I've known about the RF 600mm f/11 DO IS STM and RF 800 f/11 DO IS STM since about mid-February, I was confused then and I'm confused now.
Who are these lenses for? Is there possibly some software trickery coming to Canon EOS R cameras?
I'm thinking about using these lenses on safari for example. I'm not sure there is enough light at dawn and dusk to shoot the wildlife, and there's no point in shooting at noon under the high sun.
What about videographers, is there any use for f/11 outside of specific situations?
I'd love to hear your ideas about what these lenses are for.
I know three more lenses that are for sure coming in 2021 and I will write about them soon.
Canon News was reminded of a patent from last year for these optical formulas, and the designs are very simple.
Canon RF 800mm f/11
- Focal Length 780.00
- F-Number 11.00
- Half Field Angle 1.59 (.degree.)
- Image Height 21.64
- Total Length of 389.25
- Lens BF 127.73
Canon RF 600mm f/11
- Focal Length 585.00
- F-Number 10.99
- Half Field Angle 2.12 (.degree.)
- Image Height 21.64
- Total Length of 334.87
- Lens BF 134.40
Canon RF 400mm f/8
- Focal Length 390.00
- F-Number 8.20
- Half Field Angle 3.18 (.degree.)
- Image Height 21.64
- Total Length of 250.00
- Lens BF 92.99
Here's something to consider: the biggest cause of the falling camera market is because of the use of cellphone cameras. What's one thing cellpbone cameras can't compete with simply because of physics? Zoom. Long, cheap zoom is a huge advantage of buying a camera, and 600mm even at f/11 could be a super exciting consumer lens. Especially considering the size.
I shoot almost all of my casual wildlife work with my 100-400 and 1.4 at F/8 to F/11, so I would be interested to grab the 800mm f/11 depending on how things look.
Or maybe Canon just want to make the f/7.1 lenses more attractive - suddenly, they seem to be quite fast ;)
Sure, F11 wont get you enough light at early dawn or just before dusk. But they would offer a greatly reduced barrier to entry for weekend warriors like myself, especially as most of my shooting opportunities are typically during the day when light would certainly permit the use of these lenses.
Wildlife, bird, and most serious sport photography has a very serious price tag as a barrier for entry. I am so excited to think that Canon might look to finally address that, where Sigma and Tamron tried but havent yet quite hit the mark.
Sometimes getting A shot is the same as getting THE shot, especially when you would otherwise get NO shot. A reality that I think is lost on many 'invested' photographers who like to turn their noses up at anything seemingly cheap or perceived to be sub-par.
I would definitely be interested in the 800 f/11 if it was priced right (<$1000 used) and had good quality and IS. I don't want to drop $10K to haul around an enormous 800 f/5.6, and I'm ok shooting with extremely burly tripods. I don't care about AF either, but the chance of having IS but not AF is zero.
If the lens is reasonably priced, and smaller and light, I'd at least be interested as useful for having a long telephoto with me while traveling.
Canon has a lot of photographers on their staff who try and use prototype bodies and lenses in many different situations, that is why they seldom get it wrong for the targeted customer.
That slider thingy bar on the back of my R is a example of a big miss.
Imagine hiking with one of those big whites, just in case you saw a shot that suited it. You'd have to be crazy. But with something that clocked it at maybe a quarter of the weight? Now you're talking.
These lenses are designed to be relevant for decades. We've been hearing that the R5 and R6 will be using a new sensor, so it's entirely likely that there may be 2/3rds of a stop better high ISO performance over the current crop of Canons. And then the following generation could be yet another small increase still. In that context, maybe it would be better to imagine these as performing as though they were F/8 lenses on current cameras (DOF notwithstanding).
With the already great 5Div sensor in the EOS R paired with incredible feats of engineering such as the RF 28-70 F/2, we're being spoiled by better and better incremental gains in performance. But sometimes, it's worth trading in some of that excess performance for cheaper or lighter. For the exact same reason someone might be happy to continue to use the EF 24-70 F/4 with the EOS 5Diii, quite a few people will be happy to use these F/11 super-teles with the R5/R6. Different priorities.
I'd rather pick up the 800mm f/11 on a whim for $1500 and have 800mm available to me for eclipses/etc than spend years dreaming of picking up a 800 :unsure:
Especially considering that on the 1.6x crop mode of the R5, this turns into a 1280mm. If the R5 is 45mp, that still gives you around 18 megapixels at 1280mm
Having a 600 f/4 or a 800 f/5.6 that costs more than 12000 new is different than something that is f/11 and would cost between 1000-2000, isn't it? And don't forget the differences in size and weight.
Agreed. I'm going to look into the RF 100-500 when it comes out. With that + a 1.4x TC, the 500mm f/11 won't be that appealing. I'll wait for reviews on the 600mm f/11 before looking into it. I'd like to see it compared to the 100-500 with 1.4x and 2.0x TCs. I'm guessing that the higher end solution will be the 100-500 with a supertelephoto above that. The more consumer end solution would be a 70-300 non-L paired with a f/11 supertelephoto.