Canon to release 6 to 8 RF lenses per year – is it catch-up time for its lagging APS-C ecosystem?

Canon RF 85mm f/1.4L VCM with the range of Canon hybrid lenses.

Canon has announced that it plans on releasing six to eight RF lenses per year, maintaining the output it's achieved over the past few years.

The announcement was made by Go Tokura, Canon’s executive vice president in an interview with Phototrend, a French photography news website, at the CP+ trade show in Yokohama, Japan earlier this year.

While there are several areas within the RF lens lineup which Canon could focus on, I believe that the camera giant will hone in on APS-C to build out what, compared to competitors such as Sony and Fujifilm, is a lagging lens offering.

Canon's RF-S zoom lens offerings include the 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM (pictured), but are limited (Image credit: James Artaius)

RF is Canon’s flagship mirrorless ecosystem consisting of RF mount full-frame and APS-C EOS cameras, full-frame RF lenses, and APS-C RF-S lenses. Although the lens array contains over 60 models, only a handful of these are geared towards APS-C cameras such as the Canon EOS R7 and EOS R50.

While Canon does offer APS-C shooters a few zoom lenses in the wider-angle region, such as the RF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM and RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM, and a couple of do-it-all zooms: the RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM and RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM, none of these can truly be considered fast glass, which is where I see Canon bolstering the RF-S series.

In 2024, the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN, a third-party Canon RF-S lens, hit the market (Image credit: James Artaius)

Granted, my speculation could be off as, after all, Canon has a history of prioritizing its full-frame offerings and, in an effort to drive customers towards these, may continue reserving professional-grade aperture for RF lenses. But, Canon did just recently patent some f/2.8 pancake lenses made for RF-S.

Adding further fuel to this alternative school of thought is that, during the same interview with Phototrend, Tokura stated: “Collaboration with new third-party lens manufacturers will intensify in the future.”

Third-party autofocus lenses for Canon RF-S began arriving in 2024 following a licensing agreement with Canon. Sigma was the first to capitalize on this with the release of the 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN.

Considering Canon plans on pumping out several RF lenses per year for the foreseeable future, we’ll soon know if my prediction is correct or if Canon will continue to prioritize sales of full-frame systems.

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