Best Canon Lenses - FlyToExplore

Find the lens that matches your vision

Lenses for people and wedding photography

Humans are often the most interesting, captivating, and difficult subjects to capture, making wedding photography and portraiture challenging genres.

Lenses between 35 mm to 200 mm are often used for wedding and portrait photography to cover all possible shooting and creative scenarios.

Canon has the widest line-up of lenses with the ultra-wide aperture as wide as f/1.2, providing unmatched subject delineation.

This not only provides a shallow depth of field but also delivers excellent quality of images in diverse situations.

RF85mm f/1.2L USM

Filter Size: 82mm
Weight: 1195g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

RF85mm f/1.2L USM is a prime lens powered by the EOS R RF mount technology. With its large aperture of f/1.2, the RF85mm f/1.2L USM allows more light to enable photographers to control light exposure and its 9-blade circular aperture also delivers amazingly beautiful and soft bokeh. The lens also features the control ring found in the RF lens series.

RF50mm f/1.2L USM

Filter Size: 77mm
Weight: 950g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

The RF50mm f/1.2L USM lens has a large 54mm diameter and an extremely bright f/1.2 aperture delivers a remarkable image quality. It can focus as close as 1.31ft for excellent operation from almost any distance. Whether capturing portraits, still life or weddings, photographers and videographers can expect gorgeous, detailed, and sharp results.

EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM

Filter Size: 82mm
Weight: 790g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

With up to 5 UD elements offering unmatched image quality and a versatile zoom suitable for a variety of genres, this lens offers 3.5-stop image stabilization and is the preferred choice of professional photographers and news journalists around the world.

EF16-35mm f/2.8L III USM

Filter Size: 77mm
Weight: 1,440g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 8

The EF16-35 f 2.8L III USM is the latest addition to the L-series of ultra-wide lenses, which offers extremely high image sharpness and detail. It has a wide aperture to let in more light, low distortion, and a very practical focal range that covers multiple uses including landscape, architecture, and even wedding photography.

EF35mm f/1.4L II USM

Filter Size: 72mm
Weight: 760g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

EF35mm f/1.4L II USM is the first Canon lens to feature a Blue Spectrum Refractive optic that helps in almost completely eliminating aberration.

EF85mm f/1.4L IS USM

Filter Size: 77mm
Weight: 950g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

The combination of an ultra-wide f/1.4 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS) in the EF85mm f/1.4L IS USM provides extremely high image quality even in the most diverse shooting conditions. This also makes it suitable for handheld shooting in very low light.

EF85mm f/1.8 USM

Filter Size: 58mm
Weight: 425g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 8

The EF85mm f/1.8 is one of the best lenses for portraiture on full-frame bodies. With a very wide aperture, this lens produces dreamy out-of-focus effects as well as pristine image sharpness and detail.

Lenses for travel and landscape photography

Travel and landscape photography is done with a broad array of lenses, from ultra-wide to telephoto.

The ultra-wide lenses create highly detailed panoramic shots of wide-open spaces and naturally dramatic scenery, which are essential for this genre.

The Canon lens range starts from 8 mm and goes all the way to 200 mm, all of which are used for various kinds of landscape and travel photography.

Select lenses feature image stabilization, while L-series lenses have high-precision, glass-molded aspherical lens elements combined with UD elements to reduce chromatic aberration and SWC (Sub Wavelength Coating) to reduce flare and ghosting.

EF11-24mm f/4L USM

Filter Size: Rear Insertable
Weight: 1180g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

A super-wide L-series lens for professionals, it’s the widest non-fisheye zoom lens Canon has in full-frame DSLRs. Featuring both UD & Super UD elements, multiple aspherical lens elements, dust & oil repelling fluorine coating on front & rear, this lens is capable of producing extremely high-quality results.

EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM

Filter Size: 67mm
Weight: 710g (approx.)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

This lens has a wide zone range & fast autofocus making it ideal for capturing distant subjects. Equipped with NANO USM technology it quickly focuses on fast-moving objects. This technology also provides ultra-quiet operation while video recording. Its information display provides a convenient way to check focal length, focus distance, or depth of field.

EF16-35mm f/4L IS USM

Filter Size: 77mm
Weight: 615g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

This lens offers a focal range that is ideal for serious landscape photography. It has inbuilt IS for blur-free handheld photography. 3 glass-molded aspheric elements and 2 UD lenses eliminate distortion, providing very high-quality images.

EF17-40mm f/4L USM

Filter Size: 77mm
Weight: 475g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

The EF17-40mm f/4L USM is an ultra-wide-angle lens with a fixed aperture of f/4, making it suitable for wide genres of photography, including architecture, landscape, group photos, and for occasions where a wide field of view is required.

EF24-105mm f/4L IS II USM

Filter Size: 77mm
Weight: 795g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 10

A Canon L-series zoom lens spanning a wide-angle to the short-telephoto range & featuring a constant f/4 maximum aperture. Its advanced optical layout includes a super UD element which reduces color fringing & chromatic aberrations. Three aspherical elements are also featured that minimizes distortion and spherical aberrations for improved sharpness.

RF15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM

Filter Size: 82mm
Weight: 840g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

One of the zoom trinity lenses favored by photographers across genres. Designed to provide up to 5 shutter speed stops of image stabilization that ensures sharp images in dimly lit situations. Capture magnificent landscapes and unique angles with the fast and sharp f/2.8 zoom featuring a dynamic 15-35mm focal length. Equipped with an additional control ring that could be customized to control exposure settings, providing a more intuitive control.

EF-S10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM

Filter Size: 67mm
Weight: 240g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

This lens opens up the genre of wide-angle and landscape photography to users of APS-C DSLR cameras. It is lightweight, very affordable, and offers an ultra-wide equivalent field of view of 16mm. An additional benefit is the inclusion of both image stabilization and STM focusing, which makes it ideal for video shooting.

RF24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM

Filter Size: 72mm
Weight: 750g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

The lens has a 10x optical zoom in the compact body while providing excellent image stabilization of up to 5 shutter speed stops. The RF24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM is driven by the tiny Nano USM, the lens achieves superb speed on focusing while achieving smooth autofocus.

Lenses for sports and wildlife photography

Sports and wildlife require long (read telephoto) lenses to capture distant subjects.

Canon’s legendary white lenses are the preferred choice for professionals worldwide.

These long telephoto lenses are constructed with exotic materials like fluorite and use specific optics design, like UD elements, which help in reducing aberrations and give sharp, high contrast images.

These lenses feature well-crafted magnesium alloy bodies, which makes them lightweight, reliable, and robust, and are weather-sealed, making them ideal for outdoor use.

EF600mm f/4L IS III USM

Filter Size: DI 52mm
Weight: 3050g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

Preferred for sports and wildlife, the EF600mm f/4L IS III USM is a Canon L-series super-telephoto lens, distinguished by its advanced, lightweight design, quick and intuitive handling, and high-speed performance. It uses fluorite, Super UD, and aspherical elements, to keep both chromatic and spherical aberrations to a minimum, resulting in sharp, clear images with accurate rendering and color fidelity.

EF400mm f/2.8L IS III USM

Filter Size: DI 52mm
Weight: 2840g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

The Canon EF400mm f/2.8L IS II USM is an L-series optic lens, well-suited for outdoor, wildlife, and sports. A version III of the lens, this design is lighter and features a sophisticated optical layout and updated handling capabilities. The big aperture size enables extensive control over depth of field by isolating subjects using selective focus, and it also gives great results in difficult lighting conditions.

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Filter Size: 77mm
Weight: 1570g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

This lens with a huge focal range of 100mm to 400mm also features a number of improvements over its predecessor including 4 step image stabilization, superior image quality with one fluorite lens, and one Super UD lens, and a rotational type zoom action.

EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM

Filter Size: 67mm
Weight: 1050g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 8

This canon L-series lens is characterized by its relatively compact size and versatility. The EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM features a four-stop-effective image stabilizer system that minimizes the appearance of camera shake for sharper handheld shooting.

Lenses for macro photography

Macro photography makes everyday life dramatic, by showing things unnoticed by the human eye, like the eyes of a butterfly, or pollen grains of a flower.

Canon’s Macro lenses offer excellent picture quality and close-up magnification up to life-size (1:1).

Additionally, Canon’s L-series lenses have an optical system that boasts of UD (Ultra Dispersion) elements and an inner focusing system that delivers high-quality images with superb resolution, excellent contrast, and minimal chromatic aberration.

Select lenses are equipped with full-time manual focus and are fully weather-sealed with dust and drop-proof design.

EF180mm f/3.5L Macro USM

Filter Size: 72mm
Weight : 1090g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 8

The Canon EF180mm f/3.5L USM Macro Lens is the longest macro lens in Canon’s lens lineup. This telephoto macro lens offers the longest 1:1 macro working distance of any Canon lens and produces a beautifully smooth, out of focus background.

EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

Filter Size: 67mm
Weight: 625g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 9

This lens offers a life-size magnification of 1:1 along with hybrid image stabilization while capturing minute macro subjects. Additionally, this lens offers superior image quality, thanks to its UD element.

EF-S60mm f/2.8 Macro USM

Filter Size: 52mm
Weight: 335g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

This lens offers excellent image quality with a life-size 1:1 magnification ratio. It is also extremely lightweight and compact, which makes it suitable for travel. This lens is designed specifically for APS-C sensor size DSLR cameras.

EF-S35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM

Filter Size: 49mm
Weight: 190g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

The EF-S35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM is built with Macro Lite technology to illuminate close-up subjects, even the smallest subjects. It is capable of shooting life-size magnification for stunning up-close detail of objects including food, insects, flowers, still life, or anything you would like to fill the frame with.

Lenses for movie shooting

From the hushed environment of performance to actively scampering children, STM lenses are specially engineered for an excellent movie-shooting.

New stepping motor technologies in combination with the latest Dual Pixel CMOS AF sensor and advanced movie-making features on compatible EOS DSLR and mirrorless cameras enable super-smooth tracking and silent auto-focusing while shooting movies.

EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Filter Size: 67mm
Weight: 515g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

The EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is driven by Nano USM technology which allows you to focus on your subject with exceptional speed. It allows you to capture beautiful portraits and fast-paced action when combined with a versatile focal range.

EF-S24mm f/2.8 STM

Filter Size: 52mm
Weight: 125g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

This pancake lens is one of the smallest, most compact DSLR lenses in the world, weighing 125 grams and is 1/3rd the thickness of the standard 18-55mm kit lens. It offers high image quality and a wide aperture of f/2.8 to give you great subject focus and background defocus, it’s a great option for portraiture.

EF40mm f/2.8 STM

Filter Size: 52mm
Weight: 130g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

At a mere 22.8mm thickness and 130 grams in weight, this pancake lens is one of the lightest lenses ever built. It is extremely portable and very useful in capturing facial expressions in portraits. The STM focusing ensures smooth and silent AF during video recording.

EF50mm f/1.8 STM

Filter Size: 49mm
Weight: 160g (approx)
No. of Aperture Blades: 7

The new EF50mm f/1.8 STM improves on the bestselling EF50mm f/1.8 II in nearly every way. It comes with a metal lens mount, improved compactness (1.7mm shorter) and enhanced image quality by suppressing flare and ghosting. The STM motor brings smooth and silent AF, while 7 circular aperture blades bring beautiful out of focus effects.