Features

3 Fantastic Lenses to Adapt To Canon RF Cameras You’ll Love

Chris Gampat
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12/16/2021
3 Mins read
Processed with RNI Films. Preset 'Agfa RSX II'

If you’re one of those photographers that owns a Canon DSLR but is afraid to move to mirrorless, you’ve come to the right place. What we’re doing today is something just for you. Got an old Canon EF lens? Well, we’re feeding your intentions a bit more. If you’re wanting to adapt a lens to a Canon RF camera body, check this out. Similarly, if you’re bored and looking for another lens for Canon RF cameras, you’ll love this. Here are some of our favorite lenses to adapt to Canon RF cameras.

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Pro Tips on Adapting Lenses to Canon RF Cameras

Here are some pro tips when using adapted lenses on cameras like the Canon EOS R5:

  • By far, Canon has the best manual focus system. It works kind of like a rangefinder system that tells you pretty much exactly when the lens is in focus. Granted, it does this when there are AF/AE contacts on the lens.
  • Canon has a few different lens adapters for Canon EF to Canon RF cameras. Our favorite has a special slit for lens filters.
  • Rest assured, if you’ve got a weather sealed lens, its will work just fine with Canon’s official EF to RF adapters.
  • Yes, these lenses work with Canon Eye autofocus algorithms. And they’re wonderful.

IRIX 150mm f2.8 Macro Dragonfly

In our review, we state:

“The IRIX 150mm f2.8 Dragonfly Macro Lens exhibits great image quality overall. The bokeh is just beautiful and the feeling of the images is very organic. There is no micro-contrast or trickery: it’s just the pop from the 11 aperture blades and the sharpness that the lens renders. The title of this piece calls this lens The Bokeh King, and it indeed really is. Photographers of all types will not only love the bokeh, but they’ll also appreciate the sharpness, color rendition, and how fun this lens can be. If you’re a Canon EOS R owner with the adapter, you’re in for a real treat.”

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Tamron SP 35mm f1.4 Di USD

In our review, we state:

“We’re happy to say that, in fairly low lighting, the Tamron SP 35mm f1.4 Di USD still performs admirably. It can acquire focus and track well if you fine tune the EOS R’s settings. For event work, it’s surely reliable enough. Though, for the record, it’s still not faster than Canon’s own 35mm f1.8 IS.”

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Canon 85mm f1.4 L IS USM

In our review, we state:

“I’m giving the Canon 85mm f1.4 L IS USM five out of five stars; it delivers in pretty much every way. This is a sign of a Canon that wants to compete more with Sony, Zeiss, and others in the lens world. The company has traditionally put a bigger emphasis on the quality of their zooms, but the Canon 85mm f1.4 L IS USM is a very solid prime lens offering. With great image quality, fast autofocus performance that can track eyes as they move on an animated model, weather sealing, and a small size, there is nothing to complain about with the Canon 85mm f1.4 L IS USM. I mean, aside from that price point.”

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adapting lenses autofocus Cameras canon Canon cameras canon ef Canon EOS R canon rf lenses review
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.