Sony ups the ante with the A7RVI and FE 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS

Sony has officially announced the 66.8MP back-illuminated stacked sensor A7R and their new telephoto lens 100-400mm f/4.5 lens. The lens weighs in at 1.84 kg, which will be about 2 kg with hood. I would be using such a lens most of the time with a 2xTC on it to give a 200-800mm f/9, which would be heavier than the RF 200-800mm f/6.3-f/9, and narrower through the shorter focal lengths.

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilce-7rm6/specifications
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Canon Officially Announces the RF 20-50mm f/4L IS USM PZ

Bryan/TDP provides a more complete description of the zoom functionality, which turns out to be both of the options that were debated (rocker switch vs. free rotation). That is consistent with what's suggested by the zoom markings on the lens.

When the zoom ring is rotated within the focal length numbers range, the zoom ring provides conventional manual control, though it [is] still electronically powered. Pulling back on the spring-loaded PZ/MZ zoom mode selector switch opens the gate, enabling zoom ring rotation into the W—T range, where the zoom ring electronically imparts adjustments at the rate selected by rotation angle.

Screenshot 2026-05-13 at 10.50.27 AM.png
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Canon Officially Announces the RF 20-50mm f/4L IS USM PZ

Is it possible for them to apply the same concept to a telephoto zoom? I sure it is possible!
I might be possible. Might not. The zooming groups in the RF 20-50/4 PZ are relatively small and still need to be driven by two Nano USMs.

Screenshot 2026-05-13 at 10.20.58 AM.png

The issue would be that a telephoto zoom (e.g., 70-200mm), the lens groups that would need to move with zooming are going to be much larger and heavier than those in the RF 20-50/4. Here are the zooming groups in the RF 70-200/2.8L Z, for example:

Screenshot 2026-05-13 at 10.16.51 AM.png

That zooming group is larger than the two focusing groups in that lens, and each focusing group has its own Nano USM. In other words, it might not be possible with Nano USM (though they could use Ring USM). The other issue is the travel distance. The zooming groups would need to move much further in a telephoto zoom, and that may present a problem for a repurposed AF motor, I'm not sure.

The other issue is a marketing one – the RF 70-200/2.8L Z lens already exists and with the PZ-E2 accessory mounted it is a Power Zoom lens meaning Canon already sells what you're asking for. But it's not a cheap setup...

OTOH, they could conceivably make an 70-200mm f/4L PZ lens to match the new 20-50/4L. Time will tell.
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Lens Dust Cap RF II – Canon's BIGGEST 13-May announcement

In addition to launching the EOS R6 V and the RF 20-50mm f/4L PZ lens today, Canon launched something even bigger. And I'm not being facetious!

Canon's Mark II rear lens cap, the Lens Dust Cap RF II, mounts just like EF rear lens caps – in any of the three orientations, not just one. The new rear cap costs $8 (same as the original replacement RF dust cap), and starts shipping on July 1st.



Note that B&H will not let you order more than 10. With Adorama, I was able to change the quantity to 22 and place the order.
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R5II and Video Pre-Roll

Hi All,

The R5II has a feature called pre-roll where the camera records 3 or 5 seconds of video to the buffer once the feature enabled. Once in video mode, pre-roll cannot be turned on and off. Once you set pre-roll on, it is on until you turn it off in the settings. This seems odd to me as it would wastes battery and potentially overheats the camera while waiting for a particular scene to develop. This is different from how pre-capture for stills is implemented where writing to the buffer begins with a half press of the shutter button. Canon must have had a reason for implementing pre-roll as they did. But I do not understand why. Does anyone have insight on this?

Don
In stills mode, Precapture forces you to hold down the shutter button halfway and then fully to keep shooting, in video land the record button is a toggle and has no half-way mode. So conceptually, pre-roll shouldn't require extra presses for it to work as people expect a record button to work.

Not only does it turn your camera into a space heater, it has a timeout as well, so you can't wait for half an hour.
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Canon RF 20-50mm f/4L IS USM PZ Specifications

I wish it went all the way to 70mm (like the Sony 20-70mm f/4 G) but compared to teh Sony: it is a power zoom, which is a plus, and it is optically stabilized, which is another plus. I'm in for one, I think.
All you have to do is wait for the RF 20-70.
Unlike the Sony, it could be an f/2,8, which would make more sense as a replacement for the current 24-70.
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Canon EOS R5 Mark II Firmware v1.3.0 Available (Sometimes)

Here's the direct download link, straight from Canon: https://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/1/0400011461/01/eosr52-v130-win.zip
I installed it on my R5m2 and so far so good. Precapture toggle works great: it even switches you from mechanical shutter to e-shutter and back automatically.
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