DELAYED: Canon RF 70-200mm f/4L pushed back to March 2021

(Image credit: Canon)

Canon has announced that the much anticipated Canon RF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM, due to be released this month, has been postponed to March 2021 "due to production reasons" and insufficient supply.

Announced in November, the Canon RF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM promised to be a smaller and lighter version of the brilliant Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM trinity lens. Indeed, at just 119mm when collapsed and 695g in weight, it is the world’s shortest and lightest 70-200mm f/4 lens – and it the same size as a soda can.

• Read more: Best Canon RF lenses

However, one of the recurring themes of 2020 – the dreaded production problems and supply chain issues – have struck again, leading to Canon pushing back the release of the lens by three months.

"Due to production reasons, we cannot prepare a sufficient supply amount for the release," stated Canon Japan. "Therefore, we have decided to postpone the release in early March 2021."

Of course, this is far from Canon's only release of the year marred by availability issues – which, obviously, has also been the case for every other manufacturer.

The Canon EOS R5 and Canon EOS R6 famously didn't make it into many buyers' hands until September, October or even November, despite being announced in July. And the Canon EOS 850D, announced the day before Valentine's Day, wasn't widely available until October.

Canon's full statement appears below.

The Canon RF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM is the size of a soda can, but you can't pop it open until March (Image credit: Canon)

Notice of postponement of release of "RF 70-200mm F4 L IS USM"
Publication date: December 17, 2020

Regarding the "RF70-200mm F4 L IS USM" announced on November 4, 2020 and scheduled to be released in late December, due to production reasons, we cannot prepare a sufficient supply amount for the release. Therefore, we have decided to postpone the release in early March 2021.

We would like to inform you and deeply apologize.

• Scheduled release date
(Before change) Scheduled to be released in late December 2020
(After change) Scheduled to be released in early March 2021

We apologize for the inconvenience caused to the customers who are waiting for us, but we will do our utmost to launch it, and we appreciate your continued patronage.

James has 22 years experience as a journalist, serving as editor of Digital Camera World for 6 of them. He started working in the photography industry in 2014, product testing and shooting ad campaigns for Olympus, as well as clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal. An Olympus / OM System, Canon and Hasselblad shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and he loves instant cameras, too.

Get the Digital Camera World Newsletter