Canon Third-Party AF, RF & RF-S Lenses – It’s Happening!

Are you impatiently waiting for New Canon RF glass for both the RFS and the RF Mount? What about third-party lenses with autofocus? Well, stick around after this short break for all the details.

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The Camera Insider said that Canon is prepared to release RF and RFS lenses at the end of September. Multiple people that we talked to have told us that we’ll see announcements in late September, and they’ll be for new RF and RFS lenses.

The Camera Insider didn’t happen to say what lenses we could expect to see, although they did tease us about some wide open fast Primes. Um, I don’t know, what could we potentially see? What lens is hotly anticipated? Could we see the 35 millimeter F1.2, or what about a 25 millimeter F1.2 or 1.4? Even a 1.8, and of course, an 11 to 24 millimeter. I personally would love to see that one. I’ve actually got the RF, or sorry, not the RFS, the EFS version of that, but boy what I’d love an RFS fast open 11 to 24 millimeter. And yes, L Series. I want it to be an affordable one, but that’s what I’d really love to see. But what about RFS? I think I know what you’d like to see. What about the 22 millimeter F2 or what about the 32 millimeter F1.4? Yep, I think that would be quite interesting. Just I mean if Canon can deliver just those lenses, I think we’d all be pretty impressed and I’d be excited. I think there’s something for everybody there, except for… yeah, you’re right, there’s no mention of a 24 to 70 F4 or some other telephoto or zoom or even tilt-shift. But I don’t know, I’m hopeful that we’ll get something that we’ll be excited about and hopefully it’s not just two lenses. They’ll give us a whole gaggle of them, something like four or five or even six lenses.

As far as camera bodies, The Camera Insider said no one knows if a camera announcement is possible, so that likely means there won’t be. However, these things can change quickly as more people are read in. The Meike 85 millimeter F1.4 was announced at NAB in 2023 earlier this year, and at that event, Meike said they have a third-party lens, the 85 millimeter F1.4, with autofocus. And that’s the big deal because so far, Cosina, everybody else was released and approved RF lens by Canon has been without autofocus. So this was the first one.

And they’ve released the 85 millimeter F1.4 for the Sony E-mount, for the Nikon Z mount, for a whole bunch of other mounts. But there’s been no, nothing at all in the ether about the Canon RF Mount, leading many of us to believe that hey, maybe it was a mistake, maybe they got reined in by Canon.

But this morning, Canon Rumors gave us an update. The Meike RF 85 millimeter F1.4 was shown to the world at NAB Show 2023 all the way back in April, but not much has been seen or heard since. It now appears that Meike is planning to announce the lens at the end of the month. And I hope it’s a big announcement. And when I mean a big announcement, I just don’t mean that they’re going to announce the lens. They’re going to have streamers and dancing girls and ladders and cars and, you know, just an incredible kind of Top Gear kind of festivity around this lens. No, what I’m hoping for is that they’re going to deliver an RF lens roadmap, giving us a glimpse into what they have planned for the future. Not just a single lens alone here in 2023, but a promise of what might come.

I know, I know, I know what you’re thinking. That we’re more likely to get a personal visit by Santa Claus or that the US federal government is going to announce that they have alien craft and alien bodies in their presence. Sorry, what? What, you’re kidding? Oh, um, so apparently the US federal government has already, to Congress, announced that they do have alien craft and bodies in their presence. So that’s rather disturbing that Canon still hasn’t presented us a roadmap regarding third-party lenses other than we have a few like Meike. Huh. You’re sure about that? Okay, so if the US federal government is able to announce, although there is some controversy around this, that they have alien craft and bodies, then what the heck is holding Canon back from approving third-party lenses for both RF and RFS with autofocus for Tamron and Sigma? Wouldn’t that be amazing? Well, that would certainly show up on the front page of the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Toronto Star, and the Evening Herald. Wow, that would be big news. That would be just, that would… that would break the internet, wouldn’t it?

Okay, yes, I’m being a little bit facetious here. Um, but it’s just striking to me that you can see really big news in the world and, you know, Canon is still holding back on announcing Sigma and Tamron lenses. Look, I’ll be the first to say that I love Canon L Series glass. I’ve got a lot of them. Look at this guy right here, this is the 100 to 500 millimeter F4.5 to 7.1. It’s a terrific lens and it’s not cheap. It’s nowhere in the vicinity of the 100 to 300 F2.8 at, what, $9500? But there’s a huge gap missing in Canon’s lineup. The L Series is, it’s, there’s a lot of good lenses there, but that affordable range from $600 up to about $1200, that’s a range that Canon hasn’t really populated much in their lineup. And I think that’s where Sigma and Tamron really come in. It’s not that they’re going to take Canon’s lunch because Canon, what they could do here, and I’ve said this before, they can sign a deal with Sigma and Tamron approving them to make RF lenses with autofocus but then saying, “Okay boys, I want you to stay away from top-level lenses. F1.2, you can do F1.4, but you can’t do F1.2, and you can’t touch 35 millimeters until we release our lens.” And I think that would be a big deal. And you know what? That would make everybody happy. Wow, we have an announcement. It allows me to plan my purchases. I know what’s coming, I know when it’s coming, and they don’t have to be precise. They can say, “Look for 2024, we’re going to release these lenses. For 2025, these lenses.” And I think that would get a lot of people excited. That’s really what I want to see. It’s just a little bit frustrating.

And if you want to see the latest news and rumors regarding RF and RFS lenses, then go ahead and subscribe and choose all notifications so that way you can stay up to date on all the latest news and information. I mean, after all, I’m gathering up the information from multiple news sources in just this video alone, Canon Rumors, and The Camera Insider. So go ahead and subscribe and hit all notifications. And for all those other news stories that aren’t quite big enough to have their own separate video, maybe it’s a… maybe it’s a CR1…