Canon unveils more lenses to go with its new EOS RP camera
An EOS R firmware update will deliver eye AF tracking, as well.
Canon has announced that, by the end of 2019, it'll add six more lenses to its EOS R and new EOS RP full-frame mirrorless lineup, bringing the total to nine. Coming in the second half of this year, the new models will be the RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM, RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM, RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, RF 85mm f/1.2L USM, RF 85mm f/1.2L USM DS (defocus smoothing) and the RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM.
Canon already has four lenses for its RF mount cameras, and while they're all nice, only one -- the $500 F/1.8 35mm macro -- is what you'd call affordable. For instance, the RF28-70mm f/2.0 is an incredibly fast zoom, but it costs $2,999, more than the EOS R body. The RF50mm f/1.2 is $2,299, while the 24-70mm F/4 zoom costs $1,099.
The other lenses also look fast and sharp and will give photographers nearly a full range of native lenses. However, none of them is likely to be particularly cheap either, other than the RF24-240mm f/4-6.3 zoom (above), which has a slower, variable aperture. For instance, the EF version of the 16-35mm f/2.8 USM II lens costs $1,600, so I'd expect the RF version to be at least that.
While pro photographers might appreciate such fast lenses, the prices are at odds with the release of the EOS RP, which at $1,299, is actually pretty cheap for a full-frame mirrorless camera. In fact, to keep kit price under $2,000, Canon is offering the EOS RP with the mount adapter and an EF 24-105 f/4 STM DSLR lens for $1,699 until March 30th and $1,999 after that. If you want it with the native RF 24-105mm F4L lens, that will cost you $2,199 until March 30th or $2,399 afterwards. It's also offering the RF 50 mm f/1.2 lens for $2,100, the RF 24-105mm for $900 and the RF 35mm f/1.8 model for $449 until March 30th.
On top of the lenses, Canon also unveiled a firmware update for its original RF-mount camera, the EOS R. As revealed a few days ago, it brings silent shooting in continuous mode and fixes several bugs with the memory card, image noise and viewfinder information. Most importantly, it introduces eye autofocus, a feature we saw on pre-production models but not yet on the retail versions. The firmware should be available to download soon here.
