Introduction

Ease of Use

Weighing in at 1330g / 2.93lb and measuring 199mm in length and 88.5mm in diameter, the RF 24-105mm F2.8L IS USM Z is quite a large, heavy lens given the standard focal range of 24-105mm that's on offer.

It does feel well-balanced though, even when using it with a mid-sized camera body like the Canon EOS R5 body that we tested it with, as shown in the product photos.

The lens doesn't extend at all when fully zoomed out to 105mm, although the large petal-shaped lens hood adds even more length.

Compared to the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM which weighs in at 700g and measures 10.7cm in length, the new hybrid version is much bigger and heavier, although of course it does offer a constant F2.8 aperture.

The equally fast Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS USM weighs 900g and measures 12.6cm in length, so again the Power Zoom version is much bigger and heavier, although of course it does offer the longer reach between 70-105mm.

Build quality is excellent. The RF 24-105mm F2.8L IS USM Z feels very solid in your hand, even if it is mostly made out of plastic, and it features a weather-resistant design to help protect it against dust and moisture.

There are four switches on the left hand side of the lens barrel. From top to bottom, the first one is a Focus Limiter switch with two settings, Full or 1m-Infinity.

The second one is a switch for choosing between auto-focusing and manual focusing. Note that this lens usefully offers full-time manual focusing even when AF is selected.

The third one is a switch for turning image stabilisation on or off, and the fourth and bottom one is for choosing the stabilisation mode from the three available settings.

The RF 24-105mm F2.8L IS USM Z boasts Image Stabilisation which Canon claims offers an advantage of up to 5.5 f-stops over lenses without a stabilizer.

This increases to a very impressive 8-stops of compensation if you pair it with a camera body that has IBIS, like the EOS R5 that we tested it with.

This being a hybrid photo/video lens, there is a clickless aperture ring that runs from F2.8 to F22 and has a lock switch marked IRIS for the Auto position.

Unfortunately the Aperture ring only currently works in video mode at launch - Canon were unable to say if this will change in a future firmware update.

For still photos, instead there is the option to customise the lens control ring for setting the aperture, which unlike the actual aperture ring does have a clicked operation.

The lens control ring at the end of the lens barrel can be used to quickly access certain key camera settings (TV, AV, ISO and exposure settings).

The fly-by-wire manual focusing ring is fairly narrow but it is ridged to help you to get a firmer grip on it.

There are also no hard stops at either end of the ring to help you know when the minimum or maximum focusing distance has been achieved.

Polariser users should be pleased that the 82mm filter thread doesn't rotate on focus.

Auto-focusing with the Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8L IS USM Z and the EOS R5 camera proved to be quick, quiet and accurate.

The Nano USM auto-focusing system delivers quick autofocus performance with full-time manual focus override in the one-shot AF mode. The lens is also very quiet, making it ideal for discreet situations, as well as for use while filming videos.

We didn't experience too much "hunting" at all, either in good or bad light, with the lens accurately focusing virtually all of the time, thanks to the superb low-light capabilities of the EOS R cameras.

There are two Lens Function buttons which by default act as Focus Hold/AF Stop buttons. You can choose to assign different functions to these buttons from the Customize Buttons section of the camera's menu system.

Around the base of the lens is a removable tripod collar/foot. This is not only useful when using the lens with a tripod, but also when handholding the lens to help keep it as steady as possible.

You can move the foot around the lens to whichever position you need, giving you good flexibility to move your camera.

There are two power zoom accessories available for this lens, the PZ-E2 and PZ-E2B. The PZ-E2 just has a USB-C port, while the PZ-E has both USB-C and 20-pin type ports.

They offer both smooth zoom control and remote zoom operation via controls on the camera body.

There is a petal shaped lens hood and a soft case available for this lens, both of which are included in the box.