Canon just gave us something remarkable: the Canon RF 45mm f/1.2 STM, a lens that gives you a superfast f/1.2 aperture with full autofocus for under 500 bucks.
This is remarkable for any number of reasons. First of all, it's Canon's first ever (that I can remember, at least) 45mm prime. But it's also the first time Canon has ever offered f/1.2 speed in a non-L-series lens with a non-L-series price tag.
You're looking at $2,599 / £2,449 / AU£3,261 for the flagship Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L USM, with its comparable speed and focal length. But the 45mm f/1.2 is instead in the same category as the Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM at $239 / £197 / AU$294 – a lower price for slower performance.
What really blows my mind, though, is that Canon has been paying attention to the demand for cheap third-party alternatives to its 50mm f/1.2L. While fast Chinese rivals from the likes of 7Artisan and Brightin Star have proved popular, they're big heavy optics with questionable image quality (especially wide open) – and crucially, they all lack autofocus.
So Canon has killed multiple birds with one stone, offering an enthusiast-level f/1.2 lens with excellent optical performance and full AF support in an incredibly compact and lightweight frame. The RF 45mm f/1.2 is just 75mm in length and weighs a paltry 346g – a far cry from some third-party options that weigh four times as much!
I've fallen in love with this little lens and, if I didn't already own the RF 50mm f/1.8, this would be the first lens I'd buy for my EOS R camera. From my hands-on time, it's at least as good optically (including wide open, where it's impressively sharp) and you get so much more speed.
And of course, throw it on an RF-S camera and all of a sudden you have an effective 72mm f/1.2 that's perfect for portraits. And at such a small size, this is as great a choice for R50 and R10 users as it is for R8 and R6 Mark III owners.
"If you're someone who loves fast glass, whether it's to get the blurriest backgrounds or to work in low light, the fact that you can get an f/1.2 optic with autofocus for less than 500 bucks makes this truly phenomenal bang for your buck," I wrote in my Canon RF 45mm f/1.2 STM review.
"Moreover, this lens is superior to the third-party f/1.2 and f/0.95 lenses from Chinese manufacturers – most of which are more expensive, all of which are bigger and heavier, and none of which have autofocus, which severely limits their usefulness when working at super shallow depths of field."
The Canon RF 45mm f/1.2 STM goes on sale November 20 and carries a price tag of $469 / £479.99 / AU$699.95.
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See how the 45mm f/1.2 compares to the best Canon RF lenses and see how it stacks up against the fastest lenses you can buy!
