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Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 USM IS - Review / Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (Full Format)
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published April 2023
Introduction
Reviewing a "super zoom" lens is both heaven and hell. It's heaven because the world is full of shooting opportunities with this much zoom range. And it's hell for the same reason when having to do the formal testing across many focal lengths in the lab - with results that are often not all that exciting. Anyway, these lenses are popular, so they are an "inevitable" part of the game. This time, it's about the Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 USM IS. Canon has a bit of a mixed history regarding super zoom lenses. There is, of course, the mighty EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 USM L IS or its predecessor, the EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6 USL L - both loved and well respected within the photojournalist community. On the other hand, there was the miserable EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5-6 IS or the terrible EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM. So let's see which category this new RF lens falls into. Given its rather steep price tag of a whopping $900/1000EUR, it better delivers something decent ...
In terms of mechanical quality, there's nothing wrong with the RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 USM IS. Yes, it's mostly made of plastics, but it feels quite sturdy. This - admittedly subjective impression - may also relate to the rather heavy weight of 750g. The lens doesn't feature any weather sealing, which is a bit meh, given its price tag. Typical for its class, it extends quite a bit when zooming toward the long end of the range - using 2 inner lens tubes.
Even so, our sample didn't exhibit any wobbling even when fully extended. You can feel the extreme zoom range when turning the zoom ring, but the zoom action is pretty good. The custom control ring, also used for focusing, operates smoothly as well.
The petal-shaped lens hood is optional. This is common practice with non-L Canon lenses, but for a penny article, it's disappointing nonetheless.
The Canon lens uses a Nano-USM for autofocusing - this is both very fast and noiseless. As usual, manual focusing works "by-wire" which works very well. The built-in image stabilizer is rated at 5 f-stops and is also optimized for smooth video stabilization ("Dynamic IS").
| Specifications |
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| Optical construction | 21 elements in 15 groups (1 aspherical & 2x UD elements) |
| Number of aperture blades | 7 (rounded) |
| min. focus distance | 0.5-0.78m (max magnification: 1:3.8) |
| Dimensions | 80.4×122.5mm |
| Weight | 750g |
| Filter size | 72mm |
| Hood | petal-shaped (bayonet mount, optional) |
| Other features | control ring |
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