Canon RF 300-600mm f/5.6L IS USM, Here We Go Again

I don't render opinions based upon the masses. Many aren't willing and/or able to purchase and/or handle large, heavy, expensive lenses to shoot in the conditions that I do. The eye is the great discriminator and we have different standards.

By your logic the RF 200-800mm, which received a compiled 4.5 rating by 192 reviewers on B&H, is an excellent lens.?.? That is the same 4.5 rating that 480 viewers attribute to the RF 100-500mm. So, if the 200-800mm was more weather resistant does it deserve "L" status in your world?
So you reasoning is, that because a £2,000 lens does not match a $12,000 lens (including not having an f4 aperture) it is not worthy of being an 'L' lens.
You clearly dont understand how Canon assign the 'L' designation
 
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But then again, I've always had a bit more trouble with the R7 in that it is really hard to take advantage of the extra pixel density (shooting conditions have to be great).
That's true, my R7 can deliver great results with my EF 600mm III, just yesterday I used it with the 1.4x TC III and got good results. But often the conditions are already the limiting factor that undermines the maximum resolution technically achievable, be it small movements of e.g. a bird in low light or heat haze.
 
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If this zooms hit with these specs the market, and if it really is an L lens, dial me in. I would immediately upgrade my RF 200-800mm with it as a lighter combo when I don't want to carry my heavier 600mm prime. My main reason to replace the RF 200-800mm is its obvious fragility that prevents me to take it with me in more rugged environments, otherwise I still like this compact zoom.
 
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If it's based on the $10,000 RF 100-300 f2.8 why would it be well below $10,000 ? Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

I'd much rather have a version ii of the 100-300mm f2.8 with builtin 1.4x and 2x extenders and I would expect to pay accordingly
Well a good monopod takes care of the weight issue with the sigma…if only we could get an rf version. But the 100-300 went up $700, so is now $10,199. Zoom is wonderful and that was really the only way I could justify getting one was because it gives me a range that I can use for video too.
 
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200-500mm L f4 or 300-600mm L f4 (w IQ of the 100-300mm L f2.8) please --- don't care how heavy or how much... enough with the pedestrian lenses please... I don't even consider the 100-500mm worthy of L designation based on image quality

And the 100-500 has better image quality than 90% of the L lenses, including the 24-105 or 24-70. In that case, none of the L lenses deserve to be L.
 
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Okay, but the discussion is more around 500 / 5.6 and 600/6.3 lenses (latter being popular in recent zooms as well as Nikon's excellent PF prime), not 600 F/4s

Sigma's 500 5/.6 is barely larger than the 100-500 in its collapsed state and weighs about the same. Likewise for Nikon's 500 5.6. You lose the zoom, but I can't say that's a huge tradeoff -- most people tend to use zooms at their extremes. The 200-600 and 180-600 lenses are indeed larger and heavier. But non-telescoping and better light gathering for a thousand bucks less.

I own the Canon 100-500. It's *okay* and I've gotten some good photos with it. But between its relatively dark image, long zoom throw, telescoping nature, and the teleconverter weirdness - I just don't enjoy it that much. 70-200 Z with the 2x tele basically replaced that lens for me. And unfortunately for anything longer, you pretty much have to step up to the big whites with Canon. The middle ground is lacking, unfortunately doesn't seem to be a big priority for Canon.

Now this hypothetical 300-600 could be interesting and maybe fill that niche, but I highly doubt it'll be much less than $10k.

All of those 600 6.3 lenses are much bigger and heavier. And the Sigma is a fixed lens. You again forget that the 100-500 is meant to be a versatile lens, like a 70-200 with a longer focal length. Making it 2kg or a fixed prime would kill that design objective. Losing the zoom might not be a tradeoff for you but it would be for me and others.

I agree that Canon is lazy and feels like lost it's passion when it comes to lens designs. For example Nikon, (a much smaller company in worst financial situation) managed to design brand new 400 2.8 and 600 F4 primes with teleconverters and also a line of amazing 6.3 primes, taking over the telephoto lead. In the meantime, Canon managed to "solder" an RF adapter to the 6 year old EF designs. Canon used to be a leader in telephoto lenses, now it feel like they are lagging behind Nikon, Sony and even Sigma soon.
 
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Okay, but the discussion is more around 500 / 5.6 and 600/6.3 lenses (latter being popular in recent zooms as well as Nikon's excellent PF prime), not 600 F/4s

Sigma's 500 5/.6 is barely larger than the 100-500 in its collapsed state and weighs about the same. Likewise for Nikon's 500 5.6. You lose the zoom, but I can't say that's a huge tradeoff -- most people tend to use zooms at their extremes. The 200-600 and 180-600 lenses are indeed larger and heavier. But non-telescoping and better light gathering for a thousand bucks less.

I own the Canon 100-500. It's *okay* and I've gotten some good photos with it. But between its relatively dark image, long zoom throw, telescoping nature, and the teleconverter weirdness - I just don't enjoy it that much. 70-200 Z with the 2x tele basically replaced that lens for me. And unfortunately for anything longer, you pretty much have to step up to the big whites with Canon. The middle ground is lacking, unfortunately doesn't seem to be a big priority for Canon.

Now this hypothetical 300-600 could be interesting and maybe fill that niche, but I highly doubt it'll be much less than $10k.

All of those 600 6.3 lenses are much bigger and heavier. And the Sigma is a fixed lens. You again forget that the 100-500 is meant to be a versatile lens, like a 70-200 with a longer focal length. Making it 2kg or a fixed prime would kill that design objective. Losing the zoom might not be a tradeoff for you but it would be for me and others.

I agree that Canon is lazy and feels like lost it's passion when it comes to lens designs. For example Nikon, (a much smaller company in worst financial situation) managed to design brand new 400 2.8 and 600 F4 primes with teleconverters and also a line of amazing 6.3 primes, taking over the telephoto lead. In the meantime, Canon managed to "solder" an RF adapter to the 6 year old EF designs. Canon used to be a leader in telephoto lenses, now it feel like they are lagging behind Nikon, Sony and even Sigma soon.
 
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If this zooms hit with these specs the market, and if it really is an L lens, dial me in. I would immediately upgrade my RF 200-800mm with it as a lighter combo when I don't want to carry my heavier 600mm prime. My main reason to replace the RF 200-800mm is its obvious fragility that prevents me to take it with me in more rugged environments, otherwise I still like this compact zoom.
There do not appear to be any reports of the 200-800 breaking since April. Have you seen any?
 
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It was at the join. I did not see the lens but the bend was sufficient to cause major sharpness issues.
I wonder if, for Euro 900+, Canon will replace the high quality polymer -aka plastic- flange with an improved metal version.
Because, if this incident occurs a second time, cumulated costs of repairs will exceed the value of the lens...(grey market price is currently Euro 1750).
Without a guarantee it won't happen a third time...
 
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Sinceramente, siento que canon esta bastante complicado para tomar desiciones y en muchos casos pareciera que solo intenta reaccionar a la competencia. En este rumor en particular, un 300-600 si realmente tiene un precio cercano a 10.000, lo que sería lógico si es similar al 100-300, me parece simplemente ridiculo. Ya se ha dicho suficiente sobre las ofertas de la competencia y creer que la letra L de por si eleva el precio 5 veces por solo 1/3 de diafragma, me parece increible. Seguramente venderan estos lentes a profesionales o fotografos adinerados, pero no creo que sea masivo. En todo caso me sigue pareciendo mas util el 100-300 2.8, con un 2X en caso de requerir mas alcance, que un 300-600. Obviamente pienso en el uso que yo le daria, fotografiando pajaros donde la luz es muy complicada (ecuador, colombia, etc), con un 300 2.8 podes intentar fotos de accion como picaflores en condiciones de mala luz, con un 5,6 ya puede ser complicado. Cito estos casos donde la distancia al sujeto suele no ser el problema, ya que las aves estan cerca, pero la luz es complicada. Como sea canon fabricara el lente que crea que puede ser el mejor negocio. Hoy sony esta por delante de canon en mi opinion, pero de todos modos todos los sistemas ofrecen buenos productos y con cualquier equipo se pueden hacer buenas fotos. Si hoy arrancara de cero, claramente canon no seria mi eleccion. Espero los proximos lanzamientos y los precios.
 
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If this zooms hit with these specs the market, and if it really is an L lens, dial me in. I would immediately upgrade my RF 200-800mm with it as a lighter combo when I don't want to carry my heavier 600mm prime. My main reason to replace the RF 200-800mm is its obvious fragility that prevents me to take it with me in more rugged environments, otherwise I still like this compact zoom.
Same here. I would trade-in my 200-800 mm for the 300-600 mm f5.6 L lens as well.
 
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