Canon Product List Adds RF 400 f/2.8, 600 f/4, 100mm Macro

Nokishita reports that Canon’s latest product list includes three additions: an RF version of the 400 f/2.8, an RF 600mm f/4 and the long-, long-awaited replacement to Canon’s L version of the 100mm f/2.8 macro. That last lens was last updated so long ago that it was in a year in which Schoolhouse Rock was still being produced.

The 400mm and 600mm lenses last launched by Canon in late 2018 surprised some in that they came out in EF-mount, long after the R mount was established, but well before the R5 launch that made it Canon’s favored platform. The RF versions of these lenses may in fact be simple mount swaps, along with some accelerometers added to the end bits of the lens housings, but Canon certainly has enough new 400mm and 600mm designs on hand to throw something new to wildlife and action pros.

The 2009 Canon 100mm L Macro brought new “hybrid” image stabilization technology that changed how some people did macro. Hand-held, run-and-gun became a preferred method for some after that lens allowed for adequate stabilization. Now, the RF mount allows for communication between accelerometers inside the lens housing and the camera body, effectively giving both lens and sensor stabilization a potential boost, as movements in all dimensions can be measured at both ends of the optical path. It was this magic that allows the in-body image stabilization (IBIS) of the R5 to give 8 stops of image stabilization to the RF 28-70 f/2, even though that lens doesn’t actually have an image stabilization optical element. That lens does have accelerometers, and the new mount provides additional contacts for information from the motion sensors to be passed back to the body.