Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM Review (fun, flawed, and useful, D. Abbott)

rf 16mm f/2.8 STM review
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Here is a Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM review by one of our favorite gear reviewers. This lens is inexpensive yet it delivers.

At a glance:

  • RF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/22
  • One Aspherical Element
  • Super Spectra Coating
  • STM Stepping AF Motor
  • Customizable Control Ring
  • Rounded 7-Blade Diaphragm

Dustin Abbott posted his exhaustive Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM review. Many so called “reviews” out there are nothing more than rewritten user manuals. Not Mr. Abbott; his reviews are professional, thoroughly, and answer all questions you might have. From Mr. Abbott’s conclusion:

[…] the Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM is fun, flawed, and useful. It does have some severe flaws, but I love the flexibility of the focal length and the compact size of the lens. It does something that no other lens is really doing on the Canon RF platform right now, and does it at a truly reasonable price point.

The RF 16mm is not going to compete with L series lenses optically, but I also found that images had a certain pop to them that stood out when I compared them to images I was taking on the Canon EOS R7 and EF-S 18-150mm STM that I was reviewing at the same time.  This image, for example, is pretty lovely.

So, in conclusion, the Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM is not only worth buying because it is cheap, but also worth buying because it is competent.  It will go anywhere with you and provides a nicely wide alternative to something like the 24-105mm or 24-70mm lenses.  It would also be a great focal length counterpart if your primary lens on an outing is a telephoto, offering the option to get a wider angle of view but with a minimum of additional size and weight.  It is for this reason that I’m considering a purchase even despite the RF 16mm’s many flaws.

Read the full review at dustinabbott.net

The review comes with test charts, sample pics, and much more. As usual, D. Abbott also posts a video-review that someone might prefer to the written review. It’s here for your viewing pleasure.

Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM (sells at $299):

America: B&H Photo, 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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Canon To Announce 4 Wide-angle L-grade Primes For The RF Mount Within Next 12 Months?

eos r6 mark iii nab 2023 canon eos r5 Mark ii canon eos r8 CP+ 2024 mark ii Canon EOS rf 24-50mm R6 mark ii rf mount eos r6 mark ii rf 300mm rf 35mm canon eos r100 rf 24mm f/1.8 rf-s canon eos r7 eos r100 canon high resolution eos r r10 eos c5 canon canon eos r1 eos r5c canon rf 16mm Rf 35mm f/1.2L EF lenses tilt-shift lenses rumor
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A new Canon rumor surfaced. Canon might be set to announced four L-grade prime lenses for the RF mount within the next 12 months.

These are the rumored lenses:

  • Canon RF 12mm f/1.8L USM
  • Canon RF 24mm f/1.4L USM
  • Canon RF 28mm f/1.4L USM
  • Canon RF 35mm f/1.2L USM

Moreover, the Canon RF 135mm f/1.8L USM might also get announced soon, maybe it is the first one to get announced.

Stay tuned.

Source: Canon Rumors

Here Are Some Speculations About Why Canon Doesn’t Want Others To Make RF Lenses

canon firmware updates viltrox eos r7 eos r10 reuters canon cameras europe canon eos r1 eos r rf 14-35mm Olympic Games ef-mount rudy winston
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After the story about Viltrox having told by Canon not to make RF mount lenses broke, some speculations about the reasons surfaced.

What might be the reasons? Canon Germany released a statement to Photographix Magazine (emphasis mine):

“SHENZHEN JUEYING TECHNOLOGY CO.LTD, manufactures auto focus lenses for Canon RF mount under the brand name “Viltrox”. Canon believes that these products infringe their patent and design rights and has therefore requested the company to stop all activities infringing on Canon’s intellectual property rights.”

So, all about copyright and patents, duh? That doesn’t seem to satisfy those who inquire more, and are keen to speculations. It is suggested, Canon does not have any “plans to give permission to third party manufacturers to utilize their RF mount patents as they pertain to electronics and autofocus anytime in the near future.” The reasons for that are listed as follows:

* Canon doesn’t feel the RF lineup is anywhere near maturity, and they want the lineup filled out with their own lenses first. Canon still has lots of work to do in both the non-L and L lineups.

* Canon believes the “more affordable” options are already covered by the hundred and whatever million EF lenses out there that work extremely well on the RF mount with Canon’s line of adapters.

* Canon isn’t done with tweaks and improvements to the RF mount.

This might well be the case. Never the less, it seems a bit of a far stretch to us and we wonder how much of this is just educated guess. What do you think?

Source: Canon Rumors

It Seems Canon Doesn’t Want Viltrox To Make RF Mount Lenses

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Does Canon not want Viltrox to manufacture lenses for the RF mount? Seems so.

It started with a user in the DPReview forum who posted a chat with Viltrox. Apparently, as you can read below, Viltrox has been “told by Canon to stop selling all RF mount products“.

Now, there is a follow up to this. So far Canon did not release any official statement. But now Canon Germany answered to German Photographix Magazine, and Canon said (machine translated):

“SHENZHEN JUEYING TECHNOLOGY CO.LTD, manufactures auto focus lenses for Canon RF mount under the brand name “Viltrox”. Canon believes that these products infringe their patent and design rights and has therefore requested the company to stop all activities infringing on Canon’s intellectual property rights.”

So, it’s about patents and intellectual property. Anyways, not cool at all dear Canon. Change your mind asap, please.

Canon Patent: 20mm f/1.8, 28mm f/1.8 And 24mm f/1.8 With Backlight Control

Canon patent
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A new Canon patent for RF mount lenses: 20mm f/1.8, 28mm f/1.8 and 24mm f/1.8.

Canon patent application 2022122047 (Japan) discusses optical formulas for three RF mount lenses with backlight control. From the patent literature:

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical system that is less affected by unnecessary light and has high optical performance.

Description of the Related Art

There is a demand for further improvement in performance and miniaturization of photographing optical systems. [0005]When trying to improve the performance of an optical system, the number of lenses constituting the optical system increases. On the other hand, if an attempt is made to reduce the size of the optical system by shortening its overall length, the distance between the lenses constituting the optical system and the distance between the optical system and the imaging surface will be shortened. As a result, unnecessary light (ghost) caused by reflection of light on each lens surface easily reaches the imaging surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical system that is less affected by unnecessary light and has high optical performance.

Example 1

  • Focal length: 28.60
  • F-value: 1.85
  • Half angle of view: 37,1
  • Image height: 20.15
  • Total length: 81.00
  • Back focus: 13.20

Example 2

  • Focal length: 20.60
  • F-value: 1.85
  • Half angle of view: 46.4
  • Image height: 18.71
  • Overall length: 84.87
  • Back focus: 11.00

Example 3

  • Focal length: 24,72
  • F-value: 1.85
  • Half angle of view: 41.2
  • Image height: 19.34
  • Total length: 81.00
  • Back focus: 11.00

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

[via asobinet]

Canon RF 300mm f/2.8L IS To Get Announced Soon?

eos r6 mark iii nab 2023 canon eos r5 Mark ii canon eos r8 CP+ 2024 mark ii Canon EOS rf 24-50mm R6 mark ii rf mount eos r6 mark ii rf 300mm rf 35mm canon eos r100 rf 24mm f/1.8 rf-s canon eos r7 eos r100 canon high resolution eos r r10 eos c5 canon canon eos r1 eos r5c canon rf 16mm Rf 35mm f/1.2L EF lenses tilt-shift lenses rumor
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A new rumor, about the Canon RF 300mm f/2.8L IS lens. Is it coming? The EF version is discontinued.

A rather confident rumor suggests that Canon might be close to announce the Canon RF 300mm f/2.8L IS lens. Says the source of the rumor:

[…] Canon has prototypes out in the wild and that the lens is a ground-up redesign of the focal length.

[…] weight has been reduced by almost 40% and  the length by as much as 30% over it’s EF predecessor, though they didn’t have the exact dimensions and weight to give us.

The lens is rumored to get announced at the beginning of 2023.

Stay tuned.

Source: Canon Rumors