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Talk up (or down) the RF 24–240mm F4-6.3

Started 10 months ago | Discussions thread
axlotl Senior Member • Posts: 2,273
Re: Talk up (or down) the RF 24–240mm F4-6.3

atolk wrote:

This lens came up in the thread when I was asking whether the move to R6 from 6D was a good idea (it was) and whether I can get by with my EF lenses or need to start moving over to RF.

Speed notwithstanding, this seems like a good street and travel lens. Street -- maybe iffy because of size if you are conscious of what you appear like with your camera; I love strolling with my tiny Sony a6500 in a leather case with the logo blacked out and with a toy 35mm lens, I look so innocent and old school.

At $899 (and no L designation), it seems one the cheapest way to build up one's RF lineup. Do you get what you pay for or do you get more? Sample images greatly appreciated, especially street and travel.

(God, when did $899 for a lens become cheap?)

It's currently AUD1459 in Australia.

My experience with this lens is :

First copy was soft at the long end. By my admittedly fussy standards anyway.

Second copy was soft on the left side.

Third copy is good at all focal lengths and is a keeper.

I think there have been two issues with this lens in the three years since it came onto the market.

The first is sample variation. I persvered with new copies because some users reported excellent results. In the end I got a good one. My guess would be that there was an issue with quality control at the manufacture or assembly stage, hopefully now rectified.

The second issue is the software corrections required to produce good optical output. I used my first RF24-240 on an EOS R and could actually see the purple fringing in the viewfinder. That is no longer visible, at least on the R5 which I now have.

So I think Canon has quietly upgraded the firmware in camera bodies to clean up the JPG output (what you see in the viewfinder is a JPG even if shooting Raw).

Next, the initial Adobe profile for the lens was unsatisfactory so they put out a version 2 but that had a big flaw also. They quietly fixed this and now the Adobe profile is just fine.

So after all that I definitely recommend this lens. The only downside is, as you mentioned, its size. In terms of  versatility and capability this is the best "one lens" kit in the RF catalogue. The image quality is very good, the stabiliser is very good and the USM focus is very good.  It also focusses close enough to function as a half macro lens.

Andrew

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