Introduction
Alongside the EOS RP, Canon has announced the next six lenses it plans to introduce for its RF mount. Don`t be fooled by the timing: although they are being announced with the RP most of these lenses are not being targeted at item-level or even mass-market customers.
Canon has already said it`s working on a full frame mirrorless camera aimed at professionals, and most of today`s development announcements make clear it intends to have appropriate lenses ready to suit it. All six lenses will be formally launched by the end of 2019, the company says.
Details are pretty scant right now (technically Canon is only announcing its intention to develop these lenses), but mockups of all six were on show at the pre-launch RP event.
RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM
To us the most exciting lens to be revealed is the RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS. Part of our excitement is that a 70-200mm F2.8 is one of the workhorses of any system. Pros and enthusiasts use these lenses for a whole range of shooting situations, from portraiture to sports, so it`s an essential ingredient for a system trying to appeal to high-end shooters.
Another piece of good news is that the lens uses Canon`s Nano USM lens motors. The company is a little cagey about exactly how these work, other than that they provide linear, rather than the rotational motion of the ring-type USM motors used in DSLR lenses. What we do know is that the fastest and smoothest focusing lens in the RF system so far (the 24-105mm F4L IS) is powered by Nano USM, which bodes well for the 70-200mm.
RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS compared to the EF 20-700mm
Oh, and the other interesting thing about the RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS? It`s TINY. Here we`ve shot it alongside the most recent EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS and you can see just how much smaller it`s going to be. Unless the `pro` RF model ends up being huge, this is going to make an impressively compact combination.
Canon`s engineers wouldn`t be drawn on ex ...
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