A Review of the Impressive Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM Lens

It used to be that most supertelephoto zoom lenses were significantly below the standards demanded by professionals, leaving you to either buy a stratospherically priced prime or make do. However, in the last few years, we have seen an explosion of better lenses, and one of the most impressive options out there is the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice. 

Coming to you from Dustin Abbott, this great video review takes a look at the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lens. As part of the L series, the 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L features a wide variety of professional-level features, including:

  • Weather-resistant construction and protective fluorine coating for working in inclement conditions
  • Six Ultra-Low Dispersion elements and one Super Ultra-Low Dispersion element for reduced chromatic aberrations and increased clarity
  • Customizable Control Ring
  • Optical Image Stabilizer system with three modes and up to five stops of compensation
  • Adjustable torque zoom ring for faster zooming or higher precision
  • Dual Nano USM autofocus system with fast and quiet performance suitable for both photo and video work

Altogether, the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM looks like an impressive lens and a nice match for cameras like the EOS R5 and EOS R3. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Abbott. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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3 Comments

One of our club members and I went to a Canon Day sponsored by a local camera shop. He brought his R5 and had reserved the 100-500 to try. He had been using the 100-400 v2 with the 1.4 extender and adapter. He was really taken with the weight savings more so than the optical gains. He's saving his dinars and will be selling his 100-400 to get the 100-500.

I’m a user and lover of Canon imaging equipment systems. But not a blind lover.

Sony 200-600mm is 100mm longer, faster at the long-end and cheaper than the Canon 100-500mm.

Kindly let me know, why one should pick up the Canon version instead of Sony!

If you are a photographer, you should know that the short end have value.

For stuff that is close, starting at 200mm is not a good place to start.