Canon’s RF100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM has climbed to the top of Japan’s lens sales chart, and Sigma’s 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C has shown up three times across the top 10 in different mounts. That combination says a lot about where lens demand is moving: not toward the biggest pro zooms, but toward optics that are light, affordable and easy to live with.
Canon introduced the RF100-400mm on September 14, 2021, alongside the RF16mm F2.8 STM, and pitched it as a budget-friendly telephoto option with an estimated U.S. price of $649.99 and October 2021 availability. Canon’s current U.S. store listing still frames it the same way, as a compact, lightweight RF tele zoom with a versatile 100-400mm range, Nano USM autofocus and optical image stabilization rated up to 5.5 stops. Canon’s museum notes add the key practical detail that the lens gives photographers an extra 100mm over the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM, which is exactly the kind of reach that helps on stage, on the sports field or with wildlife that will not sit still long enough to let you walk closer.
That formula is why the RF100-400mm keeps landing in conversations about value telephotos. At 635g, it is still a lens you can carry without planning your whole bag around it, and it sits well below Canon’s heavier, far pricier RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM. For birding, casual wildlife and field sports, that matters as much as the headline zoom range.
Sigma’s 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN Contemporary explains the other half of the story. Sigma announced the Canon RF-mount launch on June 25, 2024 and said it would ship in July 2024. Sigma has called it the company’s first lens for Canon RF mount and its first APS-C size mirrorless dedicated zoom. The numbers are the selling point: 290g, 74.5mm in length, 65.4mm in maximum diameter and a constant f/2.8 aperture through the zoom range.
That makes it an easy fit for EOS R7, R10, R50 and R100 owners who want a normal zoom that does not feel like a compromise. Kitamura’s ranking, with Sigma’s 18-50mm appearing in Fujifilm X, Canon RF and Sony E mounts, and Canon’s RF100-400mm at the top, shows the same thing from two sides: photographers are rewarding lenses that make a camera easier to carry and more useful every day.
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