I have the Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. Where’s its modern mirrorless replacement?

It’s annoying. The mirrorless revolution was supposed to usher in a new age of lens design, but a lot of the time it seems like we’re getting less choice not more. That seems especially true if you compare Canon’s old EF-S DSLR lens line-up with the current RF-S offerings.

In my camera drawer I have a Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM which I bought used to go with my Canon EOS 50D. It’s a decent lens. It performs pretty well across its wide zoom range, still manages f/5.6 at maximum zoom and controls aberrations pretty well too. It’s a very good long-range kit zoom that also goes that bit wider at the wide end, to around 24mm equivalent.

So it would be really great to get the same lens in the RF mount… but you can’t. It doesn’t exist. Yes, you could use the Canon EF adaptor, but I don’t think most people would want the extra bulk, and it is a kludge, let’s face it.

My gripe is that when Canon decided to step away from its long-running EF-S ecosystem, it also stepped away from a lot of lenses we’d still like to use today in an mirrorless form. 

It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen with the Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6. This lens configuration is gone, along with the DSLR ecosystem it belonged to. There was a time when Canon EOS DSLRs and EF-S lenses were solid performers quite capable of serious amateur and even professional use. The current APS-C RF mount cameras and lenses are a long way from that.

In fact, it seems pretty clear that Canon would prefer users to migrate to a full frame setup. The APS-C models are affordable and, in the case of the EOS R7, pretty powerful, but Canon’s APS-C RF-S lens system is a shadow of its old EF-S range. It’s not really a ‘destination’ system any more, just a stepping stone.

That’s what’s annoying.