Canon RF 16mm 2.8 Review + Test Footage

[@MitchLally]

Hey! Just letting you guys know that about two weeks after I made this video adobe updated ACR to include corrections for the RF 50mm 1.8 - sadly no corrections for the 16 yet tho :(

[@Ahmedpakido]

THANKS FOR THE VIDEO. so what about the video quilty with 16mm lens? I'm looking to buy this for video what you think is it a good choice for indoor use and talking head videos?

[@t.rexroadtrip3041]

It took Adobe most of the year to get around to the 50 f/1.8. So I wouldn’t hold my breath for a quick fix on the 16mm.

[@mihugong3153]

I Mitch, great review! I got the lens today, and Lightroom now has the profile :)

[@gelade]

@@mihugong3153 does the profile works well for you? does it crop a lot

[@mihugong3153]

@@gelade hey, yeah I found it perfectly workable. It does crop, but you end up with a 16mm picture. The modern Canon lenses that rely a lot on digital correction take wider images than theis specified focal lenth and crop. Same with the 14-35. End result is a good quality picture that is true to the specified focal lenth. Annoying to purists, a clever solution to me.

[@leronford]

To get around the lack of a lens profile in Adobe, I use Canon Digital Photo Professional. It has the lens profiles for most (if not all) of the RF lenses.

[@KdubLA]

The camera matching profiles were just released a few days ago for all of the canon cameras

[@helloholmes]

Hey Mitch, simple fix for the RAW images as the RF 16mm profile is currently available. Also, a little clarification on the distortion... (I've had this lens since release day and have done hours of testing on everything you mentioned with the lens as these were initial concerns until I did said testing. I shoot Real Estate photos and videos, so I cannot deal with distortion. Lol) First, download Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4 and import your RAWs. Canon does have the RF 16 2.8 available...just not in LR yet. From DPP4, export your RAW files as TIFFs. You can then take these RAW TIFF files and import them into LR with the profile automatically applied. Yes, it's an extra step, however profiles are available and you can get your RAWs corrected. Secondly, these RAW files are WIDER than 16mm and Canon is relying on the digital correction to bring it to 16mm. The extreme darkened corners you're referring to, are not part of the 16mm focal range and not intended on being edited as they are "cropped out" when either shooting JPEG or when the 16mm profile is applied. Side note, for those reading this and shoot Real Estate/interior photos, since we're typically shooting at f/5.6-f/8, this lens is FANTASTIC! And for interior videos, it's perfect on a gimbal. :)

[@Mikri90]

Except TIFF is not a RAW file. Once you've exported them as TIFF (or any other format) it's no longer a RAW file. Yes you can use it in LR but not to its full potential. I would think it would be possible to correct manually to a decent extent (both vignetting and distortion), save it as a default import preset for just that lens and then all the imported shots will be corrected upon import. That is, until they finally make official lens profile available.

[@helloholmes]

@@Mikri90 Riiiiight....but it's still an uncompressed file. I only mentioned the export and bringing it into LR process because I'm assuming that's his editor of choice, so that's the only current way to get a "correct" image with the Canon profile applied into LR. And there's still PLENTY of push/pull with the TIFF files. If you want to edit a corrected RAW file from the RF 16mm, then edit in DPP4...but to say the profile isn't available, is just incorrect. Also, during my testing, the only available profile currently in LR that brings it close to "accurate" is the EF 15 2.8 profile and apply between a +39 to +40 on the Distortion slider.

[@MitchLally]

Nice - thanks for the write up on corrections. I realise it does crop into 16mm perhaps it wasn’t clear in the video (oops) - it’s a really strange technique - I haven’t seen this in any lens I’ve ever used (been doing photography for 10 years now). But you make total sense - if you’re shooting at 5.6 or above you’re probably going to enjoy this lens a lot.

[@MitchLally]

Really good point and that seems like the appropriate strategy - I didn’t know you could make lens specific import presets?

[@helloholmes]

@@MitchLally Of course man! :) The other lens Canon did this with is the recently released 14-35 f/4. Almost the exact same behavior. The lens is wider than 14mm and they rely on the digital correction to bring it to 14mm. With that lens, you can use the DPP4 process to get the correct profile and bring it into LR with it applied as a TIFF file.

[@MonsieurSansHonte]

No-one else has spoken about the distortion and vignetting when reviewing this lens. You’ve saved me from a potential headache. Thanks!👍

[@Rajupkd]

Tested this lense in my R7 this is really superb in R7 as you said it fits to Aps-c. Great travel , street lense.

[@robertobissanti]

I was waiting this comment to find someone who has tried this lens with aps-c camera. Thanks.

[@amandafotinos]

Love this video Mitch !! Thank you for having me :) Shots came out amazing

[@MitchLally]

Thanks for being in the video Amanda

[@PinchesLowriders]

i got both for my RP and plan to use with my ronin

[@WILDANDSTORY]

Once, the lens profiles are available, I think this will make a great travel lens for photos. I’m pleasantly surprised with the video results I’m getting paired with my RP.

[@MitchLally]

Fingers crossed!

[@kylehessling2679]

I actually really like it on my r5 in crop mode. I end up shooting a lot of 4k 60p because of that and the footage is a lot better than the full-frame 60p thank to the downsampling. Ends up being about a 24mm f4 equiv, which isn't anything to ride home about, but it also is incredibly light and has the same great RF color reproduction as canons other rf lenses. Also little to no ibis wobble in crop mode!

[@babymixswing2269]

This is a kind of concession, and in this case, why not directly use the IBIS design of 24mm.R5/R6 must be a problem. I see a lot of people using the RP+16mm very well. However, if you change to R5/R6, there will be background twitching. Although the 1.6 upgrade has improved, it still feels uncomfortable.

[@isotechimages.9130]

In Lightroom try lens correction for 24/105 f4/7.1.

[@donk8292]

Don't forget that until various softwares get the profile, Canon's free DPP editing software will have the auto correction. So, no, people will not have to wait or deal with the distortion and vignetting in some alternative way. Just export the RAW file in DPP.

[@RexxReviews]

Ive been using the EF 15 profiles dialed down to 40 or the RF 24-240 profile around 140ish. using my actual EF16-35 F4 on my R5 I have been able to use the above profile settings to get a pretty good correction. The 16mm when corrected is wider than the 16-35 f4 Canon built this lens to shoot wider than 16mm to make up for the crop needed to correct.

[@miroslavbakos6793]

i noticed that at comparison of those two shots - it had cut off a quite lot :-)

[@harrisongould9460]

Lightroom now supports this lens. Personally I have a 16-35mm EF 2.8 lens but rarely use it. If I do...it's at 16mm to capture large group shots when at weddings. If this 16mm fixed lens...along with the corrections LR brings really works, I can leave the 16-35mm home and maybe even sell it.

[@Jalan0828]

ive been waiting for this video the moment the lens was announced.

[@severin5833]

Same haha!

[@MitchLally]

Same! well - waiting to make this video :')

[@richardstirling5799]

R6 video samples are banging! you would never know this was a $300.00 RF lens when used on a tripod

[@BrentTouchstone]

I love these pancake lenses I have the EF 24 and 40... This lineup of rf has me selling all my old gear to get the RP and this pancake collection.

[@jaylistudios]

In Lightroom, I used the EF 16-35 F2.8 L II's profile and manually slide the distortion to 3/4, then in the manual correction tab, distortion correction is set to 100. After cropping to closely match the composition of the same photo's in-camera processed JPG, I found out the crop results in a 29% loss of the sensor's real estate (21.42 mp vs 30.11 mp on the EOS R), which means the true resolution of the sensor is also lost. If you shoot full-sized jpgs in camera, it means 29% of the pixels are results of computation. It's hilarious when you think of it. Canon's definitely cheating in these newer lightweight ultra wide-angle lenses (the 14-35 F4 included) to digital corrections and fake resolutions. Video was fine as there's in camera correction. However, you are still giving up a lot of pixels for the same reason. I also think the lens will be unusable on other cameras that use RF mounts, like the RED v-raptor, as there will be no correction data applied to the footage. It's essentially an uncorrected 13mm or 14mm lens, faked into a 16mm by warping and cropping the image. I do not agree with this approach at all. I would rather see a proper but much bigger and more expensive design

[@RexxReviews]

Its a $300 lens man, they can only do but so much and stay in that price point. They are literally putting this out for vloggers on the R system and things like entry level real estate photography on a budget. I am sure they can do all the things you want a 16mm to be... oh wait they did, its the rf 14-35mm RF 15-35mm f/2.8 You have an extremely unrealistic expectation for a $300 lens.

[@jaylistudios]

@@RexxReviews I have the RF 15-35 2.8. It’s just heavy so I bought the 16mm for its lightweight. But who would expect an approach like this would be considered? It’s quite “creative”. The 14-35 has the best balance for my use, but man, it’s also suffering the same issue like the 16mm stm, the wide end is pretty much 13mm cropped into 14. But keep in mind that that is an expensive lens, for F4. They used the same approach

[@jaylistudios]

@@RexxReviews I’m not having too much expectation on this lens. To me this lens would had been a better one if they tried to match the size and weight of the RF35 1.8 instead of the 50mm 1.8. I bought the 50mm for matching this 16mm on gimbal because they are the same weight, and also regretted. They would have more room to put some optical correction in it if they went with the RF35mm size. I didn’t buy it because of the price but the size and weight. I will not use this on my R and R6 for photo (video is okay, I shot a real estate video with this lens yesterday and it is great kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3-ah5KBqMafbMk). I will only use it on my R5 for photo from now on as it’s pretty much a crop sensor lens.

[@paulyeung6608]

maybe you could process the 16mm f/2.8 in dpp4 instead? surely canon has a profile in their proprietary software.

[@ThangSaigon354]

appreciate your review, detail and sample to understand how the len can do

[@masterpsx06]

You can use 24-240 profile with distortion correction set to 120 or 130, it work well

[@rackhousemediaco]

Lens correction profile updated?

[@PromoMoviescomau]

Thanks for the review Mitch - can't wait to get this lens for video.

[@MitchLally]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@jon112media]

Aww bummer I was going to get it to use for video… I’m so glad you got your hands on one so I could see how it looks! Thank you Mitch 🙏🏽

[@MitchLally]

No worries!

[@nordic5490]

Are you telling me that Canon do not have a lens correction profile for this lens in DPP ? The very best way to apply lens corrections whilst converting your Canon raw to .tiff is via Canon DPP. Birders have been doing this for years. I have been doing this for years, and DPP is way sharper than Adobe profiles. If you want to simulate Canons jpeg in camera lens correction, use DPP. Canon normally release a DPP lens correction profile at the same time as releasing the lens. Step away from LR and do it properly. Every Canon lens looks better if raw converted in DPP.

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

I just saw Christopher Frost's video on this lens. He mentions the R series cameras have a setting for in-camera lens correction that you really must use to correct the barrel distortion and vignetting. I'm interested in this lens as a vlogging lens, but I'm having some second thoughts.

[@WOLFTICKVIDEOS]

Thank you for this video. I have had mine on order for a while now, and I'm jealous you already have yours😆. I mainly want it for square crop and video, so I think it will be good.

[@MitchLally]

Glad it was helpful!

[@beau__]

Glad I watched this. I was just about to order it, scared it might get sold out. But then I saw this upload in my notification. I think I’m gonna hold off for now. Although your awesome edits make the lens seem like a must have.

[@MitchLally]

Glad I could help!

[@KyleCWong]

I'm in the same boat, almost pre-ordered this lens!

[@mariefs.]

Emphasis on seem. He did a good job fr

[@DamonBowe]

The lens takes photos at 14mm and crops to 16mm on the profile correction.

[@zie404]

Thanks for sharing this!. Almost ordered it myself. Will just save up instead for the RF L lens.

[@SailingMerewether]

Very appreciative of this video mate! We've been looking for an affordable wide angle RF lens and you have sold us through and through. You also have a new subscriber :) Cheers

[@RexxReviews]

5:51 Funny you say that as they FINALLY added a profile for the 50mm 2 days after your video LOL.

[@Soul_Visuals_Photography]

Good video Mitch. Very informative.

[@MitchLally]

Glad you liked it!

[@DanYosua]

Was looking forward to you getting this! I'm really hoping to compare this to the Samyang 14mm soon. I use that lens almost exclusively for stars/milky way... if this isn't too rough in the corners for astro I could see "downsizing". I don't really need the weather sealing gasket when I use that, it is twice as big, and costs twice as much. I enjoy it when I use it but it's just that it's not too often that I do. Would be cool to see an affordable 24mm in this same form factor.

[@MitchLally]

I haven't checked out the 14mm yet - might in the future seems like a nice lens :)

[@KyleCWong]

Yeah, I wonder how this lens would do for astro, any major coma artifacts? How has the performance for the Samyang 14mm been for astrophotography?

[@stew_redman]

Make a custom lens profile in Photoshop. 2 or 3 clicks and everything is good. Simple.

[@MitchLally]

what if you have a batch of 100 real estate images to process before tomorrow? 😥

[@stew_redman]

@@MitchLally Make it part of your default settings and batch apply on import.

[@pxlatedstudios7083]

The newest Lightroom update FINALLY added the lens profile for the RF 50mm 1.8.

[@MitchLally]

no way!!

[@pxlatedstudios7083]

@@MitchLally I was surprised but happy to see it 😂

[@MyekalBenham]

Thanks for the honest content Mitch. The size and weight still make this lens tempting to me hahah

[@MitchLally]

Yeah for sure - it's still a tempting buy - especially if you don't care about corner quality.

[@StunnafulPhotography]

This is the lens I'd been waiting for once it was announced! Yes, it is NOT perfect but like you said....with some added work in editing you'll get good results. Nice image and video results that you captured! Great video bro!

[@ronfoy9618]

Great Video Mitch. I wonder if this combination work on the new Crane 3. That would be a light weight option

[@cspellman]

Have you had a chance to try it on a R7 or R10?

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey thanks Mitch, very helpful, amped to get this lens. Hmmm the lens correction narrows the focal length so this is no 16mm.

[@MitchLally]

Yep - it’s still 16mm the raw probably works out as a 14mm-15mm before corrections.

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

@@MitchLally ah great news. Cheers mate!

[@lukogs]

I thank you for making vlog style test shot.

[@Alohomorovich]

Do you plan to do a review on the new rf 100-400 also? 😁

[@MitchLally]

Probably not - it's not really up my alley for lens choice!

[@fenet8717]

thank you! great review and niiice pics

[@jontyeverton2639]

Hey Mitch .. very helpful video thank you

[@pauloancarvalho]

Will you review the new RF 100-400? Would love to know how it performs for video. Thanks!

[@hojusupplement]

Mate, you from Gold Coast? Nice video!

[@wild-eyes-channel]

Really cool, informative!

[@BemCorrido]

How about using filters in it? Does it accentuates the vignette even more? I think it will need to use with a step-up ring to get from 43 to 49mm.

[@b.w.6615]

Hey Mitch, do you think this lens would be good for gimbal use on a Canon EOS R, Im just asking myself if this would work to compensate for the 4k crop.

[@mandography]

Have you tried the 16mm with 4K? I too have the R. What’s the update?

[@kai64]

What are you guys expecting on the lens that only costs 300 bucks 😂 you know what you are getting

[@vaskoobscura_]

Thanks for this video. Can you make a profile for it in LR and just apply that preset to correct your raw images?

[@spamare]

Adobe Lens Profile Creator. I created a lens profile for my software (not Adobe) last week. Took 5 minutes.

[@cooloox]

Hi Mitch, great video and useful information. Just one question: do you have all the lens corrections turned on in the camera? The reason I ask this is because a Canon rep in Melbourne told me Canon bakes the lens corrections into the raw files (for "some lenses") because they know Lightroom doesn't have lens profiles! So if you have corrections turned on the corrections are meant to be baked in and the files should appear corrected when opened in any software. If you do have them turned on and you're not getting corrected raw files then I guess this lens is not included in the "some lenses" he referred to LOL.

[@MitchLally]

Yes I had all lens corrections turned on! But I don’t think LR recognises them still…

[@MitchLally]

I also tried turning all corrections off too - same result.

[@cooloox]

@@MitchLally Thanks Mitch. Looks like Canon only bakes corrections into the files for certain lenses. Such a shame, this lens had great potential. Thanks to great people like you, you save us wasting money on dud lenses. Have a great day! 🙂

[@InfiniteBlue_]

Thanks for the video! Helped a lot. Iam searching for a cheap diving lens option for the r6. This looks very promising.

[@michael0803aa]

I think the video without camera body stabilization but post-corrected by video editing software is very useable! As an RP owner, I do think it's still a good lens for vlogging and casual shooting.

[@MitchLally]

I agree, I would actually prefer to turn off all stabilisation and use post

[@des_vitalii]

Thank you, great videos 😊🙏

[@twotravelingladies5786]

what kind of preset do you use, how to you acquire this lighting ? I love the faded greens

[@rogernuffer]

Thanks for the video. I bought this lens a few months ago but really haven't used it. My idea was this would work well as a vlogging lens on my R5. Still think it would work well for that but I think I'll put it away for the high resolution landscape photos.

[@lovemycity420]

Lightroom has camera profiles for the R5 R3 and r6 now

[@poldivina27]

Hello, which lut you used for the beach footage? Interested to get your luts :)

[@Miguel-fm8xh]

How can I get the video files? I don't have a button to become a channel member

[@kernzilla]

thanks for the thorough video here! quick question: did you use aux lights for the photos @ 3:35? also wondering how happy you are with the IBIS on this lens, any weird wabbles in the edges or do pretty good?

[@ShadowlightPhotography]

Super useful review, the lack of Adobe support for those lens is good to know.

[@GlennVanderbeke]

Thanks for this video!

[@kevinhawthorne5257]

Excellent Video!

[@SoChicLife]

I found the same issue with the 16-35 shooting inside on 16. Even shooting in Raw and adjusting in LR the fish bowl warping was annoying. It’s the reason I decided to try the 16 mm. Have you tried the 16-35 and compared?

[@NowyKurs]

Dope quality glass. Definitely worth purchasing.

[@obiquestbenji5005]

Nice !.. I use the canon R6 can you send me the setting you used for this particular video .

[@Voiceguy66]

Dumb question here: If you shoot in jpeg mode, will the issues still be present or is that just in raw mode? I need an inexpensive lens to do some real estate work and this one has me curious. But those issues also make me nervous. Thanks Mitch! Love your helpful vids!!

[@ReviewBru]

I’m sure it will work out to be a great real estate lens with your R series mirrorless camera/s

[@cooperdeniro9189]

The issues will still be present, but tbh I wouldn't consider them as dealbreakers..especially considering what you're getting for the price

[@jaymalone5172]

Do you still feel the same way about it? I am needing something wider than my 24mm for video in my small room. Shooting on the R6II so I thought this might be a valid option...just not sure.

[@jamesfoureight9879]

Is Canon releasing an RF apsc camera?

[@JanRosenow-l4q]

I'd love to know your thoughts about this lens now that Adobe has added this lens profile!

[@RadicalNutrition]

Thanks great video . What lense would you recommend for blogging? I have a 25-105mm and it’s way to heavy and big . This was my next shot , but I would like to hear from an expert which would you say be the best option .?

[@RadicalNutrition]

I have a canon 6D mark II

[@georgekbaby]

Is this a full frame lens ? I am confused. I am using ef and efs lenses.

[@jopp3natorr]

yes this is for EOS R, RP, R6, R5, R3 cameras full frame

[@simplyserge144]

Would using the crop mode on your full frame fix-the vignette and distortion on the 16 mm?

[@panopsata3038]

Wow even without ibis turned on and with post stabilization the footage looks good but personally I would use ibis when possible since I use the r6 but it would also be great on the rp.

[@MitchLally]

Stabilisation in davinci resolve is really good!

[@gaurinigudkar7494]

How is this lens for vertical shooting (photos and videos)? Is there any distortion at the edges while shooting a video? Kindly let us know.

[@983113049]

Between Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 and 16mm, which do u suggest, if consider picture quality than price. I need a ultra wide lenses, I ordered Sigma, then found this one, so confused,

[@TheDIYFilmmaker]

Hey Mitch, what lens did you use for filming this talking head. It looks fantastic!

[@NoSuRReNDeR001]

I think on a C70 or Komodo it may be a nice budget option for video since its small and the sensors are smaller than FF photo(within Super 35 range ) so the corner issues are null.

[@KyleCWong]

I almost pre-ordered this lens, but held off for sake of not exactly needing this focal length right now. Really good to hear your thoughts and see sample photos and video on it. I think I'm going to skip it for now and maybe get one second hand later on. Thanks for sharing Mitch!

[@MitchLally]

Glad to help Kyle!

[@CreativelyJeff]

You can create a custom Lens profile in LRC or On1 Raw. I don’t see an issue and in the near future we should see a profile created for this lens. Otherwise good vid bro!

[@paparazzininja7897]

Profile for ON1 already in November 2021.

[@SchalkSmit09]

Youre videos are great

[@MitchLally]

Thanks mate!

[@Guironey]

thxxx for thisss!!

[@ShadowlightPhotography]

How does it compare to the 15-35 2.8 @15 or 16mm out of interest?

[@mannysanchez2024]

what lens did you use for this video?

[@alexandersotoalvarez8795]

how were you able to stabilize the footage can you make a video about it, please?

[@MitchLally]

It would be a 10 second video because its just default settings stabilisation in davinci resolve

[@notgazo7009]

I don't know if it's a trend, but I've seen the focus ring on RF lenses become more and more dampened as new lenses are released. For example, my 50 1.2 has almost no dampening, then my 85 1.2 has a bit more. Now I have just received my 100 macro and its focus ring is heavily dampened.

[@jackpaton1817]

The shirt game in this vid is next level

[@SteveLoweMedia]

Great review thank you!

[@MitchLally]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@greenlightstudios3469]

Can you enable Ibis on this lens?

[@LawsonCross]

fuck that distortion is wild, cant believe they don't have supported fixes in software yet after all this time

[@ChristianPitcher]

You can crop in camera x1.6 with the Eos R, so assuming you can with the R6 so would still be still be useable as about 25mm still tempted to try this lens 🤔 great video BTW

[@etuoyo]

I was going to type the exact same thing. R6 has a 1.6x crop.

[@d2DCapture]

Wow i kove that! Thank u brother!

[@MitchLally]

Glad to help!

[@kierra1835]

Will this be good for video on canon T8i?

[@johncepeda1611]

The name of that beach please 🙏🏻

[@debangarajchoudhury1409]

No IBIS + stabilization in post looked better than with IBIS on in that video

[@MitchLally]

I agree!

[@d2c9416]

Finally Canon is making a APSC full frame

[@alexchu414]

Thank you for giving some mental preparation before we buy this lens. Yes it is absolutely true when this lens is just $300 as a super wide lens, we'd never expect L quality.

[@SterlingHyde]

Q: has lightroom came out with the update correction yet?

[@njrivetelite]

Kinda Bummed I didn't get this lens. I am enjoying the 14-35mm but damn my pocket took a hit. I may still get one