The Best Lenses for Minimal Depth of Field

[rs-eos]

When wanting to achieve the narrowest possible depth of field, there are several factors.  Three of which are focal length, aperture, and minimum focusing distance.

What follows is a current listing of mostly RF L-series lenses (with two EF L-series lenses sprinkled in which I own):

Key: MFD (Minimum Focus Distance), DOF (Depth of Field).

1. RF 70-200mm f/4 L @ 200mm, 60 cm MFD, 0.14 cm DOF
2. RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L @ 500mm, 120 cm MFD, 0.14 cm DOF
3. RF 70-200 f/2.8 L @ 200mm, 70 cm MFD, 0.15 cm DOF
4. RF 135mm f/1.8 L, 70 cm MFD, 0.23 cm DOF
5. RF 24-105mm f/2.8 L @ 105 mm, 45 MFD, 0.24 cm DOF
6. RF 800mm f/5.6 L, 260 cm MFD, 0.25 cm DOF
7. RF 28-70mm f/2L @ 70mm, 39 cm MFD, 0.31 cm DOF
8. RF 24-105mm f/4 L @ 105 mm, 45 cm MFD, 0.34 cm DOF
9. RF 50mm f/1.2 L, 40 cm MFD, 0.4 cm DOF
10. RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L @ 70mm, 38 cm MFD, 0.41 cm DOF
11. RF 1200mm f/8 L, 430 cm MFD, 0.44 cm DOF
12. EF 135mm f/2 L, 90 cm MFD, 0.45 cm DOF
13. EF 50mm f/1.2 L, 45 cm MFD, 0.51 cm DOF
14. RF 100-300mm f/2.8 L, 180 cm MFD, 0.51 cm DOF
15. RF 400mm f/2.8 L, 250 cm MFD, 0.56 cm DOF
16. RF 85mm f/1.2 L (both DS and non-DS), 20 cm MFD, 0.64 cm DOF
17. RF 14-35mm f/4 L @ 35mm, 20 cm MFD, 0.65 cm DOF
18. RF 200-800 f/6.3-9 @ 800mm, 330 cm MFD, 0.69 cm DOF
19. RF 15-35mm f/2.8 L @ 35mm, 28 cm MFD, 0.95 cm DOF
20. RF 600mm f/4 L, 420 cm MFD, 1.01 cm DOF
21. RF 10-20mm f/4 L, 25 cm MFD, 3.47 cm DOF

Takeaways:

• Sometimes, it's not lenses with the widest apertures that will produce the narrowest results.
• The top prime (hurray!) is the RF 135mm f/1.8 L
• The top zoom is a tie between the RF 70-200 mm f/4 L and RF 100-500mm f/4-7.1 L.  Though the 70-200 f/2.8 version is just 1/10 of a millimeter behind them, so practically a three-way tie.

[johnrmoyer]

I expect that the minimum focus distance specification for a lens will be based upon someone's idea of a correct or standard circle of confusion. Depending upon how the photo will be viewed, one might be able to focus on an object closer than the minimum focus distance in the specification or may need to focus at a further distance than the specification.

Also, for a zoom lens, a single distance is usually given for minimum focus distance, but that will sometimes change when one zooms.

[rs-eos]

Some of Canon’s zooms do have the same MFD at all focal lengths. Others do vary. When building the list, I always took the maximum focal length and the documented MFD at that value.

One lens I didn’t mention was the RF 100mm f/2.8 Macro. I wanted to omit macro lenses as they would have a whole different level of DOF. This lens would be 0.07 cm.