ON TRIAL CANON RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

It’s arguably one of the best examples yet of what can be achieved in lens design when you don’t have to worry about the reflex mirror. Canon’s RF mount 70-200mm f/2.8 is not only quite a bit smaller and lighter than the comparable EF mount model, but has superior capabilities and performance. Not very surprisingly, it’s already winning awards.

It’s entirely arguable that lenses, more than cameras, are what will convince DSLR owners to shift to mirrorless systems. Canon’s RF mount 70-200mm f/2.8L makes the point very convincingly.

With Canon’s fullframe mirrorless camera system still relatively new, there’s a likelihood that only a few of you are actually in the market for the new

RF mount 70-200mm f/2.8 L series zoom, but this lens is significant for other reasons. It’s a great example of what’s achievable when lens designers no longer have to worry about the mirror box in a reflex camera. With this assembly out of the way, the rear of the lens can be much closer to the focal plane thanks to a shorter flange distance. For Canon, it’s 20mm for the RF mount as opposed to 40mm for the EF mount on its full-frame DSLRs.

same colour as the barrel tubes. In addition to the zoom lock, there’s a quartet of switches for AF/MF, image stabilisation (on/off and mode 1/2/3) and a focus limiter with positions for accessing the full distance range or from 2.5m to infinity.

The screwthread filter diameter is 77mm and, although the barrel telescopes with zooming, it doesn’t rotate, which is good news if you use a holder-based filter system. A bayonet-fit lens hood is supplied along with a carry pouch.

PERFORMANCE

The first thing that strikes you with this lens is the size… or the lack of it. If you’ve been regularly using a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom with either a Canon or Nikon DSLR, you’ll initially find it hard to believe that this new lens is so compact. Next you’ll wonder at how it weighs only a tad more than a kilogram.

Yet it still feels as solid and precise as any Canon L series zoom.

The full focal range is traversed with just a 90-degree twist of the zooming collar and, while the focusing ring is fly-by-wire, it feels nicely weighted to enable quite fine manual adjustments.

However, it’s the optical performance that’s the real deal with this lens and, again, make a convincing point about why the mirrorless camera configuration represents much more than just the elimination of the reflex mirror. At f/2.8, the RF 70-200mm delivers a much better performance than any DSLR version that we’ve tried over recent years, particularly in terms of corner sharpness.

The centre-to-corner fall-off in resolution is minimal when shooting wide-open and essentially non-existent by f/5.6. What’s more, this exceptional overall sharpness