Both the Canon EOS R1 and Canon EOS R5 Mark II are overdue for new firmware. We think the latter is holding things up. There is a big body of evidence that the EOS R5 Mark II is still full of bugs and there are a lot of power issues when using the camera in the cold, and not just the extreme cold.
With the many reported bugs in the R5 Mark II, we're not sure how you'd ad major features at the same time as fixing major bugs. We still don't have a lot of confidence in Canon's software development quality or efficiency.
Hopefully we get some answers soon, because as one photographer recently put it in regard to the EOS R5 Mark II;
My R52s don't even come with me anymore, they're too unreliable. The R5 works.
Obviously, the use cases for shooters may have a direct impact on how you feel about the camera.
Enjoy the Gear You Have
There are products a lot of people we know would like to see, but for the moment, we don't think that there are too many holes in the Canon lens lineup that can't be filled with RF and or EF mount lenses. We think people would prefer waiting a while until prices can be controlled in the right direction.
The #1 complaint about RF glass is always around pricing, even if there are some great value lenses in the lineup. Bringing prices back down through rebate programs or price drops will be a big challenge, and adding new gear to the lineup with uncertainty doesn't seem like the Canon way to do things.
We have reported a lot of what's coming already, but it's the same story it has been for the last few years, we have no idea of when.
Bummer.
At the moment, I am doing exactly this. Mainly with my 85mm F2 and 70-200mm F4. There is one lens I´m experiencing difficulties with atm: 35mm F1.8. Sometimes, it doesn't seem to produce sharp images (shutter speed 1/300 and faster, ap. 2.8...) for a series of images. Than again, couple days later, everything seems to be in order. I don´t know whether the 45mp of the R5 is too demanding or if the there is a problem with the lens. Also, I kind of have the suspicion that with the 35mm F1.8 and the R5 sensor, images above ISO 1600 seem to be very soft. Since I don't have enough technical grasp on this matter, I wonder if this could be true or if I am just off fantasizing in order to find an explanation. I´ve always loved this lens (especially with my EOS R) but atm it is giving me headaches. If anyone has the same experience or a solution/ explanation, please let me know.
The last lens I bought dates back to July 2023 (RF 85mm F2), but in 2024 I upgraded from the R to the R5. I currently have the RF 50mm F1.4 VCM for rent. It really is an absolute lovely lens, but I´m not quite sure whether I want to purchase it. I'll probably hold out and wait to see if Canon delivers a 85mm F1.4 VCM or a mkii of the 28-70mm F2 (trim the weight please!) or a 70-125/ 150mm f2. The latter one would be a reason to break the bank and purchase them if the weight is acceptable (something in the range like the Sony 28-70mm F2) Other than those lenses, there are none that are to my interest atm.
As for the lens portfolio to grow (without any personal interest), I´d hope for a 35mm F1.2, 200-500mm F4 L and TS lens to be announced soon.
I took the s9 out last night for the first time - and had a joy of time using something...well different, and full of features canon will never*(?) give you. My shooter friend is going sony for other reasons - zv-e1 because he is focusing on small form factor, high quality/cinema video and AF. He also has a r5 and r8- so that says something there. The canons lens jail has pissed us off royally. The sigma BF inspired me to seek out a small FF body to get that Iq jump I always knew I wanted vs. canon crop. (That said, my m50 and m62 have treated me very well and will not be retired.) I can move the histogram anywhere i want on the screen, overlays for multiple ratios, and a metric ton of ui/function options. Nice! Even the way that you can change the size of your focus point with the control wheel is nicely done.
The S9 basic design isn't great at all, but the features are sublime. In comparison, my m62 has been in a smallrig cage for a long time- and i immediately bought one for the s9 to solve its abysmal handling otherwise. And aside from the lens hood, its the same general size profile as the m62 with a smallrig cage and a 11-22 for example. Man I love that setup, the cage makes it into a different experience.
I'm not building out a new system - the goal / my use case was a SMALL ff walk around 50mm. See I've been stuck shooting my 50 1.4 at 2.8 for over 10 years....wider than that and it becomes very unreliable. Well..now I am shooting at 1.8 and everything is sharp all the time, and easy access to luts/ lumix labs to cut down my editing times and shoot directly towards moods. Also to be able to try out lenses- sigma especially - that I simply did not have access to as a canon shooter. I did not go with sony as the a7c does not fit the design I was looking for (m62 /sigma BF) style body.
I can concede that L mount has its own lens selection issues - however the smugness of canon and the direction they took with the long overdue 50mm 1.4 guaranteed that another OEM was getting my money. Having access to all sigma glass was priority, and hopefully the tammy 35-150 will get a L release someday. But for now the goal was reached.
That all being said, I freed myself from canon lens jail. 👍 😛 ALL sigma lenses are now in my purview, and that feels WONDERFUL. Maybe one day I'll go sony if they produced a body that I want and exclusively place a 35-150 on it. Z5ii is fantastic but also does not have access to sigma ff lenses. and its not compact. My canon loyalty was rewarded with the weak RFS line, no re-release of my beloved 22f2, expensive AF lens prices, and the 1400.00 covered up busted optics 50 1.4 ripoff debacle. Life is too short to keep waiting on canon anything. Get the tools you need/want and get your work done. Fin.
I headed into 2025 eyeing on jumping to full frame to benefit from higher tier standard lenses and was waiting for the R63 announcement to do so.
The multiple change in expected announcement dates made me pick up a second hand R8 to use with the few L lenses I managed to get lately and I'm perfectly fine with what I got for now and the savings it brings.
A lot of manufacturers are probably playing the waiting game now that the first half of the year is already over
This is one of the examples... the mountains are really soft...The pic is not sharp.
I checked all the settings several times:
1. tripod --> sturdy, because images taken with the 85mm, 70-200mm (at 200mm) and even 100-500mm (at 500mm) turned out to be sharp. (well 500mm in crop mode is just a little off...)
2. IS was turned off
3. according to the camera, manual focus was set --> in this case, sometimes the manual focus/ focus assist and focus peaking wouldn't react at all to the lens. I had to turn off, take it of the camera, mount it again and then it would work.
The best I managed with the 35mm was this pic:
I have taken night shots with the 35mm before, they all seem to be sharper...
I have that lens and use it frequently with no issues, but being cheaper I expect there's a lot more copy variation than with L lenses. Fwiw wide open it doesn't have the best sharpness so I stop down, just a bit if light is lacking (f/2), and often to f/4.
Now, that´ve mentioned it, I started thinking. I once had a temperature issue with the 35mm F1.8. It was in Galveston in 2023. We came out of a restaurant which was cooled down to 59 °F. The outside temperature was still at 100°F (during the day it was 111°F) and the lens immediately fogged up inside once I left the restaurant. It gave me a couple of interesting shots, but I ultimately switched to the RF 85mm F2. Interestingly, the 85mm wasn't affected by the temperature change at all. This might have been case here, too. I took the pics from the doorstep of our vacation home. So the lens very quickly went from inside temp to outside temp... I don´t know the difference exactly, but there probably was a 10°C difference.
Thx for insight!
I do the same. I rarely use the lens at F1.8, usually I stop down to 2.2 or 2.8. For me, 2.8 is the lens´ sweet spot.