Canon is re-imagining its beloved 15-year-old DSLR fisheye zoom for mirrorless. The Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM brings a first-party fisheye to the RF mount, filling in a longstanding speciality lens gap for RF shooters.
Just 1mm off from Canon’s longstanding EF 8-15mm, the RF 7-14mm is essentially Canon’s widest lens yet – but that’s not the only reason I find today’s announcement a win for the RF system.
Excluding the Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8L, which is actually two lenses in one for VR, the Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM is the widest optic yet for the RF system – at least among standard single-lens optics.
Going slightly wider than Canon’s 15-year-old DSLR optic makes it possible to capture a 190° field of view, rather than 180°.
But the mere 1mm wider isn’t what I find most exciting about Canon’s new fisheye. Canon has needed a solid fisheye lens in the RF system in order to fill a gap in the lens lineup, particularly as the mount remains fairly closed off to third-party lenses, at least for full-frame autofocus options.
Canon photographers who didn’t want to use a mount adapter on the EF fisheye and didn’t want to settle for manual-focus third-party optics are no longer stuck.
What strikes me about Canon’s first serious attempt at a mirrorless fisheye is how versatile the lens seems.
Fisheye lenses can be sort of an acquired taste. The perspective distortion is so extreme that the specialty lens category is known for its rather quirky look. The fisheye isn’t suited for a lot of different types of photography but, when used right, the unusual distortion adds a layer of lovely world-bending weirdness.
Canon’s new fisheye, though, is both a circular fisheye and a diagonal fisheye in one. At 7mm, the lens creates a circular image that fits on a black border (on a full-frame camera, anyway; Canon’s crop sensor RF bodies will cut off a bit of that circle).
At 14mm, the lens is still a fisheye with that classic perspective distortion, but a full-frame one that fills the rectangular image without that black background.
Like Canon’s DSLR fisheye, the new optic has a bulbous front that isn’t compatible with traditional screw-in filters. A drop-in mount at the back will accommodate filters, and while there were some third-party workarounds that went beyond gels for the DSLR lens, Canon is offering its own glass filters bundled with the lens.
The same filters that work with Canon’s drop-in filter EF-RF adapter work with the new fisheye. That includes a variable ND and a circular polarizer. (I’m withholding some of my excitement on the latter for now, as CPLs are known to have issues with uneven polarization on the widest optics.)
The other reason that the RF 7-14mm feels worth the long wait for a first-party full-frame fisheye? The new lens is significantly brighter than the DSLR lens. It’s a full stop brighter on the wide end and a third of a stop brighter on the long end.
Yes, the wider view is likely a welcome addition to the RF lineup – but the new lens’ versatility, filter support and brighter aperture shouldn’t be overlooked either.
It's also got a big upside for VR stills and video. "While the lens will find its usual home in the hands of creative landscape, astro and action sports shooters, I think its biggest upside is its ability to shoot stills and video that can be converted to 180° 2D VR," said my colleague James in his hands-on Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM review.
"It's physically lighter, its focal range is wider, its aperture is faster, its image quality is better, it has a control ring, it has a function button, it supports Canon's drop-in filters and it can be used for VR content. This is in every way an upgrade to the brilliant DSLR lens from 2011."
The Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM will be available from February 26 for $1,899 / £1,719.99 (Australian pricing to be confirmed).
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