The best Canon telephoto lenses in 2024: for your DSLR or EOS R series camera

a Canon 70-200mm lens shot under a spotlight
(Image credit: Future)

The best Canon telephoto lenses make it easier to fill the frame with subjects and get closer to the action to ensure you capture stunning photos. You can use these zoom lenses to shoot sports, wildlife, portraits, and even landscapes,  so they're essential companions to your Canon camera.

There are several types of Canon camera and each has a different lens mount; the best RF lenses pair with Canon's mirrorless range, EF lenses are for Canon DSLRs, and EF-M lenses pair perfectly with Canon's EOS M cameras. In this guide, we've focused on RF and EF lenses, with one great EF-M lens at the bottom. You'll find out the mount type by looking at the mount in the specifications.

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Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! 


His expertise with equipment doesn’t end there, though. He is also an encyclopedia  when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers and inks, and just about anything imaging-related. 


In an earlier life he was a broadcast engineer at the BBC, as well as a former editor of PC Guide.

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