Canon L Lenses

Canon L lenses are designed for professional use and carry the "L" designation in the description. They also have a red ring around the lens barrel that visually distinguishes them from Canon's regular lenses.

As tools made for professional photographers, L-series lenses are expected to produce images that are sharp and crystal clear with excellent color rendition.

To meet these requirements, Canon utilizes three optical materials in its L lenses:

1. Fluorite elements -- used in supertelephoto L-series lenses to counter chromatic aberration or color fringing, as in the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM
2. UD (ultra-low dispersion) glass elements -- similar to fluorite elements, they help reduce chromatic aberration resulting in improved sharpness and contrast. Lenses that use UD glass include Canon's EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS USM telephoto zoom lens and EF 300mm f/4L IS USM telephoto prime lens.
3. Aspherical elements -- wide angle and fast standard lenses can suffer from spherical aberration, which happens when light rays coming through the center of the lens do not converge at the same point as rays entering through the edges of the lens. The result is a fuzzy image as there is no sharp point of focus. Aspherical elements use a surface of variable curvature to bring the entire image plane into sharp focus.

Rugged Build Quality

In addition to these specialized optical features, Canon L lenses have to withstand the rigors of professional use, from the mud and sludge of combat situations to snow, rain, and dust that wildlife and nature photographers encounter.

To achieve this, L lenses are made with rubber seals at interface areas such as switch panels, exterior seams, drop-in filter compartments and lens mounts. Moving parts such as the focusing and zoom rings and switches are designed to keep out dust and moisture to ensure reliability under adverse conditions.

Low Light Performance

Professional photographers often have to shoot in low light conditions, such as indoor sports events or outdoor arenas under artificial lights at night. Wildlife photographers get their best shots in early morning or late afternoon, when the animals are most active and the sun is low in the sky.

Wedding and press photographers often prefer using available light above flash to get a more natural look and require fast lenses for this.

In all these situations, L-series lenses are invaluable with their wide maximum apertures, allowing optimum low light performance without requiring a boost in ISO to unusable levels.

While all Canon's big "white" lenses (except for the unusual EF 400mm f/4 DO) are L lenses, there are many L-series lenses, both prime and zoom, that are black, particularly in the wide angle and portrait focal lengths.

Below is the current lineup of Canon L lenses:

1. Prime Lenses

• Ultra Wide
  * Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
• Wide Angle
  * Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM
  * Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM
• Standard & Medium Telephoto
  * Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
  * Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
• Telephoto
  * Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM
  * Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
  * Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM
  * Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM
  * Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM
• Super Telephoto
  * Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM
  * Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM
  * Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
  * Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM
  * Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6 L USM
  

2. Zoom Lenses

• Ultra Wide Zoom
  * Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
  * Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
• Standard Zoom
  * Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
  * Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
• Telephoto Zoom
  * Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM
  * Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM
  * Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
  * Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM
  * Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
  * Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

4. Tilt-Shift Lenses

3. Macro Lenses