Canon EOS RP Where is the kit zoom ?

In a recent post I offered the opinion that the Canon EOS RP could be one of the most interesting of all the full frame mirrorless models from any maker because its low price and compact dimensions make it accessible to a substantial cohort of enthusiastic but not wealthy camera users.  

But it seems that somehow in the product development process those involved forgot that an entry level interchangeable lens camera body needs an entry level kit lens.

How on planet earth did they forget this ?

Maybe Canon’s product development people are not actually on planet earth. Maybe they operate in some alternative realm disconnected from people who buy their products.

I suppose if I asked, a sales person or Canon rep might suggest that I use the EF 24-105mm f3.5-5.6 STM lens first seen in 2014 plus the EF-RF adapter.

Apparently that lens delivers quite good optical quality and it should autofocus OK on the RP with the adapter.

But why would I do that ?

The 24-105 f3.5-5.6 is as long as the RF 24-105mm f4 and about 20mm longer when the adapter is taken into account. It uses a 77mm filter, the same as the RF 24-105mm f4.

This makes no sense to me at all.

Surely any camera buyer considering the purchase of an EOS RP will want to mount a suitably compact native RF kit zoom. But Canon simply does not offer one.

Instead they offer a range of very large, very expensive zooms better suited to the pro level RF body which does not yet exist.

I suspect that the camera makers, all of them not just Canon, have great difficulty viewing the world of photography from the consumer’s point of view.

Taking the Canon example again and allowing my imagination to run on a bit, they seem to be telling us consumers “there are truckloads of EF lenses out there and they work on RF cameras so use them”.

That probably seems reasonable from Canon’s point of view but from my perspective as a consumer why would I buy EF lenses to mount on an RF body when I know that at some stage the EF lenses will become obsolete and I will have to then replace them with RF versions ?

The EOS RP is the mirrorless version of the EOS 6D.2.

Surely if I have or am being urged to buy EF lenses I might as well mount them on the 6D.2.

In fact I notice right now that vendors are offering attractive deals on the EOS 6D.2 bundled with  the EF 24-105 f3.5-5.6.

How does that make a case for buying the RP ?

It gets worse. Canon’s published roadmap for new lens releases over the next year does not include a small 24-105mm RF kit lens.  There is a bunch of big, expensive pro lenses for the as-yet-non-existent Pro grade RF body and a 24-240mm “travel zoom” which could be interesting to some buyers but it will hardly be compact or inconspicuous.

Faced with this situation I suspect many camera buyers will give up on Canon and choose Sony, where at least the 7/9 series bodies and the 25+ FE lenses have matched each other from the start.