In case you didn’t know, here’s a bit of a sticker shock for you. Canon has just announced a couple of new super-telephoto lenses that will cost as much as $20,000 for a single lens. Yup, you read that right, a camera lens that’s about the price of a new car.
The new lenses Canon announced are the RF800mm F5.6 L IS USM and RF1200mm F8 L IS USM lenses. As you can see, these are lenses that extend way beyond what most consumer telephoto lenses offer, quite literally. With the RF800mm, it is constructed of 26 elements in 18 groups, an improvement over its predecessor that featured 18 elements in 14 groups.
Then there is the RF1200 which features 26 elements in 18 groups, which offers four stops of image stabilization, three IS modes, and a 52mm drop-in filter. These lenses are clearly aimed at professionals who need these telephoto lenses for shooting wildlife or sporting events where they cannot get too close to their subjects.
The RF800 is priced at $17,000, while the RF1200 is priced at $20,000, and both are expected to be available for purchase late May 2022.