I am a keen amateur and don't make money from my photography. It is simply a hobby that I enjoy immensely. I am looking to upgrade from my old, faithful 11-year-old 5D3 to an R body, most like the R6 2. I would like to ask about using my current EF-mount L lenses on an R body.
I have a bunch of very good EF-mount L lenses, amongst them the 16-35L, 24-70L II, 70-200L 2.8 II and 4 fixed focal L lenses which I don't tend to use so much as I prefer the convenience of the zooms.
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EOS R6 + EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM lens.
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You have some great lenses there. I believe they'll all work just fine on a camera like the EOS R6 II body. Note that you can use an Extender with the EF 70-200L II lens but the new RF 70-200L lenses don't offer this ability. They designed the RF successor to be more compact and this no longer has room to accommodate the extrusion on the front of the RF Extenders. However, if you already have an EF 1.4x III or an EF 2x III Extender to suit your EF 70-200mmL II lens, it will work just fine. The Mark III Extenders work without restriction on the new EOS R cameras. There's also a new RF Extender set available but I don't see any improvement on image quality or AF speed over the EF Mk III models. Canon altered the design slightly but this was to suit the new flange distance on the RF mount. Your lenses appear to be mostly L-series lenses. So I'd say your results on an R-system should be excellent.
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A friend mentioned that while I can use these EF-mount L lenses on an R body with an adaptor, lens technology has advanced and I should really invest in new lenses as my existing lenses aren't really up to the task. Is this true? I had always been under the impression that decent EF-mount L lenses will work very well on an R body.
You are correct. You can indeed use ALL your EF lenses on the RF mount via an Adapter. Be sure to buy a Canon adapter. It's quite small but is 100% reliable, unlike many of the non-Canon brand adapters. But in some ways, your friend is also mostly (but not entirely) accurate. Unless you're using pre-digital Canon lenses, the performance is still going to exceed what you were getting from your DSLR camera. What he's not mentioned is that a decent EF lens that would produce exceptionally nice pictures with your old DSLR will likely perform even better on the RF mount. And if that lens now has an RF successor, the RF lens that supersedes it is generally a little better. Not every RF lens is a "gem", just as not every EF lens was "amazing". There's a few lower priced RF lenses that can underwhelm.
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Something else to consider is that with EOS R-bodies that have IBIS, you can now get stabilization for your non-I.S. EF lenses and any stabilized EF lens can benefit even further from the IBIS on the appropriate EOS R-system body. But not all Canon EOS R cameras have IBIS, just some models.
To be honest, I'd rather spend more on lenses unless it is really necessary - and I am aware that the new R lenses can be quite pricey. As a reminder, this is a hobby for me and not a profession.
Using an EF lens on an EOS R body offers a completely new experience. I routinely use EF lenses on my EOS R cameras. I've was tempted to swap out my EF 85mmL II lens for the new RF 85mmL lens and did so. But there's literally no real "need" to "upgrade" your lenses unless the lack of doing so impacts your work... or if your old lens was never a strong performer to begin with. But it is indeed nice to have at least one native lens for your R camera. Note that when using non-RF lenses, you get a warning each time you turn off the camera. This is because RF lenses close their shutter iris to protect the sensor which no longer has a mirror. An EF lens may not close as tightly when the camera is powered down, hence the reminder to cap your lens to prevent damage to the sensor if you accidentally leave your camera pointing towards the sun.
I'd be interested in any thoughts on using my existing L lenses on an R body and whether it really is necessary to upgrade to a new set of lenses. I sure hope that is not the case!
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I had an EOS 5D III for general work use and an EOS R6 for astro work. I changed to the EOS Ra (astro model) and the EOS R6. I bought a Canon EF-to-RF adapter to enable me to use my EF lenses on the EOS R mount.
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The EF lenses are actually a little faster on the EOS R-system cameras, especially those with the new advanced AF capabilities. The more efficient AF and tracking abilities on the new cameras improves the experience. But there's more... Remember how you couldn't use an Extender (1.4x or 2x) on your EF lenses with a DSLR without losing the ability to Autofocus? And if you did, the performance was slow and unreliable. That's gone now. These days you can slap on an EF 1.4x III or an EF 2x III Extender and get a decent performance. It's something a lot of people either forget or might not be aware of.
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R6 + EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM lens
R6 + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5/6L IS II USM lens + EF 1.4x III Extender.
R6 + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5/6L IS II USM lens + EF 1.4x III Extender.
R6 + EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM lens.
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The advantage of using a native RF lens is a better optical performance due to the new lens designs. Lenses like the old EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens were amazing to use on a DSLR but were routinely unreliable and needed to be calibrated on a regular basis. But on the EOS RF mount that same lens was noticeably better with performance. But adding a new RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens to the native RF mount is an entirely new experience... with a much, much faster AF, the ability to unlock an astonishing 8-Stops of IBIS stabilization without the lens having an Image Stabilizer, and significantly sharper optics without the Chromatic Aberration (due to the new BR Optics on the RF lens) that plagued the older EF lenses. If you'd asked me if I would have dared used an EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens as a street photography lens before, I would have said "no". But I'm happy to take the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens as a walkabout or street lens. It's quite a different experience due to the reliability. You also don't need to calibrate your lenses any more.
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R6 + RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens
R6 + RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens
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Canon don't recommend using pre-digital lenses (usually those made prior to 2004, but mostly those made prior to 1999) because they claim the old designs and optical coatings can impact reliability and performance... sometimes significantly. I would agree with this statement. But digital lenses (made for digital EOS DSLR cameras) produced after 2004 tend to work VERY well on the EOS RF mount cameras. This makes the leap from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera so much easier because you can take your lenses with you. Whenever Canon announce a new RF lens, they usually try to add a few new features or even design changes (eg weight, size) to encourage new users to to "trade up". With quite a few RF lenses, the differences are quite minimal. Your EF lenses, depending on how good they are, should work just fine on the new mount. A poor lens that gave poor results on a DSLR will likely not offer you a huge improvement that couldn't be resolved by using an RF lens as an alternative.
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The one thing that seems to drive lens sales for the RF mount is a sense of what some people refer to as "Gear Acquisition Syndrome" (G.A.S.) and it's simply a desire to believe that new equipment will increase the quality of your work. But I might suggest that if you already have decent lenses, test them out on a new body before you make a decision to buy more glass. I have a feeling you won't see a need to swap out those lenses just yet.
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R6 + EF 135mm f/2 STM lens -Nice, reliable performance with smooth bokeh.
EOS R6 + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens - Perfect, even with Extenders. I found it to be sharp and highly versatile on the RF mount.
R6 + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS lens - A Sharp and reliable combo with strong lens character.
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Regards,
Marco Nero.
