It's been a quiet start to the year for Canon, but the camera giant could be storing up the news for its biggest ever launch of new RF lenses – and it could come soon, according to rumors.
Canon Rumors claims that, according to "a source with a stellar track record", Canon will announce "more lenses at once than ever before".
This batch of lenses, which weren't named, will apparently have different shipping dates, so you probably won't be able to go on a lens-buying spree for your Canon EOS R-series camera immediately they're announced.
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The launch will apparently take place "in the second half of 2021", so that gives you time to save up for the Canon RF 35mm f/1.2L USM prime, or one of the other 14 or so lenses that are rumored to be arriving in either 2021 or 2022.
The reason why Canon may be planning to make such a big splash is because it's apparently run into some supply chain and production issues, which are expected to be resolved by the end of March.
That will leave room for some major lens and camera announcements, including, possibly, the highly-anticipated Canon EOS R1, around June, or maybe slightly later, as the more recent rumors suggest.
Spy glass
So what Canon RF lenses could we expect to see announced? If the company does indeed announce the Canon EOS R1, a mirrorless flagship that's expected to take on the Sony A1, then it would be likely that we'd see some pro-focused super-telephoto primes arrive at the same time.
The ones on the seemingly leaked roadmap from the end of last year include an RF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM, RF 500mm f/4L IS USM, and RF 600mm f/4L IS USM. At the even longer end in terms of focal length, we're also expecting to see an RF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM and RF 1200mm f/8L IS USM at some point.
But it may not all be huge telephotos lenses for pros. According to Canon Rumors, there are some lenses that aren't on the leaked roadmap, including "a dedicated RF mount macro lens".
There are also apparently some intriguing autofocus tilt-shift lenses in the pipeline, called the Canon TS-R 14mm f/4L and TS-R 24mm f/3.5L. These would be the first tilt-shift lenses with autofocus, and would help you achieve effects like making cities look like small-scale replicas.
Exactly which of these lenses will make Canon's rumored mega-announcement isn't yet clear, but Canon Rumors says that more information will emerge "in the coming weeks".
- Read our in-depth Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM review
