What’s Inside A Canon Lens? Here Is A Full RF 28mm f/2.8 STM Teardown

RF 28mm F/2.8
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That’s a truly interesting video we are featuring here today. The teardown of the recently released Canon RF 28mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens.

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM at a glance ($299):

  • Full-Frame | f/2.8 to f/22
  • Classic Wide-Angle Prime
  • Gear-Type STM AF Motor
  • Super Spectra Coating
  • Three Aspherical Elements
  • Customizable Control Ring
  • AF/MF Control Switch
  • Full-Time Manual Focus Capability
  • Rounded 7-Blade Diaphragm

Gordon Laing got the unique chance by Canon itself to tear down their recently released RF 28mm f/2.8 STM lens. Says Mr. Laing:

Find out what’s inside one of Canon’s latest lenses in this teardown! In a rare behind the scenes opportunity, Canon invited me to film the disassembly of a brand new lens and explain what’s behind each of the major parts. If you’re interested in how lenses work and modern optical design, you’ll enjoy this video even if you own a different system! Filmed in 4k with a pair of Canon EOS R6 II bodies, fitted with RF 70-200 f4L and RF 100mm f2.8L Macro lenses.

And here is the teardown video.Enjoy.

Canon RF 28mm f/2.8 STM:

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

We featured other lens and camera teardowns in the past, they are listed here.

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This Guy Tore Down The Canon EOS R5 And Made Some Modifications

Canon Eos R5 Overheating
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Someone wanted to see how the Canon EOS R5 looks on the inside and so he tore it down.

A Chinese guy (an engineer?) tore down the Canon EOS R5. He applied thermal paste on the CPU in order to dissipate more heath. It’s not clear from the video if this solution works but it is cool to see how the R5 looks inside.

The EOS R5 seems to be a remarkable and highly regarded stills camera. In particular, the autofocus system is a huge leap forwards. More Canon EOS R5 review stuff is listed here, for the EOS R6 see here. User manual are available for download for the EOS R5 and the EOS R6.

Canon EOS R5 body and kits preorder links:

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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Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III Teardown (Lens Rentals)

Canon EF 400mm
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Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz of Lens Rentals disassembled the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III lens, a lens that costs like a used car.

From their conclusion:

The spring-loaded adjustable collar collection is something of a mystery to us and will remain so until we can spend some days doing optical adjustments on one. The use of the same motor as the RF lens is very interesting in several ways. Only some more tear downs will tell us if this is just a superior motor type that Canon is going to use in all electrically focused lenses (I suspect this is probably the case), or just in lenses with a lot of glass in the focusing element (another likely thing).

Canon has really been very quiet about this lens, despite the known changes inside. I had a lot of trouble finding out which elements are fluorite (two of them are, apparently). There has been some talk about improved focusing speed and accuracy, which I assume has something to do with the new electronic focus system, but not much.

The teardown is explained step by step with a lot of pictures, see it here.

All images © lensrentals.com and used with permission.

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III at a glance:

  • EF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/32
  • Super UD and Fluorite Elements
  • Super Spectra and Air Sphere Coatings
  • Ring-Type Ultrasonic Motor AF System
  • Customizable Electronic Focusing Ring
  • Optical Image Stabilizer
  • Weather-Sealed Design, Fluorine Coating
  • Detachable, Rotatable Tripod Collar
  • Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE

Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L Teardown (new optic with new technology, Lens Rentals)

Canon RF Vs EF 50mm F/1.2 EOS R System
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Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz of Lens Rentals tore down the Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L, the showcase lens for the new Canon EOS R system.

It seems that for once they were a bit overwhelmed by Canon’s latest optical masterpiece. From the conclusion:

[…] the R lenses are not only entirely new optics, they are also largely new electrical and mechanical systems. There are a lot of different things in here that we haven’t seen in any Canon EF lenses. Some of them we should have expected, like the increased electronics going to the control ring. Others we don’t really understand yet, like the tension spring in the ring USM motor or the increased electrical shielding.

[…] We also saw lots of new stuff we don’t completely understand yet and a level of complexity we weren’t expecting.

[…] the RF lenses contain some new technology they [Canon, editor’s note] haven’t used before. There’s a lot of engineering that’s gone into these. Things are different inside here. As we’ll see in the next teardown we do, some of that is carrying over to at least some EF lenses. What does this mean? It means Canon has invested very heavily into developing the lenses of the R system. This level of engineering didn’t all happen in the last year, they’ve been working on this for quite a while.

You can see a few images of the teardown below, though I recommend you head over to Lens Rentals for the many pictures and the step by step description of the teardown. Just don’t do it a home yourself.

The Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L is a highly regarded lens, universally seen as one of the two lenses Canon made to showcase the possibilities of their new RF mount (the other one being the RF 28-70mm f/2L.

Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L:

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

Nikon Z7 Teardown, Best Build Mirrorless FF Camera Ever Seen Says Lens Rentals

Nikon Z7
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All images © lensrentals.com, used with permission.

Roger Cicala of Lens Rentals tore down a Nikon Z7, and was very impressed with the build quality.

Impressing Mr. Cicala doesn’t seem to be an easy task. He was impressed with the overall build quality, and praises the weather sealing of the Nikon Z7. From the the conclusion:

This is not marketing department weather resistance. This is engineering department weather resistance. Anything that can be sealed has been sealed. I’m impressed, and I will say for future cut-and-paste blurbs: this is as robustly weather sealed a camera as we’ve ever disassembled.

[…]

I’m impressed by the very solid construction of the chassis and IBIS unit. I’m impressed with the neat, modern engineering of the electrical connections. Yes, I’m aware that soldered wires carry electricity just fine, but to me, there’s something reassuring about seeing neat, well thought out, 2018 level engineering.

I’m not here to tell you which camera is best to use or has the best performance. I’m just here to say this is a damn well-built camera, the best built mirrorless full-frame camera we’ve taken apart. (For the record, I haven’t torn down a Leica SL.)

Roger Cicala’s teardown is documented step by step with pictures and descriptions.

The teardown of the Canon EOS R is featured here. Another EOS R teardown is here. Nothing to argue here, the Nikon Z7 is the better buld camera. As Mr Cicala points out, the Nikon Z7 is the flagship camera in Nikon’s Z system. When Canon will release their flagship mirrorless full frame camera, we’ll see if the build quality holds up with the Z7.

Nikon Z7: B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon

Here Is Another Canon EOS R Teardown, Showing How Well This Camera Is Build

Canon Eos R
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All images © kolarivision.com and used with permission

The folks at Kolari Vision disassembled the Canon EOS R.

They write:

[…] the slimmest sensor we’ve seen thus far in the mirrorless war. The absence of a shaker for IBIS keeps the sensor assembly very lean, but a lot of unused room remains in the camera. Whether this is necessary for heat dissipation or some other purpose is anybody’s guess. Canon doesn’t seem to care much for the idea of IBIS, but they could very well intend to add it in a later model. We won’t know until it happens.

See the teardown at Kolari Vision.

Another Canon EOS R teardown can be seen here.

Please use the links below to put your order (international shipping available).

Order the Canon EOS R in the USA: B&H Photo | Adorama | Canon USA | Amazon

Order the Canon RF mount lenses in the USA: B&H Photo | Adorama | Canon USA | Amazon

Availability should be given also at major retailers in Europe and around the world (you have to check for your country). Please use the links below.

Canon EOS R world-wide order links:

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

Canon RF mount lenses world-wide order links:

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