Best Canon RF lenses for portrait photography

Choosing the best Canon RF lenses for portrait photography is easy once you know what to look for. In partnership with Canon, here are the best RF lenses for people shots.

Portrait photography is one of the most popular photography genres, and whether you’re photographic friends and loved ones, or shooting weddings and events for a living, the best Canon RF lenses for portraits can help you get exactly the results you’re looking for. (See also our guide to the best Canon RF mount lenses overall.)

Over the years, a ‘classic’ portrait lens type has evolved – an 85mm lens with a wide maximum aperture, typically f/1.4 but sometimes more and sometimes less. You can of course use any lens to shoot portraits and get great results, but the ‘fast’ 85mm has become popular for two reasons.

First, the 85mm focal length is slightly longer than a standard focal length, which leads you to stand a little further away as you frame your shot which, in turn, gives a flatter and more flattering perspective to people’s faces.

Second, the wide maximum aperture makes it easy to blur backgrounds and make your subject stand out more clearly. This background separation can be achieved in other ways, by moving your subject or changing your position, but the combination of a longer focal length and wider aperture does make this style of portrait photography much easier.

But different shooting situations can favour other lenses too. For ‘environmental’ portraits that also show the place where people live or work, a wide-aperture wide-angle lens can be better, and for wedding and event photography a 70-200mm zoom can give the same background separation and more flexibility in rapidly changing situations.

So whatever your portrait shooting style, here are the Canon RF lenses we think are best at the job.

---

Here’s the quick list of all our picks of the Canon RF lenses for portrait photography:

• Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM – check best price
• Canon RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM – check best price
• Canon RF 135mm F1.8L IS USM – check best price
• Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM – check best price
• Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM – check best price
• Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM – check best price
• Canon RF 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM – check best price
• Canon RF 50mm F1.2L USM – check best price
• Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM – check best price

---

1. Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM

At a glance

• Type: Portrait prime
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 1195g
• Price: $2,799 / £3,059

This is the ultimate Canon RF portrait lens. The RF 85mm F1.2L USM combines the ‘ideal’ 85mm focal length with a super-fast f/1.2 maximum aperture. This lens shares the same specs as the much older EF 85mm f/1.2 for Canon DSLRs, but a much more advanced optical formula for greatly improved results with the latest generation of mirrorless cameras. It is sold in both a standard and a ‘DS’ version which has a special coating on two of the internal elements to produce a softer bokeh effect in blurred backgrounds. If the RF 85mm F1.2L USM is more than you need and you’re looking for a more affordable alternative, there’s always the RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM below…

2. Canon RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM

At a glance

• Type: Portrait/macro prime
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 225g
• Price: $549 / £649

The Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM (above) may be the dream portrait lens for Canon EOS R camera owners, but its price might put it out of reach for many enthusiasts. This RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM is a much more practical and cost-effective alternative. It won’t produce quite the same degree of background blur as the f/1.2 lens but used wide open it can still give clear background separation and subject ‘pop‘ – and while its f/2 maximum aperture is some way short of the f/1.2 of the flagship lens, this one does have optical image stabilization. The other advantage of the RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM is its half life size ‘macro’ capability, so this lens is not just perfect for capturing portraits at a wedding, for example, but also small details like the rings, table decorations and more. This is a very versatile lens for all kinds of social and ‘event’ photography.

3. Canon RF 135mm F1.8L IS USM

At a glance

• Type: Portrait prime
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 935g
• Price: $2,099 / £2,599

If you are after a longer prime, the Canon RF 135mm F1.8L IS USM is another great choice for portraits, offering a fast maximum aperture of f/1.8 for attractive background blur and low-light shooting. The 135mm focal length is particularly pleasing for the human face, with flattering compression, and also enables you to get good results when shooting your subject from a longer distance – so it’s a good street portrait lens, too. As well as portraits, the lens is well suited to weddings, fashion and sports, and whatever your favoured genre, that extra telephoto compression also makes it very easy to blur the background and really make your subject pop. Use alongside an 85mm prime and you’ve got a great portrait combo.

That fast, f/1.8 aperture will also come in very handy for low-light shooting. Other highlights of this lens include a 5.5 stop image stabilisation, a big advantage when shooting handheld at slower shutter speeds, or when filming. This increases to 8-stops with in-body stabilisation on a compatible EOS R camera. The RF 135mm F1.8 L IS USM also offers two custom lens function buttons and a control ring for fine-tuning settings, while focus breathing correction helps when shooting video. You can shoot close up too, up 0.7m (0.26x magnification), and this well-made lens offers advanced weather-sealing.

4. Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM

At a glance

• Type: Standard zoom
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 900g
• Price: $2,399 / £2,629

The Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM is more of a general purpose lens than a portrait lens specifically, but its constant f/2.8 maximum aperture offers faster shutter speeds in low light and good background blur when required. It’s a favourite ‘go to’ lens for professional photographers and enthusiasts across a whole range of genres. The 70mm maximum focal length is long enough for flattering portraits, but the wider focal lengths will also be useful for when you need to include couples or group shots, and can show the background and surroundings a little more, not just the main subject. This would be a great lens to have alongside a fast portrait lens for all those shots where 85mm is just a little too long, and things are happening quickly and you need to keep changing your position.

5. Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM

At a glance

• Type: Standard zoom
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 1430g
• Price: $3,099 / £3,299

Good as the Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM is, its f/2.8 maximum aperture will  limit the amount of background blur you can create – and if that’s a factor for your photography, then there’s this rather remarkable Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM. It’s remarkable because it’s a whole f-stop faster than the regular 24-70mm and, indeed, a full frame f/2 zoom is practically unheard of. It’s true that you lose a little wide-angle coverage, as this lens starts at 28mm not 24mm, but for many photographers that will be more than offset by the faster maximum aperture. Unlike the 24-70mm f/2.8, this lens has no optical stabilization, but the faster aperture will again help offset this. This lens is also somewhat heavier, as you might expect from the advanced optical configuration.

6. Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM

At a glance

• Type: Telephoto zoom
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 1070g
• Price: $2,799 / £3,059

You might normally think of a 70-200mm lens as being designed for sports and action, but in fact these can make very good portrait lenses too, particularly at events where you may quickly need to switch between subjects and different distances. A constant f/2.8 maximum aperture can produce extremely crisp separation and background blur at the longer end of the zoom range, sometimes even more than a classic ‘portrait’ lens. The Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM is a very good example. It’s the third in the ‘trinity’ of lenses that pro photographers typically keep at the heart of their systems, and while it has a barrel that extends during zooming, this does mean it’s a very compact lens to pack away, and it doesn’t compromise the optical quality at all, which is terrific. If this lens is a little expensive for your budget, you might also want to take a look at the RF 70-200mm F4L IS USM – though you won’t get quite the same degree of background separation.

• Read our full Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM review

7. Canon RF 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM

At a glance

• Type: Wide-angle prime/macro
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 305g
• Price: $499 / £529

Not all portrait shots are tightly framed. Sometimes you want to capture ‘environmental portraits’ where you’re shooting not just your subject’s face, but also what they’re doing and their surroundings. Here, it’s useful to have a wider focal length lens, and the RF 35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM is an ideal choice. Its semi-wide angle of view lets you capture your subject’s surroundings, and its f/1.8 maximum aperture offers a lot of control over just how blurred you want that background to be. Better still, this is one of Canon’s dual-purpose ‘macro’ primes so that you can highlight small objects, or focus on hands or eyes, while still including enough of the scene to provide context. This is a very versatile little lens which is great for candid, natural portrait shots and even street photography, and priced to appeal to beginners and enthusiasts alike.

8. Canon RF 50mm F1.2L USM

At a glance

• Type: Standard prime
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 950g
• Price: $2,299 / £2,589

Many photographers love the 50mm focal length because it matches the angle of normal human vision, while others may find it falls between two stools, being neither wide enough nor long enough to be useful. But the Canon RF 50mm F1.2L USM is interesting because it gives portrait photographers more freedom in environments where there’s too little space to step back, yet offers a lot more background blur than a regular 50mm lens. As such, it makes a great ‘short’ portrait lens to use alongside a regular lens kit. Better still, on one of Canon’s APS-C RF-mount cameras, it effectively becomes an 80mm f/1.2, which is close to the ‘perfect’ portrait focal length. If you’re looking for a more affordable ‘nifty fifty’ alternative for the Canon EOS RP or R8, for example, or an inexpensive portrait lens for the EOS R50, EOS R10 or EOS R7, the RF 50mm F1.8 STM (below) would be a great alternative.

9. Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM

At a glance

• Type: Standard prime
• Format: Full frame
• Weight: 160g
• Price: $199 / £219

The ‘nifty fifty’ is a staple lens for many photographers, and the RF 50mm F1.8 STM certainly fits the bill for owners of full frame Canon EOS R cameras. It’s an especially good match for the EOS RP, for example, because it’s a modest and inexpensive yet very effective lens that fits in with the cost of the camera itself. It’s not quite the perfect portrait lens on full frame cameras because it’s a little ’short’ in focal length, but then things take an interesting turn if you consider it as a lens for Canon’s new APS-C format EF-mount cameras. Here, it offers an equivalent 80mm focal length and that, combined with the f/1.8 maximum aperture, makes it a very cheap and effective portrait lens for these cameras. It’s also a very inexpensive way for Canon owners to experiment with shooting with a prime lens rather than a zoom, as well as offering good background separation and higher shutter speeds in low light.

• Read our full Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM review

---

Further reading
The best Canon RF lenses for wildlife photography
The best Canon RF lenses for sports and action photography
The best Canon RF lenses for landscape photography
Complete guide to portrait photography
Portrait photography tips from the pros
Top fine-art portrait photography tips