Rumors are slow, let’s talk RF lens wish lists

Mar 27, 2015
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I'm gonna put down more than three. I don't know how realistic these are, but I would like to have them anyway :p

-Wide angle lens that is light and has vignetting well under control
RF 15-35mm f4 IS

-A versatile medium zoom for landscapes that is a bit wider than at the lower and not too heavy
RF 20-70mm f4 L IS

-A HQ zoom that has a bit more reach and is bright enough to be used for shooting landscapes and occasional wildlife (larger mammals in the mountains or similar) and is not too heavy to be carried around as a second lens
RF 70-300mm f4 L IS (what do you guys thing about such a lens?)

-Relatively light and reasonably bright HQ telephoto lens
500mm f5,6 L DO IS

-Really bright wide angle lens that doesn't vignette too bad
14mm f1,4 L (16 or 18mm f1,2 could work as well :p)

-Macro lens over 150mm
RF 200mm f4 IS L MACRO

- Wide angle, wide aperture tilt-shift with AF (when not tilted)
RF 18 or 20 or 24mm f2,8 AF Tilt-Shift

-Maybe another really really bright lens with less vignetting in the range from 24 to 40mm
RF 40mm f1,0 L (is f1,0 possible for RF at this focal length?)

-A lighter version of 200-400?
RF 200-400mm f4 DO L IS
 
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I like the fact that Canon is trying some different and unique lenses to start on RF. I will likely continue using my EF lenses since they are all pretty great but would be interested in trying some different ones. A 12-24 f/4 (or similar) would be more interesting for me than just replacing the 16-35. Would love to see a prime in the 14 to 20 f/1.4 range for astro. Would also love to see something similar to Nikon's 500PF as that seems to be a pretty fabulous little lens that I could take on "white knuckle" airlines that have weight restrictions.
 
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cayenne

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Mar 28, 2012
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I shoot landscapes and enjoy nightscapes with the milky way as well. The 15-35 has close to 5 stops of vignetting in the corners...Petty extreme, but not horrible if shot at ISO 100 in the day (they would correct to noise levels of approximately iso 3200). But at night shooting at 3200 or 6400 to avoid star trails, pushing the corners pushes the noise quite high. (3200+5 stops= iso102,400) I can shoot the 16-35 at f/4, have greater depth of field, and the corners only have about 2.5 stops of vignetting. Comparing the daylight example, if I shoot the same shutter speed, I'd be at ISO 200 (f/4 vs f/2.8) but the corners would only be pushed to equivalent of ISO 1600 with corrections.

I've recently been shooting nightscapes with a tracker at lower isos (100-400) so less pushing of the corners tends to look better to my eye since I can keep them to a more reasonable value. I'm sure I could make nice photos with the RF15-35, but the value proposition wasn't there for me personally.

OH goodness...I didn't know it was THAT bad on vignetting....

C
 
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Del Paso

M3 Singlestroke
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Aug 9, 2018
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Oh boy... I have so many...
  • Tilt shifts (start with 17, 24, but I would really love to see a 35mm)
  • Are smaller (than the 28–70) ultra fast aperture zooms even possible, like a 24–50mm, 50–85mm @f/2?
  • 1.4 primes
  • 35mm 1.2L
  • 15–35 f/4L IS
  • TOTAL FANTASY LENS: 17–40mm f/4 TS-E ZOOM (I can dream ok?)
I'm dreaming exactly the same dream...
 
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zim

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Oct 18, 2011
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That's what I've been doing. I have the control ring adapter and the 40 pancake. It works, but in all honesty, I'd really prefer to lose the adapter as you lose a lot of the size advantage with the adapter. The 40 and the adapter is about the same length as the RF 35 IS STM, and for that size, I'd rather have the IS of the 35, and it's over a stop faster.
Agreed, that's what I'd do if i had an R# i think pancakes will be too long a time coming
 
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SteveC

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Sep 3, 2019
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Agreed, that's what I'd do if i had an R# i think pancakes will be too long a time coming

I know basically nothing about lens design, but who knows what sorts of pancakes are even going to be possible with a shorter distance in front of the sensor? Will focal lengths have to be longer? Shorter?

I know there is a 22mm EF-M pancake, and an EF-S 28mm pancake. so I'm going to WAG it as needing to be about 30-35mm, but, oddly enough they already have a non-pancake 35mm.
 
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Sep 18, 2019
10
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I know...

That said, they released a new 1DX and left Canon pro shooters with poor/outdated 50mm lenses and an old 135mm w/o IS. This is no so great if you've just bought the latest 1DX III as you're obviously involved in that system for many years to come.
I am replacing 1DX Mk II bodies with Mk III bodies as quick as I can (3 left) and a 50mm lens isn't even in my bag for what I shoot. This is a pro sports body, the best of the best with a mirror. I use them for fast action sports and there is only twice each year that a lens as small as a 70-200mm f/2.8L is mounted. Every weekend, my team and I select 300mm, 400mm or 600mm lenses and all are either f/2.8 or f/4 in the case of the 600s.

If we need to shoot a celebrity appearance, meet and greet, etc, I give out R5 bodies with RF glass. Sweet stuff and my clients love the results. This is when we use the 28-70mm f/2. We don't yet own a really wide zoom, but that would be next for us. 15-35mm?

As for needed glass for us, 300mm and 400mm in f/2.8 and 500 and 600 in f/4. The max diameter of the hood of a 400mm f/2.8L or 600mm f/4L is about as large as I can live with from a storage logistics standpoint. I still have to get the glass to the event!

Thoughts?
 
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I am replacing 1DX Mk II bodies with Mk III bodies as quick as I can (3 left) and a 50mm lens isn't even in my bag for what I shoot. This is a pro sports body, the best of the best with a mirror. I use them for fast action sports and there is only twice each year that a lens as small as a 70-200mm f/2.8L is mounted. Every weekend, my team and I select 300mm, 400mm or 600mm lenses and all are either f/2.8 or f/4 in the case of the 600s.

If we need to shoot a celebrity appearance, meet and greet, etc, I give out R5 bodies with RF glass. Sweet stuff and my clients love the results. This is when we use the 28-70mm f/2. We don't yet own a really wide zoom, but that would be next for us. 15-35mm?

As for needed glass for us, 300mm and 400mm in f/2.8 and 500 and 600 in f/4. The max diameter of the hood of a 400mm f/2.8L or 600mm f/4L is about as large as I can live with from a storage logistics standpoint. I still have to get the glass to the event!

Thoughts?
Sure, that's your use case. But, the 1D X is also used by reporter, journalists, (low light) events, etc. for different use cases. For them, a 50mm could be very useful. I mean it feels weird to me to release a new 1D X and at the same time not expecting any new lenses when some need replacement.
All zooms are fairly recent and top notch. Many primes have been updated the last few years but the 50mm and the 135mm. Imagine someone being in the market for a 1D X Mk III who also needs a 50mm, tough situation imho.
 
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Sep 18, 2019
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Sure, that's your use case. But, the 1D X is also used by reporter, journalists, (low light) events, etc. for different use cases. For them, a 50mm could be very useful. I mean it feels weird to me to release a new 1D X and at the same time not expecting any new lenses when some need replacement.
All zooms are fairly recent and top notch. Many primes have been updated the last few years but the 50mm and the 135mm. Imagine someone being in the market for a 1D X Mk III who also needs a 50mm, tough situation imho.
Agree 100%. Big/fast lenses fit with what I do, and I agree there are many other uses for the 1DX Mk III. But isn't that the direction the R Series of mirrorless bodies are headed? I am sure that Canon is a little strapped for engineering manpower when it comes to product development. I am kind of seeing a push toward the mirrorless side for new products and this seems to indicate to me that their product development staff is working on RF glass until a glaring shortfall would cause Canon to develop a replacement EF lens. I only have one EF 50mm f/1.4L, but it is good enough for me. Are the EF 50mm lens offerings so bad for photojournalism? I wasn't aware.
 
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Ziz

Zissou
Feb 13, 2020
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One of the key advantages of mirrorless that has been preached in recent years was the ability to reduce the size of the bodies and lenses. When every ounce and every cm counts for travel and street photogs, it seems all the non-tele lenses - you know, the ones you use all the time unless your main thing is wildlife or sports - only seem to be getting bigger.
Where is the small, fast (USM) L glass??
How about a nifty fifty smaller (in length) than the classic ef1.4
 
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I know basically nothing about lens design, but who knows what sorts of pancakes are even going to be possible with a shorter distance in front of the sensor? Will focal lengths have to be longer? Shorter?

I know there is a 22mm EF-M pancake, and an EF-S 28mm pancake. so I'm going to WAG it as needing to be about 30-35mm, but, oddly enough they already have a non-pancake 35mm.

It's actually 22mm in EF-m and 24mm in EF-s. I have both. The 24mm EF-s and 40mm EF are externally indistinguishable from each other except for the lettering on the (very short) barrel. Just like the 40, the 24 EF-s punches way above it's weight class in terms of IQ. It's quite excellent for the money and focuses down to 6 inches. The 22mm EF-m is also very good optically, and not expensive. I doubt that Canon would have much problem making a pancake 40 RF at f/2.8. From what I've gathered about the 35mm IS STM in RF (which I also have) is most of the size is actually the image stab. They could easily add one more slider switch to switch the one control ring between manual focus or control ring on a 40 RF pancake. Both of the pancakes have minimal lens elements, and I doubt the back flange distance is really that much of an issue, otherwise, how would they make any long lens with even EF flange distance that could focus to infinity? If it were, then a 22mm EF-m pancake would be a real problem, and it's almost exactly the same length as the other two pancake primes. Heck, I'd even be OK with a prime that was 1/4 inch longer than the current pancake primes if they needed to do that. I just love the 40mm field of view on full frame and want a reasonably small and light prime with at least f/2.8
 
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LSXPhotog

Automotive, Commercial, & Motorsports
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Apr 2, 2015
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After my 3rd race using the R5, I can tell you right now that the lens that I really NEED the most, is a new 135L and it MUST be compatible with the teleconverters. The 135L has long been my top low light motorsports lens and I have always valued its size, weight, and functionality with the teleconverters. Sadly, there's really no way around it - the 135L is not a very good performer on the R5 and R6. Not being able to use this lens at the top frame rates these cameras deliver, as well as no supporting the best performance from the viewfinder is really unfortunate. I have also discovered that face and eye detection don't appear to work as well either on this lens.

For me, this is a practical want and more along the lines of an actual need. It's the only EF lens I own that really suffers on this camera and when I travel for work, I favor taking this lens and the 100-400 over using that room for my 70-200. I guess if this doesn't end up coming to fruition, I will just pick up an RF 70-200 and sell off my EF 70-200.
 
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