Canon’s Biggest Lens Screwup

Back in 2023, Canon released the Canon RF 28mm f2.8 pancake lens. And in our review (linked here), we noted how at the time, the RAW files had a lot of issues with stuff like fringing and all. In my eyes, this lens, even though it’s a pancake, is Canon’s biggest screw up in the lens world. Sure, we got a pancake lens — but why couldn’t we have gotten something weather resistant? Why do they still only reserve that for their L-series lenses? And more importantly, why couldn’t they bring back the banger from the early 2010s?

Yes, Canon has brought back many of the lenses they had for the EF mount. But they really missed the ball when it comes to the 28mm — a focal length that doesn’t have its pot watered all that often in the photography world. To that end, it rarely ever blossoms to give us beautiful flowers.

In 2013, I personally reviewed the Canon 28mm f2.8 IS for EF mount. This is a lens that I didn’t expect to like. In fact, compared to the Canon 35mm f2 IS that I was reviewing at the time, I was pleasantly surprised. I even found the lens to be a better buy than Canon’s own 35mm f1.4 L at the time. However, it couldn’t outdo the Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art lens at the time.

But still, the true king of that time period was and still is the Canon 28mm f2.8 IS. This lens gave photographers exceptional image stabilization, fast autofocus for Canon at the time, and did it all while staying small and lightweight. While it’s not weather resistant, it survived a beach wedding — which is where I tested the lens.

I look back at the images I made with this lens with a lot of fondness. Part of that comes from Canon’s color science from back in the day no matter what some YouTuber will try to tell you otherwise. Another part came from the editing while yet others came from just how beautiful the images were right out of the camera.

And this is what I think Canon should’ve done instead — channel a retro optic into something that will give us beautiful images even today.

Here’s what I’m talking about. The following images were made with the newer Canon RF 28mm f2.8.

The images below were made with the original Canon EF 28mm f2.8 IS.

Make no mistake here, both of them make really pretty images. But still, there’s something to classic Canon that makes their images pop so much more. Perhaps it’s the colors. And with the right renditions dialed into your new Canon RF series camera, you can probably get a similar look.

So why write about this? Well, I think that Canon majorly needs to dive back into their past. They’re refusing to make a retro-style camera and they also refuse to bring back some of the older optics from the past. Yet at the same time, they like to celebrate their accomplishments such as the EF mount, selling x amount of lenses, etc.

But seriously, Canon, you should celebrate the good lenses you made back then.