Canon’s new EOS R6 Mark III is an excellent camera. It’s not a groundbreaking improve to the 3-year-old R6 Mark II, nevertheless it takes the identical physique with great ergonomics and provides extra decision, video that now goes as much as 7K with open-gate filming, and improved autofocus efficiency. In the event you’re in want of an impeccably good all-around digital camera for something from wildlife pictures to weddings and videography, you possibly can’t go mistaken. It’s a simple advice, particularly when you already shoot Canon and are due for an improve. (However a used R6 Mark II can also be very interesting if the upper $2,799.99 value is just too lofty.)
However the lens Canon launched alongside this digital camera? It’s one thing particular. As a lover of fast-aperture glass, I’m completely obsessive about it. And it’s every little thing I wish to see extra of on this planet of lenses.
The RF 45mm f/1.2 STM lens is a uncommon breed. It prices $469.99 — an unheard-of value within the photograph / video world for an f/1.2 most aperture. That type of value for a lens this quick is normally reserved for guide focus lenses from lesser-known third events like Rokinon or Meike. Canon is infamous for not allowing third-party manufacturers to make lenses for its full-frame RF mount, so it’s created a few of its personal synthetic shortage that makes its new 45mm stand out additional. Canon’s personal RF 50mm f/1.2 L USM lens prices an eye-watering $2,600. And even a less expensive Sigma 50mm f/1.2 DG DN lens for different Sony and L-mount techniques prices over $1,500. Hitting a sub-$500 value makes a fast-aperture lens like Canon’s 45mm accessible to greater than execs and deep-pocketed fanatics.
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However the 45mm f/1.2 isn’t simply low-cost, it’s an awesome lens. It’s very compact for full-frame glass with such a large aperture, making it an ideal on a regular basis carry combo with an R6 or smaller R8 physique. This isn’t a “professional” lens like Canon’s L fashions, so it lacks climate sealing. And a lens hood for additional safety and flare prevention prices an additional $59. However I by no means count on climate resistance on full-frame lenses at this value, and I’d personally not hassle with a hood — holding this bundle as compact and grab-and-go as potential. As somebody who typically lugs round a much bigger and heavier Sony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM lens (weighing 778 grams / 1.72 kilos), even generally to household occasions and social gatherings, I’m completely jealous of this little Canon. It weighs almost a full pound lower than my lens, and it’s a lot much less cumbersome.
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Does the 45mm f/1.2 optically stack as much as the larger, pro-focused f/1.2 lenses of the world? No, in fact not. However its “ok” stage of picture high quality and the appears it might seize are so nice, I’m inclined to not care about its technical shortcomings. The RF 45mm is all about its wide-aperture look, with tremendous shallow depth of subject and many background blur (typically referred to by the Japanese phrase “bokeh”) behind shut topics. It’s pretty sharp within the middle of the body at its wide-open f/1.2. It will get slightly mushy within the corners of the body, however that’s cheap for this value. And also you’re more likely to place your topics (e.g., close-up portraits of individuals) close to the lens’s candy spot within the middle anyway, so most consideration shall be on the sharpest a part of the body.
This isn’t a “dreamy” lens, or one stuffed with “character” — that are photograph nerd code phrases for comfortable lenses. I’ve left the aperture set to f/1.2 almost your complete time I’ve used the 45mm and barely been dissatisfied by its rendering. If I owned a Canon system, this lens can be my default selection for on a regular basis slice-of-life pictures. Hell, if Canon constructed this lens right into a compact digital camera like a Fujifilm X100 or Leica Q of its personal, I’d purchase it as an on a regular basis carry digital camera. (Convey again the Canonet, you cowards!)
Comparability photographs with the Sony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM:
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The RF 45mm in fact isn’t with out its flaws. Its greatest disadvantage is artifacting in high-contrast areas, the place you see purple or inexperienced colour fringing in entrance and behind the purpose of focus. It is a widespread problem in lower-cost lenses with huge apertures, referred to as longitudinal chromatic aberration (sometimes called “LoCa”). And you may get quite a lot of it within the 45mm, particularly when you like taking pictures vacation string lights this time of yr. It’s distracting and borderline annoying, particularly when pixel-peeping, however for an f/1.2 of this dimension and value I can cope.
I’ll admit that I’m type of a sucker for this lens. I like quick primes and good worth. Whereas it’s superb how good most lenses from Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, and many others. are lately, they maintain climbing in value as they attain new ranges of picture high quality and autofocus efficiency. We’d like extra lenses just like the RF 45mm f/1.2: very quick, inexpensive primes which can be compact sufficient to take nearly wherever. It makes compromises on picture high quality, however they’re the precise ones for a feel and look you possibly can’t get wherever else at this value.
Pictures by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge