Canon Halts EF Lenses in favor of RF Lenses — For Now

Canon RF mount shooters rejoice (yes, all 5 of you!).

According to internal sources, Canon is pausing production on their Canon EF line for the year (at least) while they prioritize the much-neglected RF line (Canon’s latest mount, found on their lines of mirrorless crop and full frame bodies).

The RF mount bodies have picked up a lot of steam, with notable Youtubers like Potato Jet evangelizing them as perfect vlogging cameras.

Currently, the RF lens line has a sparse few options:

• 24-105mm f/4 L

• 28-70mm f/2 L

• 50mm 1.2 L

• 35mm f/1.8 Macro

This lack of lens availability and higher-than-average price point has, understandably, turned many shooters off from upgrading to Canon’s flagship mirrorless bodies — which is certainly a shame, given how many strong features are packed into the small, well built chassis.

Via Canon Rumors, sources have suggested as many as 7 new RF lenses may be rolled out in 2020, including a “holy trinity” of f/2.8 lenses:

• a versatile 16-35 for travel, architectural, or video work

• 24-70 for editorial and lifestyle work (and while this focal length seems redundant with the 28-70mm f/2 L, we can expect a smaller size and lower price on this model)

• 70-200 for sports, portrait, or wildlife

Plus, an insane 70-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L USM zoom. It’s hard for me to imagine the use case of that focal length other than bird photography, but the demand must be there for Canon to invest R&D into such a beast of a lens.

…and if Canon’s long history is any indication, we should also expect some new primes: 105mm f/4, 85mm f/1.8, and hopefully a lightweight wide angle.

So what if you don’t care about the RF mount?

This news shouldn’t particularly upset any loyal Canon EF shooter. The lens mount has been around since the 80s, and we now have access to essentially every focal length at essentially every aperture for multiple price points.

To sweeten the deal, Canon left themselves an opportunity to continue development on the EF mount if there’s enough feedback and demand to warrant it — but personally, I’m hard pressed to imagine a new Canon EF lens I’d want that isn’t already out there, and I say that as a Canon lens super fan.

You can read any of my Canon EF lens reviews to see just how in love I am with what Canon has accomplished in the lens world.

If anything, these rumors have piqued my curiosity on Canon’s RF mirrorless offerings. I had tabled my interest when I saw the underwhelming lens launch line up, but this year could be a much needed game changer for Canon.