As everyone expected, Canon launched its new “nifty fifty” in RF mount and the new RF 70-200 f/4 L lens. Both show MTF charts that indicate good quality, with the new 50mm offering significantly better than the older EF version. The new 70-200 f/4 doesn’t quite rise to the level of their latest EF mount equivalent, in all areas, but is better in a couple.
Availability is expected before Christmas sometime, with major retailer taking pre-orders as of this morning. Some disappointing learnings regarding the 70-200 f/4: it comes with no tripod foot, and it will not take a teleconverter. Some nice surprises: it has more than 7 stops of image stabilization when combined with the IBIS of an R5 or R6; and the twin focus motors are super fast and quiet. Image quality will likely be very slightly worse at the long end versus the EF equivalent, and slightly better at the wide end.
Here is the new RF 50mm f/1.8’s MTF chart…
… And here is the latest EF mount equivalent, which retails for about 2/3rds the cost. Pay attention only to the black lines, which are at maximum aperture, as is the chart above.
The RF 70-200 f/4 shows good performance:
… But not quite as good as the latest EF mount equivalent: