If you’re using one of the best best Canon mirrorless cameras, then you’ll need some of the best Canon RF lenses to pair with it. Since the introduction of the EOS R mirrorless range, Canon has gone about filling out the RF lens system with primes and zooms across all focal lengths, from wide-angle to telephoto, to the point where it’s practically as comprehensive as the old EF-mount system for DSLR. Whatever you like to shoot, there will be a great Canon RF lens to suit you.
The lenses on this list, by necessity, are just a small selection of what the RF-mount system offers. Every lens on this list has been tested and reviewed by our team, and we only include lenses in our buying guides that meet a certain threshold of quality and performance. You can click through each entry to read our full reviews, where you’ll also be able to see sample images from each lens.
We go into more detail on how to choose the best Canon RF-mount lens at the bottom of the page, so head there first if you need a primer.
The best Canon RF-mount lenses: quick list
Looking for the best deal on Canon RF-mount lenses? Not only will you find the best Canon RF-mount lenses, but also some of the best cheap Canon RF-mount lens deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are setup to automatically take you to the best prices. from trusted retailers. You’ll also see a list of other retailers below each lens, so you can find the right deal for you.
- Best RF beginner zoom lens: Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM – Buy now
- Best budget wide-angle zoom: Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM – Buy now
- Best cheap telephoto zoom: Canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 IS USM – Buy now
- Best budget RF prime: Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM – Buy now
- Best all-round RF lens: Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM – Buy now
- Best hybrid portrait lens: Canon RF 85mm F1.4L VCM – Buy now
- Best RF macro: Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM – Buy now
- Best fast telezoom lens: Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM – Buy now
- Best telephoto zoom lens: Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM – Buy now
- Best third-party macro lens: Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO – Buy now
- Best APS-C standard zoom: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN – Buy now
If you’re still looking for a camera as well as a lens, check out our guide to the best Canon mirrorless cameras. And remember that EOS R cameras can also use the best Canon EF lenses via use of the EF-EOS R adapter.
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Best for beginners
Best RF beginner zoom lens: Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
The STM autofocus and IS makes it an ideal companion for vloggers, though when tracking is enabled it becomes a little noisy. It is compact and lightweight, not to mention affordable.
- Affordable
- Features a control ring to adjust different settings on the fly
- Good edge-to-edge sharpness
- Plastic lens mount as opposed to metal
- Very small maximum aperture
- Performance of the IS system
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 8/8 |
| Filter thread: | 58mm |
| Weight: | 210g |
| Price: | $299 / £359 |
The Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM is a super-compact and lightweight zoom lens that arrived at the same time as the Canon EOS R8. It’s a versatile optic with a 4.5-stop IS system that increases to a maximum of 7 stops of combined IS compensation with a stabilised Canon R-series mirrorless body. The lens provides near silent autofocus operation in use, but you do have to remember to turn the zoom ring right past its ‘parked’ position to extend it for use.
Near-to-far focus shifts for stills photography are very fast and smooth, with no hesitation or hunting. Its optical performance is also better than its price suggests with impressive edge-to-edge sharpness. For full-frame Canon RF camera owners, there is no other lens like it – unless you’re happy to use primes.
Read our Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM review.
Best budget wide-angle
Best budget wide-angle zoom: Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
Even with a variable aperture, this wide angle zoom is undeniably an attractive option given its price, relatively light weight and impressive image quality.
- Great value for money
- Small and portable
- Focuses fast and silently
- Correction profiles essential at wide end
- Not weatherproof
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 13/11 |
| Filter thread: | 67mm |
| Weight: | 390g |
| Price: | $449 / £589 |
We were really quite impressed with this lens once we got it into the office for a full review. The Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM is small, lightweight and highly capable, a fantastic ultra-wide or EOS R cameras that also happens to be quite fairly priced. It’ll be of particular interest to landscape photographers, but we can also see vloggers appreciating its quick and silent focusing.
Images look fantastic from edge to edge; the lens makes use of Canon’s correction profiles, and these are pretty essential at its widest end. They incur a little crop on the image, so make sure you’ve got them activated in-camera to gain an accurate sense of what your final shot is going to look like.
Read our Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM review.
Best cheap telephoto
Best cheap RF telephoto zoom lens: Canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
If you are a Canon EOS R system user and don’t want to spend the thousands required for the L series, and you are prepared to accept a bit of give and take, this lens will make you very happy indeed.
- Exceptionally good value
- Autofocus performs well
- Very small and light for a 100-400mm
- Limited max apertures
- No tripod mount
At a glance:
| Elements/groups | 12/9 |
| Filter thread: | 67mm |
| Weight: | 635g |
| Price: | $649 / £699 |
The Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS STM lens offers a useful telephoto zoom range, from 100mm to 400mm, whilst being competitively priced at just $649 / £699 – great value for money, and also the smallest, and lightest 100-400mm lens currently available. In our review we found that the sharpness provided was good, even when the lens is used wide open, and the in-camera lens correction does a good job of correcting for any optical issues.
Read our Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM review.
Best budget prime
Best budget RF prime lens: Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM
Amateur Photographer verdict
We like this lens for its versatility; its wide aperture enables striking images and scope for fast shutter speeds in low light. Compact, lightweight, and affordable
- Ultra-affordable
- Very good centre sharpness
- Accepts small 43mm filters
- Soft corners when wide open
- No AF/MF switch
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 6/5 |
| Filter thread: | 43mm |
| Weight: | 160g |
| Price: | $199 / £189 |
The Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM lens is an ultra-compact 50mm lens that is the cheapest Canon lens available for the RF Mount, being around $200 / £200. When testing this lens, we found that it offers excellent sharpness in the centre of the frame when shooting wide-open, but corners are softer. Luckily this can be resolved by stopping down the lens if you want sharper corners. With a low price, and a compact design, this makes a great choice for anyone wanting to travel light, and could be a great option for the new Canon EOS R7 and R10.
Read our Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM review.
Best all-rounder
Best all-round RF lens: Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
A great all-in-one lens for amateurs and enthusiasts with an impressive focal range, and stabilisation, however you will need to compromise on aperture.
- Impressively broad focal range
- Effective five-stop stabiliser
- Well-engineered control ring
- No hood in the box
- Sharpness suffers at wide and tele ends
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 21/15 |
| Filter thread: | 72mm |
| Weight: | 750g |
| Price: | $899 / £969 |
The Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM lens is designed to be an all-in-one super-zoom, going from 24mm to 240mm, meaning you can leave it on the camera and don’t have to think about changing your lens. This makes it a great option if you’re travelling and just want to have one lens with you, as long as you don’t expect the lens to deliver the same level of image quality as a prime lens. Another option is the 24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM lens.
Read our Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM review.
Best for portraits
Best hybrid RF portrait lens: Canon RF 85mm F1.4L VCM
Amateur Photographer verdict
Offering delightful image quality in the classic short-telephoto focal length for portraits, the Canon RF 85mm F1.4L VCM also performs well for video.
- Very sharp throughout aperture range
- Attractive background blur
- Quiet, confident autofocusing
- No click stop option for aperture ring
- Lacks in-lens stabilisation
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 14/11 |
| Filter thread: | 67mm |
| Weight: | 636g |
| Price: | $1649 / £1,679.99 |
While it’s the latest in Canon’s VCM line-up of lenses designed to be equally adept at photography and video, the Canon RF 85mm F1.4L VCM is nevertheless quite clearly primarily a portrait lens. With a fast maximum aperture and a lighter build than the professional RF 85mm f/1.2 lens, it suited a broader range of shooters, and its optical performance is hugely impressive, as Angela found in our full review. Focusing benefits from the latest advancements, driven by a Voice Coil Motor (the eponymous VCM), and the result is reliably fast, quiet and accurate performance. If you’re shooting portraits on Canon RF cameras, this lens offers the best balance of performance and price.
Read our full Canon RF 85mm F1.4L VCM review
Best macro
Best RF macro: Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
A dedicated macro lens that delivers excellent image quality, and also doubles up as a great portrait lens.
- Impressive 1.4x magnification
- Focuses fast and silently
- Useful SA control ring
- Quite bulky and heavy
- No focus distance display
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 17/13 |
| Filter thread: | 67mm |
| Weight: | 730g |
| Price: | $1,199 / £1,269 |
The Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM lens isn’t your standard everyday macro lens, with 1.4x magnification, and an innovative ‘SA Control’ ring, which is designed to let you adjust the spherical aberration, which gives your out-of-focus areas a different look to other lenses. In our review we found that build-quality and handling are both excellent, and as you’d expect for a premium RF lens, image quality is superb. With the SA Control, it can also give portrait shots a different look.
Read our Canon RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM review.
Best fast telezoom
Best fast telezoom RF lens: Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
You get your money’s worth with this smaller and lighter bodied telephoto lens without compromising on image quality
- Incredibly small and light
- Delivers the goods in terms of quality
- Tough and durable
- Zoom retraction pushes air towards sensor
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 17/13 |
| Filter thread: | 77mm |
| Weight: | 1070g |
| Price: | $2,599 / £2,799 |
The Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM is Canon’s 70-200mm F2.8 lens for RF mount cameras. It seems to be the the rule, that every full-frame camera has to offer a 24-70mm F2.8 lens, then a 70-200mm F2.8 lens, and this is Canon’s version. What’s special about this one though, is that when released it was the smallest and lightest 70-200mm F2.8 lens for full-frame cameras – impressive! When we reviewed this lens we found that it also offers excellent image quality as well as the high-quality build you’d expect from an L series lens.
A more affordable option would be the RF 70-200mm F4L IS USM ($1,499 / £1,669) if you don’t mind the slightly slower aperture.
Read our Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM review.
Best telephoto zoom
Best telephoto zoom lens: Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM
Amateur Photographer verdict
This lens is a well-made example that returns excellent image quality, highly effective in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) and excellent ISO response
- Extremely solidly built
- No zoom creep
- Spectacular centre sharpness
- Thick barrel
- Slows to f/7.1 beyond 400mm
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 20/14 |
| Filter thread: | 77mm |
| Weight: | 1370g |
| Price: | $2,699 / £2,659 |
The Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM lens offers a longer telephoto reach than your standard 100-400mm telephoto zoom lens. The lens has optical image stabilisation (IS) that works in combination with the camera body’s in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) on the EOS R5 and R6 cameras to help you get sharp shots even when using lots of zoom. Build quality is very good and includes weather sealing, and as expected, the lens gives excellent image quality. The lens weighs in at a respectable 1.37kg making it easier to take with you when needed.
Read our Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM review.
Best third-party macro
Best third-party macro RF lens: Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO
Amateur Photographer verdict
A smaller lightweight macro lens, offers higher magnification and a longer working distance, than other lenses which usually equates to a more attractive perspective.
- Incredible magnification capability
- Excellent value for money
- Relatively lightweight
- No weather sealing
- Smaller maximum aperture
- Manual focus only
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 13/9 |
| Filter thread: | 46mm |
| Weight: | 291g |
| Price: | $499 / £499 |
The Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO is an excellent choice of third-party lens for RF-mount. The fact that it’s a macro lens means the lack of AF is less of a problem, since macro focusing is generally done manually. The headline feature is the fact that the lens delivers 2x life-size magnification; it can focus on a subject area measuring just 18 x 12mm. It delivers the high standard of optical quality necessary for such an exacting lens, and in our testing we were consistently impressed by the images it produced.
Read our full Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO review
Best APS-C zoom
Best APS-C standard zoom: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN
Amateur Photographer verdict
One of the most attractive standard zooms available for APS-C Canon mirrorless
- Impressively sharp
- Quick, silent AF
- Affordable price
- No optical stabilisation
- Limited zoom range (both wide and tele)
At a glance:
| Elements/groups: | 13/10 |
| Filter thread: | 55mm |
| Weight: | 290g |
| Price: | $659 / £459 |
The Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN covers a standard zoom range, equivalent to 27-75mm on full frame. Pair this with lightweight construction and large aperture, and you get a perfect carry around lens that’s well-suited for shooting a variety of subjects from landscapes to portraits and close-ups, even in low-light. While designed for APS-C mirrorless cameras, you can pair it with full-frame models too, albeit with a crop. Its lack of optical stabilisation is a major trade-off, but its fast, silent and consistently accurate autofocus and impressive optical quality are enough to make up for it, especially given its price.
Read our full Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN review
How to choose a Canon RF Mount lens?
Do you want a zoom or a prime? Zoom lenses give you much more versatility, while prime lenses offer superior optical quality. You’ll also want to consider if you want to get close images of distant subjects, and so will need a telephoto, or you want to create expansive views of large-scale scenes, in which case a wide-angle is your friend. You may also want a naturalistic view for day-to-day shooting, which will mean opting for a standard lens, the most common of which tends to be a 50mm lens, also referred to as a “nifty fifty”. See our complete guide to prime vs zoom lenses for more on this.
If you’re looking for the premium lenses from Canon, where image quality and build quality are top priorities, then look for a lens from the L series – which will have L in the name. These are the top-of-the-line lenses in terms of image quality, but as they are tilted towards professionals, they come at a premium cost.
One thing to consider is the lens’s maximum aperture. The wider this is (so the smaller the F-number), the more light your lens can take in, and the shallower depth of field it can create. An f/1.2 lens is much more effective in low light than an f/1.8 lens, but will generally come at a higher price, and be bulkier too.
You’ll also want to keep an eye on whether the lens has optical image stabilisation, which Canon calls simply “IS” and you’ll also find this in the name. This works in combination with the camera’s in-body image stabilisation (IBIS), which most Canon cameras feature.
What about APS-C RF lenses?
Currently, as of April 2025, there are four Canon RF-S lenses designed specifically for Canon’s APS-C RF-mount cameras, such as the Canon EOS R10, R50, and R7. These lenses are: Canon RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM, Canon RF-S 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM, Canon RF-S 3.9mm F3.5 STM Dual Fisheye, Canon RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM.
There are 6 different RF-S lenses available directly from Canon the RF-S 10-18mm ultra-wide-angle zoom, the RF-S 18-150mm general all-in-one super zoom, the RF-S 18-45mm kit lens, RF-S 55-210mm telephoto zoom, and two specialist lenses, the RF-S 3.9mm dual fisheye, and RF-S 7.8mm dual lens. Apart from Canon – Sigma has released a range of compact lenses for the system, further expanding your choices.
Beyond these, you’ll need to look at Canon’s full-frame RF-mount lenses, as highlighted above.
How we test lenses
We review lenses from the perspective of choosing one for its photography and video performance, so we test every lens for all aspects of image quality: sharpness, contrast, background blur and bokeh, as well as other image qualities pertinent to assessing a lens type. We look for optical flaws such as chromatic aberration and distortion. We test focus performance for both accuracy and speed (in different lighting conditions), as well as how the lens delivers or renders images. This is tested in a range of shooting scenarios designed to expose lens characteristics, but we also examine how it performs in real world use in diverse shooting situations.
Beyond the pure optical performance of the lens, we assess the lens’ physical qualities, such as its design, build quality, ease of handling, and whether it offers any unique or interesting features worth mention. Beyond image quality certain lenses can be assessed for how they make you feel, or how they may affect a camera system set-up for portability, compactness, weight etc.
Update log
- 2026 January: the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN was added as the best APS-C standard zoom.
- 2025 November: added the recently reviewed Canon RF 85mm F1.4L VCM lens as the best RF lens for portraits.
Text by Joshua Waller, with contributions from Jon Stapley & Michael Topham.
If you want to read more lens reviews, then have a look at our latest lens reviews. You can find more help and advice in our buyers guides.
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