Important clarification from a Canon representative.
Due to technical limitations, the IS in these f/11 DO lenses will not work in conjunction with the IBIS in the EOS R5 or EOS R6 cameras, so it is 5 stops or 4 stops lens IS in case of the 600 and 800.
A bit unfortunate I would say, but let's see more about how they behave in the field.
Thanks...yeah the ones that are in focus look pretty good...some are ruined by slight focus miss or possible heat waves but a lot of them at least show the lens is capable to make sharp images in the right conditions.
arbitrage wrote:
Did anyone end up getting either of these lenses? If so how are they so far?
I have the RF 600. I try to make sure I extend and retract while the R is off so that the sensor is covered. Lots of air must be getting pumped in/out. Might even be wise to extend/retract before/after mounting.
Sharpness is good considering the price. IS is more effective than I thought it would be.
At minimum focus distance and shooting objects at mid-distance, it looks great. I can't evaluate infinity yet since we've had too much smoke and heat waves in the atmosphere the last few days. As soon as I get some shots that aren't too embarrassing, I'll be posting them.
Here's a few 1:1 crops at 2048px wide. Shot handheld. Some sharpness added via the Lens Correction panel in Capture One.
Thanks for sharing your experiences guys. These lenses are looking like they can produce nice results if one is just mindful of the shooting conditions they will excel in given the f/11 limit.
So, it turns out that an f11 800mm lens can be useful. How can that be? People complaining on the internet are never wrong.
Canon is going to sell these things like paradoxical hotcakes. Why a paradox? Because everything can sell like hotcakes, except for actual hotcakes, which sell worse than everything else. If you think about it too hard, your mind will collapse into a singularity.
arbitrage wrote:
Thanks for sharing your experiences guys. These lenses are looking like they can produce nice results if one is just mindful of the shooting conditions they will excel in given the f/11 limit.
FWIW
He is always entertaining to watch. I had to laugh, however, when he said the light would take hundreds of years for light to reach us from Jupiter. Or that the moon was moving through the frame too much for his liking (at 1600mm, the moon will be moving through the frame pretty quickly).
He obviously hasn't done much astronomy or astrophotography.
Glad he had fun shooting. That's the whole point.
The new RF600 and RF800 lenses will sell, and they will have their niche.
alundeb wrote:
MTF for the 800. Looks good in the center, not so hot in the edges:
Great for the aps-c crop mode on the R5. When 800 is needed is 800 ever enough?
JohanEickmeyer wrote:
So, it turns out that an f11 800mm lens can be useful. How can that be? People complaining on the internet are never wrong.
Canon is going to sell these things like paradoxical hotcakes. Why a paradox? Because everything can sell like hotcakes, except for actual hotcakes, which sell worse than everything else. If you think about it too hard, your mind will collapse into a singularity.
Not much risk in buying it either. A used one will probably resell for 80% of the new price. I sold an 500/4 for what I paid because Canon raised prices.
Mike_5D wrote:
How hard is it to find your subject with an 800 mm lens?
Takes some practice to become adept at quickly locating the subject in the finder, especially if it’s moving. Good technique helps — here’s a nice video on the subject by @Steve Perry:
cameron12x wrote:
He is always entertaining to watch. I had to laugh, however, when he said the light would take hundreds of years for light to reach us from Jupiter. Or that the moon was moving through the frame too much for his liking (at 1600mm, the moon will be moving through the frame pretty quickly).
He obviously hasn't done much astronomy or astrophotography.
Glad he had fun shooting. That's the whole point.
The new RF600 and RF800 lenses will sell, and they will have their niche.
1300 years! Apparently he missed some math classes.
Voyager 1 just recently crossed 150 AU from the sun and Jupiter is about 9 AU from Earth now. 1300 LY is about 82 million AU.
dcmiller wrote:
Great for the aps-c crop mode on the R5. When 800 is needed is 800 ever enough?
Not much risk in buying it either. A used one will probably resell for 80% of the new price. I sold an 500/4 for what I paid because Canon raised prices.
Also it will be easy to sell if you don’t like it.
Arbitrage, they're quite good. I got both. The IS is surprisingly good. The sharpness is very unexpected given their price. The R5 ISO capabilities negates most of the disadvantages of the crazy small aperture.
BUT, the focus points are limited to the center of the screen (about the center third). This makes BIF impractical. If you get tracking going, inevitably it'll goof up when the bird's slips out of that central area of the frame for a fraction of a second. But for predictable objects or still ones, these lenses focus well. They're not the zippiest AF, but they get it right.
They take teleconverters quite well (at least the 1.4x, which I have; the 2x hasn't come in yet).
They're much, much lighter than expected. For hiking, the 800 f/11 this is now my preferred lens. It's light enough and compact enough, with both the DO element and the dust pump mechanism, that I carry it on a body holstered to my belt on my left hip.
