Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Canon RF 45 1.2 (RF 45) is a wonderful lens unicorn that’s not supposed to exist. After all, f/1.2 is the realm of pros, not casual or hobbyist photographers. But Canon has delivered extreme, and excellent low light performance and opportunities for creamy backgrounds and engaging bokeh. For the money the RF 45 almost definitionally unique, but it’s also a lens you want in your kit if the RF 50 “L” lenses are not in the budget. I’ve walked around town taking pictures with this lens for about a week now getting to know it and still have more to learn, but I can say 100% this is a fun lens with creative capabilities. It’s far from perfect, but it’s sharp, impressive in low light situations, and, yes, has nice-looking but not perfectly round bokeh at f/1.2 and improves from there. Backgrounds at wider apertures are mostly pleasantly soft too, which I’ll get into later. It's important to be levelheaded about the RF 45, a consumer-level lens. Its performance is great for its price, but it’s silly to compare to the RF 50 “L” lens models. They are superior lenses and priced as such. What is a sensible comparison though is the RF 45 versus the RF 50 1.8, which up to now was the only affordable R mount standard prime lens around. I enjoyed the 50 1.8 for the 5 years I’ve owned it, but RF 45, I think, has leapfrogged it with all its additional abilities, not to mention an extra 5mm of range eliminating that extra step backwards to get the composition right. WHO ITS NOT FOR The RF 45 suits a lot of photographers, but everyone. To save you time, a few words on who might not appreciate this lens. First, while the RF 45 will work with any RF mount body, it’s only 45mm on full sensor models. Put this lens on a crop sensor body like the R7 or R10 and your focal will become the equivalent of 72mm. Next, it’s neither weather nor dust sealed. This lens is your fair-weather friend. It’s a great vacation lens unless you’re in a rain forest or dusty African savannah or similar areas with excessive moisture or dust. You can use a UV filter to protect the lens, but debris can still enter other areas of the lens. The RF 45 has an STM auto focus motor which is the slowest, loudest, and least smooth that Canon employs in its RF lenses. It’s works fine, but it’s not the quickest. I consider it a modest sacrifice in exchange for an affordable 1.2 aperture lens. Finally, if you are a “pixel peeper” and perfectionist you’re unlike to find joy here. FEATURES & HANDLING The RF 45 is almost twice as long as the RF 50. But those extra inches provide the RF 45 room for both a manual focus ring and control ring. The RF 50 has a single ring whose function can only be either manual focus or control ring. Having both rings is an immediate plus for me as toggling between the two on my RF 50 was always a hassle and compromise. The RF 45’s control ring turns deliberately and transmits useful tactile clicks. The RF 50’s is loose, smooth and silent so accidentally passing and intended setting is common. The focus ring is equally enjoyable. It’s comfortably wide and easy for my fingers to find. It turns methodically regardless of whether I need to quickly focus in or slow rolling to get exact focus. The RF 45 is mostly plastic but feels as solid and dependable as my other RF lenses. It has a comfortable heft and, attached to my R5, feels balanced. Most importantly, it has a metal mount that is unlikely to warp. There’re features missing too though. I already mentioned the lack of weather and dust sealing. It also has no coatings to reduce glare and reflections, same as the RF 50 1.8. A lens hood can mitigate glare and flare, but one isn’t included. There are inexpensive 3rd party options, which is the path I took. It’s really a “must have” if you want to mitigate lens flare as much as possible, among other reasons. Finally, there is no built-in image stabilization, you’ll have to rely on your camera body’s stabilization. If your camera model doesn’t have IBIS though then you’ll need to be more vigilant about your hand grip and shutter speeds. IN USE As soon as I received my RF 45 I popped it on my R5 and took it for walk to figure out what it was all about. It was a sunny day, but I was anxious to test out the lens wide open, so I brought a ND-6 filter for help. I shoot CRAW which leaves photos unmodified. JPEG results may differ if you have in-body corrections enabled. It’s impossible to cover every aspect of a lens in a short review and timeline, so below are just a few takeaways on aspects of this lens important for me to understand as a user. Don’t be scared off by the RF 45’s unappetizing facets because on whole it’s excellent, especially at its price. Being realistic is vital to appreciating the RF 45 and understanding how to use it to create memorable images. Immediately the RF 45’s STM motor impressed me for being smoother and quieter than the RF 50’s. I’m hesitant to say it’s faster than the RF 50 1.8., but similar. There’s a second or two lag going from a near subject to a far one, otherwise it’s seamless. Tracking motion is as good as it gets with an STM lens too. I photographed a series of cars passing by me seconds after a traffic light switched green and 9 of 12 were sharp. For a lens not designed for capturing speed that’s meaningful. As I walked around town I looked for situations that would test situations like strong contrast, fine detail, bright indirect and direct light, and motion. Being late afternoon it wasn’t hard to find opportunities. The General Pershing statue at the WW I memorial was begging me to stop by when I saw an American flag flapping in the far background and the sun beaming on his face. So, this is where I’ll start. The RF 45, as I expected, is quite vulnerable to chromatic aberration, just like the RF 50. But it’s manageable. My photos of General Pershing are one example. Pershing’s head had splotches of purple, especially his high cheeks, where the sun hit them. This was likely worsened because I was shooting wide open. Adobe Lightroom removed it, no problem. I included the edited photo as a visual example of this and also background rendering in bright light. The ND-6 filter was attached when I took the picture. Some subjects I photographed, like leafy trees, were much more difficult to impossible to mitigate fringing, but this was mostly on photos taken between f/1.2 and 1.8 in daylight. Of course, normally when shooting in bright direct light the aperture is at a smaller setting, but I wanted to know my limitations with the RF 45 in this scenario. Similarly, lens flare is a prominent “feature” at just about every usable aperture, just as it is with the RF 50. This is physics. Even more expensive coated glass lenses are prone to flaring, just less of it. And to be fair, I was trying to get flare. When the lens isn’t pointed the lens directly into the sun and the picture is clean. All lenses have multiple levels of sharpness, and I haven’t’ exhaustively tested all facets of the RF 45’s. More practical to me was looking at a variety of wide and close-up shots. They all passed my personal requirements for usability, but I’m not a perfectionist. By example, I took photos of the U.S. Capitol Building from various angles a few miles away. On my monitor, using Lightroom, the columns on the dome are well defined at 100%. At 200% sharpness is good considering the magnification, but obviously softer. For close ups, subjects 1.5 to a few feet away, detail is excellent. I found some fun bronze animal statues living in office building’s landscape. The lens picked up all the 3D details, especially in the facial area. The eyes & scales on a turtle, for example, are pinpoint sharp even at 300%. That was at f/1.2. Sharpness improves to the sweet spot from f/2 to f/5.6. The RF 45’s “killer feature” for me though it it’s low light prowess. If you’ve ever been to the Lincoln Memorial you know the left and right of Abe is dim even on a bright day. I took several photos of Lincoln’s profile (f/1.2 at 1/200) with ease despite it being a contrasty area. I’ve included one to give a visual. It’s untouched except for downsizing and saving to JPEG and adding my settings. I then pointed my lens to the Gettysburg Address at one of the darkest areas of the memorial. Impressively the photo was well-lit and readable, a testament to the RF 45’s sharpness and ability to capture good photos with just minimal natural light. f/1.2 lenses are exciting too for their velvety background rendering and ornamental bokeh. If you want rounder bokeh f/1.6 is the place to start. Soft background rendering at the f1.x apertures is kind of a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” situation. The rendering is lovely unless the background is full of similar angular objects. For example, I took a photo at f1.2 of a duck swimming in a pond with a grove of trees in the far background. The duck looked great but the trees while very out of focus had a tactile presence, like a pointillism painting with tiny sharp specks. BOTTOM LINE The RF 45 is a standout that only gets better as you learn to harness its strengths. Sure, I wish its imperfections didn’t exist, but desire can’t take photos, and the RF 45 performs an impossible job for its reasonable price. A 45mm 1.2 lens opens a creative door for me that my other lenses cannot. And so, for its low light abilities, bokeh, and (most of the time) background rendering, the RF 45 is a winner.

For many users of Canon EOS R-Series cameras, the Canon RF45mm F1.2 STM will be a must have lens! The fast f/1.2 aperture is an extremely powerful motivator for people who enjoy creative photography. The price point of the RF45mm F1.2 STM makes this lens hard to resist. Of course, Canon already has another F1.2 lens. The RF50mm F1.2 L USM lens is well established and well respected. However, the L-Series lens is significantly different in construction and price. The RF45mm F1.2 STM lens is a whopping 82% less expensive than the RF50mm F1.2 L USM lens. I have been enjoying the RF45mm F1.2 STM for several days, and I am very pleased with both the still shots and the videos that this lens is producing. The lens is producing absolutely beautiful shots that really exceed expectations. The RF45mm F1.2 STM is designed for full-frame cameras. The 45mm focal length is represented as very closely comporting with the field of view of the human eye perception (43mm). Therefore, this lens is an excellent “walk-around” lens for street photography and vlogging. The greatest strength of the RF45mm F1.2 STM is of course the very large f/1.2 aperture which has extremely high light admittance capability as well as the extremely desirable benefit of depth of field manipulation facilitating great bokeh. An additional benefit of the RF45mm F1.2 STM is that even though it is optimized as a full-frame lens, it is also fully compatible with many, newer Canon R-Series APSC (crop sensor) cameras. In fact, I selected the RF45mm F1.2 STM for use with my Canon EOS R-10 APSC camera. Given Canon’s crop factor of 1.6x, on compatible Canon cameras like the EOS R-10, EOS R-7, EOS-R50 and EOS-R100 models, the RF45mm has a field of view of an effective focal length of 72mm. The 72mm effective focal length field of view coupled with the large f/1.2 aperture makes the RF45mm F1.2 STM a great portrait lens with super bokeh. The build quality of the RF45mm F1.2 STM appears to be very good. The lens body is all plastic, but very importantly the lens mount is metal. I do not have great feelings about plastic lens mounts nor do I care for plastic lens flanges on camera bodies. I appreciate that the metal lens mount on the RF45mm mates perfectly with the metal lens flange of the EOS R-10 providing for secure, precise and potentially durable performance. The RF45mm F1.2 STM is not dust sealed or weather sealed, but neither is my EOS R-10 camera body. The relatively compact size of approximately 3”x3” and light weight of approximately 12 ounces is very comfortable and balanced and about ideal when mounted on the compact and lightweight EOS R-10. The RF45mm F1.2 STM has 9 elements in 7 groups with 1 aspheric element. The lens coating is Canon’s Super Spectra Coating (SSC). The iris has 9 aperture blades which provides rounder bokeh highlights and more starburst rays than 7 blades. The geared stepping motor autofocus is smooth and quiet. I shot video in a very quiet environment, and the motor noise was not picked up by the in-body camera microphone. There is a slight delay in achieving focus which I find most noticeable when the focus shifts between close and more distant subjects. The slight delay is not very objectionable, but it is noticeable, as is the lens breathing during focus. The slight delay in focus pull is actually a benefit in videos where it provides a more cinematic transition. The f-stop range is from f/1.2 through f/16. The lens weighs about 12 ounces and feels solid. The RF45mm F1.2 STM accepts 67mm threaded filters and accessories. There is no image stabilization on the RF45mm F1.2 STM (nor is there In-Body-Stabilization (IBS) on my EOS R-10). The physical controls on the lens include a slide selector switch for Autofocus (AF) and Manual Focus (MF). The Manual Focus Ring is an electronic control and operates smoothly. Focus Ring sensitivity can be adjusted in the camera software settings. There is a thinner Control Ring which softly but audibly clicks at each stop position. The EOS camera software allows for specific functions to be assigned to the Control Ring, including Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO and Exposure Compensation. With the RF45mm F1.2 STM lens, my preference is to use the Control Ring for aperture selection with the camera operating in Aperture Priority Mode to capitalize on the large f/1.2 aperture. An “interesting” phenomenon to be aware of when using a wide-aperture lens like the fast RF45mm F1.2 STM is that of “Focus Shift”. Since the EOS camera autofocus normally locks focus at wide-open aperture, when the lens stops down to take the shot the focus will “shift” and soften due to spherical aberrations causing the focus to shift backwards. Fortunately, many cameras, including Canon EOS cameras manufactured since about 2020 have firmware which prevents Focus Shift. The “Display simulation” menu has an option labeled “Exposure+DOF” (exposure + depth of field), which controls the camera’s autofocus and metering to lock the focus after stopping down to the f-stop applicable for the shot so that the focus will more closely match the depth of field. Display simulation is a good default setting, especially when using a fast lens. The RF45mm F1.2 STM is supplied with a Front Lens Cap (E-67 II) and a Rear Lens Cap (RF). However, notably absent from the package is a Lens Hood, which is an essential accessory for this f/1.2 lens. Lens flare can be a significant issue, and a lens hood is needed. A lens hood should really be included with this lens, and it is a shame that it is not. Regrettably, the Canon ES-73B lens hood, which is a 1 ounce piece of plastic, is sold for an inexplicably high price. An inexpensive third-party lens hood will probably be the solution. The optical performance of the RF45mm F1.2 STM is very good. If you take test shots using a high-resolution printed Lens Test Chart or the marquee signage over the entrance of a business, some aberrations might be observable at some f-stops. The RF45mm F1.2 STM is not the same quality as the RF50mm F1.2 L USM which is about 5.5 times more expensive. The RF45mm F1.2 STM is considered a “budget lens” by comparison, and there is some potential for possible optical defects. Of course, many optical issues are exacerbated with fast lenses, and those issues tend to resolve when stopping down the lens and increasing depth of field. I believe that most fast lenses, even very high-priced models, can exhibit some color fringing when wide-open. Barrel distortion and vignetting might also occur. However, the photographs that I like to shoot and display are not of Test Targets. Over the past several days I shot a lot of frames with the RF45mm F1.2 STM under varying conditions including natural light and artificial light, wide-open shots to maximize bokeh and stopped down throughout the f-stop range of the lens. I also shot some 4K UHD videos. I am extremely satisfied with the performance of the RF45mm F1.2 STM. When shooting wide-open at f/1.2 if there were any optical aberrations, they were not noticeable in the beautiful, blurred background bokeh. Clearly, the biggest draw of a fast f/1.2 lens is the capability of shooting a very shallow depth of field and emphasizing the subject in the foreground while creating a blurred background. Bright background highlights might potentially be slightly elliptically distorted rather than perfectly round (cat’s eyes), or some color fringing might be detected, but I am not concerned about minor optical aberrations that are generally not apparent in most images. Any softening of the corners or chromatic aberrations are visually deemphasized when you are focusing on the subject in the central foreground. I am really enjoying being able to compose shots with great bokeh that really makes for visually interesting and attractive photographs. The ability to shoot in low light without the EOS R-10 demanding flash is a terrific improvement, especially as compared to the slow kit lens (18-45mm F4.5-6.2 IS STM). Although Canon has added a few more RF-S mount lenses for the EOS APSC cameras, none of them is a fast lens. The RF45mm F1.2 STM has become my favorite lens for my EOS R-10 camera. It has exceeded my expectations by a significant margin. The optical performance of the RF45mm F1.2 STM is clearly superior to the RF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.2 IS STM kit lens with dramatic improvements in sharpness and contrast. Obviously, being a prime lens it has a different primary purpose than the zoom lenses, but the field of view of the RF45mm F1.2 STM is very useful and very versatile. With the significant benefit of subject isolation with excellent bokeh and the outstanding light admittance of this fast f/1.2 lens for low light photography, coupled with impressive overall performance, the RF45mm F1.2 STM is my “must have” Canon lens. I genuinely like this lens a great deal and I am very pleased with the quality of the images shot with the RF45mm F1.2 STM. It handles beautifully on my EOS R-10 body, as well.

For the price, it’s hard to beat. It’s not perfect, but the imperfections, coma and soft focus, are pretty insignificant most of the time unless you’re pixel peeping in the corners with it wide open and looking for them. Say a night shot with stars and streetlights, or a test chart. This lens is made to give smooth background bokeh wide open, you won’t see it when used for that purpose. If you’re a seasoned photographer and Canon shooter, you probably already know what all the specs mean and what digital lens correction is. The next section is for those who do not. Starting in 2008, Canon began including digital lens profiles in certain cameras that corrected for peripheral illumination (vignetting) and added other corrections as they developed them in later camera models and updated older ones. Today, across the EOS R mirrorless system, full real-time digital lens correction for peripheral illumination, chromatic aberration, distortion, and diffraction is standard within the camera body. In other words, no lens is perfect and this allows them to design lenses to fit most every photographer’s budget. With that in mind, they know they can’t make a high dollar professional L class lens with near perfect optics at an entry level price. But they can make a lens at a lower price and use software to correct limitations that can put it well within the ballpark of L lens optical quality. This works very well, and it can be turned off if desired. Probably the biggest decision will be whether to buy the RF 45mm f1.2 or the RF 50mm f1.8 for half the price. Is there that much difference between them to make it worth it? I think so. Please bear in mind that I don’t have any other prime RF lenses to compare the 45 to, but I have several EF lenses to compare to. The EF 40mm f2.8 STM pancake, EF 50mm f1.8 STM and EF 85mm f1.8 USM. From what I can tell from looking at reviews where they have compared RF to RF, the RF lenses are generally a bit better than the EF lenses, but nothing night and day. I’ve shot Canon for over 20 years, a long time before the R cameras and RF lens came along. I bought an EOS R in 2019 and an EF to RF adapter and that has worked out perfect for me on my EF collection, and that’s why I didn’t have any RF lenses until now. Build quality is plastic with a metal mount. It has 9 bladed aperture, an AF on/off switch, a focus ring and an assignable control ring. I think the lens feels very solid and the rings move smoothly. It focuses a bit slower than some of the other STM lenses I have, and the lens doesn’t extend beyond the barrel at any time when focusing. After testing the RF 45 f1.2 STM on my EOS R and EOS R50V in the field for portraits (wide open) and landscapes (at f8), in the studio for some product photography and shooting a basic crosshatch test chart from wide open to f11, I’ve been very pleased with it. Especially on the R50V which is a crop sensor camera. Even though you end up with a focal length of 72mm and a tighter view than at 45mm, you have sharper corners, less vignetting, and it brings your subject a little closer, and that can help melt the background even more at the widest apertures. I compared its performance to my EF lenses of similar focal lengths on my EOS R and the newer RF versions are slightly better than the equivalent EF versions. I tested for corner sharpness only, viewed at 100% - pixel level; Digital lens corrections take care of every other flaw. Ranked from best first on a full frame camera. On a crop frame camera, they are all essentially the same. EF 50mm f1.8 STM from 2015 is a smaller, lighter lens and outperformed all the lenses I tested for corner sharpness except my EF 100mm f2.8L macro. Corners had hardly any blurring at f1.8 and none at f4 and beyond. Plastic mount and AF on/off switch. The RF version has a metal mount. EF 85mm f1.8 USM from 1992 is an older lens design and one of the best lenses for portraits. Corners had blurring at f1.8 and none at f4. EF 40mm f2.8 STM “Pancake” from 2012 is even smaller, lighter, little blurring in the corners at f2.8 and is tack sharp at f4. Metal mount and AF on/off switch. RF 45 f1.2 STM is noticeably soft in the corners wide open. About perfect at f5.6 and perfect at f8. But remember, this lens is Not meant for landscapes and test charts, It’s meant for portraits or where the subject is in or near the center with the background blurred to goo. In which case this lens delivers in spades. Even better on a crop sensor camera. Compared to the EF & RF 50mm f1.8, the RF 45mm at f1.2 gets about twice the light and It’s more difficult to make a lens with sharp corners at those large apertures. If you want sharper corners, plan on paying over 5 times more for L glass. Some other things to Consider: Because the RF 45mm f/1.2 STM does not have optical image stabilization (IS), operating hand-held requires paying closer attention to shutter speeds if your camera body lacks In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS), such as the EOS R50, R50V, or R10. While the fast f/1.2 aperture allows plenty of light in low-light environments to keep shutter speeds high, stabilization is still a factor to monitor during hand-held video or lower-light static shots. Additionally, taking full advantage of the shallow depth of field at f/1.2 outdoors during daytime shooting presents another challenge. The f/1.2 opening gathers so much ambient light that you can quickly max out your camera’s shutter speed in direct sun. To shoot wide open in bright daylight without overexposing your image, pairing the lens with a 67mm Neutral Density (ND) filter is almost essential. When evaluating optical performance, it is helpful to consider how modern manufacturing tolerances impact real-world consistency. Multi-sample optical testing conducted in 2015-2019 by a major equipment rental company on their custom optical bench (OLAF) evaluated copy-to-copy variance across a wide range of brands, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma, Zeiss, Tamron, and Samyang. Their data revealed that Canon consistently maintains some of the tightest manufacturing tolerances in the industry. Across multi-sample testing of dozens of copies per lens model, Canon lenses repeatedly demonstrated exceptional copy-to-copy consistency and low optical variance. This precise manufacturing process ensures that individual production copies closely match the optical performance of reference units. For owners of the RF 45mm lens, this tight quality control means the sharpness, field flatness, and optical characteristics measured in individual tests represent the reliable baseline experience users can expect from their own copies. Conclusion: I think this lens does an outstanding job for what it’s designed for at a price that can’t be beat. Corner softness and coma are out of view when shooting with a crop sensor camera. Very highly recommended!

The Canon RF 45mm F1.2 STM lens is a fun lens that allows more people into an expensive hobby/skill. I write this review as someone who is still quite the beginner and has only had a mirrorless camera for a handful of years because it is only recently that I have felt the price of entry was affordable enough to try photography. Canon calls this lens a great option for those who want an affordable lens option and appropriately, I am using the lens on their most affordable current sold mirrorless camera, which is the Canon R100. I only have experience using the Canon RF-S 18-45mm kit lens, so this is my first prime lens. I feel like this is important to establish because I am part of the budget conscious hobby photographers that Canon made this for rather than the experienced photographer with a lot of lenses and bodies. Build: This is considered a lightweight lens and initially I didn’t think it was that light compared to the body and kit lens that I am used to. With use and more understanding of the mechanics inside the lens, I can see how it probably is considered light. The lens glass itself is huge with the F1.2 required width. Despite being mostly plastic, the lens feels substantial in build and not cheap or flimsy at all. I like that they included two control rings and the physical switch for AF and MF. For a lens they proclaim to be for the budget conscious, they could very well have not put them in and made us use the settings on the body instead. I especially appreciate it because my camera doesn’t have a touch control screen and the fewer setting screens I have to go through, the better. I don’t mind that they didn’t include things like a lens bag or hood. That just means more time and money were put into the actual lens instead. Noise: The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of movement and noise the lens makes if continuous AF is turned on. I can feel and hear the stepping motor moving as it adjusts to focus. As I understand it, it is from the weight of the glass. I hear pretty much none of that with the kit lens so I was unaccustomed to it. It can be reduced if continuous AF is turned off but the photography experience just felt not as good. The sound might be an issue in quiet environments and a lot of moving focus points. I don’t mind it that much but it is still something that to note for new to prime lens people like me. Photo Quality: The lens is good at taking photos in low light and I couldn’t believe some that I was able to take even with minimal light available. The whole point of having the capability of going to f/1.2 aperture is to have pretty bokeh and that pretty fuzzy background. It definitely does have that. I am using this on a cropped sensor so even though the lens is 45 mm, my actual field of view is more like 72 mm. That means it is more of a zoomed in lens and I do have to work harder on stepping farther away. This is one of the reasons why I didn’t buy the popular nifty fifty which is even closer. On a cropped sensor, I feel like the 45 mm doesn’t have the natural eyesight view and versatility that full sensors get to experience. It is great though for portraits and my tendency to take photos with narrow framing. I do find it funny that a lens that is worth more than my camera body is considered budget and affordable but that is the reality of photography. After using this lens, I can see why lenses are so expensive. I am glad though that Canon is making lenses that recognizes a need in the market for affordable but quality and this is one of the lenses that is an acknowledgement of that. Hopefully Canon will fill in the lens gap for cropped sensors and make more quality affordable prime lenses for cropped sensors that have a wider field of view.

This lens is a great addition to my Canon EOS R50. I have been looking for a versatile prime lens that will perform well for my needs at a reasonable price. I really think I found it with the Canon RF45mm F1.2 for EOS R-Series cameras. I am an advanced hobbyist photographer, which means I do photography merely for my personal enjoyment and creativity with my subject matter being family, landscape, street, and night photography. I primarily use my R50 for still photos, videos, and occasional vlogging. The primary factors I used to select this lens was the focal length, maximum aperture, and sharpness. Focal Length: This lens is a prime 45mm focal length, which is perfect for taking photos and videos around the house with my family, vlogging, night, and candid street and architecture scenes. With my R50, which has an APS-C sensor, this lens gives me 72mm focal length. Perfect for isolating my subject(s) without being too close to my subjects. Maximum Aperture: This is really where the lens delivers on my expectations, because this lens is so versatile. It has a maximum of f/1.2 and minimum of f/16 aperture. The f/1.2 aperture allows me to use this lens in very low light indoors or outside. I also can get me that great bokeh. Sharpness and Contrast: I have taken over 100 photos and videos with the lens and the results are sharp with lots of detail and contrast and rich, bright colors. The attached photographs are some of the shots I've taken with this lens. I left the photos completely unedited (except for JPG conversion and cropping), so you can see the true beauty. This lens also has a minimum focus distance of 17.7 inches, which works well for casual macro work. Size and Weight: The size and weight of this lens is very good. I keep this lens in my camera bag now and it has added minimum overall weight at only 3/4 pound. When I am home, I keep this lens on my R50 so I can get quick photos or videos of my family. Build Quality and Autofocus: The build quality is good for this price range. It has a lot of plastic, which helps with the weight and price, but it still feels durable and well made. The lens elements still have the Canon quality that give this lens the sharpness and quick autofocus. Summary: I have used this lens with my R50 for 2 weeks now and I have been very pleased with the results. I especially like that this lens works with any Canon EOS R-Series cameras, so I can use it with my R50 and any future EOS R-Series camera that I may upgrade to. This lens is within my sweet spot for price and performance. It gives me beautiful photos and videos and I can use it within many different situations from my daughter reading her book, to a close-up of a flower, and a beautiful sunrise or sunset. I feel this lens is an excellent value and would highly recommend it.

This is one of the most interesting lenses I’ve ever come across. Normally a lens this fast is large, heavy, and incredibly expensive. However, Canon has managed to put an f/1.2 aperture into a compact and lightweight lens that is also surprisingly affordable. The 45mm focal length is a great spot for a prime lens. I already own Canons RF 50mm F1.8 STM, and while that lens is even smaller and less expensive, there’s no denying that the new RF45 F1.2 is much more capable. A lens this fast excels at portraits or any other scenario where you want a lot background blur as well as capturing more natural looking photos in low light without a flash. I have it paired with my APS-C Canon EOS R50, which is one of the smallest and lightest mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras that Canon makes. Despite its large f/1.2 aperture, the RF45 does not look or feel out of place on such a compact body. In fact, the two pair together really nicely. On the R50’s APS-C sensor, the lens gives you a narrower field of view, making it well suited for portraits. Performance is excellent. Open the lens to f/1.2 and you can get incredible separation between subject and the background as shown in my sample images of my pet dog and turtle. In fact, you have to be careful that you don’t get too much separation. The depth of field can be so shallow that sometimes my dog’s nose would be in focus while the eyes were not, or vice versa. Autofocus is also fast and has worked well in my experience so far. One thing I’m pleased with is I don’t see any significant vignetting in my RAW images. The smaller APS-C sensor helps as well because it mostly crops away the outer portion of the image, where vignetting is typically most noticeable The biggest downside is the lack of optical image stabilization. It matters more on my setup because my EOS R50 also lacks any in-body stabilization. The large aperture helps tremendously in low light but keeping the camera steady at a slow shutter speed can be difficult without a tripod. Canon’s specifications also list no dust or weather-resistant protection, so keep that in mind if you do shoot in those conditions. Pros - Extremely fast f/1.2 aperture - Excellent subject separation and background blur - Compact and lightweight for an f/1.2 full-frame lens - Affordable compared with Canon’s L-series f/1.2 lenses - Useful 45mm focal length - Fast autofocus - Dedicated focus and customizable control rings - 1lens mount Cons - No optical image stabilization - No weather sealing Overall – an excellent and affordable addition to Canon’s RF lens lineup.

This 45mm lens pairs wonderfully with my Canon R50. You can expect to shoot nice portraits, still life, and street photography. At this focal length with a mirrorless camera, I found I had to stand a little further away from my subjects than I originally anticipated, which makes sense given that the lenses I use more regularly are wider at 30mm and below. This lens feels “just right” in that it’s at the very edge of the “wide” feel before getting too close to the longer focal lengths. I was able to shoot a variety of scenes whether it was a sunny garden or a one-light portrait setup and I am impressed with the range of this lens. I purposefully used only one light, even on the dimmest setting, to see how the F1.2 aperture would handle it and it resulted in sharp photos. This lens brings out fine details when capturing still life. One of the first things I noticed is that it responds quickly. I have it set to auto-focus and it “breathes” effortlessly adjusting to ambient lighting. My studio space is very small and this lens pretty much hits the limit as to the furthest focal length I can use for portraits given the space constraints and the APS-C mirrorless format of the R50 which multiplies the focal length by 1.6. This is really only a comfort issue in a small space and ideally I’d be using a full-frame camera, but I simply just don’t own one. Both this 45mm lens and the Canon R50 are light weight enough that I can keep them in a small backpack without feeling weighed down. I wouldn’t call this combo “slim”, but it’s a nice middle ground for sure. It feels sturdy in my hand when shooting, it doesn’t feel cheap. It’s compact for the focal length, however I think “compact” can be relative - it’s obviously smaller than a long zoom lens like a 70-200mm, but it’s heftier than the Canon R50 kit lens (18-45mm / F4.5-6.3). It’s also much more powerful than the R50 kit lens, the aperture gets much wider at F1.2. I do think it can be considered compact, but it’s also going to depend on what you’re used to shooting with. Overall, I’m really stoked to have this prime lens in my collection, especially for portraits since I have a tiny studio space. I was able to use the Camera Connect app to have my phone act as a live remote and the focusing was a little slower in this use-case, although I think that might be more of an app/connectivity issue than a lens issue.

I’ve had a great time using this lens. It delivers an ultra-wide aperture at a reasonable price, and its size and weight are manageable. The bokeh that comes with an f/1.2 aperture is amazing. Its shallow depth of field produces those beautiful blurry backgrounds while the subject is in perfect focus. This lens can give great results in low light situations, and I found it to be perfectly sharp. A downside for me is that this 45mm lens has a 75mm field of view on a cropped sensor camera like my R50 which turns what would be a normal field of view on a full frame camera into a short telephoto perspective. While this can be corrected by using my feet to frame the shot, I doubt most people would be carrying a short telephoto lens as a walk-around. But “most people” may not be you. I never had any trouble getting the shot I wanted with this lens on my R50. This lens adds some weight- necessary weight considering what the lens is asked to do- but the slight front heaviness on a small camera like the R50 was noticeable to me. There is no way to avoid some additional mass because of the extra glass needed to let in the additional light. The plastic build keeps its weight and price down to a reasonable level. I am adding a photo showing the size of this lens compared to the Canon kit zoom that came with my camera. The kit zoom is significantly smaller, but it certainly can’t let in nearly as much light! This lens does not come with a hood, but Canon offers one as an assessory. The lens takes a 67mm filter. Given its wide aperture, a neutral density filter is highly recommended to make full use of this lens in bright outdoor situations. My R50 camera does not have internal stabilization, and neither does this lens. This never caused a problem for me while testing this lens. It did cause me to monitor the camera shutter speed a little more carefully. I point out that Canon’s full frame (and heavier) R6 camera might be an even better fit for this lens, both in terms of balance in use, the R6’s internal stabilization, and the 45mm field of view offered by the full-frame model. The pictures this model produced on my R50 speak for themselves. It delivers everything its design promises, and I highly recommend it.

The Canon RF45mm F1.2 is a good lens at an amazing price point. It’s compact, lightweight, focuses quickly and a total game changer for shooting in low light. Mounted to an R50 body I was impressed by how fast the shutter speed was able to run while shooting indoors with the aperture set to f1.2. It’s amazing at gathering light and while it’s not the sharpest lens out there, it’s sharp enough for a good photo. The tricky part is that shooting at f1.2 leaves such a shallow depth of field that it’s hard to keep all of your focus points in the same plane. That’s a skill issue though. It’s honestly hard not to recommend this lens if you’re in the market for a 45mm. Keep in mind that it’s equivalent to about 67mm on a crop body, which leans more towards portrait lens. It’s fantastic for shooting indoors without a flash, and maybe the most affordable 1st party F1.2 autofocus lens in the market. There’s even a programmable control ring at the front of the lens. But one of my favorite attributes is how light the lens is. On an R50 body it almost feels like a toy and is a total joy to shoot with. If you’re on a Canon body and looking to explore indoor, low light, and portrait photography, definitely give the R45mm F1.2 a look. PROS - Fast f/1.2 aperture - Amazing for indoor and low light - Equivalent to 67mm on APS-C crop sensor - Fast focus on Canon R50 body - Compact and lightweight - Good fit and finish - Not bad bokeh - Customizable control ring - Great price for an f/1.2 - Good color rendition CONS - Not the sharpest lens, but sharp enough - Not weather sealed - Min focus distance is about 12”

I am no pro at photography by any means. But I do have a family and like taking higher quality photos than I can get with my iPhone 17 pro max. While a phone is convenient it will never compare or compete with a camera like my canon R10. I already have the nifty 50 and the standard kit lens the R10 came with but I wanted something with a better focal length and lower F stop. This lens seems to bridge the gap from a lower end lens like the nifty 50 and a high end lens that cost 3-4 times as much as this 45mm f1.2 lens. At its retail price this lens is considered “cheap”. While it’s not cheap, it’s affordable and worth the asking price for what you get. This Lena is bigger and slightly bulkier but not heavy and this is what you should expect for glass of this quality and the amount of light it lets in. Photos come out beautiful and clear. If you like brighter and more detail in your photos then You will love this lens. Every photo i took came out great. Great Boceh effect ,Super clear and sharp almost every time. Almost every time. Unfortunately this lens doesn’t autofocus the best and with no built in image stabilization you will have to have a steady hand but you have to take your time anyhow so it isn’t a big deal for a beginner or intermediate. Video comes out great especially when you dial in the settings in the camera itself. If you are not using a full frame camera just know that there is a slight crop while using this lens but that’s pretty standard and does not effect the photos one bit. Again I’m no professional but I feel this lens is a great value and unless you are a professional this is a great middle class of lenses especially if you have a full frame camera.

A new budget RF lens from Canon is always a welcome treat. This platform has been out for quite a while now and with the lack of third party support, affordable lenses for photographers who don’t want to break the bank for a L series are scraping by. This 45mm lens gives those who want a step up from the 50mm 1.8 for that extra edge and be one step closer to a professional lens. There’s quite a huge difference in price between this and its L series counterpart. For roughly $2000 less, this lens is certainly worthy of consideration, especially if you are chasing after that 1.2 aperture. Pictures taken from this are tack sharp, and no noticeable vignetting. At max aperture, photos are stunning and the background is completely blurred out. It’s interesting to note that at F1.2, the bokeh gives a disorienting look and can sometimes make the picture an artistic choice. Stepping back to F2 makes it look more natural and blurred smoothly. The lens itself is very light and easy to use. The extra ring is clicky when rotating and the STM motor noise is noticeable. Auto focus is fast enough and you do see the lens physically move when focusing, but the housing size stays the same. No internal stabilization could be a con for videography, but for photography it hasn't been as noticeable. Overall, this is an amazing lens, whether used for pleasure or work it does the job fantastically. This is a definite recommendation for anyone starting out or looking to play around with a super bright lens without breaking the bank.

I’ve been using my Canon RP Mirrorless for about a year now. I purchased it for a safari trip last year and purchased a variable lens only, which was great for that purpose, but I hadn’t used it much for anything close up. The RF45mm is perfect for regular shoots when free to get as close to the subject as you want; understanding this is not a Macro lens. Canon states that the subject minimum distance is 1.5ft or 17.7 inches, while I did not measure specifically I can confirm this true as trying to get closer on my pepper was “fruitless”. Shooting Auto is fine for the majority of the situations, but switching to Manual allowed me to fine tune with some more tricker lighting conditions. My shot of a dried up pepper in the shadow of a decorative block was a little tricky with the lighting conditions at the time, switching to manual I was able to fine tune and get a better shot. Overall I am super happy with the level of the lens for the cost and the depth it can capture is fantastic. I haven’t been able to test low light yet with anything worthy, but looking forward to testing it out further. The lens is quite light and so does not add any off balance situations when shooting one-handed. In the industry they say date your body, marry your glass. Well, I don’t spend that much on either and don’t make a living with photography, but I can say with the value of the RF45mm F1.2STM, it definitely meets my expectations and needs and will provide me with the shots I want to achieve for years to come!

As an owner of the "Nifty Fifty," I wasn't sure if having this RF45 lens would matter. When it comes to photography, I'm still learning - a light hobbyist; so many of the technical and "keen eye" visual nuances may be lost on me. With that said, I did notice a clear difference between the two. Physically, the RF45 is much bigger than the RF50...even a little bigger than the RF-S 14-30 lens that came with my R50 camera. Outdoor photos look great and the autofocus is quick to find its target - and do it smoothly with little mechanical noise. I was able to quickly capture some nice closeups of nature without any real fiddling around...and the manual focus control worked just as expected to give me a bit more control when needed. What I notice most about my photos with this lens is that the subjects are really crisp when centered in the frame and start to soften more as it moves to the edges. For these particular closeup shots, this lens is fantastic; but it obviously means it's not suited for everything - especially if you need more in the shot. For the size and price, it's great to have with my gear for the specific style of photos I like to take. And on that front, as I understand it, f/1.2 prime lenses tend to be big, heavy and expensive. Based on that metric, the RF45 has a lot going for it and delivers serious value for what you get.

Ever since I found out about the release of the Canon RF45mm F1.2 STM Standard Prime Lens I was highly interested to see how the F1.2 focal length ended up working in real time. To cut to the chase, its an extremely narrow focus, which offers very dynamic and interesting shots, but also serves an extremely narrow use case. It forces a distance where close up, macro type shots cannot exist. Clearly, this is not a macro lens, but even with a traditional 35mm lense, close up shots are more capable. You're also limited with distance here as well, landscape, and general photography is mostly ruled out here. What you are left with is something in the ballpark of dynamic portrait, maybe content creation to some degree, or, dynamic depth of field on moderate distance shots of whatever subject your are shooting. It's a niche lens for sure. Given the above overview, I really enjoyed my time with the RF45mm thus far. I'm using with a Canon EOS R8. Initially, i found it nearly impossible to get focus using auto focus. I have shutter lock enabled until focus is measured green/good. With such a tight focal window, i found it challenging, initially, to find where the lens wanted to focus. I opted to a manual focus, took my best shots, and later reviewed on the PC. What I though for sure was a focused image, was indeed not during those initial shots. I took back to auto focus and adjusted my distance slowly until I was able to hit green. After a few hours with the lens, this became much easier to get a quick focus once I understood the tolerance. I wouldn't say the learning curve is steep, but one exists. This lens does not have stabilization capabilities, nor does it have any weather sealing. It is intended for good, dry environments and either needs to rely on the cameras own stabilization features, or a tripod if shutter needs to remain open, or dealing with a slower ISO setting, tripod is a must. These compromises however set this lens at a really compelling price point. For my use case and preferences, I would choose to omit stabilization and weather proofing for a lower price, especially how niche this specific lens is. Color and image quality is top notch, as expected from a Canon lens. Images are sharp, clean, able to white balance and produce accurate colors. This lens allows plenty of light for darker environments, or, even night shots. I found I leaned more towards a stop down when shooting in the daylight or a brightly lit room. Colors came out a little too washed if I didn't and in some limited cases, a bit of pasteurization was evident in the blurry out of focus areas. When I went a step darker, those issues went away, possibly with such an open aperture and interesting curvature maybe light just overwhelms the sensors every so slightly. All in all, while I will likely be using this lens in very specific situations vs relying on it for a daily driver, I'm happy to have it in my bag for those moments when such a tight depth of field is desired to really highlight something I want to capture. At it's price point, it doesn't feel like a waste either. I would recommend this to anyone with a Compatible camera interested in a dynamic focal length lens.

Canon - RF45mm F1.2 STM Standard Prime Lens for EOS R-Series Cameras - Black Summary: Medium weight quality portrait optimized lens. The Canon RF45mm f/1.2 is a medium weight lens that takes your portrait taking to a whole new level. The focusing is fast and quiet, and the clarity is amazing. The camera instantly adapts the "subject" as you move the camera around. This lens excels at close up nature shots. Great in-depth quality images is a literal snap thanks to this units ease of use and razer sharp focus. Low light images for video mode are stunning. We took some wonderful shots of the stars and captured some great night shots. This lens is a great addition to my collection and offers a specialized tool-kit. Pros: * Weight. The unit is dense, but it feels good in hand when attached to the camera. * Easy to use. You can adjust things as you please, but the lens takes wonderful shots by default. * Quick focus. The ability of this lens to quickly focus on the subject as the camera is moved is amazing. Videos really capture the subject this way and is great for subjects that move or where you might want that portrait flare present. * Quality. This lens looks nice, feels nice, and takes fantastic photos. Cons: * Weight. Depending on your expectations, this lens might feel heavy. But I feel like it is just right and balances nicely when attached to a camera.

The Canon RF45mm F1.2 STM is an impressive lens that is great for portraits, everyday photography and low-light settings. The best part about the lens is the image quality. The F1.2 aperture allows lots of light so snapshots are fast and turn out great in low-light settings. It also maintains sharpness with very good subject separation and background blur. The 45mm focal length is also a nice addition to a lens collection, as it sits between the traditional 35mm and 50mm. It gives a good amount of width for most shots and is just right for photographing people and close up objects. Autofocus is also generally quick with this lens. It is easy to manually focus as well. If there are any downsides it's that the lens is a little larger and heavier than others because of the F1.2 aperture. And also there is no stabilization for handheld shooting. I am attaching two photos that I took with the new lens. One is a low light picture of the stars and the other show how well the focus and blur work on a photo of a car. Overall, this is the third lens I have for my EOS R camera and it fits in nicely with the others, providing superior up close and low light pictures.

TLDR: This new silent Canon lens is made for the current RF camera mount and fits a legion of RF mount Canon cameras. It is silent in focusing, produces very sharp images and videos, is not heavy, and consistently produces a great picture when used. I use this lens with my Canon R50V camera which has the newer RF lens mount and is mirrorless. It connects all functions instantly and produces fast and silent sharply focused pictures. In video mode it produces stunning 4K video through this new lens which allows a vast amount of light in through its f 1.2 aperture setting if needed in low light conditions. The front lens is a large glass element and it has 9 elements in total per the Canon web site specifications section. It is a large diameter lens, but lighter in weight. It is constructed with a single plastic internal aspherical lens element among the 9 elements keeping it light and more affordable. Advanced plastic molding enables greater freedom in machining and higher precision per the Canon website. It is no heavier than my other new lens that arrived with the camera; it is only 12 ounces. Even so, the 45mm f 1.2 lens has a metal mount where it attaches to the camera, (not plastic). It focuses as close as 1.5 feet and includes a nearly silent STM auto focus motor; nonetheless it is switchable to allow full manual focus if desired. In use, the auto focus is very fast and precise. This lens is perfect for portraits, lifestyle content, and low-light work, creating soft images with dramatic focus falloff. The STM motor enables quiet and smooth autofocus performance and full-time manual focus override. As I said, the internal optical design incorporates one aspherical element, which reduces spherical aberrations and distortion. Using the lens in low light allows wonderful images as if the scene was illuminated brighter than it is due to the large f 1.2 opening allowing in large amounts of light to produce great images and sharp subjects in front of the soft focus background. Or use a smaller f stop to focus up both subject and background. The blurry background bokeh that is possible with the f/1.2 aperture is stunning. The very shallow depth of field will create those backgrounds all the while keeping the subject person or persons in super sharp focus. In low light settings, this lens also delivers great images as if it was much brighter. It is your choice that this fast lens allows. The 45 mm lens seems natural, very similar to human vision going left to right. It offers a more natural view compared to some smartphone images we all make very often when we shoot using phones in wide view. Highly recommended.

Compact enough for street photography, but more than wide enough of an aperture for low light and excellent bokeh for this focal length! This makes for an amazing length for street and quick portrait shoots, especially if you need something with low light abilities and like a nice blur to the background you can usually only achieve with shorter focal lengths. Where it comes upon challenges is where it should fit in a lineup: it’s too short to be a proper portrait lens (even with the 1.6x APS-C sensor I have, it's a 75mm equivalent), too long for wider landscapes, to long for most videography work, top-down reviews are out because you’d need to have the camera so high up it’d be ridiculous. Now, where the lens excels is the focal length and aperture combination! 45mm focal length puts it close to the ‘Nifty Fifty’ for quick street photography with razor sharp lines and gorgeous coloring, as well as the flexibility of being small & light enough to keep the camera system “pocketable” in a coat or vest that has larger pockets. Its physical size is larger than the RF50mm F1.8, slightly smaller than the RF24-105mm, similar to the RF35mm, and the F1.2 aperture allows for beautiful bokeh at close range while having more than enough room to open up before dawn or after dusk to extend your photographic wanderings through a city or park. Now, a more practical use case is likely going to be someone who own an APS-C Canon that wants a flexible lens that produces incredible images for the cost but has no interest in carrying or owning a 35mm & 50mm, and with the added benefit of an almost macro level minimum focus distance of 1.48ft/0.45m! It’s a decent value, but I still find myself swapping between this & my RF24-105, which is likely just due to my needs rather than the value proposition of this lens, and still makes the lens a decent value to have as a solid shooting prime. If given the choice between the RF45 F1.2 and the RF35 F1.8, I’d still go with the RF45 because even without stabilization, the faster aperture and larger glass allow for a faster shutter speed to make up for shaking (and a little burst mode, just in case)! I’d recommend it, just maybe budget for a zoom lens to be its friend.

This 45mm lens is quite the bargain for its capabilities. Typically for a lens like this, you're spending MUCH more. Being able to get this aperture allows for excellent bokeh/background blur. The lens is focuses quickly and is pretty quiet while focusing too. It's also surprisingly lightweight and compact for a prime lens like this. I was pretty impressed with how this felt while carrying it around too. It also includes Canon's control ring feature. Allowing you to assign custom controls to it, like aperture or ISO. I do wish it had some weather sealing, but it's still a great feeling lens, regardless. I was very impressed with the quality of the depth of field. It allows for a very thin area of focus, and the blurred areas give a really pleasing look to me. Again, it's usually pretty tough to get this quality at this price point. In the past, I have often rented lenses to achieve this. This seems like an excellent, everyday style lens that would absolutely excel at portrait style photos and video. Pros: excellent quality, great depth of field, focus ring is a useful addition Cons: I wish it included a case, and maybe a hood.

The Canon RF 45 mm f/1.2 prime lens was a good upgrade for my Canon EOS R50V. Compared to the standard lens that came with it, this is much better for portraits. The 45mm, in my opinion is good for all-around photography. I'm no professional by any means. I did enjoy the nice crisp like image the lens produced. You even get the sweet bokeh effect with the background. The lens is not that heavy. It is good quality. Is it a high dollar premium lens? No, but for the price of around 430 it's amazing for what it is. The best part about the 45mm lens is how exceptionally well it works in low-light settings. Taking pictures of objects or items also looks good with the 45mm. You don't get any kind of zoom or stabilization which is fine. You also hear and feel something inside the lens moving around. I'm not sure what that is called but you can feel it. If I were to start taking portraits of individuals for weddings or my kid's games this would be the lens I would gravitate to. Overall, if I were only going to have one lens. This would be my choice based on my usage. The best part is the lens does not break the bank.