< Back to the Photography Museum Lenses: Canon RF Mount
Canon RF 24-105mm ƒ/4 L IS USM
This is my first RF lens, purchased alongside the Canon EOS R6 Mark II camera in January, 2023.
This was the first of two RF zoom lenses introduced (2018), the first image stabilized RF lens, and the first L-series lens to feature Nano-USM. When introduced, it’s 5-stops of image stabilization was the most ever achieved by any Canon lens.
I chose this lens because I never owned a L-series standard zoom and I felt that it would be a versatile range on full-frame (standard zooms always felt too long on APS-C sensor cameras and so I gravitated more towards the 16-35mm wide-angle zoom range).
I planned to use the R6 Mark II for both stills and video and felt a compact, straight-aperture, image-stabilized lens would be a good place to start. I wasn’t wrong.
On 24 megapixels, the RF 24-105mm ƒ/4 L IS USM is quite sharp across the entire frame. No complaints so far. I have had zero issues with flare or chromatic aberration.
The ƒ/4 aperture is a little slow for video work in low light (dusk, indoors) but has been perfectly adequate for stills photography. In fact I have only ever seen the slightest amount of motion blur even in photos taken at shutter speeds of ¼ second or longer. Really, with lens IS, IBIS (in-body image stabilization), a 24 megapixel sensor, and high ISO capabilities all combined, I just don’t know when I would need to shoot stills on a tripod, except to compose with filters.
RF L-series lenses look nice and feel very good in the hand. The zoom and focus rings are more refined than the older EF designs, but are still easy to locate and turn. I do find that the control ring is quite hard to feel, especially with gloves on.
The RF 24-105mm has been a good complement to my EF 16-35mm ƒ/4 L IS USM, and I expect will serve me many years as a professional “kit” lens.
Samples
Springer Photo Graphics 