It was inevitable that Canon would be bringing at least one big super telephoto zoom lens like the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM 1.4x to the RF mount lineup, and this patent unearthed by Keith at Northlight Images shows Canon is working away at such lenses.
USPTO Patent US20220035144 shows the following optical formulas.
- Canon RF 150mm-600mm f/5-6.3L
- Canon RF 200mm-400mm f/4L
- Canon RF 200mm-500mm f/4L
- Canon RF 300mm-800mm f/8L
The designs contain a lot of elements, so these are definitely “big whites” and not more affordable lenses.
I could definitely see Canon releasing more than one of these types of lenses in the future, perhaps alongside the Canon EOS R1.
and give them an included TC!
"Canon RF 300mm-800mm f/8L" or give it f5.6 like the old fat Sigma :D - but in new and lightweight :).
A sharp and reasonably lightweight (between 3 and 3.5 kg) 200-500 f/4 with an inbuilt TC would be a dream lens for many wildlife shooters. In fact, it is for me. Very versatile even at close range or for very large subjects, such as puffins or bison, and - with a flick of a lever - enough reach for smaller birds or birds in flight. And no faffing with attaching or detaching converters in wind, dust, rain or snow - when nature photography gets most interesting! Only the price is gonna be hefty. I assume around 15.000 USD - should we ever see this lens getting produced in the first place.
It will be interesting to see the price since the 100-500 costs so much.
I do not want to imagine how much the other lenses will cost.
Canon RF 150mm-600mm f/5-6.3L. Just a bit more length and speed.
Canon RF 200mm-400mm f/4L. More speed, but not a ton, and 200-400 isn't much of a zoom range.
Canon RF 200mm-500mm f/4L. A lot more speed (nearly two stops), and a decently wide zoom range. But the 100-500 is still appealing to carry along and handhold.
Canon RF 300mm-800mm f/8L. Like with a TC plus some speed.
The real answer for one with a 100-500 seeling real differentiations: a 400 f2.8 for serious speed (or 600 f4 if length is preferred).
- Problem no. 2: The 100-500 needs to be extended past 300 mm to accept the teleconverter. Below this, the rear element of the lens collides with the tc itself. That makes the process more faff than you could bear in the field.
- Problem no 3: Attaching a teleconverter in the field is slow and sometimes difficult. Try it with heavy gloves in a snowstorm or while it is raining giraffes and elephants. Either you manage to get serious amounts of grime into your camera/lens or whatever you wanted to photograph is gone by the time you finally attached the tc.
This whole "add a teleconverter" thing is something that usually only non nature photographers say lightly. You can do it and it can bail you out in certain moments, but it is by no means a panacea. An inbuilt tc is a different beast of course, but besides wishful thinking (including my own), only three lenses sport one as of today and all three are far north of 10,000 USD in price.
A 150-600 would be seriously helpful and more practical for wildlife photography than the 100-500 (and a tc). Because "I don't need that much reach" said no wildlife photographer never. Same goes of course for a 200-500/4 with an inbuilt tc, but such a lens is gonna cost around 13 to 15k, where I deem an 150-600 L somewhere around 3 grand. The 100-500 on the other hand is by all practical means more like a 100-400 on steroids than a real supertelephoto zoom.
A minor over-exaggerated defect.
It's fast for me and I don't go out with heavy gloves in a snow storm as I find the snowflakes get in between me and whatever wild-life is mad enough to be out.
I have never got dust on my sensor in 10 years of using extenders.
It would not be seriously helpful etc for everyone.
Ok, sometimes I do bring the 2x along and swap them but generally that's when I'm shooting winter raptors with the lens on a tripod/gimbal. When I'm out walking around and shooting shorebirds or passerines, I don't want to juggle a $13K lens and a $6K camera to swap out a TC.
However, now having the R3, RF 100-500 and both RF TCs, I can easily manage the 'juggling' and I expect I'll be swapping TCs with reasonable frequency when using that lens+body combo.
It is not like they can't.
I would never do it but I do not like the fact that the RF teleconverters can't be stacked.
Hopefully, a third party will make versions that can be.