Our guide to the best Canon RF mount lenses, by Joshua Waller, is here to help you find the perfect glass for your EOS R mirrorless camera.
If you’ve just got a Canon EOS R mirrorless camera, or are considering getting one, then it’s likely you’ve also thought about which of the best Canon RF-mount lenses you’re going to need. The range has continued to expand since the system was first announced back in 2018, and these days there are tremendous RF-mount lenses for every stripe of user.
Whether you use the pro flagship EOS R3 to shoot professional sports, or you’re just getting started with a beginner camera like the EOS R100 or EOS R50, you’ll have plenty of RF-mount lenses to choose from. Canon has done a commendable job so far of filling out the budget end of the range as well as updating the high-end stuff, so there are plenty of lens options for those who don’t have a lot to spend on new lenses (as well as for those who do).
We’ve managed to whittle the choices down to just ten lenses that we think represent the best cross-section of what the Canon RF-mount system has to offer. All the lenses have been tested, reviewed and rated by our team, so you can rest assured we’re only recommending lenses we know are worth the price being asked for them.
Before we get to the list, let’s look a little closer at how you might go about choosing a Canon RF-mount lens…
How to choose a Canon RF Mount lens?
Do you want a zoom or a prime? Zoom lenses give you much more versatility, while prime lenses offer superior optical quality. You’ll also want to consider if you want to get close images of distant subjects, and so will need a telephoto, or you want to create expansive views of large-scale scenes, in which case a wide-angle is your friend. You may also want a naturalistic view for day-to-day shooting, which will mean opting for a standard lens, the most common of which tends to be a 50mm lens, also referred to as a “nifty fifty”. See our complete guide to prime vs zoom lenses for more on this.
If you’re looking for the premium lenses from Canon, where image quality and build quality are top priorities, then look for a lens from the L series – which will have L in the name. These are the top-of-the-line lenses in terms of image quality, but as they are tilted towards professionals, they come at a premium cost.
One thing to consider is the lens’s maximum aperture. The wider this is (so the smaller the F-number), the more light your lens can take in, and the shallower depth of field it can create. An f/1.2 lens is much more effective in low light than an f/1.8 lens, but will generally come at a higher price, and be bulkier too.
You’ll also want to keep an eye on whether the lens has optical image stabilisation, which Canon calls simply “IS” and you’ll also find this in the name. This works in combination with the camera’s in-body image stabilisation (IBIS), which most Canon cameras feature.
The best Canon RF-mount lenses: quick list
Want to cut right to it? Here’s a quick run-down of what we’ve picked for our list of the best Canon RF-mount lenses, as well as links to get the best prices for each one:
- Best RF macro: Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM – buy now
- Best 70-200mm RF lens: Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM – buy now
- Best wide-angle prime: Canon RF 24mm F1.8 Macro IS STM – buy now
- Best RF wide-angle zoom: Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM – buy now
- Best RF beginner zoom lens: Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM – buy now
- Best budget RF lens: Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM – buy now
- Best telephoto zoom lens: Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM – buy now
- Best all-round RF lens: Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM – buy now
- Best cheap telephoto zoom: Canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 IS USM – buy now
- Best third-party RF lens: Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO – buy now
- Best budget RF lens for vloggers: Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM – buy now
Read on to learn more about each of these lenses, each one of which has been tested and rated by our experienced review team.
If you’re still looking for a camera as well as a lens, check out our guide to the best Canon mirrorless cameras. And remember that EOS R cameras can also use the best Canon EF lenses via use of the EF-EOS R adapter.
Best RF macro: Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
A dedicated macro lens that delivers excellent image quality, and also doubles up as a great portrait lens.- Impressive 1.4x magnification
- Focuses fast and silently
- Useful SA control ring
- Quite bulky and heavy
- No focus distance display
Price: $1,793 / £1,479
The Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM lens isn’t your standard everyday macro lens, with 1.4x magnification, and an innovative ‘SA Control’ ring, which is designed to let you adjust the spherical aberration, which gives your out-of-focus areas a different look to other lenses. In our review we found that build-quality and handling are both excellent, and as you’d expect for a premium RF lens, image quality is superb. With the SA Control, it can also give portrait shots a different look.
Read our Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM review.
Best 70-200mm RF lens: Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
You get your money’s worth with this smaller and lighter bodied telephoto lens without compromising on image quality- Incredibly small and light
- Delivers the goods in terms of quality
- Tough and durable
- Zoom retraction pushes air towards sensor
Price: $3,637 / £2,999
The Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM is Canon’s 70-200mm F2.8 lens for RF mount cameras. It seems to be the the rule, that every full-frame camera has to offer a 24-70mm F2.8 lens, then a 70-200mm F2.8 lens, and this is Canon’s version. What’s special about this one though, is that when released it was the smallest and lightest 70-200mm F2.8 lens for full-frame cameras – impressive! When we reviewed this lens we found that it also offers excellent image quality as well as the high-quality build you’d expect from an L series lens.
A more affordable option would be the RF 70-200mm F4L IS USM (£1699) if you don’t mind the slightly slower aperture.
Read our Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM review.
Best wide-angle prime: Canon RF 24mm F1.8 Macro IS STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
A staple lens for your kit, it is fast, slim and lightweight. The 14 cm close focusing distance makes it a versatile companion for capturing wide landscapes as well as close-up details- Good close-focusing ability
- f/1.8 great for shallow depth of field
- Sharp wide open
- Not weather-sealed
- No hood included in box
Price: $811 / £669
If you prefer a wider perspective for a walk-about lens, then the Canon RF 24mm F1.8 Macro IS STM should fit the bill rather well. It’s lightweight and easy to carry for long periods, and its minimum focusing distance of 14cm means you can get nice and close to subjects that catch your eye, separating them from the background with that nicely generous f/1.8 aperture. We found in testing that the RF 24mm delivers excellent sharpness even when used wide open (helped along by automatic profile corrections), and with little-to-no vignetting or chromatic aberration to speak of, it’s a reliable lens for plenty of situations. Just be aware that it isn’t weather sealed, and doesn’t come with a hood in the box.
Read our Canon RF 24mm F1.8 Macro IS STM review.
Best RF wide-angle zoom: Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
Even with a variable aperture, this wide angle zoom is undeniably an attractive option given its price, relatively light weight and impressive image quality.- Great value for money
- Small and portable
- Focuses fast and silently
- Correction profiles essential at wide end
- Not weatherproof
Price: $750 / £619
We were really quite impressed with this lens once we got it into the office for a full review. The Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM is small, lightweight and highly capable, a fantastic ultra-wide or EOS R cameras that also happens to be quite fairly priced. It’ll be of particular interest to landscape photographers, but we can also see vloggers appreciating its quick and silent focusing. Images look fantastic from edge to edge; the lens makes use of Canon’s correction profiles, and these are pretty essential at its widest end. They incur a little crop on the image, so make sure you’ve got them activated in-camera to gain an accurate sense of what your final shot is going to look like.
Read our Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM review.
Best RF beginner zoom lens : Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
The STM autofocus and IS makes it an ideal companion for vloggers, though when tracking is enabled it becomes a little noisy. It is compact and lightweight, not to mention affordable.- Affordable
- Features a control ring to adjust different settings on the fly
- Good edge-to-edge sharpness
- Plastic lens mount as opposed to metal
- Very small maximum aperture
- Performance of the IS system
Price: $459 / £379
The Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM is a super-compact and lightweight zoom lens that arrived at the same time as the Canon EOS R8. It’s a versatile optic with a 4.5-stop IS system that increases to a maximum of 7 stops of combined IS compensation with a stabilised Canon R-series mirrorless body. The lens provides near silent autofocus operation in use, but you do have to remember to turn the zoom ring right past its ‘parked’ position to extend it for use. Near-to-far focus shifts for stills photography are very fast and smooth, with no hesitation or hunting. Its optical performance is also better than its price suggests with impressive edge-to-edge sharpness. For full-frame Canon RF camera owners, there is no other lens like it, unless you’re happy to use primes.
Read our Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM review.
Best budget RF lens: Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
We like this lens for its versatility; its wide aperture enables striking images and scope for fast shutter speeds in low light. Compact, lightweight, and affordable- Ultra-affordable
- Very good centre sharpness
- Accepts small 43mm filters
- Soft corners when wide open
- No AF/MF switch
Price: $241 / £199
The Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM lens is an ultra-compact 50mm lens that is the cheapest Canon lens available for the RF Mount, being around £200. When we tested this lens, we found that it offers excellent sharpness in the centre of the frame when shooting wide-open, but corners are softer. Luckily this can be resolved by stopping down the lens if you want sharper corners. With a low price, and a compact design, this makes a great choice for anyone wanting to travel light, and could be a great option for the new Canon EOS R7 and R10.
Read our Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM review.
Best telephoto zoom lens: Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
This lens is a well-made example that returns excellent image quality, highly effective in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) and excellent ISO response- Extremely solidly built
- No zoom creep
- Spectacular centre sharpness
- Thick barrel
- Slows to f/7.1 beyond 400mm
Price: $3,564 / £2,939
The Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM lens offers a longer telephoto reach than your standard 100-400mm telephoto zoom lens. The lens has optical image stabilisation (IS) that works in combination with the camera body’s in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) on the EOS R5 and R6 cameras to help you get sharp shots even when using lots of zoom. Build quality is very good and includes weather sealing, and as expected, the lens gives excellent image quality. The lens weighs in at a respectable 1.37kg making it easier to take with you when needed.
Read our Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM review.
Best all-round RF lens: Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
A great all-in-one lens for amateurs and enthusiasts with an impressive focal range, and stabilisation, however you will need to compromise on aperture.- Impressively broad focal range
- Effective five-stop stabiliser
- Well-engineered control ring
- No hood in the box
- Sharpness suffers at wide and tele ends
Price: $1,103 / £910
The Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM lens is designed to be an all-in-one super-zoom, going from 24mm to 240mm, meaning you can leave it on the camera and don’t have to think about changing your lens. This makes it a great option if you’re travelling and just want to have one lens with you, as long as you don’t expect the lens to deliver the same level of image quality as a prime lens. Another option is the 24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM lens.
Read our Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM review.
Best cheap RF telephoto zoom lens: Canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
If you are a Canon EOS R system user and don’t want to spend the thousands required for the L series, and you are prepared to accept a bit of give and take, this lens will make you very happy indeed.- Exceptionally good value
- Autofocus performs well
- Very small and light for a 100-400mm
- Limited max apertures
- No tripod mount
Price: $847 / £669
The Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS STM lens offers a useful telephoto zoom range, from 100mm to 400mm, whilst being competitively priced, for just £699. This makes it great value for money, and it’s also the smallest, and lightest 100-400mm lens currently available. In our review we found that the sharpness provided was good, even when the lens is used wide open, and the in-camera lens correction does a good job of correcting for any optical issues.
Read our Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM review.
Best third-party RF lens: Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO
Amateur Photographer verdict
A smaller lightweight macro lens, offers higher magnification and a longer working distance, than other lenses which usually equates to a more attractive perspective.- Incredible magnification capability
- Excellent value for money
- Relatively lightweight
- No weather sealing
- Smaller maximum aperture
- Manual focus only
Price: $593 / £489
There are disappointingly few third-party lenses for the RF-mount. This is not the fault of third-party manufacturers – it’s because Canon has been very reluctant to approve the development of third-party lenses on its RF-mount, especially when it comes to full electronic compatibility (meaning autofocus). We think this is a short-sighted decision (see: why Canon must accept third-party RF lenses or get left behind), but the firm seems to be sticking to its guns for now. So, if you want a third-party RF lens, you’re realistically looking at a manual-focus lens.
The Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO is an excellent choice. The fact that it’s a macro lens means the lack of AF is less of a problem, since macro focusing is generally done manually. The headline feature is the fact that the lens delivers 2x life-size magnification; it can focus on a subject area measuring just 18 x 12mm. It delivers the high standard of optical quality necessary for such an exacting lens, and in our testing we were consistently impressed by the images it produced.
Read our full Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO review
Best budget RF lens for vloggers: Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
A budget wide-angle lens with wide aperture, however lens correction is most certainly needed when editing.- Very small
- And very cheap
- Severely compromised by distortion
- Significant vignetting
Price: $362 / £299
The Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM gets your attention for three reasons: its wide focal length, its slender 165g weight, and its reasonable price. Providing a generous angle-of-view, it’s a lens that suits vloggers as it will allow you to film yourself with a camera at arm’s length. For photographers, it may appeal to those shooting architectural interiors or landscapes – but you do have to know what you’re getting into. At this size and price, compromises are inevitable, and in our review we found that the RF 16mm F2.8 STM does produce significant distortion and vignetting. It’s correctable in software, and less of an issue for video users who will be shooting in the 16:9 aspect ratio, but is worth being aware of.
Read our Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM review.
What about APS-C RF lenses?
Currently, as of July 2023, there are three Canon RF-S lenses designed specifically for Canon’s APS-C RF-mount cameras, such as the Canon EOS R10, R50, and R7. These lenses are:
- The best mirrorless cameras you can buy right now
- Best Canon RF lenses for portrait photography
- Best Canon RF lenses for landscape photography
Beyond these, you’ll need to look at Canon’s full-frame RF-mount lenses, as highlighted above.
Text by Joshua Waller, with contributions from Jon Stapley & Michael Topham.
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