Canon RF 70-200mm 2.8 L IS USM

Introduced in October 2019, the new 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens for the Canon RF mount used on its mirrorless cameras is the third addition to its F2.8L trinity series of professional zoom lenses. The other two lenses are the RF 15-35mm f/2.8 and the 24-70mm f/2.8. Optically, the lens design is comprised of 17 elements in 13 groups, including one Super UD element and one UD element to help minimize chromatic aberrations and color fringing and two aspherical elements to correct spherical aberrations and distortion.

Camera manufacturers have to offer a first killer product when starting a new system. Nikon decided to do it via a manual focus 58mm f/0.95 for $7000 ... not sure whether this worked out for them ... whereas Canon chose a different approach - they decided to disrupt our expectations of how a 70-200mm f/2.8 should look like. Upon the first contact, you can't be anything but impressed by the size of the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS, especially at a time when lens dimensions tend to super-size rather than shrink. However, even Canon can't do miracles thus, while the lens has a substantially reduced length and weight, it uses an extending zooming mechanism. It's a matter of personal taste whether you are in the love or hate camp regarding this change. However, this doesn't have a negative impact on image quality (mostly). The results are tack sharp throughout the zoom range and at all relevant aperture settings. Lateral CAs are very low. The same goes for image distortions. Vignetting is a bit of a weak spot, though, unless you prefer to keep image auto-correction activated. The light falloff in the upper range is too heavy for such a lens. The quality of the bokeh is generally very good - the smooth out-of-focus highlights are especially impressive here. The bokeh fringing is present but quite well controlled. A bit of an ugly aspect are focus shifts (RSAs) when stopping down. This is nothing to worry about when using autofocusing - so most users will never notice it - but the issue can hit you in manual focus mode.

The Canon RF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM is a bright telephoto zoom for the full-frame EOS R mirrorless system. It’s shorter and lighter than the EF version and focuses closer too, although - spoiler alert - the barrel now extends as you zoom it. Ahead of my full review, check out my first-looks video and my sample images from a final production model!