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Canon RF 400/2.8 and 600/4 announced

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:54 pm
by E.J. Peiker
Canon, today, announce the 400 f/2.8 and 600 f/4 RF lenses plus a 100mm f/2.8 Macro - all L lenses.  Prices are $12L, $13K and $1.4K respectively.  Weight is 6.4 and 6.8lb for the two super teles.  Available for pre-order now.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:29 pm
by SantaFeJoe

Re: Canon RF 400/2.8 and 600/4 announced

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:33 pm
by Phil Shaw
From Jared Polin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2c0S8dapJs

Look like the same lenses as the mkIII versions with a fixed EF/RF adapter. Maybe by the 2024 Olympics Canon will bring out the "real" RF versions.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:37 pm
by KK Hui
I was hoping that the DO version of both the 600/4 & 400/2.8 will come with RF mount, but no ...
It would have been a breakthrough for mirrorless bodies; weight and size saving wise.
Instead it uses same optical formula as the EF version with an adapter slapped on its end to work with mirrorless.

Perhaps there are technical difficulties for manufacturing DO lens of these focal lengths.

Re: Canon RF 400/2.8 and 600/4 announced

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:43 am
by jwild
I believe RF 400 & RF 600 are their mark III lensed adapted to RF systems, so no new technology, except for RF mount. But EF 500 IS II lens, which is about 11 years old, will get a complete make over and they are planning to introduce it in early 2022.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:03 pm
by Robert Royse
I wonder if they sell a version with a control ring on that aluminum contraption for an extra $100. To me that's one of the main benefits of having the R5 over a DSLR with a telephoto. I have control ring set up to change focusing (spot, eye tracking, etc.) and find it incredibly useful. I would definitely miss not having it now that I have become used to it.

Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:17 am
by jwild
Robert Royse wrote:I wonder if they sell a version with a control ring on that aluminum contraption for an extra $100. To me that's one of the main benefits of having the R5 over a DSLR with a telephoto. I have control ring set up to change focusing (spot, eye tracking, etc.) and find it incredibly useful. I would definitely miss not having it now that I have become used to it.

I believe, they have an EF to RF adaptor with control ring, it is bit expensive and not easily available.
I fact, I happened to order it, but never received.

Re: Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:15 am
by Robert Royse
jwild wrote:
Robert Royse wrote:I wonder if they sell a version with a control ring on that aluminum contraption for an extra $100. To me that's one of the main benefits of having the R5 over a DSLR with a telephoto. I have control ring set up to change focusing (spot, eye tracking, etc.) and find it incredibly useful. I would definitely miss not having it now that I have become used to it.

I believe, they have an EF to RF adaptor with control ring, it is bit expensive and not easily available.
I fact, I happened to order it, but never received.
I have had the control ring adapter attached to my R5 since I bought it. To me it's just part of the camera since I only own EF mount lenses. Using it has become reflexive for me. It's one of the features of the camera I value the most and not one that I would want to give up at this point. These new telephotos would take that away.

Re: Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:46 am
by jwild
Robert Royse wrote:
jwild wrote:
Robert Royse wrote:I wonder if they sell a version with a control ring on that aluminum contraption for an extra $100. To me that's one of the main benefits of having the R5 over a DSLR with a telephoto. I have control ring set up to change focusing (spot, eye tracking, etc.) and find it incredibly useful. I would definitely miss not having it now that I have become used to it.

I believe, they have an EF to RF adaptor with control ring, it is bit expensive and not easily available.
I fact, I happened to order it, but never received.
I have had the control ring adapter attached to my R5 since I bought it. To me it's just part of the camera since I only own EF mount lenses. Using it has become reflexive for me. It's one of the features of the camera I value the most and not one that I would want to give up at this point. These new telephotos would take that away.
No, the new lenses will have the control ring. :D

Re: Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:52 am
by Robert Royse
jwild wrote:
No, the new lenses will have the control ring. :D
The new lenses don't have a control ring like on the adapters. The manual focusing can be adjusted, but that's far from the same thing.

Re: Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:42 am
by Scott Fairbairn
Robert Royse wrote:
jwild wrote:
No, the new lenses will have the control ring. :D
The new lenses don't have a control ring like on the adapters. The manual focusing can be adjusted, but that's far from the same thing.

I like the idea of the multi-functional adapters. Other than the risk of an extra connection, I could see an EF lens user using adapters far into the future.
Which brings me to another idea, if the optical formulas are unchanged, why couldn't canon offer a mount changing service for existing owners(besides the obvious that selling new ones is more profitable)?

Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:12 pm
by ChrisRoss
KK Hui wrote:I was hoping that the DO version of both the 600/4 & 400/2.8 will come with RF mount, but no ...
It would have been a breakthrough for mirrorless bodies; weight and size saving wise.
Instead it uses same optical formula as the EF version with an adapter slapped on its end to work with mirrorless.

Perhaps there are technical difficulties for manufacturing DO lens of these focal lengths.
I expect there might be, the largest physical size of DO element so far made seems to be the 400mm DO at 100mm - I assume all of the diffractive optic type lenses need a full diameter DO element.

Prices scale approximately with the area of the lenses - the table below shows cost /mm of diameter for Canon lenses and the Nikon 500mm PF lens and also per 1000 mm2 of lens element area.

 
Image
Prices are from B&H Photo except the 300 f2.8, which is not listed on their site and it is out of stock at Adorama.

The 600f4/500f4/400f2.8 are remarkably similar in price per unit area, the 800 attracts a premium perhaps as it is a low volume item and similarly the 300 f2.8 a discount as it is higher volume and significantly smaller in physical size.  In this analysis it appears that the Canon DO optics are charged a premium per unit area while Nikon shows a significant discount.  So if the Canon 400 DO lens is anything to go by DO versions of the 600 f4 and 400 f2.8 lenses would attract a premium.  It also shows the real value in the Nikon PF lens.