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The Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM super-telephoto prime introduced in April 2021, at a time when Canon rolled out its EOS R3 professional mirrorless plus a brace of latest glass for its RF mount.
The RF 600mm was unveiled concurrently the RF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM. Each lenses are based mostly on their EF counterparts, the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and the EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM, which have been introduced concurrently Canon jumped into full-frame mirrorless with the EOS R in fall 2018.
Whereas the RF variations look nearly the identical as their EF forebears, they provide half a cease extra of optical stabilization and are the primary RF-mount lenses to characteristic a double energy drive mechanism, enabling quicker autofocus efficiency with appropriate cameras.
With their heat-resistant white finishes and purple L-series rings, each of those fixed aperture super-telephotos are designed for sports activities and wildlife professionals who want the mix of lengthy attain, a decent depth of area, and the flexibility to freeze motion even in low-light situations, together with the ruggedness and sturdiness that skilled customers want.
I lately borrowed an RF 600mm f/4L IS USM from Canon for a Digital Digital camera World journal shoot on the RSPB Bempton Cliffs nature reserve in England, UK, the place I used to be joined by the main worldwide wildlife photographer and Canon ambassador Ellie Rothnie, who had supplied to mentor one in all our readers.
An article about our day at Bempton Cliffs will seem within the October 2025 concern of Digital Digital camera World journal.
Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM: Specs
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Mount choices |
Canon RF, RF-S |
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Lens building |
17 components in 13 teams |
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Autofocus |
Sure |
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Stabilization |
Sure |
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Diaphragm blades |
9 |
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Minimal aperture |
f/32 |
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Minimal focus distance |
16.5″ / 42cm |
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Most magnification ratio |
0.15x |
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Filter dimension |
52mm (drop-in) |
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Dimensions |
18.58 x 6.61″ (472 x 168mm) |
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Weight |
6.82lbs (3090g) |
Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM: Value
On sale since 2021, the Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM is at present accessible for $13,999 / £14,180 / AU$22,799. Its predecessor for Canon DSLRs, the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM, retails for $13,999 / £14,179 / AU$22,999.
Comparable lenses for different programs embody the Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S, with a built-in 1.4x teleconverter, priced at $14,496 / £13,499 / AU$23,999, and the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS, which prices $12,998 / £11,999 / AU$21,999.
An alternate possibility for Sony E-mount customers, though not fairly so long as the Canon RF 600mm f/4, is the Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS Sports activities (£2,779 / $2,999 / AU$5,695), which can be accessible for L-mount cameras. The model of this lens for Canon EF and Nikon F DSLRs, the Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sports activities, prices $5,999 / £4,999 / AU$8,699.
Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM: Design & Dealing with
Weighing in at 6.82lbs (3090g) and measuring 18.58 x 6.61″ (472 x 168mm), the RF 600mm f/4L IS USM is a reasonably formidable optic.
However appearances will be deceiving. The lens would not really feel as heavy because it appears, and has been engineered to be well-balanced – the load of the lens feels properly distributed alongside the barrel. (Canon considerably lowered the load of the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and the EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM lenses, as we reported in 2018.)
Provided in a padded pouch, with an E-185C material lens cap to guard the entrance component, the RF 600mm f/4L has a rubber ring on the tip of the lens.
This implies it may very well be positioned downwards on the bottom, the place its 6.61″ diameter provides sufficient of a footprint for the lens to be impervious to a lightweight breeze, however with its substantial price ticket, you’d probably attain for the reassurance of the padded pouch throughout breaks in capturing.
As talked about, the exterior look of the RF 600mm f/4L shares a heck of so much with the EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM. Laid aspect by aspect, all that might separate them could be the main focus distance scale that has develop into an in-camera show on EOS R cameras – and a distinction in size of 1″ (240mm).
That and an extended part on the mount finish of the lens, which is nearly precisely the depth of the EF-EOS R mount adapter you’d use for porting your EOS DSLR optics to RF mount mirrorless cameras.
Operate management switches are organized in two clusters for operation by the photographer’s left hand. Furthest ahead are a financial institution of switches. The highest two are for selecting the stabilizer mode (1, 2, or 3: for static topics/ for panning, horizontally and vertically/ solely engaged on the level of seize), and activating or deactivating the picture stabilizer.
Beneath that could be a change for choosing the main focus preset mode (on, off, or for a beep sounding when focus is achieved on the saved preset level), and above that could be a Set button for recording the 2 preset factors it can save you.
Forward of this can be a extensive and responsive ring for handbook focusing, simply behind a knurled ring management for leaping focus between preset factors – helpful for switching to topics at completely different distances when refocusing would value invaluable seconds – and for executing focus pulls whereas filming video.
4 lens operate buttons (programmable by the person) sit inside a slim black band, at 90º factors across the barrel. So, nevertheless the lens is rotated, one will fall underneath the fingers.
Farther again, near the lens mount, are the AF system controls: a change for enabling or disabling AF, Energy focus or Handbook focus modes, and under that could be a focus limiter change providing three positions – Full, 4.2m-16m, 16m-infinity – to cease the lens trying to find focus outdoors the latter two distance ranges.
One other characteristic carried over from the EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM is the slot for drop-in filters, simply in entrance of the lens mount. The RF600mm f/4L comes with a 52mm safety filter, though Canon additionally makes a round polarizing filter and provides a appropriate holder for inserting gelatin filters.
A sturdy tripod mount provides ¼” and ⅜” threads and is padded on the within so it may be used as a carrying deal with. Sturdy lugs on the barrel enable a strap to be hooked up for letting your shoulders take the load when transporting the lens.
The tripod collar rotates via 360º when the locking knob is loosened, and there is a satisfying click on when it reaches every 90º level.
If 600mm of attain is not sufficient, or 960mm on an EOS R-series digicam with an APS-C sensor, then the RF 600mm f/4L is appropriate with Canon’s RF 1.4x and RF 2x teleconverters, producing 840mm and 1200mm, respectively.
Autofocus and picture stabilization will nonetheless function, however on the expense of narrower apertures: f/5.6 to a minimal aperture of f/45 when used with the 1.4x Extender, and f/8-f/64 for the 1.4x Extender.
Speaking of apertures, the RF 600mm f/4L has 9 diaphragm blades for producing the dreamy defocused areas we relish with telephoto lenses.
Canon RF 600mm F4L IS USM: Efficiency
Bempton Cliffs is likely one of the foremost places for photographing seabirds within the UK and is operated by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Safety of Birds).
Puffins, gannets, guillemots, and kittiwakes are among the many half-million seabirds that congregate right here in the summertime months, incomes Bempton Cliffs its ‘seabird metropolis’ tag.
On the day I visited, gentle rain was falling and was forecast to proceed for a few hours.
We have been joined by Digital Digital camera World reader Owen Eaton, an skilled wildlife photographer and conservationist, whose typical setup is a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and EF 300mm f/2.8L IS ISM lens.
Positioning ourselves at Bartlett Nab, we began photographing the flurry of diving gannets. They have been shifting too shortly and erratically to be photographed by a digicam on a help, so the subsequent few hours have been going to be a take a look at of hand-held capturing expertise.
The RF 600mm f/4L was mounted on a Canon EOS R, which was set to Servo AF with face and monitoring autofocus enabled, and the drive mode set to high-speed steady.
Overcast and drizzling, the sunshine ranges have been fairly gloomy, however the RF 600mm f/4L’s autofocus coped properly, buying and monitoring loads of gannets as they flew, swooped, and landed.
Whereas the RF 600mm f/4L has a dual-powered ultrasonic focusing drive, the EOS R would not help this performance, however the AF carried out snappily, and whereas it did register a tiny little bit of noise, it would not have been off-putting for our feathered associates. And even in case you have been photographing bigger animals on a safari, you will be a good distance away from them.
Taking pictures predominantly white birds with black, gray, and pale yellow markings towards backgrounds of white clouds or a gunmetal sea, at this time’s coloration palette was muted. A sporting occasion with colourful equipment and adverts could be a greater take a look at of the lens’s coloration rendition and Canon’s famed coloration science, however there was loads of data in our uncooked recordsdata for enhancing afterwards.
Professional grade so absolutely weather-sealed as you’d count on at this worth level, and with the lens hood hooked up to maintain the rain at bay, we weren’t overly involved about what the brooding skies over Britain’s North Sea may quickly be throwing on the RF 600mm f/4L. The lens’s weather-sealing consists of fluorine coatings on the entrance and rear components.
Contained in the barrel, fluorite and Tremendous UD glass components are employed to supply further sharpness and management distortion, whereas ASC (air-sphere) and SSC (super-spectra) coatings have been utilized to maintain distortion and flare to a minimal, even when the lens is used wide-open at f/4.
Optical stabilization on the RF 600mm f/4L IS USM is half a cease higher than that of the EF600mm f/4L IS III USM, to a most of 5.5 stops. (EOS R-series cameras with in-body picture stabilization, together with the EOS R1, R3, R5, R5 Mark II, R6, R6 Mark II, and R7, can work in tandem to push this a few stops increased.)
As Canon’s first full-frame mirrorless, the EOS R has no in-body picture stabilization (though it debuted a dual-sensing IS system, which compares information from a sensor within the lens with digicam sensor motion, to spice up the efficacy of the optical IS). So the onus fell on the RF 600mm f/4L IS USM to do the heavy lifting and assist seize shake-free frames. And it appears to have achieved this with aplomb…
Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM: Pattern pictures
Here is a number of pictures captured by Digital Digital camera World reader Owen Eaton Owen (@wild_sights_) at Bempton Cliffs in July 2025. Climate situations have been overcast with gusty winds, however it was an excellent day for getting near seabirds – particularly gannets.
Picture 1 of 5
So what did this skilled wildlife photographer make of his time utilizing the Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM?
“I used to be severely impressed with the general efficiency and really feel of the lens,” he mentioned. “The autofocus was snappy and held the gannets properly as they moved about within the body, which was spectacular as there was numerous sudden and unpredictable motion owing to the wind.
“I discovered it to be a lot lighter than I used to be anticipating. Provided that with the lens hood on, it is simply over a meter lengthy, it was noticeably lighter than my older Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 IS ISM lens. The EF 300mm is a minimum of half the dimensions of the RF 600mm, so this was one thing I did not count on, and it was undoubtedly a welcome shock.
“Wanting via the pictures I took, the RF 600mm F4 has nice element retention when cropping in, and that enhancing strategy labored properly for the image of the mother or father and chick on the cliffside.
“My solely concern with the lens is that with its massive diameter, it has to have fairly a big lens hood. Within the excessive winds, I used to be being dragged astray because the hood caught gusts of wind, which is one thing I’ve by no means skilled earlier than.
“On a dry and windy day, you may simply take away the hood so there could be no downside, however when it’s moist and windy, or in case you’re working in a dusty or sandy atmosphere, I might think about it might be fairly a battle and would require some artistic stabilisation to make it work.
“However this can be a very minor concern within the grand scheme of issues. The RF 600mm f/4 IS USM was a pleasure to make use of and is a dream piece of equipment for any wildlife photographer.”
Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM: Lab outcomes
We run a variety of lab exams underneath managed situations, utilizing the Imatest Grasp testing suite. Images of take a look at charts are taken throughout the vary of apertures and zooms (the place accessible), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.
We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and evaluation software program to plot lens decision on the middle of the picture body, corners and mid-point distances, throughout the vary of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at 4 completely different focal lengths. The exams additionally measure distortion and coloration fringing (chromatic aberration).
Sharpness:
Sharpness is excellent, from extensive open via to f/11. Most spectacular is how constantly sharp the lens is throughout your complete picture body.
Fringing:
Fringing is not fairly as little as it may very well be, however it’s constantly under the extent of being noticeable in real-world capturing, and that is all that basically issues.
Distortion: 0.01
We would not count on a lot distortion from such a high-end lens with this focal size, and the RF 600mm f/4L would not disappoint, producing a near-perfect rating.
Canon RF 600mm f/4L IS USM: Verdict
Priced at $13,999 / £14,180 / AU$22,799, it is clear the RF 600mm f/4L IS USM is not going to be a quantity vendor for Canon. It is clearly an indispensable device for skilled sports activities and wildlife photographers who want its mixture of attain and shiny aperture – for the remainder of us, renting one by the day for a few hundred {dollars} or kilos could be a extra smart possibility.
All customers of this lens will not fail to be impressed by its dealing with traits and efficiency, although. If you happen to can deal with a super-telephoto properly and take the time to arrange each lens and digicam accurately for what you are capturing, then the RF 600mm f/4L will produce impressively sharp pictures when unsupported.
As anticipated for the worth, the high-end optical path captures pleasing pictures with that signature lengthy lens focus fall-off in entrance of and behind topics when used wide-open.
We did not see one of the best of this lens’s coloration rendition on our dreary morning spent capturing with it, however the autofocus and stabilization programs each delivered constantly.
The shape issue of the RF 600mm f/4L IS USM super-telephoto is formidable, although, so to take care of a good hit fee of ‘keeper’ pictures, your arms will profit from having common breaks. However along with your physique, lens, and digicam in sync, then you definately’ll bag sports activities and wildlife photographs worthy of a professional.
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Options ★★★★★ |
Vivid aperture, cutting-edge autofocus and stabilization, absolutely weather-sealed and constructed to deal with the trials of fast-paced sports activities and wildlife images. |
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Design and dealing with ★★★★☆ |
Formidable dimension, however feels lighter within the hand than it appears. Barrel controls comply with the established configuration of Canon telephotos, each change and button placement feels intuitive. |
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Efficiency ★★★★☆ |
Very good outcomes when used handheld to seize quick and erratically shifting birds. Stabilization may be very efficient at countering the micro-movements which can be unavoidable when toting such an enormous optic. |
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Worth ★★★★☆ |
Severely costly so will likely be an funding restricted to these with very deep pockets. For everybody else, renting the RF600mm F4L by the day will likely be a extra viable possibility. |