Which single "starter lens for EOS R6: RF 70~200 or RF 100~500?

Greetings,

I'm new to the forum and look forward to learning as well as helping others as I can. I'm about to buy a EOS R6 and need advice on a single starter lens.

I am an intermediate level amateur photographer and my wife is a beginner. Our main use is general travel photography. I bought her a Leica Q2 as an all-around high quality camera. The Leica is a full frame camera with a fixed lens (28mm f1.7)

In the past I rented a Canon EOS R and various RF lenses to "supplement " the Leica during our travels, I'm now interested in buying the new EO R6 as it seems like a good camera for my purposes.

I'm contemplating my first and primary lens as either the RF 70-200 f2.8 or the RF 100~500 f4.5~7.1. They are similarly priced. My rationale is that of she shoots with the Leica Q2 the 28mm will be good for landscape photography, street and interiors due to fast 1.7 aperture.

Where the Q2 falls down is on medium/long range telephoto range. My idea is to get one of the previously mentioned lenses to "cover" situations where the Leica is insufficient.

While I stated that my primary use case is an all around zoom tele , I do expect to do some (20%) amateur sports photography (our local tennis club) and occasional wildlife (birding) photography.

Once we begin traveling again I would be inclined to rent (or buy) a 2nd lens to round out my use of the R6 but for purposes of this question lets assume that I will always use just 1 lens on the R6. *Remember that my wife will be shooting with the Leica 28 mm so please frame your answers in the context of my question.

IF you feel there is a better option within the Canon RF series please let me know. I'm not "limited" to just the 2 lenses I mentioned but they seemed like good solutions to my issue.

FWIW-All my photography is strictly viewed on 27" iMac and iPad so I don't envision doing any print or enlargements. That said, image quality is important to me hence my thinking to go with one of the "L" series lenses.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions..

 

Thank you for your reply. One of the factors I'm considering is definitely the "portability" of the 100~500. I rented the EF 100~400 version last year for use with a rental EOS R (via adapter) and it was "manageable" but I'm not getting any younger

In principle I like the faster aperture of the 70-200 but not sure if it's a real benefit to me. Much of my travel shooting is outdoors and I find that I'm generally stopping down to f5.6 etc thus offsetting the benefits of the faster 2.8 aperture.

*That said, I have another question. In general with the EOS R series cameras will having a given lens with a faster aperture result in a brighter image when composing a shot? For example: say I have 2 prime lenses with identical focal length. One of the lenses is max aperture of F2.0 and the other lens F4.0. All other things being equal will I get a brighter image in the EVF while composing with the faster f2.0 lens? If so I could see a real advantage to the 70-200 f2.8 just from "ease" of viewing, especially at dusk or dim lighting.

If I am correct with my thinking above, would it also hold true if I was to select an aperture value of say f 8 on my example of the 2 prime lenses in my hypothetical. In other words, 2 prime lenses one with max aperture of f 2.0 and the 2nd lens max aperture f 4.0. If I was to set the aperture to say f8 on the lens with max aperture f 2.8 would I still get a brighter image in the viewfinder during composition? (I understand the lens will "stop down" to f 8 when the shutter release is pushed.)

 

I use a RP which has an evf. I have not made any changes out of the box to the evf brightness settings. I have have slow and fast lenses in the EF mount. I also use the camera in AV mode, but of late I have been in manual more often than not. I will come back to that in a moment. When I use an f4 lens and the camera set to AV, the view in the viewfinder is what the camera has set (shutter speed and aperture). So the evf image is how the final image will come out. Attach my f1.4, leave the camera in AV, and again the view in the evf will not be any brighter. The camera just allows me to open the aperture more.

I know that you can change the brightness of the evf to suit, but I am happy with the way it came out of the factory.

I have made the histogram visible in the evf now. So the way I have been shooting of late is by pushing the histogram left or right with the two input dials while the camera is set in manual. As long as the light levels are not changing, I find this really easy.

I hope this helps.

Gary

 

Welcome to the site Matsaly, Johnsey and Gary are worth listening too, My only comment would be to get a 50mm F1.8 or F1.4 lens, I find this is my most used one for walking around and taking shots. A excellent size for low light.

 

would it be sensible to suggest getting the 70-200 and using a x2 / x1.4 for the extra reach as the 70-200 already has a 2.8 aperture?

 

A good suggestion. But at this moment in time there are no Canon RF converters manufactured by Canon. I am sure that they will be produced soon.

Gary

 

Thanks Gary. I've been away from photography for many years and still had the OVF concept in my head.I went back and read some basics about the differences between OVF and EVF's. It's now clear to me that merely having a faster lens in and of itself will NOT result (all other settings being equal) in a brighter image in the EVF.

I also like your suggestion of using the histogram for setting exposure levels. I will learn more about that feature in due course.

 

I agree additional lenses are in order. I'm still vacillating between the 70~200 and the 100~500. I'm slightly biased towards the 100~500 but dread the thought of lugging it around on a daily basis when traveling. I suppose one option is to go with the 70-200 as it is more compact, easier to manage and see if I can get satisfactory crops out of the R6 20 mp file size.

 

Great minds think alike. Per the Canon USA website there are 2 TC's available for certain RF lenses. Unfortunately both TC's are NOT compatible with the RF 70-200. That would have been a brilliant solution but perhaps canon didn't want to cannibalize sales of the RF 100~500?


https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/list/lenses/ef/extenders/extenders