Top 15 lenses for Canon cameras

The EOS R system started with a small but very interesting set of lenses for your bayonet. The high-aperture “fifty-kilo-elka” ultrasound-driven focusing is not cheap (although the prices for L-series lenses have never been particularly low) have been massive (almost a kilogram!) And even purely tactile causes the feeling of a thing made qualitatively and permanently.

Getting good sharpness at this open aperture is not an easy task. A lot of lenses, and Canon, among others, require covering the diaphragm even at lower luminosity in order to get rid of the “soap”. However, the “open” lens is decently sharp, vignetting is more serious on such an aperture. Chromatic aberrations - minor, easily removed when processing RAW.Starting with f / 2.0, sharpness becomes excellent at all even in the center, at least along the edges.

The diaphragm is assembled on ten rounded petals. After all, we are taking a bright “fifty dollars” for a reason, right? The bokeh of it is really beautiful, the aperture allows you to bring out a maximum of unnecessary parts from the depth of field. Another thing is that the author personally would have called faceless bokeh: “if a person opens the diaphragm, the lens will draw circles”. Although, of course, this is better than the “torsion” that has already bothered thousands of photos. What do we say twisted bokeh? "Not today".

An old acquaintance - the annular ultrasonic autofocus drive - as always, is fast, silent and allows you to use manual focus control without having to switch to MF mode. Autofocus dual-mode - with a full range (from 0.4 m to "infinity") and with a reduced (0.8 m - "infinity"). There is nothing new, everything is familiar and traditionally excellent. But the camera control ring entered on the RF lenses is a useful thing: an extra setting “at hand” (however, you can literally without quotes) will not hurt. For example, working in the aperture priority mode, you can control it not with the camera wheel, but with the hand holding the lens, as on manual optics.

Canon's pleasant in pattern and bright fifty-middle link does not contain anything particularly interesting in the design - the “middling” as it is. He has a good sharpness - someone even uses soft filters with him for portrait shooting. Well, a very decent luminosity is good not only as an end in itself, but also allows focusing with limited illumination even to owners of not very new cameras, where the autofocus sensors are “blind”.

For crop cameras, by the way, it becomes especially interesting as a portrait painter, it is often bought for this very purpose. On a fullframe, he, as befits a “fifty kopeck”, is quite versatile “for every day,” and even small dimensions with moderate weight contribute to this.

Since we are talking about portraits, the lens has enough strengths in this regard. Good detail in the zone of depth of field, color reproduction, beautiful working out bokeh - this is not to take away from him. Actually, the popularity of the lens allows you to find a lot of photos in this genre when searching by model on the same 500px or Flickr, you can see for yourself. But, covering the diaphragm, note that then you may have to work with retouching - the microcontrast of the lens becomes pronounced, emphasizing all the slightest defects of the skin. Or immediately go back two paragraphs above, where we recalled the soft filters. The "character" of the lens is, so at least take it for a "test drive" for friends is worth it: it is likely that you will like the EF 50mm f / 1.4 USM.

Autofocus - ultrasonic, but not a ring type. The speed is good, the slips are rare, especially if you work on one central point. When using several, the camera may already be "confused", as on many other high-aperture lenses due to the small depth of field with an open aperture, on which the focusing takes place.

But not without flaws, alas. The lens in a plastic case is quite gentle, protect it from drops and bumps. This is not the old Japanese manual like SMC Pentax-M, which can be dropped on the floor and landed on top of all 120 kilograms of the author without any consequences (just don’t ask how it happened). When wearing it is necessary to force the lens to "infinity" in order to avoid "trunk injuries", which travels to MDF quite far.On the open diaphragm, obvious chromatic aberrations are visible (especially with unsuccessful light), strong vignetting - you will have to work in a RAW converter, correcting the imperfections of the lenses with your hands.

However, not everyone can afford a top-end "fifty" Canon. Well, if you do not have enough luminosity of the whale lens on an inexpensive "SLR", then ten times cheaper you can buy a good "fifty". Having a minimum aperture of 1.8, the lens blurs the background quite well, especially since the seven petals with rounded edges draw this very blur very decently.

For a novice photographer, it is also important that the lens at the minimum aperture is well compatible with autofocus: the same f / 1.2L USM will require more frequent manual focusing. Here, even in low light, most cameras will ensure focus accuracy at the center point, and the focusing system itself works quickly and silently.

In addition, the lens is quite versatile. Good sharpness of the image is useful both in reportage and for portraits - the lens focuses from 35 cm so that it can take a close-up face. If in your hands there is a “spiked” camera, then, getting an equivalent focal length of 75-80 mm, it becomes the best low-cost lens for a portrait photo.

At the same time, it is even more interesting than the twice more expensive Canon EF 50mm f / 1.4 USM, which, in comparison, is unnecessarily harsh and tough in transmitting half-tones, although it flaunts an ultrasonic autofocus.

For the 135mm lens here is a great aperture,and the versatility of this optics is also worthy of respect - thanks to the long focus, it allows you to photograph distant, fast-moving objects at low shutter speeds, and at the same time, the round aperture gives excellent background blur, valuable for portrait painter. Another thing is that they will have to shoot portraits in a spacious studio or on the street - an 18-degree field of view affects.

Khe-khe! Yes, the product card in online stores makes cough. And from the price, and from the weight of almost one and a half kilograms, and from the dimensions, decent telephoto. He involuntarily asked to quit that Canon decided to compensate for the dimensions and weight saved by the cameras themselves on top RF lenses.

But the “glass” itself, of course, came out as it should. A “two” relative aperture over the entire focal length range is a very good aperture for a zoom lens. The range of focal lengths is convenient - here you have a rather wide “end”, and the seventieth for portraits. For wedding photographers, their inner Hamster should scream briskly (though its neighbor, Toad will immediately begin to recalculate the price of the lens to the number of weddings that need to be worked on while the lens will only pay off). Taking into account the fact that the diaphragm is nine-lobed, as a “portrait” and for artistic photography, when high-quality background blur is required, the lens is fully consistent.

Autofocus quality - no comment: the ring USM-drive silently sharpens the lens at the desired point for a tenth of a second. FTM, as an integral attribute of this design since its appearance in the early nineties, is more likely “to be” than a really necessary thing.

The quality of optics, including UD-elements, is such that it is difficult to find fault. Chromatic aberrations will have to be sought out under a magnifying glass, vignetting is noticeable only at the “wide end” to f / 4, barrel distortion completely disappears, starting at a focal length of 35 mm. The backlight is practiced confidently and even beautifully - with even multipath stars without rough glare, it can be used in an artistic photo as a "trick".

It is important to have an effective optical stabilizer, when shooting with it, it will allow you to make a lot more quality shots. Compared with the previous version, the aperture mechanism is improved: it now has 10 rounded petals, which has a positive effect on the possibility of using the lens in portrait photography.

Fans of video filming should take into account that this lens is not very good for working with zoom directly while shooting - during focusing, the focus “floats away” slightly, and the lens itself rustles noticeably.

High-quality optics, especially for system cameras, should be expensive. But the Canon EF-M 18-55mm f / 3.5-5.6 IS STM is not the case. For a very modest price amateur photographer gets a light and compact model, suitable for taking pictures in different genres. Ideal optics primarily for shooting landscapes - this contributes to the 18-millimeter focal length. Optical stabilizer allows to make the exposure longer. Good and portraits are obtained. Although it will not be possible to get a truly beautiful bokeh - the wide-opening diaphragm does not affect it. The lens will be an excellent choice for lovers of video. You will appreciate the STM technology, which makes focusing as smooth as possible.

Naturally, the luminosity pays for such a focal length - for shooting in low light you will need a camera with a very good matrix. By itself, the lens loves bright light, this is noticeable not only in color, but also in changing the sharpness of the image. It is not surprising that in most frames showing the work of the EF 400mm f / 5.6L USM, you can see the African savanna: this is actually the most comfortable element for him.

It is more surprising that the lens does not have an optical stabilizer - it is not easy to remove even with a tripod with a 400-millimeter RF.

You can not be afraid to use the Canon EF 70-200mm f / 4L IS USM even at the stadium, where modest floodlights act as a source of lighting. If the aperture is not enough - you can make the shutter speed longer - the lens has an optical stabilizer, it allows you to not be afraid to get a blurry frame. Unfortunately, the focal length range is not very wide. Therefore, shooting of, say, shy birds can cause problems. But this model is able to please a comfortable weight - the lens does not need to be mounted on a tripod, the camera with it can be held in hand.

Payback for this was the complexity of the optics, and hence the aperture for the wide-angle. The lens is noticeably darkish, but if you look at the pictures, this is another excuse - there is not only barrel distortion, but also chromatic aberrations, even with a minimum focal length, which allows skyscrapers to fit easily into a frame.

After viewing the "Elek" catalog under the RF bayonet, this lens allows the Hamster to rest from the battle with the Toad. The quite reasonable price, and dimensions with weight, not shocking from the very beginning of the acquaintance, make this Canon lens very interesting.

With a minimum focusing distance of 17 centimeters, it is quite consistent as a macro lens. In addition, macro photography can be carried out at long exposures, in an uncomfortable position - the built-in optical stabilizer with a range of 5 stops will always help out.

Optics, of course, not "Elechnaya." Chromatic aberrations are already clearly visible, the photo will have to be corrected. Sensible and "barrel" and vignetting. However, this is also corrected - however, if you use Lightroom, then autocorrection will be unavailable: Adobe has not yet “released” the profile for this lens. Fortunately, the correction of peripheral lighting and distortion is supported by the EOS R cameras themselves, and Canon did not forget to create profiles under the lens. Sharpness is not bad at an open aperture, and “full order” comes from f / 2.8 and further to f / 11 - then the effect of diffraction becomes noticeable.

Autofocus is assembled on a stepper motor. It is not as fast as USM, but it is not satisfactory. The focus noise is minimal. Given the wide field of view, perhaps this lens can also be loved by video bloggers who film themselves as loved ones in a limited space (well, that is, at home on the couch). Manual focusing, like other STM lenses, is “virtual” - the ring is not mechanically connected with optics, does not work when the power is off.

Nine-petal diaphragm and good luminosity allow you to think about bokeh. Yes, the quality of the blur is not bad, although the small focal length and more “sharpened” under macro photography design limit the use of the lens - say, a spider on the bokeh branch will be beautiful, but the growth photo of a person will immediately hint to get “fifty dollars”, or even a lens longer. "