The best Canon superzoom lenses offer you the ultimate in flexibility, a companion for every shooting situation. Versatility is the name of the game here, with lenses that cover a focal range from a wide perspective to a long telephoto. Generally, superzooms are also relatively lightweight and cost-effective, making them a good choice for travel and budget-conscious photographers.
While they don't offer the same kind of sharpness as kinds of high-end primes and zooms that comprise the best Canon lenses superzooms are much better than they used to be. Here, we've picked out the finest superzooms you can get for all Canon systems, including EOS R mirrorless, EOS M mirrorless and EOS DSLRs, and we've picked options for APS-C and full-frame cameras.
A few of the lenses on our list in the DSLR section have been discontinued, however we're keeping them on the list for now as they are still available to buy second-hand. For more versatile optics that aren't too heavy, check out our guide to the best lenses for travel.
Jon Stapley
Jon is one of our go-to specialists when it comes to all aspects of photography, from cameras and action cameras to lenses and memory cards, flash diffusers and triggers, batteries and memory cards, selfie sticks and gimbals, and much more besides.
Full-frame Canon mirrorless users currently have one superzoom choice – the RF 24-240mm lens. Happily, it delivers excellent quality and fast focusing.
If you're using an RF-mount camera with an APS-C sensor, you have an additional option – the well-balanced RF-S 18-150mm lens, which can even double as a macro.
Offering amazing all-out reach when mounted to a Canon APS-C DSLR, the Sigma 18-300mm incorporates FLD elements to boost sharpness even at the tele end.
If you're looking for a lightweight superzoom to take on holiday, Tamron's 18-200mm is a winner. It's discontinued, but still available on the used market.
For users of Canon EOS M mirrorless cameras, the 18-150mm lens is a solid superzoom option, with stabilisation, and still (for now) has good availability.
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Canon RF
Currently there's only one lens for full-frame RF-mount cameras that qualifies as a superzoom – fortunately, it's an excellent one.
Users of Canon EOS R cameras demand the best when it comes to quality, which makes sense given the full-frame, high-resolution sensors they're using. With that in mind, you might think that a superzoom simply wouldn't be a suitable lens for these cameras, however the Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM delivers truly outstanding results for a lens of its type, with impressive sharpness right through its 10x zoom range. We discovered this for ourselves when we put the lens through its paces in a full review, and ended up giving it our highest rating.
You might want to be aware that some of the correction at the tele end is digital, not optical, a fact that's noticeable when you boot up Adobe Camera Raw. It's very good though, and ultimately it's results that count. And the Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM produces very good results indeed.
The Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM is typically sold as the kit lens for the Canon EOS R7. Its 18-150mm focal range equates to about 29-240mm in full frame camera terms, so although this lens is pretty compact and light, it actually qualifies as a do-it-all 'superzoom'. It's the ideal travel companion for APS-C cameras like the Canon EOS R7, R10, R50 and R100. It offers much greater range and a slightly faster aperture than the RF-S 18-45mm lens, and also boasts light macro capability. It performs above expectations for a kit lens and is an excellent choice for APS-C Canon EOS R cameras.
While a lot of lenses for Canon's APS-C DSLRs are being discontinued, there are still a few good options for EF-S mount, particularly if you are willing to shop second-hand.
This Sigma goes all out for telephoto reach, equivalent to a mighty focal length of 480mm on a full-frame camera. The trade-off is that it’s noticeably bigger and heavier than some comparable lenses, at 79x102mm and 585g. The motor-based rather than ring-type ultrasonic system helps with downsizing but is a little sluggish and audible in operation. As well as aspherical and SLD elements, the addition of FLD elements really does help to boost sharpness, which only drops at the longest extremity of the zoom range.
This Tamron lens wins points for lightness at a slender weight of just 400g, i though the autofocus speed is a little pedestrian. Sharpness is pleasingly solid considering the type of lens and price, at all equivalent zoom settings, although corner-sharpness suffers noticeably when using the widest aperture in the middle sector of the zoom range. On the plus side, colour fringing at mid-zoom settings is very negligible. This lightweight Tamron is now discontinued, but still eminently acquirable on the second-hand market – and it offers unbeatable value at the price.
This Canon lens has distinctive styling, with a metal mounting plate and pleasing ergonomics that make it satisfying to use. While the previous STM edition of this lens is no slouch when it comes to autofocus speed this newer Nano USM version is incredibly fast for stills, while still maintaining smooth transitions when shooting movies. The image stabilizer is equally effective in very effective and image quality is of generally high quality. However, sharpness at the centre of the image frame proved slightly less than impressive from the new lens, at both ends of the zoom range.
Sadly, nearly all of the full-frame EF-mount superzooms have now been discontinued, but this monster 60-600mm technically counts as a superzoom due its impressive 10x zoom. However, it is not quite the all-in-one do-it-all lens - unless of course your main subject matter is wildlife or sport.
The 60-600mm Sport is noticeably larger and nearly 40 percent weightier, at 2,700g, than Sigma’s original 50-500mm. However, all that lens gets you a massive 10x zoom range. Allowing you to swap from a standard focal length to a close-up without having to waste time swapping between lenses.
The Sigma 60-600mm Sport has high-quality optics, better than would be expected for a lens of this range, only falling off in distortion and sharpness toward the 600mm end. However, for the very reasonable price Sigma ask for this lens, which is totally forgivable.
Marketed as the ideal all-in-one lens by Canon, this 8.3x superzoom doesn't quite pack the same range as the Tamron above, but it is a touch cheaper (though only just). With a full-frame focal length equivalent to 29-240mm, it's not quite as wide as we'd like, but you'll still be able to get a decent amount in the frame. Extended to 240mm and it should be handy for those occasions when you want to tightly crop in on something, but it's not going to fill the frame for those action shots. Available in black or silver, it's a compact lens that's no bigger than Canon's 55-200mm, making it a neat little travel lens.
Something you have to be aware of when shopping for superzooms is that these lenses are not the sharpest lenses on the block. A big zoom in a small body comes with trade-offs; there are a lot of optical elements at work inside the lens in order to allow them to achieve their enormous focal range. The good ones are sharp enough – you'll get great-looking images – but if you need the ultimate in sharpness, you're best off looking at prime lenses, or at least shorter zooms.
Generally, it's worth thinking about exactly how much zoom you need. Canon's 18-135mm is a world away from Sigma's 60-600mm, and if you aren't going to need the latter then there's no sense making the kinds of compromises on weight, price
If you want a superzoom's versatility though, the good news is that you can get it no matter which Canon system you're using. There are great superzooms available for Canon's full-frame mirrorless RF mount and the APS-C mirrorless RF-S and EF-M mounts, as well as for the old EF DSLR range. Remember that EF DSALR lenses can be adapted to fit RF-mount cameras.
However, the gradual discontinuation of EF and EF-S lenses, as Canon switches its attention to developing the newer RF and RF-S mounts means that there is very little choice for each particular mount at the moment – and this will continue until the range of superzoom lenses expands for those mounts.
We test lenses using a mix of both real world sample images and lab tests. Our lab tests are carried out scientifically in controlled conditions using the Imatest testing suite, which consists of custom charts and analysis software that measures resolution in line widths/picture height, a measurement widely used in lens and camera testing. We find the combination of lab and real-word testing works best, as each reveals different qualities and characteristics.
While there isn't a cast-iron definition of a focal range that counts as 'superzoom', in general the term applies to any lens with a reasonably broad focal range that runs from wide to telephoto. Generally if it's got a zoom range of at least 8x or so, a lens will count as a superzoom (and several offer much more than that).
Are superzoom lenses worth it?
Some users worry about false economy when it comes to superzoom lenses – surely this promise of so much zoom range in a lens that's both small and comparatively affordable is too good to be true? While there definitely have been cheap and nasty superzooms released over the years, there are also plenty that offer excellent sharpness and all-around performance – as demonstrated on this list.
Jon spent years at IPC Media writing features, news, reviews and other photography content for publications such as Amateur Photographer and What Digital Camera in both print and digital form. With his additional experience for outlets like Photomonitor, this makes Jon one of our go-to specialists when it comes to all aspects of photography, from cameras and action cameras to lenses and memory cards, flash diffusers and triggers, batteries and memory cards, selfie sticks and gimbals, and much more besides.
An NCTJ-qualified journalist, he has also contributed to Shortlist, The Skinny, ThreeWeeks Edinburgh, The Guardian, Trusted Reviews, CreativeBLOQ, and probably quite a few others I’ve forgotten.
