Olympus 300mm f/4 vs Canon RF 600mm f/11 – FF vs 4/3 Comparison

Olympus 300mm
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Somewhat unusual yet rather interesting comparison between the Olympus 300mm f/4 and Canon RF 600mm f/11 lenses.

Our friends at Mirrorless Comparison compared the Olympus 300mm f/4 and Canon RF 600mm f/11 lenses for wildlife and bird photography. The former is for Micro Four Thirds and the latter for full frame. From their conclusion:

Traditionally, micro four thirds has always been the system we mention when talking about travelling light and reducing size and weight. On the other hand, full frame is supposed to be the system with the big heavy lenses, but also superior image quality. Well, in our case here, some of these claims can be challenged (with a few catches).

The RF 600mm F11 (and 800mm F11) is a brilliant idea from Canon. I was interested when they announced it, then I was skeptical about the aperture, but now I’m happy to say I really enjoyed taking pictures with this lens, and I quickly forgot about the slow aperture. I was using something very light, with excellent quality, autofocus and stabilisation. I thought there would be more tradeoffs than that.

[…]

Where does that leave the Olympus solution then? Well, rest assured, it is still a very strong competitor. The faster aperture of the 300mm Pro easily makes up for the smaller sensor, you get a premium build quality with weather sealing, state of the art stabilisation and a few welcome features like being able to focus much closer to small subjects, which adds to the lens’ versatility.

Read the review at Mirrorless Comparison

More comparison reviews are listed here.

Canon Patent: RF 70mm F1.8 STM Lens For EOS R System

Canon Patent
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A new Thursday, a new Canon patent. Not surprising yet another one for the RF mount. The whole thing was spotted by asobinet.com.

Canon patent application 2021-131499 (Japan) discusses optical formulas for what appears to be an RF 70mm f/1.8 STM lens for Canon’s full frame mirrorless system EOS R. From the patent literature:

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED

To provide a compact, lightweight and large-diameter optical system.

Patent Document 1 describes a double-Gauss type optical system capable of correcting various aberrations with a small number of lenses

However, the double-Gauss type optical system as disclosed in Patent Document 1 satisfactorily corrects various aberrations such as spherical aberration and curvature of field when the symmetry is broken due to miniaturization. Becomes difficult. In particular, when the optical system has a large aperture ratio, it becomes difficult to suppress sagittal flare and coma flare at an intermediate angle of view.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical system and an image pickup apparatus having high optical performance while being compact and having a large aperture ratio.

Embodiment 1:

  • Focal length 49.57
  • F number 1.85
  • Half angle of view 23.58
  • Image height 21.64
  • Lens overall length 59.59
  • BF 25.67

Embodiment 2:

  • Focal length 70.00
  • F number 1.85
  • Half angle of view 17.17
  • Image height 21.64
  • Lens overall length 83.52
  • BF 36.62

According to asobinet, the lens discussed in the patent literature has an optical design similar to the RF 50mm F1.8 STM. Maybe it is another excellent performer at an affordable price.

More Canon patents are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these:

Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L IS Review (physically awesome, optically impeccable)

Canon RF 400mm F/2.8L'
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So, we are talking about a $12,000 lens here. Welcome to a new Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L IS review. How doesn’t have a spare kidney?

At a glance:

  • RF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/32
  • Optical Image Stabilizer
  • Super UD and Fluorite Elements
  • Super Spectra and Air Sphere Coatings
  • Customizable Electronic Focusing Ring
  • Two Focus Presets
  • Circular 9-Blade Diaphragm
  • Weather-Sealed Design, Fluorine Coating
  • Rotatable Tripod Collar

Christopher Frost posted his Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L IS review. He says:

This is literally the highest quality camera lens I have ever handled – physically awesome, optically impeccable…and incredibly expensive. Canon have been honing the craft of designing and producing these lenses for years, now: what can this latest version achieve to make it worth its asking price?

Watch the video below to learn what makes this lens so awesome, and so expensive.

Another rather interesting Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L IS review can be seen here.

Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L IS:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

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