Canon's newest lens, the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, features a bokeh control ring – officially dubbed "SA Control", to manipulate the optic's spherical aberration. And now we've got our first look at what this effect actually looks like!
The Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM – despite other big bombshells like the new Canon EOS R3 and the pro Canon RF 400mm f/2.8L and Canon RF 600mm f/4L telephotos – was actually the most intriguing of Canon's announcements.
• Read more: Best Canon RF lenses
It looks like one of the best macro lenses we've ever seen, not least because it's the world's first 1.4x magnification macro lens with autofocus – and it also tops out at a whopping 8 stops of image stabilization.
What about that bokeh control feature, though? Does it look any good, and will you actually make use of it? Well, you can see the effect for yourself in the GIFs and still images below.
For starters, here's how the SA Control affects the fore, mid and background when it comes to shooting portraiture:
The top image shows the RF 100mm's SA Control dialed all the way down to its most extreme "-" value. Here you can see that the dial applies a soft focus effect across all planes, with halation around points of contrast, creamy background bokeh, and more flared, bulbous 'bokeh balls' created from the points of light.
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The middle image shows the SA Control at the "0" value – the middle setting where no effect is applied. Here you see the lens behaving like a standard 100mm f/2.8 portrait lens, with sharp midground details, pleasing background bokeh, and solid, rounded bokeh balls. The shifting of lens elements also creates a pushed-in, tighter composition.
The bottom image is set at the highest "+" value, fully engaging the effect to the opposite extreme. Again a soft focus look is achieved, but instead of creaming the background bokeh it renders much noisier bokeh – and creates the kind of 'soap bubble bokeh' to the bokeh balls that is normally characteristic of vintage lenses. Again, the lens elements have shifted and made the composition even tighter still.
You can see the effect again with these close-up shots of balls of twine; the first image shows the SA Control set at the "-" end, the second at "0" and the third at "+", showing the difference between the standard soft focus look, a non-manipulated 100mm look, and a soft focus look with soap bubble bokeh.
The effect is similar to that seen in the Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 SoftFocus, and might be a halfway house to the Defocus Smoothing rendering of the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM DS portrait powerhouse (which is three times the price of the RF 100mm Macro).
Suffice to say we're very excited about the new lens, not just for its headline macro capabilities but also its intriguing portrait properties too.
Pre-order the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM from Adorama (US)
Pre-order the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM from B&H (US)
Pre-order the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM from Park (UK)
Pre-order the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM from Wex (UK)
Pre-order the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM from Ted's Cameras (AU)
Pre-order the Canon RF 100mm f.2.8L Macro IS USM from CameraPro (AU)
Read more:
Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM DS review
Best Canon lenses
Best Canon cameras
