A Massive 14-21mm f1.4 L RF Mount lens will likely dwarf any Canon Mirrorless camera it’s attached to.
Canon have made it quite clear that they believe Mirrorless doesn’t have to mean small when it comes to lenses. Most manufacturers have gone on to make Mirrorless cameras, and the lenses that they use smaller, and more user friendly while not giving up on quality, but Canon have taken a different approach. Instead of making things smaller, they have been creating RF Mount lenses that look like they have been hitting the gym seven days a week, and it sounds like a new RF Mount 14-21mm f1.4 L might be the biggest gym rat of them all.
According to a recent post on Canon Watch, the new RF Mount lens is well down the tracks in terms of development and is on course for a release sometime in 2020. Canon have said previously that thanks to the new RF Mount they will be able to create many ” world’s first lenses”, which sounds really exciting and grand, and honestly will probably only be good for the world of photography, and the photographers who use them; as long as they have really deep pockets.
In terms of the RF Mount 14-21mm F1.4 L being a world’s first lens, do they mean that it could be the world’s first lens to double as a dumbbell? Get a workout and get the shot at the same time! The new RF Mount 14-21mm will be an absolutely massive lens by any standards, especially by Mirrorless ones.
Looking through the patent and seeing the specifications, it’s apparent that the lens will be humongous, and it will likely dwarf any Mirrorless camera that it’s attached to. There are no mentions of weight in the patent, but i’m sure it would be up there with some of the heaviest on the platform. No doubt it will likely be a killer lens with amazing optics, but at 191mm long (7.5 inches) and with the massive mount size dictating the diameter of this lens, it could probably class as a lethal weapon.
We have touched on this before and it sparked a debate as you would have guessed. Every view is valid, and we at the Phoblographer see both sides of the Mirrorless should be small / Mirrorless should be whatever it wants to be debate, for me personally though, the appeal of Mirrorless is the promise of lighter lenses and camera bodies. We have the technology now to create optically sound lenses with all the bells and whistles in much smaller, easier to carry and manage packages. There’s really no need for such gargantuan lenses.
I get that Canon and even Nikon are really trying to stamp their authority back on the market that Sony and others have swooped in on and stolen from under their noses, and they’re doing that by being different. I totally understand and appreciate that, but being bigger doesn’t always mean better. That’s just my view though. It’s not wrong, it’s not right, it’s just mine.
Are you in the smaller, lighter Mirrorless fan camp, or the I want a work out when I shoot Mirrorless camp? Are you excited about this lens? Let us know down below.
