Telephoto lens options for R5

[mknabster]

After living with the R5 for nearly a year now, I'm finding that my older Tamron G1 lenses don't work too well with the R5. I just replaced my 24-70mm G1 with the Canon RF 24-70mm L and just wow, I'm glad I invested in it! But now my Tamron 70-300mm G1 is left, and it's posing the exact same issues as the other Tamron did, which was mostly related to the built in VC where the lens would shake a little bit when a picture is taken. My guess is that their VC doesn't communicate with the R5 when a picture is taken, but it is a pretty old set of lenses, I got many years of use from them with my 5D MKIII.

I would like to replace the Tamron 70-300 f/4-5.6 but I don't see any RF versions of the 70-300mm available. I know they have the 75-300 and the 100-400mm lenses, but I feel like the 70-300mm is the sweet spot for my uses. I like the extra reach it gives over a 70-200mm lens, though the variable aperture isn't as good as the f/4 or f/2.8 L versions of the 70-200mm currently available. As far as my use of it goes, the 70-300mm is purely for travel when I don't feel like lugging the RF 200-800mm with me. I can say that since getting the 200-800, I haven't picked up the 70-300 as often, unless I wanted to get a different perspective. Right now, I have the 24-70 and the 200-800; would it be a better choice to have a 70-200 and not have overlap? 

At this moment, I'm between the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS L and the RF 70-200mm f/4 IS L with a possible 1.4x teleconverter to get me that extra reach. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings ,

My colleagues appear to have your questions covered 🙂.  The RF 70-200 f4/f2.8 mkI's don't accept TC's.  You'll have to go Z series for that, but you will get the additional 120 mm of focal length with the 1.4x TC.  It's a lot of money though (Z + TC), 

The 24-240 has also proven itself, as you can see from Marc's beautiful photos.  Admittedly, (however) from the very first time I used my 100-500 I was hooked.  😍

Modest investment strategy.  Since you already have the 24-70 and 200-800, the RF 70-200 mkI would integrate with your existing gear well.  I have the f2.8 mkI and absolutely love it.  Biggest draw for me was the compactness of the mkI.  I never intended to use it with a TC though.  Look at your metadata. What focal lengths do you shoot at most commonly? Depends on you, what you want to carry and what you need to shoot.  

I honestly don't mind carrying 24-70 70-200 and 100-500.  If you find that you need that extra 120 mm more times than not then go with the Z series plus TC.  You may use the TC less than you think. 😉 Only you can answer that.

[mknabster]

Thanks for your response Rick! Yes, I need to do some soul searching on this one. Getting a faster 70-200 was always on my dream list, I guess I really need to think if the extra 100mm is worth it for me to get something older. But you all gave me some good options to think about!