I'm most excited about the new Bluetooth clicker BR-E2 which hopefully will actually focus properly with eye tracking whereas the first one was hopeless. No reviews yet but I've preordered it and I hope the customisable buttons can be set up like a back button focus button with one for eye tracking AF and another for spot AF.

I also like the RF 20-50 and will probably buy one eventually

The original RF caps are a terrible design and Canon are only now fixing their f' up: bizarre for a company renowned for excellent design and ergonomics (except for their laughably rubbish software and U.I. (better than the other Japanese companies but that's not saying much))

Bluebirds come in pairs.

Ladies first:





R5II and 200-800; the female at about 350 (the male at 800).

AlanF said:

You are a member of a small esteemed group who will cheerfully admit not to being right. The other practice is to double down by either moving the goal posts like "the branch it is perched on is not..." or just deny "it's actually an Inner Mongolian Little Brown Job as you should know from the part of the claw that is hidden round the back which ChatGPT can't see".

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"You are a member of a small esteemed group who will cheerfully admit not to being right".
Probably, just exclude "cheerfully" and you would be right again. I don't cheer on my mistakes - I just learn .

john1970 said:

I ordered the lens from B&H at 9:02 a.m EDT and also separately ordered 10 of the new RF rear caps. I will likely also need to order additional rear caps, but B&H set the maximum at 10.

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Interesting, I ordered 30 of the new caps from B & H. They confirmed the order, just pending on delivery. IMHO, this is an update that only makes sense if you go wholesale. Perhaps it is because I didn't order immediately after the preorder button was available and hence didn't have the "first batch" constraint.

Acpoynts said:

I’m genuinely impressed with Canon’s updated RF rear dust cap. It’s a thoughtful, user‑driven improvement that shows they’re paying attention to real‑world feedback. At the same time, it’s hard not to ask why a change this sensible took so long to arrive. Regardless, it’s a welcome refinement and a step in the right direction.

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I was very surprised.

I had accepted the inconvenience of the original RF Dust Cap design as a "fact of life". Got used to being careful and taking a bit longer to swap lenses because of the cap design.

Just hit the pre-order button on a ton of them. Will replace all of the MK I caps I own.

I didn’t see this thread until now, so I’ll quote these two replies here:

m4ndr4ke said:

Judging by the photograph on dpreview, it looks like the new cap just lacks the protrusions we can cut on the original, to make it fit in more positions.

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neuroanatomist said:

Indeed, only two tabs. But I have no desire to cut down the number of lens caps I have to save $8 each.

View attachment 229463

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Del Paso said:

Will we need the latest R1/R5 II firmware for this new lens?

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No, I tried it yesterday with my original R6 without issues or warnings.
EOS RV cameras should allow further adjustments to zoom speeds though.

My hope for compact flat top FF ILC had died when I read about the active fan and I saw the pictures.

I wonder if they could have made its screen larger.

Anyway, maybe the R8 Mk II will do the trick, but likely not. If not I'll just get a discounted R8.

If I wasn't in Canon land I might have actually looked into the Nikon ZR. It offers quite the intriguing package together with the also weather sealed 26mm pancake. If the ZR had the Z8 sensor I might have considered jumping ship.

I did solve the RF rear cap problem 6 years ago!

The MTF chart shows that the lens in the RF-S / Super 35 perspective is very homogeneous in terms of image quality: Maybe a good two-world lens or on e.g. an R6 a great 20-50 for wide and 32-80 in APS-C land if you need the 80mm ore a tighter close up.

Female Sylvia atricapilla
or Eurasian blackcap or Zwartkop or Fauvette à tête noire or Kapturka or
Mönchsgrasmücke.
R5m2 + RF100-500L + 1.4TC

Excellent series. Nicely done, Pieter.

LTT
R5m2 + RF 100-500L
@ 1/4000s, f/7.1, iso 16 000

AlanF said:

Fine shot of another one of my favourite birds. I want to go to Texel some time but I'm not travelling to the Schengen region while they are making us queue for hours.

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Thanks for the compliment.

Pitty that you will not come to Texel shortly. This time of year on Texel, the birds will be coming at you, no seeking necessary: All photo’s were taken this morning in less than 2 hours.

P-visie said:

Eurasian oystercatcher(Haematopus ostralegus) on the beach of the Dutch island Texel.

View attachment 229490

R5 Mk II + RF200-800mm, (slightly) cropped in post-processing.

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Fine shot of another one of my favourite birds. I want to go to Texel some time but I'm not travelling to the Schengen region while they are making us queue for hours.

Eurasian oystercatcher(Haematopus ostralegus) on the beach of the Dutch island Texel.



R5 Mk II + RF200-800mm, (slightly) cropped in post-processing.

Sanderlings (Calidris alba) on the beach of the Dutch island Texel.






All R5 Mk II + RF200-800mm, (slightly) cropped in post-processing.

Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) on the beach of the Dutch island Texel.









All R5 Mk II + RF200-800mm, (slightly) cropped in post-processing.

Traveler said:

It is actually a good design. Once you learn how much to rotate you don't have to look at the lens any more. Just find the mark on the cap with your finger

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I wouldn't go that far, EF rear caps were better, I just meant to say that I've got used to these. The fact that all my lenses are RF certainly helps.

EF rear caps have marks too, but they make no difference.

But yes, I confirm, I can attach RF rear caps without looking. However there's always the extra task of finding the notch, while EF rear caps can be attached "carelessly".

AlanF said:

My jokes aren't going down well today. B&H wrote that it has a flourine coating - flour is dusty so it would need a dust cap.

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Sorry, I had noticed the flourine, but didn't want to correct you, presuming it was a typo.

m4ndr4ke said:

Judging by the photograph on dpreview, it looks like the new cap just lacks the protrusions we can cut on the original, to make it fit in more positions.

Click to expand...

neuroanatomist said:

Indeed, only two tabs. But I have no desire to cut down the number of lens caps I have to save $8 each.

View attachment 229463

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Another failed joke by me. Neuro's reply about "to cut down" was to M4ndr4ke's post immediately above it to cut out part of the original RF cap. Neuro's could be taken two ways: cut out or cut down.

Del Paso said:

According to Canon (France + Germany), it has fluorine coating only on the front lens.
But, since the rear lens is protruding, a rear lens cap still is a necessity.

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My jokes aren't going down well today. B&H wrote that it has a flourine coating - flour is dusty so it would need a dust cap.

I wonder how this lens would compete with the EF 17-40 F4L at equivalent focal lengths both wide open and stopped down. Basically from 20mm to 40mm.

If you look at TDP crops, the 17-40 holds its own at high res, even vs the RF 24-70 2.8L @ 24mm.

Something tells me with the size of this new 20-50L AND its published MTF curves, it might not perform quite as well at least in terms of test charts. I hope i'm wrong because ive been dreaming of such a lens for a while.

I've owned the 17-40L on and off since 2005 with my most recent $200 copy being a bargain given it it can resolve (after 20mm or so)