A New Lens from Canon Might Challenge Sony and Nikon

A New Lens from Canon Might Challenge Sony and Nikon

A few weeks ago, we reported on the possibility of a new fixed-aperture telephoto lens from Canon. Shortly after, Canon announced their RF mount 100-300mm F2.8 L IS USM lens. Canon sports, wildlife, and fashion photographers everywhere would have taken a keen interest in this. Sadly it didn’t include the expected built-in teleconverter that could have let the lens double as a 140-420mm f4 lens. And given the news you’re about to read, I can see why they deliberately left it out of that lens. From what it seems, there’s a Canon RF 200-500mm on the horizon — which could be another exciting option to add to our Canon RF Lens Guide!

All images seen in this article are mockups. We currently do not have any photos or verified designs of what the product looks like

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We haven’t get got our hands on the new Canon RF 100-300mm f2.8 lens. But given the stellar performance we observed in our Canon 70-200 RF mount lens review, it’s fair to say that this lens, too, would probably be a high performer. I was still slightly disappointed to see the lack of a 1.4x teleconverter in there. Canon Rumors has reported that an RF 200-500mm f4L IS USM lens may release in the 4th quarter of 2024. And they’ve also hinted at the possibility of this lens having a 1.4x teleconverter inside it. This clarifies why Canon left this out of the RF 100-300mm f2.8 lens.

I used to own Sigma’s 120-300mm f2.8 sports lens. I’ve shot many an international horse race and tennis game with it. Maxing out at 300mm meant having to do a lot of cropping. While today’s modern sensors have resolutions far greater than my 16-megapixel Nikon D4 and 12-megapixel D300, I would rather avoid cropping and getting the framing right in the shot itself. When you have thousands of images to sift through and cull while trying to file a photo that needs to go live mere minutes after it’s shot, you’ll appreciate this. Going from 300 on the Sigma to 400mm on the Nikon 200-400mm f4 might seem like a small jump. But it translates to an extra 33.3% zoom. A jump that I was pleased to pay extra for and rake in the benefits. Some of my most memorable sporting images have been using this lens.

I used to own Sigma’s 120-300mm f2.8 sports lens and shot many an international horse race and tennis game with it. As wonderful as having the shallow depth of field that f2.8 provided, maxing out at 300mm meant I often had to do a lot of cropping. And while today’s modern sensors have resolutions far greater than the 16-megapixel Nikon D4 and 12-megapixel D300 I used to own, I would much rather avoid cropping and getting the framing right in the shot itself. Trust me, when you have thousands of images to sift through and cull while trying to file a photo that needs to go live mere minutes after it’s shot, you’ll appreciate this.

When you have thousands of images to sift through and cull while trying to file a photo that needs to go live mere minutes after it’s shot, you’ll appreciate this.

It might seem like a small jump – going from 300 to 400mm on the Nikon 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II. But it translates to an extra 33.3% zoom on the larger end of the focal range. A jump that I was pleased to pay a pretty penny for and rake in the benefits. Some of my most memorable sporting images have been taken with this lens.

I’m probably going to be first on the pre-order list for the new Nikon 180-600mm lens announced. Shooting sports images at f4 isn’t all that bad. Especially if you get some considerably extra focal length reach, at the cost of a stop of light. Canon’s EF 200–400 mm f/4 L lens never found its way to the RF mount and probably won’t at this point if the Canon RF 200-500mm is announced soon. Canon will have added an extra 25% focal length reach at the longer end. They substantially reduced the weight and size of the RF 70-200 f2.8 compared to the EF mount version. Hopefully, we can expect the same benefits with this 200-500 f4.

The 2024 Paris Olympics is just a year away. Canon might release their Canon RF 200-500mm f/4 lens release a few months before this begins. This would allow ample time for sports photographers to familiarise themselves with the lens. What better place to test it under various challenging lighting and AF tracking conditions. Could we also see the R1 released around this time? The marriage of this (Quad Pixel?) camera and an f4 200-500mm RF mount would produce some spectacular images. That’s not to say it won’t suit our Editor’s Choice winning Canon R3. Or even the APS-C EOS R7, whose performance blew the mind of our Editor in Chief.

I’d much rather they included a teleconverter with this one, but that could possibly price it out of the range of amateurs and prosumer camera users. If they choose to exclude it, I hope it will be compatible with their existing and upcoming RF teleconverters.