Overlooked EF lenses when switching to R mount

I recently upgraded my 80D to the R6 and while I replaced most of my lenses to RF (now have RF 24-105 STM, RF 35 1.8 STM and Viltrox RF 85 1.8), I still will be using my EF 100-400L IS II, which looks better than ever on the R6.

That being said, I gave my 80D to my wife to replace her aging T3i, and her kit will be my Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 C and I just bought her the Canon EF 70-300 IS II USM. That's the lens I'm talking about here.

The 70-300 IS II USM is IMO often an overlooked lens, and honestly is fantastic. Here are a few pics of this lens adapted to my new R6. My wife took these shots, and afterwards I realized I left the camera in full manual mode and while the settings weren't horrible, the pics still came out nice.

I think this lens is a great piece of kit to have as it performs nicely.

I agree about the EF 70-300 II NanoUSM on the R body, I love mine.  Another that I think is even better on the R body than the DSLR is the 85mm f1.8

tdbmd wrote:

I agree about the EF 70-300 II NanoUSM on the R body, I love mine. Another that I think is even better on the R body than the DSLR is the 85mm f1.8

I was going back and forth with the EF 85mm f1.8.  I definitely wanted a fast 85mm and almost pulled the trigger on that lens, but in the end I bought the new Viltrox RF 85mm f1.8.  It's a much newer lens, native RF mount and was getting amazing reviews.  I've only taken a few shots so far, but wow, what a great lens.

Taken with Viltrox RF 85mm. No profile for this lens yet

TeeJay626 wrote:

The 70-300 IS II USM is IMO often an overlooked lens, and honestly is fantastic. Here are a few pics of this lens adapted to my new R6. My wife took these shots, and afterwards I realized I left the camera in full manual mode and while the settings weren't horrible, the pics still came out nice.

I agree, it's an excellent lens and a very good choice if you don't want the extra weight and/or cost of the L version.  The focusing speed is blistering on this lens too.

TeeJay626 wrote:

tdbmd wrote:

I agree about the EF 70-300 II NanoUSM on the R body, I love mine. Another that I think is even better on the R body than the DSLR is the 85mm f1.8

I was going back and forth with the EF 85mm f1.8. I definitely wanted a fast 85mm and almost pulled the trigger on that lens, but in the end I bought the new Viltrox RF 85mm f1.8. It's a much newer lens, native RF mount and was getting amazing reviews. I've only taken a few shots so far, but wow, what a great lens.

Taken with Viltrox RF 85mm. No profile for this lens yet

I had seen a review on that lens but went with the EF version as I still have a couple of DSLR bodies and wanted to use it there as well.

Hello...

Beautiful photographs - thank you for sharing.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

TeeJay626 wrote:

I recently upgraded my 80D to the R6 and while I replaced most of my lenses to RF (now have RF 24-105 STM, RF 35 1.8 STM and Viltrox RF 85 1.8), I still will be using my EF 100-400L IS II, which looks better than ever on the R6.

That being said, I gave my 80D to my wife to replace her aging T3i, and her kit will be my Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 C and I just bought her the Canon EF 70-300 IS II USM. That's the lens I'm talking about here.

The 70-300 IS II USM is IMO often an overlooked lens, and honestly is fantastic. Here are a few pics of this lens adapted to my new R6. My wife took these shots, and afterwards I realized I left the camera in full manual mode and while the settings weren't horrible, the pics still came out nice.

I think this lens is a great piece of kit to have as it performs nicely.

Yeah, fully agree.

myself i use the EF 200 2.8 L on my RP. Works like a charm !!

annalisax wrote:

Hi i am new user from Italy, and just read your post.

i am thinking about switching from 80d to canon eos with R mount,

i read that you own sigma 17-70 , me too, one of my doubts is : with an original adapter canon can I use my 17-70 with my new camera? yes but ...how will the results be? did you try it?

I am impressed by your images, congrats

happy new year!

Yes, you can use that lens with the Canon adapter on any R mount camera.  I have the R6.  One thing to keep in mind, however, is that lens is an EF-S lens, or made for crop sensor cameras like you 80D.  All of the R cameras are full frame, so the camera will go into "crop mode" and significantly reduce your pixel count.

That being said, I took a few pics with the 17-70 on my R6 and they came out surprisingly good.  I'll post them when I get a chance.

Ideally you want to use either RF lenses or EF (full frame) lenses on your R camera.

TeeJay626 wrote:

annalisax wrote:

Hi i am new user from Italy, and just read your post.

i am thinking about switching from 80d to canon eos with R mount,

i read that you own sigma 17-70 , me too, one of my doubts is : with an original adapter canon can I use my 17-70 with my new camera? yes but ...how will the results be? did you try it?

I am impressed by your images, congrats

happy new year!

Yes, you can use that lens with the Canon adapter on any R mount camera. I have the R6. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that lens is an EF-S lens, or made for crop sensor cameras like you 80D. All of the R cameras are full frame, so the camera will go into "crop mode" and significantly reduce your pixel count.

That being said, I took a few pics with the 17-70 on my R6 and they came out surprisingly good. I'll post them when I get a chance.

Ideally you want to use either RF lenses or EF (full frame) lenses on your R camera.

If I can offer an opinion, the better EF lenses are much less expensive than the RF lenses.  They do substantially as well with RF cameras as RF lenses for slow photography.   The differences in image quality is small.  Shooting action, the quality RF lenses are much better for their faster focusing, and they allow the camera to use a faster frame rate and even more accurate focusing, when shooting fast.

They don’t call me fast Eddie for nothing.  As a matter of fact, they don’t call me fast Eddie at all.  I don’t do anything fast.  So I am perfectly happy with my EF L lenses, unlike the action shooters.

The cheaper RF lenses are another story, entirely.  They are small and light for what they do.  They have amazing image quality for their price.  And they have super handy close focusing capabilities.  That’s important to me, because there is always something small and interesting to shoot, when you’re out shooting bigger things.

I have and love the RF 35 F1.8 macro.   I just got the RF16 F2.8 and the 85 F2 IS macro.  I need nothing else to travel.  The RF50 F1.8 is supposed to be a good cheap one too, but I don’t shoot a 50.  Again, these are not good action lenses, but they are great for my slow plodding photography.