A Canon RF 300-600mm f/4-5.6L IS USM on the Horizon
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Non-sense: 1200mm is a "special" lens that sells close to zero. 400mm is a normal tele focal length.
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Oh dear. Are you deliberately missing the point? Why fixate on 400mm when we are discussing a lens that goes to 600mm?
Hint: f/5.6 is just a ratio. At 600mm it equates to a roughly 107mm diameter front element. Which is approximately 2.25x the area of a 400mm f/5.6 (~9016mm^2 versus ~4007mm^2) - a lot more glass, with implications for cost. To say nothing of zoom versus prime, non-IS versus IS, or inflation.
Extra hint: I bring up the 1200 as an extreme example to show how ridiculous your "point" was. Clear enough now?
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Just to drive @scyrene's point home, a 600mm f/5.6 needs the same size front element as a 300/2.8. A 600/5.6 would also need more glass behind it, and a longer barrel. Plus we're talking about a zoom lens, not a prime. So the 100-300/2.8 is a reasonable comparator.
300mm is also a normal tele focal length. What did the various EF 300/2.8 lenses cost, compared to the 400/5.6?
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Of course I understand, and I'm also taking the comparison to the other extreme. It just seems to me that Canon is exaggerating the prices of these lenses; Nikon currently has high-quality "intermediate" options, and I think that's what's missing.
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The RF300-600mm zoom is likely to be Canon’s mid price “answer” to the Nikon PF lenses.
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They both had/have expensive versions. Nikon thought what was missing was mid-range versions of 600mm and 800mm lenses still costing thousands of dollars, targeting the high end of the market. Canon thought what was missing was inexpensive versions of 600mm and 800mm lenses costing under a thousand dollars, targeting more the consumer side of the market.
Whose strategy is best? Canon had double-digit growth of camera revenue and profit last year, and a high single digit growth in unit volume. Nikon posted losses in camera revenue and profit (attributed to exchange rates and tariffs, but somehow those didn’t affect Canon?). They did have a high single digit growth in unit volume…which they said was mainly due to low cost units.
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Just wish-casting, I hope this 300-600L, if we get it, is not too much higher than the ballpark of $7k. Only have so much budget for it, and at least from this topic it seems like a number of people feel similarly.
Personally I think it makes more sense to have a longer L option that's not the 100-300L with a 2x teleconverter selling at ~$11k. A $7k-ish Canon 300-600 f/5.6 L VCM with internal zoom would probably be a great competitor to the huge $6600 Sigma 300-600 f/4. The Sigma seems to have made some waves, though I can't say I have the sales numbers. An ~$11k 300-600 f/5.6 would be a lot less appealing to me at least lol.
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Agree but $6k doesn't really look a "mid price" to me (that's the Sigma 300-600 f4!). Around $4k would be more ok.
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As Neuro reminded us above, a 600 f/5.6 is essentially the same size as a 300 f/2.8, which can be a good guide - the MSRP of the last EF 300 f2.8 was over $6k. A zoom is likely to be more expensive than a prime. Add to that more than 15 years of inflation. Okay maybe this one won't be L quality but I think you're going to be disappointed, and not because Canon is greedy but because your desires are unrealistic. All you're really saying is you don't want to spend above $4k. Incidentally the Sigma price is irrelevant if it can't be used on RF bodies.
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Look, I'd love to have a 600mm at f/4 for $4k too while we're at it lol. But where we're actually at, the RF 70-200 f/2.8 Z is $3300, and a 300 f/2.8 (or 600 f/5.6) has some huge elements and length to add to the front of that type of package. It's probably gonna be at least twice as expensive.
We have an RF 100-300 f/2.8 L with the same front element size requirement as a 600mm f/5.6 and it's almost $11k. I (perhaps wishfully) think it makes more sense for Canon to have price differentiation vs. that for a new lens, so I'm optimistic it will be a good bit lower (also a 2x vs. a 3x zoom). But as of today, $11k is what actually exists in the RF lineup right now for the most similarly-sized RF lens to this hypothetical 300-600mm.
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Latest rumors are that the lens will be a constant f5.6 with VCM design. Rumored time line is sometime in 2026. Was hoping for a spring 2026 announcement, but I am not sure on this one.
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CR made a post referencing it: https://www.canonrumors.com/what-we-expect-canon-to-announce-in-the-coming-months/
Honestly a nice internal zoom with a VCM would be great imo.
My post here was referring to that article:
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