Canon Unleashes Four New L Lenses and Two Extenders
In addition to the new 60D, Canon also made its lens lineup longer today with the announcement of four new L lenses and two new extenders. The lenses are the EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye, EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II, and EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II. The extenders are the Extender EF 1.4x III and Extender EF 2x III.
The 8-15mm is obviously incredibly wide, giving a ridiculous 180° field of view. Previously, the widest you could go on a Canon zoom lens was 16mm on the 16-35mm f/2.8 L lens. This new lens even beats the widest prime: the 14mm f/2.8 L. On the new 60D this lens is the equivalent of a 13-24mm lens. This lens will be available in January 2011 for $1,400.
The new 70-300mm is interesting not because Canon upgraded its 70-300mm lens, but because they decided to turn it into an L lens. Various reviews online have said that the old 70-300mm IS had L quality glass, and now Canon decided that it officially does. The older 70-300mm lenses offered 3 stops of image stabilization, while this new one supposedly offers 4. Too bad the lens still has a variable maximum aperture. It’ll be available in October for $1,500 (seems too high).
The 300mm and 400mm lenses and extenders are a bit less interesting to us. They’ve mostly received standard improvements such as less weight, better optics, superior image stabilization, faster focusing, etc… The 300mm and 400mm lenses will be out in December for a cool $7,000 and $11,000, respectively. The extenders offer better focusing and optics, and will be available in December as well for $500 each.
What are your thoughts on these new lenses?
