“I’m looking at the story,” explains photographer Stephen Mallon to us in an interview. “I hear my editor’s voice in my head, asking for the wide, the detail, the portrait. I try not to focus only on the shots that I think I know I want and cover everything.” Mr. Mallon has quite the background as a photographer and a large list of clients. A project he’s been working on for a while involves creating artificial reefs in an attempt to combat global warming. It’s pretty exciting to think about once you put yourself in his shoes.

You can view this article and much more with minimal ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android.

The Essential Photography Gear of Stephen Mallon

Canon 5Ds

Fujifilm GFX 100S

Sigma 70-200mm f2.8

Canon 16-35mm Mk II L

Stephen Mallon

I was shooting with the Canon 5Ds and the Fuji GFX 100s on Sigma lens with a Metabones adaptor. I had the Sigma 70-200 2.8 on the Canon for the faster images with the 16-35 MkII on the Fuji for the wide shots. I’ve gotten hooked on the color science in the Fuji but the AF (at least with the Metabones adapter) isn’t chasing the subject as well as the Canon is. This might also be that fact that with the adapter and me only having the Fuji for a few months I don’t know all of its tricks in staying in focus!

Talk to us about how you first got into photography. What made you fall in love with it?

It started when I was less than three. My dad handed me his Canon AE-1 to take a photo of him and my mom together. I never lost the love of the still image. Immortality drives me now.

We’ve interviewed tons of photographers over the years. Your background is this fascinating combination of editorial and documentary. What sort of influences were there and what paths have you taken to build your specific creative vision?

Thank you! I was determined to find a way to shoot what I wanted and survive on the work at the same time. I have always loved seeing big prints on the wall and part of the drive was figuring out what I could hang and deliver to a client as one. I worked with photo editors at agencies and magazines that helped me refine the work, become more focused, and find stories and projects that I would obsess about. Influences- Selagado, Burtynsky, Chris Jordan, Picasso, and Christo.

You’re photographing all of these scenes where vehicles and things are dumped into the ocean to be made into sustainable, man-made reefs. In the years to come when you retire, what would you like to have accomplished? Is it about education on environmental efforts? The praise for the companies?

I’m thankful that the work has been so widely viewed. The research that I’ve seen is that these reefs can be extremely successful with the right materials. Apparently, they tried tires at one point but the current ripped them off of the wire ropes they were tethered to and ended up washing up on the beaches. My project American Relamatoin began in 2007 after I was approached about making a book. I didn’t feel like I had a solid collection of images to create Stephen Mallon’s coffee table book so my wife and I started looking at the images I had already been drawn towards. We realized i was already finding textural maps at recycling plants and that I had shot while traveling. I found out about the artificial reef project that the MTA was doing in 2007. I was under the impression that I had missed it and when I found out it was ongoing I felt it was a great addition to American Reclamation. Florida is now the third reef project I’ve shot and I want more!

I can imagine that projects like this take a lot of pre-plannng. You’re on a moving boat, the tide might be rough, the boats sometimes go under, and you’ve got a limited amount of time to get THE SHOT. What’s the most difficult part of all this? What’s typically going through your mind creatively? Do you ever wanting to change creative visions at the last minute?

Pre-planning with a touch of being ready in case someone calls and tells you the shoot you t...

We’re streaming daily on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, and Spotify! You can also listen to it right here on The Phoblographer.

The world is curious: how good is digital photography? Albert Watson famously told Steve Jobs when photographing him that digital wasn’t as good as film. Steve allegedly said that it would one day get there. In 2021, lots of us know better. There’s a world where film photography, digital photography, and instant film photography can co-exist. In the purest sense, film photography is still far more versatile and gives different looks. This is especially the case with Medium Format Film. That may sound crazy, but it makes a ton of sense. Digital photography also very much has its place in our lives.

The Monotony of Digital Photography

Digital photography is monotonous. Lots of camera manufacturers use the same sensors. The same 24MP sensor is in various cameras. And that makes digital very monotonous. Instead, it needs to rely on in-camera processing, lenses, and post-production to really make it stand out. But at that point, it’s kind of useless. Leica, Fujifilm, Sony, and Canon all have the most unique sensors in their cameras. With Fujifilm, it’s specifically with the X-series. At the medium format range, Fujifilm relies more on its processing power in-camera to get its look. That’s how they stand out.

But is digital better than film? It depends on the parameters. In terms of dynamic range, it’s challenging to beat the range Fujifilm PRO400H had. If you’re talking about colors, Velvia and Ektachrome can do a great job. Digital tries so hard to copy the look of film. Think about how many presets exist for Kodak Portra alone!

If you’re talking about resolution, then digital is starting to win out here. 35mm film can only be scanned to a certain degree. 120 film only has so much too. Large format gives you lots of possibilities, but again, it’s really just being translated over to a digital image. In the printing process, you can sometimes get more and better photos from film photography.

The arguable exception to this rule is Kodak Portra 160 and Kodak Portra 400. They were made to be scanned.

The Variety and Spice of Film Photography

Film photography already has a leg up on digital photography here. Today, you buy a camera based on features and know that you can do a whole lot in post-production. But with film, you buy it for the look. Kodak Portra looks much different from CineStill. You start with a very unique product. Then, when you want to make it look different, you scan or develop it in a non-conventional way. Film photography has cross-processing, which digital can’t do at all.

Again though, 35mm and 120 films aren’t always able to totally stack up to digital. They can give you a look that you really can’t get digitally, though, unless you do a lot of post-production work. Film has also been around far longer than digital. But as I said, digital needs variety. It starts in-camera. If you do everything in post-production, then your camera really just won’t matter at all.

What good is a Sony Artisan who does all the work in post-production? Or what about a Canon Explorer of Light who shoots for 10 minutes and spends the entire night retouching photos? If that’s the case, what’s the point of using the camera system?

Is Modern Day Digital Better Than Medium Format Film?

When we think of the modern-day, digital medium format, we usually think of Hasselblad and Fujifilm. Phase One is still around, but just focuses on DSLRs. Medium format DSLRs are still doing things that medium format mirrorless isn’t really doing. 400 Megapixel imaging, for example, is one of the insane things medium format digital does. And it does it very well. You can still get a more unique look from larger film planes than the full-frame medium format. A 6×9 image will look different than a full-frame 645 photo. So honestly, in some ways, medium format film is better than digital. But digital surel...

Many camera backpacks overwhelm my small frame, with straps that dig and ergonomic pads that don’t sit where they should. Made from a company that makes camera bags for women, the Jo Totes Bellbrook is a smaller backpack. Designed with waxed canvas and leather accents, it has the charm of a bag that looks like the primary purpose is fashion. But, with a number of different ways to stash gear, the Bellbrook is more than just good-looking.

While it’s not perfect for larger systems, I enjoyed carrying a camera body and two lenses with the Bellbrook. With gear on the bottom (or top), it has a lot of room for personal items at the top and a laptop in the back. I spent a few weeks with the Bellbrook to see if it’s more than just a pretty bag.

Too Long, Didn’t Read.

The Jo Totes Bellbrook backpack is a waxed canvas bag that looks great. It’s ideal for crop sensors and smaller mirrorless cameras and 1-2 extra lenses. But, without a large opening and with thinner straps, it’s not the best choice for larger cameras or heavy loads. It’s a good option for APS-C mirrorless shooters with just a few lenses.

Jo Totes Bellbrook Backpack Pros and Cons

Pros

Stylish canvas exterior

Multiple ways to arrange gear

Ambidextrous quick access door

Nicely padded back

Soft straps don’t dig or chafe

Comfortable enough for smaller kits

Cons

Difficult to get full frame cameras in and out of the side door

Bottom section has limited access and organization

Straps would need more padding to carry super heavy gear

Gear Used

I tried the Jo Totes Bellbrook with a few different setups, including the Canon EOS R6 and 14-35mm f4 L lens, the Sony a6600 with the Tamron 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 lens, and the Fujifilm X-T4 with the 16-80mm kit lens and 90mm f/2.

Innovations

Jo Totes is a company that makes camera bags geared towards women. The Bellbrook is a backpack that’s made for smaller torsos. It also has quick access doors on both sides so you can grab the camera out with either hand. Camera bags for women usually look like purses — the Bellbrook blends style with the comfort of carrying gear on two straps instead of one.

Jo Totes Bellbrook Backpack Tech Specs

Jo Totes lists the following features for the Bellbrook backpack:

Water-resistant waxed canvas and high-quality leather trim

Interior fabric: gray brushed nylon

Includes insert (approximately 10.75″x 4.25″ x 6″) with two adjustable pads

Seven padded dividers in two sizes

Laptop sleeve can accommodate up to a 15 inch computer or notebook

Backpack base is padded

Large, zippered pocket in front

Organization pockets in rear compartment

Adjustable, padded shoulder straps

Padded back for comfortable wear

Turn lock closure in satin brass color

Size: 15.75” x 12” x 6.25”

Ergonomics

The Jo Totes Bellbrook can be divided into two main compartments. One sits at the bottom with two side access doors. The second compartment is accessible from the top zipper. With the bag set up this way, the bottom can store gear and the top personal items. Or, a removable insert can stash extra lenses and flashes in the top compartment as well. The center divider can also be removed, creating one large area for gear or personal items.

Besides that main compartment, the Bellbrook has a laptop compartment at the back. I’ve said this before with other bag reviews and I will say it again — I don’t like the laptop sitting right against the back. This makes the back panel stiff and it no longer curves with your back. But, the back of the bag is well-padded. It wasn’t uncomfortable to carry my iPad in the back, but my 15-inch MacBook would start to get uncomfortable to wear for longer periods. The laptop compartment also has three interior pockets to tuck as well as a pencil pocket and ID sleeve.

A third roomy pocket sits on the front exterior of the bag. A flap closure covers both the laptop compartment and top access zipper and closes with a twist clasp.

The gear is carried on two thin canvas straps. The straps are soft and don’t dig or chafe my...

Fujifilm has some great discounts available on both lenses and camera bodies. In fact, there are a lot of very stellar camera bodies available right now until December 26th that you’ll want to check out. Better yet, the majority of them are weather-resistant. What’s more though, you’ll probably really like some of the lenses on discount or even the return of the GFX 50R rebate. Take a look at the rebates after the jump.

The Phoblographer’s Cheap Photo deals posts are designed to focus on giving you some of the best deals on photography gear we find. We spend a literal business day researching the most attractive camera deals, lens price drops, and all other sales we can find. Some of the gear is brand. But other times we’ll serve you used or refurbished products at good prices. Our Cheap Photo deals are different from the Phoblographer’s thoroughly researched Feature Roundups. If we’ve tested a unit, we may link to our reviews and coverage in our Cheap Photo roundups. With our feature roundups, we’re guaranteed to have used the product — often exhaustively. The site may receive affiliate commission payments if you make a purchase. These help us keep the staff fairly compensated, the server bill paid, and us continually delivering content.

These Instant Rebates last from November 22nd, 2021 until December 26th, 2021.

Fujifilm XT4 in Silver: $200 off

Fujifilm XT4 in Black: $200 off

Fujifilm XT3 Silver: $400 off

Fujifilm XT3 Black: $400 off

Fujifilm XT3 Silver with 18-55mm: $400 off

Fujifilm XT3 Black with 18-55mm: $400 off

Fujifilm XT3 Silver with 16-80mm: $400 off

Fujifilm XT3 Black with 16-80mm: $400 off

Fujifilm XT30 Silver: $100 off

Fujifilm XT30 Black: $100 off

Fujifilm XT30 Charcoal Silver: $100 off

Fujifilm GFX 50R: $1,500 off

Fujifilm 23mm f1.4 R: $200 off

Fujifilm 50mm f1 R WR: $200 off

For more stories like this, please subscribe to The Phoblographer.

What I’m about to tell you isn’t a secret. It’s come from a whole lot of experience as a photographer, a blogger, an employer, an Editor in Chief, and as a human being. It’s easy to feel like your images aren’t that great. It’s true; sometimes your images can really, really suck. But you know what sucks even worse? Constantly being compared to others. I’d know. Do you have any idea how many times we’ve been wrongly compared to other photography blogs? Do you know how many things folks have gotten plain wrong about The Phoblographer? Well, I’m not going to tell you to get over it. I’m going to tell you to get over them. Here’s how to do some photography self-improvement.

First off, stop paying attention to the competition unless you absolutely need to. You shouldn’t be obsessively checking in on what they’re doing. All the hours spent on Instagram or social media looking at what they do should be spent doing something else. Specifically, replace that activity with building yourself and your work. This is what I call photography self-improvement. Remove the competition from your feeds. If something big enough and important enough comes up, then they’ll somehow hear about it. But otherwise, you should really, truly focus on yourself.

One of the most helpful things I’ve done is given someone a one-year plan. Plans for yourself and your creativity are best thought of as the Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings series. Let’s think of this in terms of the LOTR movies. There is a major, one-story arc, but each book or movie in the series is a story arc as well. Each year, you should have three big goals. Each of those goals should be accomplished by three medium goals. Those smaller goals all need their own steps to be accomplished too. By getting all the smaller goals done, you’ll have a medium goal completed. By getting all three medium goals completed, you’ll have progressed in an entire stage of your career. So how do I break this down? Well, I’ll approach this from my own personal goals with blogging.

Big Goal: Increase traffic

Medium Goal 1: Look for new traffic sources

Medium Goal 2: Stop relying on social media and constantly bring people back to the site

Medium Goal 3: Go after new readers

Small goal 1: Explore social news reader apps

Small goal 1: Look at other search engines

Small goal 1: Increase people linking to our website because we’re an authority

Small goal 1: Do everything that increases search engine visibility

Small goal 2: etc.

Now how does this relate to photography self-improvement?

Big goal: Do a series of multiple exposure portraits and photos

Medium goal 1: Stroboscopic ideas

Medium goal 2: Actual multiple exposures

Medium goal 3: Those cool overlay images

Small goal 1: Line up athletes to shoot monthly

Small goal 1: Capture people in motion

Small goal 1: Study how people are doing this method

Small goal 1: Listen to people talk about their day and figure out how to illustrate it

Small goal 2: People in multiple places in the images

Small goal 2: Emotional story telling

Small goal 2: Constantly line up shoots

Small goal 2: Get people into the studio to just experiment with props

Small goal 3: Shoot tons of backgrounds

Small goal 3: Shoot silhouettes of people and combine them with patterns

Small goal 3: Get very experimental

Small goal 3: Have fun along the way

No matter what you do, focus on yourself. Build you. Cut the negativity out unless you believe you can truly look at it as an obstacle to overcome. But most folks don’t do that; they focus on just themselves. This is how you can do some critical photography self-improvement.

After testing various camera systems, I believe high dynamic range settings truly matter for post-production.

First off, I’m a guy who avoids post-production at any cost. Any that’s easier with some camera systems than others. But, if you really have to do post-production, high dynamic range (HDR) setting matters. I think it matters if you want to spend less time in post-production. I also think it matters to understand what you want from your images. Most of all, though, I think it’s best for realizing just how great modern cameras are.

I first thought about this with Fujifilm cameras. Those cameras have a lot that can affect the image quality. First and foremost are their film simulations. Please don’t tell me you ignore those and do it in post-production. If that’s the case, then you’re ignoring a major part of the brand’s identity. You can also control the dynamic range in the camera. And in my tests, it has always affected both the RAW and the JPEG. If I ever need to do post-production, then RAW files just look different.

Then I tried this with other brands, namely Canon and Sony. Whenever I used Dynamic Range optimization, I found that I created photos I preferred. But photographers often say they’ll sit later on and fix them in post-production. Over the years, I’ve translated that to say some people are just really lazy. And I agree fully with that idea unless it’s just not possible in your current situation.

So when would the high dynamic range option be useful?

Landscape photography: It will help you edit a lot less. You may not even need to edit at all. Just beam the images to your phone and put them on social media!

Portrait photography: Ever wanted to get more detail from the highlights because you’re spot metering for a face?

Photowalking: The other night, I was walking in the rain and discovered how much extra detail a camera pulled that I could’ve never seen with my eyes.

Black and white: I create my own custom black and white profiles on almost every camera. Add in HDR mode, and you’ll have a look that’s closer to some film emulsions. Avoid this if you want a high-contrast look.

Of course, that isn’t the end of it all. Some cameras have a clarity option. I turn that on all the time with my Fujifilm X Pro 3. And when I use the Canon EOS R5, I love what it does too. On the Sony a1, I appreciate that they added this to the creative looks. For what it’s worth though, their images are crunchy enough. I haven’t seen this option with Leica, Panasonic, or Olympus either. But if you add HDR toning to an image and boost clarity, then the effects will apply to the RAW file. And if that’s the case, you can basically just look at the RAW file in Capture One and convert it straight to a JPEG.

If you’re newer to photography, I think you should give this a shot. You’ll spend more time creating and shooting. You won’t need to Photoshop or edit like crazy in post-production. And most importantly, you’ll become a more creative photographer who can get a lot of work done faster. If you ever want to break into being a professional photographer, you’ll realize how important time is for your money.

I never held a camera in my hand until my second year of college. After trying on four or five majors, none of which fit, I stumbled into journalism. Here I could use my natural curiosity to some advantage. Then, I discovered photojournalism, which was even better—my first drafts of stories were always OK, but I couldn’t learn to rewrite. Photojournalism, I realized, had no second drafts—you only got one chance to get it right.

You can view this article and much more with minimal ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android.

Like approximately 90% of the photographers I know, my first real inspiration as a photographer was Henri Cartier-Bresson. He seemed to go everywhere in the world and see everything—things invisible to everyone else. He used a small, unobtrusive Leica with one lens and seemed to carry very little else (except money–lots of money). No lights, no assistants, no model release forms, nothing.

Boyd Hagan

This was my fantasy of the ideal photographer’s life.

That may be the life some photographers live, but the reality is a bit different for me. When I began getting paid to take photographs, clients like TIME Magazine and The New York Times didn’t care what size your camera was—it had to be 100% reliable, as well as versatile: Nikons were my go-to cameras for that reason.

When I was gasping for breath at 14,000 feet in the Andes while trekking to Machu Picchu with what felt like an 80-lb Nikon in my backpack, or hanging out of a helicopter over Las Vegas at dawn with a camera attached to a 6-pound gyro stabilizer (no IBIS in those days) or setting up lights at the New Jersey Meadowlands to shoot a brand-new Ferrari, with the president of Ferrari and a (very expensive) trained Hollywood rearing horse plus–I had less than 10 minutes to shoot the photo (a day-long anxiety attack), I sometimes thought about my stripped-down fantasy of one-camera/no lights photography.

In my personal work, I strive for spontaneity, simplicity, and physical beauty; a big, impressive camera (no matter how technically advanced) isn’t really helpful.

After using a variety of Nikons, Hasselblads, a Sinar 4×5, an 8×10 camera, and various digital cameras, I was still looking for that one camera that could do it all. I had some fun with great little point-and-shoot cameras like the Olympus XA, but I wanted more out of my fantasy camera.

Boyd Hagan

I haven’t found the perfect camera yet, but I did find a close cousin to it.

When I injured my back hauling equipment on a location shoot (no budget for an assistant!), I began looking for something more lightweight that could make excellent photos and save me from surgery. One day, I saw a demonstration of something new: a Sony mirrorless camera—the NEX-5. The photographs looked very good. I sold my Nikon gear and traded for much lighter Sony mirrorless cameras, adding the first full-frame mirrorless A7 in 2013. I continued to upgrade as new Sony cameras were released.

Sony mirrorless cameras were excellent and lighter than Nikons, but still not really the featherweight champion of my dreams.

Boyd Hagan

When I began getting paid to take photographs, clients like TIME Magazine and The New York Times didn’t care what size your camera was—it had to be 100% reliable, as well as versatile.

Then, in 2015, the Sony RX1R II found me.

First and foremost, this camera is smaller and lighter than a Leica M camera. The shutter is as quiet as a Leica M. It has a full-frame 42MP BSI-CMOS image sensor for great low-light performance, with an incredibly sharp fixed Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 lens (designed specifically for the RX1R II). Even more impressive, it has extremely fast and accurate autofocus, with 399 AF points with 25 cross-type contrast detect focus points. Focus peaking is available and frequently in use.

For me, this was close to perfection.

The RX1R II looks like a slightly older brother of Sony’s point and shoot RX100 cameras—it draws no attention to itself. It is possibly the least intimidating...

Nothing is more fun than walking around a city at night stuck in tungsten white balance and photographing the city! You’ll get the blade runner effect. For the past few years, Tamron has become one of our favorite third-party lens manufacturers. Their lenses are fast to focus, compact, lightweight, and built incredibly well. On Sony cameras, they’re incredibly durable if not some of the most durable out there. After the jump, you can find all the Tamron lens deals currently available.

These Tamron Lens savings start 11/15/21 and run through 1/2/22.

Tamron 18-400mm: $50 off

Tamron 18-200mm: $50 off

Tamron 70-300mm: $50 off

Tamron 24mm f2.8: $50 off

Tamron 20mm f2.8: $50 off

Tamron 35mm f2.8: $50 off

Tamron 17-28mm f2.8: $100 off

Tamron 70-180mm f2.8: $100 off

Tamron 28-200mm: $80 off

Tamron 150-500: $100 off

For more stories like this, please subscribe to the Phoblographer.

Some camera menu systems are better than others. Some deliver on ergonomics. Others focus purely on image quality. But when it comes to the best camera menu system, it’s all about an easy and enjoyable experience. In 2021, we want to look at screens a whole lot less. So the faster it is for us to get to what we need, the better. So we dove into our reviews index and found out which was the best camera menu system. Which do you think it is?

Table of Contents

How We’re Ranking the Best Camera Menu System

Hasselblad

Canon

Panasonic

Nikon

Leica

Fujifilm

Olympus

Sony

How We’re Ranking the Best Camera Menu System

Cameras are all very subjective. But one thing isn’t: there’s a great reason why Apple got to where they are. Part of that is the old visionary coordination of Steve Jobs. Remember the iPod? The thing that made it so great is that you could get anywhere you wanted in the menu with two clicks. It made you want to keep using it. You didn’t have to scroll through menu after menu. It was fast, intelligently designed, and enjoyable to use. Some cameras and their menu systems are much better at that than others. A few other menu systems want to outsource that work to you by creating a My Menu system. But we believe that a camera menu system should be great right out of the box.

For the record, we have over a decade of experience testing various cameras and camera systems. That’s evident in all the original product imagery. It’s all done in-house by our Reviews Team. And we’re pulling a lot of that information from our experience reviewing these cameras.

Fun fact: Did you know that most of the reviews team are women now? We’re super proud to be pushing the boundaries when it comes to diversity.

Hasselblad

If there’s one thing that most of our findings have concluded, it’s the Hasselblad by far has the best menu system on the market. It was designed very much like a phone, and that’s the modern interface we so desperately need. Further, it’s also a wonderful menu system. Arguably, they’ve done it a lot better than Leica did with the T-camera system. So, by far, the menu system is the best reason to buy a new Hasselblad camera. But if we’re frank, this will take some getting used to because of just how starkly different it is. Their cameras have horrid autofocus issues, and the RAW files are annoying to deal with. But at least their cameras are pretty, and the menu systems are well organized.

Canon

My personal favorite camera menu system is from Canon. I, like many other photographers, spent years angry at them. Let’s be honest; there was a time that they didn’t seem to care about innovating. But their menu system was always on-point. When they moved to a touchscreen menu, it became even easier to use. To this day, the Canon camera menu system is still the best to navigate. True to the ideals, you can get anywhere you want in two taps. Plus, you can drag your finger across and go from one part to another.

Most of my work for years was done with the Sony system. But even Sony’s new touchscreen menu feels like an afterthought. This is one of the places where Canon wins a major advantage over them and anyone else. Better yet, the sections are big and very responsive to sensitive touches.

Even better, it’s nice to know that in two taps, you can easily get to formatting your memory cards.

Panasonic

Panasonic comes in right after Canon. If Canon’s interface has a horizontal emphasis, Panasonic is similar but with a vertical emphasis. You can touch and drag across the menu system, but it isn’t really as responsive as Canon’s menu system. It becomes more responsive with touch and drag than it does with simply tapping. Personally, I still use a combination of the buttons and the screen to navigate. But the Panasonic camera menu system is still leagues ahead of the others.

Nikon

Nikon, like Panasonic and Canon, has an excellent menu system. There are the biggest sections or...

Ultra-wide angle lenses tend to be huge and expensive. But, Canon’s widest full-frame mirrorless prime is also one of the company’s most affordable lenses. Beat in price by only the $199 nifty fifty, the Canon RF 16mm f2.8 STM sits at just $299. At under six ounces, it barely adds weight to the front of the camera. And, it’s an ultra-wide-angle lens that doesn’t have an equivalent in the EF mount.

But, where did Canon make cuts to create a wide-angle that’s simultaneously cheap and light? I spent some time capturing landscapes and environmental portraits with the Canon RF 16mm f2.8 STM to see what Canon has managed to cram into such a small $299 lens. Looking at the JPEGs, you’ll probably be impressed — but don’t look too closely at the RAW files.

Table of Contents

Too Long, Didn’t Read

Canon RF 16mm f2.8 Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Gear Used

Innovations

Canon RF 16mm f2.8 Tech Specs

Ergonomics

Build Quality

Autofocus

Ease of Use

Image Quality

Bokeh

Sharpness

Lens Character

Color Rendering

Extra Image Samples

Edited

Unedited

Conclusions

Likes

Dislikes

Too Long, Didn’t Read

The Canon RF 16mm f2.8 STM is a great affordable lens for JPEG photographers. But, the distortion will give RAW shooters and pixel peepers some pause.

Canon RF 16mm f2.8 Pros and Cons

Pros

Compact and lightweight

Affordable

Ultra-wide view

Bright aperture

Simple, clever design

Fast to focus

Cons

Significant vignetting, barrel distortion, and chromatic aberration on RAW files

Smudgy image quality at the edges, in both RAW and JPEG

Small points of light flare

No weather-sealing

Gear Used

I used the Canon RF 16mm f2.8 STM with both the EOS R3 and the EOS R6.

Innovations

This lens is the first ultra-wide prime to launch for the RF mount. Canon doesn’t even have a similar EF mount option on their current list of lenses, just the $2,099 EF 14mm f2.8L IS USM. Outside of that, the biggest headliners here are that it’s small and affordable.

Canon RF 16mm f2.8 Tech Specs

Canon USA lists the following specifications for the RF 16mm f2.8 STM:

Focal Length: 16mm

Maximum and Minimum Aperture: F2.8 – F22

Lens Mount Type: RF Mount; Metal Mount

Compatible Cameras: Canon EOS R-series, including full-frame

Minimum Focusing Distance: 5.1 in. / 0.43 ft. / 0.13m

Maximum Magnification: 0.26x

Field of View, at Minimum Focus Distance: Approx. 5.3 x 3.5 in. (134 x 90mm)

Angle of View (Diagonal): Approx. 108°10

Lens Construction: 9 elements in 7 groups

Special Elements: (One) Aspherical element

Lens Coating: Canon SSC (Super Spectra Coating)

Filter Size Diameter: ø43mm

Aperture Blades: 7; circular shape

Image Stabilization: None (with EOS R5 in-body stabilization – 5.5 stops correction)

Focusing Drive System: Canon STM (Stepping motor; gear-type)

Full-time Manual Focusing: Yes (after One-Shot AF; after Servo AF with compatible EOS R-series cameras)

Dual Pixel CMOS AF Coverage (Horizontal x Vertical):

EOS R/RP — Approx. 88% x 100%

EOS R5/R6 — Approx. 90% x 100%

Face Detect + Tracking – Approx. 100% x 100%

Control Ring: Dual-function Manual focus ring / Control Ring (selected with switch on lens), No clicks when set to Control Ring function: Manual Focus Ring

Electronic ring system:

Full-time Manual focus possible

No physical limit to ring rotational angle

AF/MF Switch: None – focus mode selected in camera menu

MF/Control Ring Switch: Provided on lens barrel

Distance Scale: Yes (after One-Shot AF; after Servo AF with compatible EOS R-series cameras) Distance scale available in EVF or Live View LCD screen of compatible EOS R-series cameras

Distance Limiter Switch: None

Dust / Weather Resistant Construction: None

Maximum Outer Diameter x Length: Approx. 1.6 in. x 2.7 in. (40.1 x ø69.2mm)

Weight: Approx. 5.8 oz. / 0.4 lb. / 165g

Ergonomics

The Canon RF 16mm f2.8 STM is a tiny lens. It looked downright comical on the big body of the R3. Weighing a touch under six ounces, shooting with this 16mm feels almost like there’s no lens mounted at all. It’s easily a lens that you could carry all day....