Canon are bringing out more of these all the time and the new lens line up is very exciting for us photographers with incredible technological advances bringing new opportunities for creative imagery. I am slowly moving towards a completely mirrorless set up and so I will eventually only shoot with RF lenses. The RF or EF in the lens names refers to the lens mount on the two Canon EOS systems: RF refers to lenses that fit on the new mirrorless R-System cameras while EF lenses are on Canon’s traditional DSLRs.Īs you will notice in this article, I use lenses with both EF and RF lens mounts as I shoot with both camera systems. I shoot entirely with Canon lenses and am a Canon Ambassador so I’ll be referring to Canon lenses in this piece. For example you can use Canon’s EF lenses on its RF cameras with an adaptor but you can’t use RF lenses on EF cameras. Some third-party manufacturers such as Sigma and Tamron make lenses for different camera systems, but you always need to check that the lens you buy will fit the camera you own. Lenses are designed to work with a specific camera system so a Canon lens won’t work on a Nikon body for example. the maximum aperture moves as you zoom the lens. Some zoom lenses have a variable maximum aperture such as the Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L II which means that at 100mm the lens has a maximum aperture of f4.5 while at the longer 400mm length the maximum aperture is f5.6, i.e. the Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L USM has a maximum aperture of f1.2. The widest aperture of a lens is described at the end of the lens name, e.g.

Very fast lenses, which I tend to use indoors, will allow me to shoot at f1.4 or f1.2. For this guide, I’ll be talking about lenses with an aperture of f2.8 or above as fast. What is considered fast has changed over the years with advances in lens technology and, of course, one lens can be fast in comparison to another. These are lenses with the option to shoot at wide apertures. I’ll start by running you through some of the basic terminology. It can be hard to keep up and work out what you need to know now and what you can learn later. People talk of fast lenses and bokeh, tilt-shift and hyperfocal distance. When you first enter the wonderful world of photography, the terminology can feel overwhelming.

Good bokeh lens