› Benro Cyanbird
Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM PRICE: £909 CANON.CO.UK Just the one zoom
replacing several lenses sounds too good to be true – but that’s the appeal of owning a superzoom. Will Cheung tries out Canon’s all-in-one optical solution
TESTED BY WILL CHEUNG
Superzooms do not have an especially strong reputation for optical performance, but you can’t question their versatility. Cramming so many focal lengths into a single optic inevitably means performance compromises, but this lens type still appeals when you want to cover off many subject types with a single lens. This 10x zoom takes you from a very useful 24mm wide to an equally handy 240mm telephoto, and you get
SIDE BY SIDE The RF 24-240mm is at its shortest at 24mm (left) and grows significantly when zoomed out to 240mm (right)
SPECS › Price £909
› In the box Lens, two front caps and back caps. Optional Canon EW-78F hood, £35 › Format 35mm (APS-C)
› Mount Canon RF › Filter size 72mm › Construction
all this in less than a half-rotation of the zoom barrel. Given its massive focal length range, the lens itself isn’t too heavy at 750g – and not too bulky either. Although it extends with zooming, from 123mm at 24mm to 191mm at 240mm. Regardless of focal length setting, the lens balanced nicely on our EOS R5 test body. While it is not weather- sealed and has a plastic body, it feels robust and nicely made with a smooth zoom barrel and combined focus/control ring. There’s no dedicated manual focus ring, though. The lens does not have a tripod socket, so if you put the combination on a tripod it’s front-heavy – a solid tripod head is advised. Canon does not offer an optional tripod collar, but you can buy a purpose-made third- party item for around £40. While this is non-rotating, it works well, has
an Arca foot and moves the centre of gravity forward for a more stable tripod experience. There is a zoom lock that keeps the lens secured at 24mm for carrying around. A variable maximum aperture is no surprise on a compact, wide- ranging zoom, so this optic starts at f/4 at 24mm and slows down to f/6.3 at 240mm. The slight disappointment is that it slows down to f/4.5 as early as 28mm and is f/5.6 by 70mm. The lens has an image stabiliser with a 5EV benefit, and this becomes 6EV when used on cameras such as the EOS R5 with an in-body image stabiliser. Taking sets of handheld exposures down to 1sec at 240mm, I was getting the odd acceptably sharp shot at 1/4sec and 1/2sec. But the success rate took a significant upturn at 1/8sec and 1/15sec, four out of five shots in each case being very sharp. Repeating the test at 24mm,
21 elements in 15 groups › Special lens elements Two UD, one aspherical › Aperture range F/4-6.3 to f/22-36 › Diaphragm Seven blades › Magnification 0.26x at 240mm › Autofocus Yes, using Nano USM, internal focusing › Manual focusing ring Yes, switchable to control ring › Minimum focus 50cm at 24mm, 78cm at 240mm › Image stabiliser Yes, 5EV benefit › Weather-sealed No › Other features Zoom lock at 24mm, IS on/off › Dimensions (dxl) 80x123mm › Weight 750g › Contact canon.co.uk
BILL OF HEALTH A very useful 70cm minimum focus at 240mm wasn’t needed for this shot of an Egyptian goose, which was taken at 193mm using an exposure of 1/320sec at f/6.3 and ISO 1600
Issue 113 | Photography News 43
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