Cameras

The Best Cheap Lenses for the Canon EOs R6 Mk II

Chris Gampat
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03/17/2023
6 Mins read
Hillary Grigonis The Phoblographer Canon RF 50mm f1.8 STM Review-8256

We’re pretty confident that a lot of photographers will pick up the Canon EOS R6 Mk II as their first camera. Alternatively, there are also lots of semi-professionals that will use it as their camera of choice when shooting. With all that said, they’re probably not going to go for the higher end lenses. Luckily, Canon has a slew of affordable lenses for them. And so we dove into our Reviews Index to find the best cheap lenses for the Canon EOS R6 Mk II. Take a look!

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 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 Using This Guide to the Best Cheap Lenses for the Canon EOS R6 Mk II

Here’s some insight into using this guide to the best lenses for the Canon EOS R6 Mk II:

  • We selected these as the best cheap lenses for the Canon EOS R6 Mk II because of a few reasons. First off, we think that most photographers getting this camera will be doing portraiture and event-style work. And of the cheap lenses that Canon has in their lineup, these are the top of the line for that stuff.
  • Cheap doesn’t mean bad in this case.
  • The very best lenses for the Canon EOS R6 Mk II are all weather resistant. These lenses aren’t, however. Canon leaves weather resistance for higher-end lenses only.
  • Canon RF zoom lenses have three or more. One is for programmable functions, another is for focusing, and yet another could be for some special function that’s inherent to the lens. The prime lenses often have one or two controls.
  • We’ve tested all these cheap lenses ourselves. The images you see in this roundup were shot by our staff. There are also links to our full reviews to supplement the quotes here. We recommend you dive into our full reviews to determine whether these lenses are you for.
  • The best lenses for the Canon EOS R6 Mk II here are sharp, but they’re not clinical. If you don’t want the clinical look some other brands offer, then reach for Canon lenses. That’s especially the case with the 100mm Macro lens that has a special rendering option.
  • Canon, as of this publishing in March 2023, reserves weather resistance for their L-branded lenses. These lenses have a red ring around the front and are affectionately called their Luxury lenses. Weather resistance helps with durability over the long-run, even if you’re not going into inclement weather.
  • Take a look at our entire guide to Canon RF L lenses in addition to our guide to all of Canon’s RF lenses. And check out our Canon EOS R6 Mk II review.
  • We would never recommend something to you that we haven’t tested ourselves. With that said, all of these cheap Canon RF lenses are under $500 named have links to our reviews. All of the images were also shot by us.
  • The image quality from Canon RF lenses under $500 really comes from a combination of the sensor and the lens design. Canon’s sensors are unique to only them. Try using them with the Fine Detail profile for some truly nice colors.
  • All these photos were shot with various Canon RF lenses under $500 over the years. We’ve used them on the Canon EOS R3, Canon EOS R6, Canon EOS RP, and the Canon EOS R original.
  • All of the Canon RF lenses under $500 we’re recommending do not have a weather resistant design. So don’t take these into the rain.

Canon RF 50mm f1.8 STM

Pros

  • Affordable
  • Compact and lightweight
  • Solid bokeh and color
  • Great autofocus performance
  • Lots of room for character

Cons

  • Softer than other mirrorless primes, especially at the corners
  • No weather-sealing
  • Some minor color fringing

What We Think

In our review, we state:

Looking at the bokeh, it’s hard to tell the shots came from a cheap lens. While an f1.8 doesn’t get quite as smooth as an f1.2, the lens still produced some great bokeh. Soft points of light were round, with no hard edges. Colors and objects easily melted away in the background.

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Canon RF 24-105mm f4-7.1 IS STM 

Pros

  • Very sharp
  • Nice color rendition
  • Lightweight and small
  • Good build quality
  • Very fast and quiet when focusing
  • Finds focus quickly in both good and low light conditions
  • The programmable control ring is a nice touch
  • Excellent image stabilization
  • A fun macro feature which works surprisingly well
  • Very affordable at just $399

Cons

  • A lens hood is not included.
  • There’s a lot of distortion at 24mm (but easily fixed during post).
  • No weather sealing

How’s the Image Quality?

In our review, we state:

Usually, when you think of kit lenses, you think of cheap plastic and loose-fitting switches and controls: that’s not the case with the Canon RF 24-105mm f4-7.1 IS STM. The plastic body feels like it is made from the same materials as the more expensive Canon L glass, the rubber on the zoom ring is of the same high quality found on L lenses, and the control ring feels the same as the ones found on L designated lenses too. The switches on the side feel great and thunk into place when pushed, and the zoom and control/manual focus rings are smooth when turning.

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Canon RF 35mm f1.8 STM Macro

street photography

Pros

  • Small
  • Lightweight
  • Fairly fast to focus
  • It’s a lens designed to always be on your camera.
  • Image stabilization (very much needed in the system)
  • Gorgeous bokeh
  • Sharp enough for most uses but not as sharp as most L glass I’ve seen and used. Still, it’s a shocker.
  • Pretty affordable at $449 regularly

Cons

  • We would have gladly paid more money weather sealing.

How’s the Image Quality?

In our review, we state:

Arguably one of my favorite things about the Canon RF 35mm f1.8 USM IS is the bokeh. It’s smooth and creamy–this is all assisted by the fact that it can focus so darned close. Want that little bit of Korean BBQ or your Dumpling to really shine? Get close and let the background be blown out into a Monet painting. Photographers of all types will appreciate the bokeh of the Canon RF 35mm f1.8 USM IS. In fact, I barely ever wanted to stop it down but knew that I had to for the review. If I feel that way, I’m sure others won’t want to stop down either.

Buy Now

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.

canon Canon 24-105mm canon eos r6 Canon EOS R6 Mk II canon r6 canon rf canon rf 35mm canon rf 50mm canon rf lenses r6 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.