We have now heard from a couple of trustworthy sources that Canon plans to launch two RF-S lenses alongside the Canon EOS R7 this year.
At this time, we do not know what the lenses will be, but we have had a Canon RF 18-45mm f/4-5.6 IS STM on our roadmap for a long time, could this be an RF-S lens?
Canon Rumors in the past has been of the opinion that RF-S lenses don't make much sense, but we can't be right all of the time. If there are some interesting designs and form factors, they could be a good addition to the RF mount lineup.
More to come…
I declare shenanigans.
Of course, how compact could such a setup be with the RF mount? That's the beauty of the u4/3 system is the entire system is downsized. But not having to have two incompatible systems for different purposes would be fantastic.
Indeed, Canon could offer those two lenses and then leave the M and R lines to fight it out amongst themselves while Canon determines which way to go.
Some of the EF-S lenses went deep enough into the camera for a full frame mirror to hit them, so Canon had to create a mechanical barrier preventing them being mounted on full frame cameras.
RF is mirrorless, so that is not an issue, and there's no reason to create a separate mount. The camera could deduce the image's power of coverage from its ID, and auto switch to crop, same as it does when EF-S lenses are mounted via the EF-to-RF adapter.
that would be the most boring kit-lens ever made, and I don't imagine it would have much appeal to R7 users.
Something equivalent to the EF-S 15-85 would make much more sense to me. On the other hand I'm so happy with the EF-S version of that, that I find it hard to imagine it could be much improved in an RF mount version.
If Canon was going to make one and only one APS-C RF lens, I would vote for a wideangle zoom. I imagine with the shorter flange distance on RF mount, it would be possible to make something a bit wider than EF-S 10-22 and EF-S 10-18, without sacrificing optical performance and without increasing size/weight compared to EF-S 10-22 w/adapter. A 9-20mm or maybe even an 8(.5)-18mm?
キヤノンのAPS-Cミラーレス用の「24mm F1.4」「28mm F1.4」「35mm F1.4」の特許
And I can imagine picking up a standard zoom and using it on my R5 set in crop mode. That could be a great travel camera without having to commit to a dedicated APS-C body.
What i would conclude is that it doesn't make sense to have consumer zoom lenses for the R7 and C70:
The R7 being somewhere between R6/R5 in size is not a compact camera, so no one would come up with the idea that it's an EOS M competitor and compact consumer zooms or even consumer primes don't make much sense.
Having an RP/R10 with small cleap FF lenses is much better consumer strat.
If only they would make an uncompromised compact body, equivalent to the Sony A7C, with uncompromised but compact L primes.