Howdy again everyone it's me the Bob Ross of Photography videos and this time I'll be testing The Living Daylights Until something really spectacular for You which I never expected to get my Hands on the new Canon RF 1200 Millimeter f8 L is USM I'd like to thank Canon UK for very kindly loaning me a Copy of this lens for a few weeks as Well as an EOS R3 camera to test it on Although as usual this is a totally Independent review this I believe is the Longest telephoto full-frame lens Commercially available today and as for Its price well which number sounds more Intimidating to you 1200 millimeter or Twenty thousand dollars for a top Professional Wildlife or Sports Photographer or affluent hobbyist any Amount of money will be worth getting as Far as this telephoto lens can reach for An average Joe like me the prices Borderline ridiculous but then again Hiring a talent for special uses might Be a possibility let's start by getting A handle on just how ridiculously tight An angle of 1200 millimeter really is Here's some footage at 24 millimeter on A full frame camera see that tiny flag In the distance well here it is at 1200 Millimeter this tight angle of view is Absolutely incredible but not always Easy to use as you can see from this Fitted even if a tree full of birds is
Right next to you trying to find your Subject at 1200 millimeter can be really Tricky to say the least it's much easier If your subject is a bit further away Which thankfully it can be when you're Shooting at a focal length like this When all kinds of possibilities are Thrown wide open to you here are some More pictures to demonstrate the extreme Reach of this lens the lenses maximum Apture of f8 might not sound that Impressive but add still enough light With modern autofocus systems and decent Quality High ISO noise levels to make The lens perfectly usable although I'm Not sure if it'll be quite enough for Stopping action in Sports Photography at Least not easily besides any brighter Than this and the lens would have had to Be even bigger than it already is I'll Be honest when I first lay died on this Thing I didn't know who to call first The insurance company or a personal Fitness trainer in the end I just Arranged to the insurance my wife called The fitness trainer but actually on Picky and tub I found its weight of 3.3 Kilograms to be quite manageable for Handheld photography although perhaps Not for prolonged periods of time Sometimes I had to keep reminding myself That I really was holding a 1200 Millimeter lens in my hands the Announcement of this lens caused some
Concern for the geekia lens enthusiasts Out there because Canon were open about This lens basically being one of their New RF 600 millimeter F4 lenses but with A customized two times extender built Into the back of it as some of you might Know two times extenders are well known For causing huge image quality problems For even the sharpest of camera lenses However it's worth bearing in mind here That the extension Optics at the back of The lens really are custom made just for This exact lens meaning that they can be Far more effective much sharper and only Reviews of its image quality Demonstrated that it is far sharper than What you'd normally expect from a 600 Millimeter optic with a regular extender At the rear well we'll take a look at The lenses image quality in a moment Let's take a closer look at the lens Itself first as I mentioned the lens is Perfectly hand holdable for short Periods of time but using a good quality Tripod will be advantageous if you don't Have very strong arms it is advertised As being extensively weather sealed the Front and rear elements are flooring Coated making them much easier to clean Should anything get onto them there are A whole bunch of focus controls at the Back of the lens you can switch it Between autofocus manual focus and power Focus mode the power focus is for slow
Focusing during video Work gently turn The focus preset ring at the front to Control it you can also preset to your Focus which some people find clearly Useful for wildlife photography and you Can control the manual focus speed too If you like let's take a look at the Lenses autofocus in action as expected It truly is lightning fast on a Canon EOS R3 camera as it was on my R5 camera Too and it also focused very accurately I'm glad to say shooting animals with a Camera's animal eye detection mode was Particularly awesome I was amazed that The EOS R3 camera was able to get this Shot of a styling's eyes where so many Other cameras might get fooled by the Branches in the foreground There's a slot on the back for Canon Standard drop-in filters And then in front of that comes the Large manual focus ring which turns Extremely smoothly and works Electronically with the Focus motor as I Mentioned its speed is adjustable Pleasingly as you can see here the lens Doesn't really exhibit any breathing as You focus in and out Just in front of that comes the Spring-loaded focus preset ring turn it Left or right to go to your focus preset Or it can be used for the power Focus Feature too one of the most important Features on a lens where the focal
Length like this is image stabilization Here's some footage with stabilization Turned off and is now turned on as you Can see the stabilization makes a big Difference here enabling you to shoot Handheld with shutter speeds as low as About 100 or even 1 50th of a second Here I am using it again on the EOS R3 To get some extreme handheld portrait Shots of my wife leaving us with Incredible background compression on a 1200 millimeter lens image stabilization Like this is a huge achievement although This Teddy video work you will want a Tripod of course the lens offers you Canon's three common stabilization modes Here mode one for General use mode 2 for Panning and mode 3 kicks this stabilizer And only when you take the shot which Can be useful if you're trying to follow A Pneumatic subject The Lens comes with A generously sized Hood which is fairly Lightweight and the lens cap fits Directly onto it it's made of firmly Padded nylon and it's fairly quick to Take on and off this lens does not have One of Canon's customizable control Rings for adjusting your aperture and Other settings it does however come with A decent quality Case for relatively Easy Transportation if you remove a Layer of padding from the bottom of it Then the case has a little extra space At the top for attaching a camera but
There won't be enough room for a larger Camera in there like the EOS R3 my R5 Here is a tight fit as you can see Overall though well the quality is Exactly what you'd expect here excellent As Canon have been revising and Perfecting the design of their super Telephoto lenses for many years now okay Let's take a look at image quality I'll Start by mounting it onto a Canon EOS R3 Cam camera with its full-frame 24 Megapixel sensor in-camera Corrections Are turned on at f8 image quality in the Middle is essentially perfect plenty of Resolution and contrast to be seen here And it's the same story available in the Corners image quality all present and Correct here it's about as sharp stop Down to f11 but F16 will look softer due To the physical effects of diffraction Okay let's take a look at how it works On a more demanding 45 megapixel sensor Of my Canon EOS R5 at f8 image quality Is still great but not quite perfect it Doesn't have that edge a razor sharpness And contrast that you'd see in other Canon L super telephoto lenses but still This is a great result loads of detail Is being captured you should also Remember that even at f8 on a 45 Megapixel camera the effect of Diffraction are already kicking in and Naturally robbing us of a little Sharpness over in the image Corners
Sharp this is virtually as good perhaps Just a touch softer in the very edges as If to prove my point that diffraction is An issue even at f8 and f11 the image is A bit softer and F16 looks rather soft Now should we complain about this kind Of image quality on a twenty thousand Dollar lens actually I don't think so at All you must remember that any lens with An apture of f8 will be a little limited By diffraction on a high resolution Camera and to the sharpness you're Getting here is still much better than Sticking a regular two times taller Converter onto even the sharpest 600 Millimeter lens so this is still the Sharpest image you'll ever be able to Get at such an incredible focal length Beyond a thousand millimeter by the way You might be wondering why I'm not Testing this lens with extenders also or With an aps-c camera I was disappointed Not to be able to actually but the Simple reason is that I didn't have Access to an outdoor space long enough For the tests 12 1200 millimeter really Is a very long way away indeed let's Turn off those end camera Corrections Now and look at Distortion and Vignetting do you want the good news or The good news there is no realistically Discernible Distortion or vignetting Visible from this lens at all the Optical design of the lens means that
It's naturally able to focus very Closely to your subject even with a Minimum Focus distance of 4.3 meters You're still getting great magnification Here at those close distances image Quality seems just a tiny bit softer With slightly lower contrast As you can see here the lens encounters No serious problems when working against Bright light when it comes to Outer Focus backgrounds while a maximum Aperture of f8 might not sound that Right here at first remember we're Shooting at 1200 millimeter f8 at that Focal length will offer you the most Diffused backgrounds it's possible to Get in any commercially available camera Lens so don't worry about background Separation here whatever you do Considering the difficulty of Backgrounds made of bare winter tree Branches and some of these images the Lens coped perfectly well I think and I Didn't notice much in a way of cat's eye Shaped specular highlights in image Corners either leading to a very even Looking out of focus background well Then overall what do you think is this Thing a practical lens or simply a Quixotic fantasy for people with more Money than scent well whether you should Pay twenty thousand dollars for it is Really much more of a question of your Personal morality than the lenses value
For money my mother would kill me if I Ever spent that much on a camera lens She'd chase me around the house with a Broom but the truth is then I had the Time of my life testing out this monster Of a camera lens there is simply nothing Else in a world like it for Bird and Animal photography there is no other way To get this kind of image sharpness at Such a crazy focal length Beyond a Thousand millimeter and the lens is Excellent autofocus and image Stabilization make even handheld Shooting fantastically manageable the Animal eye detection on the R3 and my R5 Cameras I tested it on as well as their Great image quality at high isos makes Capturing stunning images a breeze well If you can find them in your frame Attach a tight focal length if you can Get over the hit on your credit card or If you're hiring it out for a few days For a special job then it comes highly Recommended [Music] Foreign You know what normally these extreme Lenses are kind of a pain for me to test Out but because of this thing's fairly Lightweight my only problem was Finding Somewhere expansive enough to take the Test chart pictures anyway I really hope You enjoyed this review and if you find Yourself watching my videos often then
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