Canon RF 200-800mm f6.3-9 IS USM - real world photo samples and review

Hi there, it's Matt Kemp. Last week I posted a series of slow motion (100fps) videos and I thank everyone for their nice comments and I apologise once more for the terrible audio (its a lot better on this new video).
I created this follow-up video which contains a slideshow of images. Many people have asked to see real world still photo samples from this lens.
All images were shot in .CR3 (canon RAW). There were converted to jpeg in Lightroom so that my computer didn't stall while walking through each picture.
This video goes for around 10 minutes and hopefully you will get a good understanding of how the lens performs in varying light and at different ISOs. I have also shown a few example of how Adobe Lightroom can enhance some of the limitations we experience when using the lens.
Overall, I'm very happy with the lens and provided that you can accept that this is predominantly a daylight lens for still photography, you can have a lot of fun with it.
Things I like about the Canon RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS USM are:
* build quality (of L-series standard)
* sharpness & detail are at a very high level
* autofocus is responsive when using the appropriate AF settings
* Size, weight and portability - can be used as a travel lens
* Focal length can be changed by push/pull of front lens component or hood
* Tripod foot also provides an ergonomic handle
* Flexibility of focal length range without compromise on sharpness
* Lens stabiliser and IBIS performance in video mode
* Its low light photography handicap forces me to get creative with my subjet at lower shutter speeds (panning/zooming)
* Price
Things I'm not fond about this lens:
* lack of low light capabilities for action photography (it is what f/9 is)
* basic stabiliser mode - only 1 option and not as good as an L-series
* focus ring is tiny and hard to locate at first
* dual function focal/control ring but good to have the option available
All images were taken on my paid-in-full, retail lens. I don't receive anything from Canon and my views are just an opinion. I welcome yours.
If you have any questions please pop them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer as soon as possible. Thanks for checking out the video.
cheers,
Matt

Пікірлер: 64

  • @Andrewmusic100
    @Andrewmusic1006 ай бұрын

    Without a doubt, the best video of the day. Thank you very much for this content

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @Andrewmusic100 Thank you so much. Your comment has made my day :) Wishing you all the best!

  • @1992tlp
    @1992tlp6 ай бұрын

    Great demonstration of its capabilities and image quality. Thank you!

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @1992tlp Thank you, you are most welcome :)

  • @stuartcarlton7939
    @stuartcarlton79396 ай бұрын

    Superb, I have one on pre order, can't wait! These shots dispel any lingering doubts!

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Thanks Stuart! I hope yours arrives soon. It's a fun lens. Super light weight and a good performer for a non-L-series.

  • @VanceWorldTravel
    @VanceWorldTravel6 ай бұрын

    As soon as you started to talk about how great the bird was... you sold me on how great the lens is. You pulled up a picture and were not drawn to lens errors, making explanations on why it wasn't good, or the conditions, just about the photo and the subject. The equipment should disappear in an image. Sure we buy our gear and we are proud of it (for some reason), but it's the art of the photograph.. and when the gear gets out of the way and lets you make art... you have the right gear for you and that moment.

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi Vance, thanks for your comment and thanks for taking the time to check out the video. I totally agree with you. People will look for a review just to find faults in something and then pick it apart. This lens is what it is and I really enjoy using it. it delivers a reach at an affordable level and its main shortcomings seems to be the F9 aperture. Challenges like this only force me to get more creative. I hope 2024 has been going well for you so far.

  • @hongkongkong7174
    @hongkongkong71745 ай бұрын

    excellent video

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    4 ай бұрын

    Hey, thanks! :) I'm glad you enjoyed it

  • @RogerZoul
    @RogerZoul6 ай бұрын

    Thanks Matt! You have convinced me that this lens is worthy kit for me! Too bad I likely won’t have it before my trip to Panama in March. But at least, hopefully, I can see some of your results at your return from your trip in February. Nice on Adobe to add that lens blur in Lr! Take care!!

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi Roger, thanks for your comment. I'm glad you found it useful. I really hope you get the lens in time for Panama. Mine was meant to arrive in January and I got it December. I wish you the same luck! Thanks for taking the time to check out the video :)

  • @hawkforce3109
    @hawkforce31096 ай бұрын

    Outstanding images!

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @hawkforce3109 thank you :)

  • @anandvikamshi
    @anandvikamshi6 ай бұрын

    Thank you very informative video

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @anandvikamshi, Thanks for your nice comment. It was my pleasure! Best wishes :)

  • @theflyingdutchman7127
    @theflyingdutchman71276 ай бұрын

    what great sharpness this lens has. I can't wait until I get it in. thanks for sharing this video. I look forward to your Antarctica photos.❤👍🙏

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @theflyingdutchman7127, Thank you. I am also very impressed by the sharpness of this lens. I hope you get to have some fun with one very soon :)

  • @theflyingdutchman7127

    @theflyingdutchman7127

    6 ай бұрын

    @@mattkempphotography6110 I still have one dirty wish, and that is an RF 200-500 F/4 and a Canon R1 at an affordable price😂❤️🙏

  • @Joya5545
    @Joya55456 ай бұрын

    So nice to see real world shots of birds, thanks Matt. I have mine on pre order so I'm excited to get out in the field and start shooting. how did you find the weight, did you use a monopod or tripod?

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi @Joya5545 Thanks for your nice words. I find this lens incredibly light for the reach that it delivers. I used to have a sigma 150-600mm (sport version) lens which had an in-use weight that well-exceeded 3k. The 200-800mm is only 2k and I haven't needed to use a monopod or tripod. I ease the load when carrying the lens by using a Black Rapid single strap.

  • @jammyjackson4434
    @jammyjackson44346 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the review 👍

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    My pleasure!

  • @kamerakeith2048
    @kamerakeith20486 ай бұрын

    GREAT VIDEO … GLAD I HAVE ONE ON ORDER …

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi Keith, thanks mate! I appreciate you taking the time to watch the video. I hope your lens arrives soon. cheers!

  • @JeffandLeslie
    @JeffandLeslie6 ай бұрын

    thanks for sharing. It seems the biggest complaints folks seem to be having about this lens is it isn't an F4. If I didn't already have the 100-500 L lens, I would be on the list to get one of these.

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi @JeffandLeslie, thanks for you comment. It's my pleasure! Whoa, yes f/4 would be a luxury at 800mm. Even Canon's L-series RF 800mm primes lens is 'only' an f/5.6 Have you tried a 1.4x TC on the 100-500mm? Apparently, the results are comparable to the 200-800mm

  • @JeffandLeslie

    @JeffandLeslie

    6 ай бұрын

    @@mattkempphotography6110at what it would cost, it would probably come with its own drone to fly it from your parked vehicle to the location where you are shooting images and then back to its included locked safe inside your vehicle. :). Even if such a lens were made, there would be those around here who would complain that it wasn't a real professional lens at F4 it needs to be F2.8 and so on.

  • @stevesperlo6143
    @stevesperlo61436 ай бұрын

    Matt, what camera were you using at the time these photos were take? Great video. Thanks for the review.

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    hi Steve, thanks for your comments. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. The images were all taken on a Canon R3. The Canon R6 mk ii would produce similar results

  • @adrianhelyar5735
    @adrianhelyar57356 ай бұрын

    Thankyou Matt for this early review, good of you to show your Lightroom skills to remedy the lens's shortcomings. For a non L 'Big White' it seems mighty impressive for the price!

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi Adrian, thanks for your nice comment. You are most welcome. I think the f/9 is the only reason they left the L-series badge off this one. It's a weapon and half on all other counts. The ease of use with LR masking and lens blur definitely makes this lens more appealing.

  • @orloaguilar
    @orloaguilar6 ай бұрын

    Really cool stuff Matt! Could I ask you to provide us with some sample raw files to test out? I'm leaning towards this instead of the 100-500 but I wanna play around with some files first

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Thank you Orlo! Here's a few CR3 files for you to play with. If I didn't already have the 100-400mm ii (I'm still very happy with this EF lens on an adapter) I might have considered the 100-500mm + 1.4x combo. I hope these help www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/60b3bqdn3930hzql94bds/h?rlkey=vjyg438i3vxu8y1grth2d1oqd&dl=0

  • @orloaguilar

    @orloaguilar

    6 ай бұрын

    @@mattkempphotography6110 thank you so much! I'm on an R7 with the Sigma 150-600mm so I'm eager to upgrade to something that doesn't have so many focusing problems. It'll probably be the 200-800 since it is a lot cheaper than the 100-500

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @@orloaguilar if you haven't discovered Jan Wegener yet, I would suggest checking out his setup suggestions here www.youtube.com/@jan_wegener

  • @TieItAndFlyIt
    @TieItAndFlyIt6 ай бұрын

    I've had one preordered for two months, any insight on when Canon is shipping to the rest of the gang?

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi @benhuffer1554, I'm in Sydney, Australia and mine was meant to arrive in early Jan. Surprisingly, it turned up a month early. I have read some horror stories online about Europeans having to wait until April. I'm not privy to shipping info unfortunately but I hope yours arrives soon.

  • @cheungching9430
    @cheungching94306 ай бұрын

    This lens is superb.

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    I think so too :)

  • @tkdive4784

    @tkdive4784

    6 ай бұрын

    I think the lens is very good for it's focal length and price, but: Simply having a lens doesn't produce photos ;-)

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @@tkdive4784 yes, this correct. Attaching a camera to it is important :)

  • @soumakbinduwildlife
    @soumakbinduwildlife6 ай бұрын

    wow

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @soumakbinduwildlife Thanks! It has been a fun lens to use.

  • @philsmeanderings7991
    @philsmeanderings79916 ай бұрын

    Nice to see some untouched images of the card for a real world comparison of what can be achieved. Good clean capture. Just out of interest , have a nephew by the name Mathew Kemp who just happens to live in SouthEast Qld Aus, any relation ?

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi Phil, thanks for checking out the video and thanks for your comment. Its always nice to have images that look good straight off the card so that we get on with enhancements instead of resuscitation. I haven't met Mathew from SE QLD but I know another photography tour operator that had a guy with same name on her recent tour.

  • @philsmeanderings7991

    @philsmeanderings7991

    6 ай бұрын

    You know as a kid there were barely any Kemps in the phone book ,now there are plenty. Mostly not related. Anyway good luck with your photography ventures . Your images were a great start.@@mattkempphotography6110

  • @tonyad8603
    @tonyad86036 ай бұрын

    Your sound is similar to that of Duade paton

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    I had to google who he was. 😅 thanks for bringing him to my attention :)

  • @isotechimages.9130
    @isotechimages.91306 ай бұрын

    This is what l have thought about these slow lenses from Canon, on paper they sound like something to steer away from but are actually very useable in real world photography. Canon also appear to be designing their RF lenses to rely heavily on lens correction eg. 10/20mm F4 and post production tools such as denoise eg. 800mm F11. As l have said in the past l applaud Canon for thinking outside the box with their RF lenses, l would by choice take a 200/800 F6.3/9 over a 200/600 F5/6.3 even though it won't pull you through all situations obviously. Anyway am enjoying lens which is pretty much glued to my R7.

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    It is definitely a lens that pairs well with Lightroom's recently added Ai tools. The masking and lens blur features go hand-in-hand will be an important part of the workflow. 800mm is amazing on a full-frame and I'm sure you're loving the extra reach on the R7. cheers!

  • @nk-oi3oo

    @nk-oi3oo

    6 ай бұрын

    I order 200-800mm lens to go with R8. I think thats a budget setup.

  • @nk-oi3oo

    @nk-oi3oo

    6 ай бұрын

    @@mattkempphotography6110 R8 has same sensor from R6 mark ii. I figure since its at f9, light will be an issue so I went with R8 instead of R7. It was same price.

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    @@nk-oi3oo I just saw from your comment that the R8 is a full frame sensor. it’s a perfect combination and I’m sure you’ll capture some wonderful images with this lens

  • @real1997
    @real19976 ай бұрын

    Matt should I buy buy this lens, yes or no? BIF, planes mainly. Thx

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    To confidently advise you to buy this lens, I would need to do more BIF photos (we had a heat wave here recently so birds have been very docile) Also, may I ask which camera body you’ll be using? Jan Wegener just posted a great youtube video that has some good BIF samples plus his evaluations. I value his opinion and suggest checking him out while i gather more data on flying subjects. if you are on a full frame camera like an R3 or R5 it is a good performer but I would like to do some extra testing before advising you to pull the trigger on a purchase

  • @real1997

    @real1997

    6 ай бұрын

    @@mattkempphotography6110 thx Matt. I’m using R6 (version 1)

  • @XenosKiran
    @XenosKiran6 ай бұрын

    Great one, so it must be used on lower resolution camera like R3 and R6 & R6 Mark II for better performance.. thats sad news for me as R7 user this will definitely produce noise…😢

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    6 ай бұрын

    Hi @XenosKiran, I would say that it 'must' be used on only those cameras. There's definitely low-light advantages with R3/R6 cameras but there's also added advantages of greater reach when when used on higher MP and crop sensor cameras. I haven't used it on the R5 yet but I might have to road test that combo next.

  • @okaro6595

    @okaro6595

    19 күн бұрын

    It really is not about resolution but the sensor size sure counts. With APS-C you have about one stop disadvantage but you also have more range.

  • @Paul_85-
    @Paul_85-5 ай бұрын

    I think we need to be honest here and admit that canon have got this wrong. Those backgrounds are exactly what we expected with it being f9. We get better results and smoother backgrounds with sigma 150-600s and Sony 200-600 lenses. I cannot believe Canon have produced a lens that doesn't perform as well as their competition and are charging the most for again compared to their competitors. Canon has now tricked people into thinking a wildlife lens with worse backgrounds worse low light performance and a higher price tag is somehow good ! Canon are going in the wrong direction

  • @mattkempphotography6110

    @mattkempphotography6110

    5 ай бұрын

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. At a time when both of those brands produce lens that reaches 800 mm only then can we make a comparison. For the moment, it’s apples and pears. This is once more, Canon pushing the development boundaries and I think it performs well for that reach. At 600 mm I would hope there would be vast improvements on the Image quality. Time will tell

  • @mattkempphotography6110
    @mattkempphotography61106 ай бұрын

    I’m hoping this is an isolated incident with my R3 body and just wanted to post a warning in case anyone else has a similar issue. If it prevents one lens drop then it’s all worth it kzread.info/dash/bejne/kWeJx8qoaMbOoZc.htmlsi=wk5hpYLrbSWrL5dA