Third Party Lenses for RF Mount

[Tronhard]

There has been a long history of 'feedback' about the lack of 3rd Party lenses for the RF mount from those who either prefer those brands or the lower price points - or a combination of both. Certainly, there have been some very innovative lenses such as the 150-600 and 60-600, or the massive 18-400 lenses from such companies. Maybe, just maybe, some of that will dissipate now that the two big lens makers: Sigma and Tamron, have announced their own native RF-S lenses for the platform.
https://www.tamron.com/global/consumer/news/detail/b060rf_20240423.html
SIGMA Canon RF Mount lenses | Contents | SIGMA Corporation (sigma-global.com)

The timing coincides almost precisely with how it worked out for Sony: i.e. about six years after the release of their mirrorless E-mount in 2010.  Like Nikon and Canon, Sony had taken some time to get back their investment in the platform and iron out the interfaces to make sure that those same 3rd parties would have a stable platform.  What began as a trickle had, by the time of the Nikon Z and Canon RF mounts become a full flow of E-mount lenses across the full range.

Like Nikon, Canon are engaging with 3rd parties via licensing agreements, which should give both parties - and consumers, certainty about the range and reliability of non-Canon lenses on the RF platform.   Again, like Nikon, Canon are starting with APS-C lenses - one assumes because there are more lenses that can port across from those 3rd parties more seamlessly, and perhaps that many users of those brands likely use APS-C cameras, it make sense to do so.

Personally, I am happy with the Canon RF lenses I have so far, but will look forward with interest to the eventual release of an RF 60-600 from Sigma.

[justadude]

I noticed the same thing last week that these are just RF-S for now.  Hopefully the RF full frame lenses will follow in a reasonable amount of time.  I'm looking forward to some of the Sigma Art lenses with the RF mount.  I was tempted to buy the Sigma Art 20mm with the EF mount last month to use with the Canon EF/RF adapter... but I'm holding off since the announcement was made.

[deebatman316]

This is great news for RF-S shooters. But not so good for RF shooters. It looks like progress is being made. Maybe Canon has it setup that 3rd Parties can only make RF-S lenses now then RF lenses later. I also noticed that these RF-S lack IS (Image Stabilization). 

[Tronhard]

Hi Demetrius! 🙂
Your proposition would be my expectation.  Canon are registering a bunch of new bodies (5?) and those will likely come with a suite of optics as well.
It has to come eventually - the point is this sort of delay is normal, it's just that the comparison with Sony's plethora of 3rd party lenses available now is compared to Canon and Nikon now, and that's not a fair comparison, given Sony's massive head start in the market.   
I cannot imagine the cost of developing the technology for a new platform in terms of the design, tooling and building, of cameras and lenses, and it's to be expected that the investing OEM will want to have the gear market to themselves for a while to get some of that back.  That said, they aren't stupid, so they know they have to open the market up to let in 3rd parties at some stage.
It's interesting that Fuji, which has had their FX mount out for some time, has only now really allowed Tamron to make 3rd party lenses for their XT cameras, yet I see very little criticism of them - this higher level of criticism is what we in NZ call the 'tall poppy syndrome'.   Not unlike the flak Microsoft has tended to get for being dominant in the PC field.

[deebatman316]

I think why Fuji isn't talked about as much is because they're more of a niche player. Compared to the top 3 camera makers those being Canon, Nikon and Sony. When you ask most people that are normal people that don't know much about cameras. When you ask them about camera manufacturers the 2 names they'll say are Canon and Nikon. Some will say Sony but when cameras come to mind its always Nikon and Canon. Before Sony the top 4 camera makers were Canon, Minolta, Nikon & Pentax. Sony was very small in the camera market when they bought the Minolta A Mount. Sony did admit it was out of touch with its customers when it came to the A Mount. They've had much more success with the E Mount system. Nikon has the largest mirrorless lens mount size with the new Z Mount system. Nikon's first attempts with mirrorless didn't start out too well at all. Their live view AF in their DSLRs weren't very good. It was quite slow even for motorized/ AF-S/ SWM (Silent Wave Motor) lenses. This caught up with Nikon and caused there new mirrorless system to suffer. Other things like Autoexposure which we've had for years didn't work either so did their i-TTL/ CLS flash system not work well. With Canon everything seemed to be a seamless transition other than a new RF Mount. Pentax has decided NOT to move mirrorless cameras and intends to continue making DSLR cameras. I've tried using Pentax's cameras but when it comes AF it's slow and behind the competition as far as DSLRs go. Pentax uses a weird hybrid AF system built into newer motorized lenses. The lenses contain an AF motor along with the ability to be focused by the motor in the camera body to retain compatibility with older DSLRs that can't AF motorized/ SDM lenses. The motors in these lenses have a high failure rate. These newer lenses will often cause the camera to switch back and forth between the lens motor and body motor when the lens motor fails. I expect the camera to autofocus when it is set to do so not play tug of war of which AF motor is used. There AF algorithms for motorized lenses are way behind everyone else and its very slow. Screw drive lenses seemed to do better in this respect but its also slower too.