We’ve know for a while that Canon would be releasing a trinity of VCM L prime lenses, and when the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM, Canon confirmed that they would be coming in their presentation for the Cinema EOS C400 and RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM.

We have been told that the next two lenses, the RF 24mm f/1.4L VCM and RF 50mm f/1.4L VCM are scheduled to be announced in late September of this year. Availability of both lenses will come soon after.

We’re told that there are also two additional lenses scheduled for later this year, one is expected and one is not, and we’ll have more on that at a later date. It’s likely that neither lens will be ready to ship before 2024 closes out.

These four lenses may not be everything being announced in 2024, but we’re getting close to Q4, which is the time to sell what you have and we all know that Canon has a a few camera bodies to make and get into people’s hands.

One set of lenses we continue to wonder about are the autofocus tilt-shift lenses. We think it’s likely that the EOS R5 Mark II and EOS R1 need to be out there in good quantities before Canon updates the firmware in the cameras to utilize the full feature set of the AF tilt-shift lenses. Yes, the lenses will work on any RF mount camera, but there are likely going to be some cool in-camera automation features never before seen.

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60 comments

  1. Me too, while the 50 1.2L is awesome, I'll wait for the VCM.
    Is the RF15-35L successor among those "two additional lenses scheduled for later this year"?

    You said that the RF15-35L successor might have a different focal range. Does that mean it'd be narrower, for example, 15-30, perhaps making the RF15-30L Z a little more compact than the relatively large and heavy RF15-35L IS USM from 2019? And will Canon use VCM for all their upcoming lenses?
  2. The 50mm interests me, I’d like something better than my 50STM, but the 50 f/1.2L is a bit too large for my liking.
    Same. I’m still keeping my Art 50mm for that reason (and cost, of course).
    The 50 Art, with adapter, is still lighter, and not a lot bigger.

    Give me a 50 f/1.4, a 28 f/1.8 or f/1.4, a new and smaller 24-70mm f/2.8, and I’m all set with RF lenses.
  3. My guess the 24mm 1.4L VCM will likely use the same formula again:
    sharper than even the 24mm 1.8 - similar design with small front opening and huge rear element (like the EF-M 22mm 2.0, RF 35 1.8, RF 24 1.8 etc. and the RF 35 1.4L)
    otherwise optically compromised (awkward bokeh likely with onion rings, LoCA, strong vignetting), but parfocal and small&light.

    I\'m just about okay with the 35mm 1.4L - although the green fringing drives me nuts in some images - and it cannot be fixed in post.
    The 24 1.8 is a non-starter for me as its bokeh is busy and for astro the strong vignetting is also bad.
    ... doesn\'t bode well for the 24 1.4.
  4. The EF 24mm f1.4 II L is a great lens for canon to upgrade in the RF mount. It's an old and legacy design and there's lots of new advances that can be made here. Unlike the EF 35mm f1.4 IIL which is a tough act to upgrade as it's already a very fine and competative optic. For Canon. the 24mm f1.4 L is low hanging fruit...if they make a decent job of it, it will be vastly superior to the old EF version in nearly every metric. Same for the 50mm f1.4...Canon never got around to making a decent high resolving EF version (L or silver ring).
    The questions is...what else? Maybe a 16mm f1.4? 21mm f1.4 or maybe a 85mm f1.4?
  5. The questions is...what else? Maybe a 16mm f1.4? 21mm f1.4 or maybe a 85mm f1.4?
    The EF 85 f/1.4 IS is legendary.
    I hope they keep the IS instead of making it tiny.
    It can still be a lot smaller than the f/1.2 versions.
    Maybe they should also make an RF 85 f/1.8 VCM that is small, light, and gimbal friendly.
  6. The EF 85 f/1.4 IS is legendary.
    I hope they keep the IS instead of making it tiny.
    It can still be a lot smaller than the f/1.2 versions.
    Maybe they should also make an RF 85 f/1.8 VCM that is small, light, and gimbal friendly.
    What I'd really like, though it will remain a utopia, is a small L set (24-35-60macro-90) in highest quality, but only f/2,8 or f/4 for mountain hiking. Even without IS, but in L build quality.
    No matter how good the f/1,2 lenses are, I cannot imagine carrying these bricks during mountain hikes along with a UWA and a tele zoom.
    Leica's f/2,8 were always as good as the f/1,4 versions, sometimes even better, yet much smaller and lighter.
    OK, I was only dreaming...:rolleyes:
  7. Same for the 50mm f1.4...Canon never got around to making a decent high resolving EF version (L or silver ring).
    I think the RF50/1.2 IS the high-resolving 50/1.4. Stop it down from 1.2 to 1.4 and the out-of-focus highlights are just a bit rounder, just a bit farther into the corners, and the vignetting becomes just a step more acceptable.

    In other words, to make a high-resolving 50/1.4, they needed to throw away the tried-and-true double Gaussian symmetric formula and go with totally new-school, computer-conceived lenses. And once they did so, the elements were wide-enough diameter that it was nominally f/1.2 in the exact center even though far from it for most of the image.

    But the RF50/1.8 seems a lot better to me than most people are crediting it for. Search the forums for SHOOTOUT 50mm to see the results of my hand-holding tests on a 55lp/mm target: even at 1/2 to 1/15 sec handheld it delivers this resolution pretty easily, and that's just two-pixel wide lines on the R5. How many people actually need to show 2-pixel-wide lines on an R5? Half the people on this forum argue 22MP is enough and I'm not sure how much better the RF50/1.2 actually even is on a 22MP sensor than the RF50/1.8.
  8. The 35/1.4L is the first RF lens announced this year. If they announce four more this year, that puts them at 5 lenses for 2024 – significantly less than their previously-promised 7-8 lenses per year. The article suggests they will ship the two VCM lenses but might not actually ship the other two new lenses until 2025, and since Canon 'counts' lenses when they start shipping that would mean only three lenses this year.

    I'd call that very disappointing.
  9. The EF 85 f/1.4 IS is legendary.
    I hope they keep the IS instead of making it tiny.
    It can still be a lot smaller than the f/1.2 versions.
    Maybe they should also make an RF 85 f/1.8 VCM that is small, light, and gimbal friendly.
    Legendary for its chromatic aberration? It was certainly my most disappointing lens I ever had. At least for the stuff I do.

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