Canon RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM Is its Fastest Ultra-Wide Lens Ever

Feb 04, 2026

Jeremy Gray

A black Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM camera lens with a red ring near the front, textured grip, and control switches, positioned on a white background.

Canon has announced two new ultra-wide lenses today. Alongside the Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM, Canon also unveiled the RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM, the sixth lens in its hybrid-oriented f/1.4L VCM prime series.

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Canon launched its f/1.4 VCM series in June 2024 with the RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM, and quickly expanded the series to include the RF 24mm f/1.4L VCM and RF 50mm f/1.4L VCM later that year. Canon launched the RF 20mm f/1.4L VCM last March, then Canon’s widest f/1.4 lens ever. In September, the RF 85mm f/1.4L VCM arrived, bringing with it excellent overall performance.

A Canon RF 14mm F1.4 L VCM wide-angle camera lens is shown standing upright, featuring a red accent ring, textured focus ring, and white labeling on a sleek black body. — Canon RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM

The new Canon RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM makes the same promises as its five siblings, boasting professional-grade photo and video performance inside a unified, compact form factor. The RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM is the first lens in the series to look different in any way, sporting a built-in petal-shaped lens hood. However, its focus ring and Control Ring positions remain the same, and the lens has the same barrel diameter and roughly the same weight and balance as the other f/1.4L VCM primes.

There is another difference, though, as the new, ultra-fast 14mm prime doesn’t feature filter threads. Given the bulbous shape of the front lens element, the lens instead uses pre-cut rear gelatin or polyester filters, which may limit its utility in certain situations, both for landscape photography and video work. For some, this may be an acceptable tradeoff given that the RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM delivers the brightest aperture ever in a Canon lens this wide. As the only other similar lens, the Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art shows, a lack of front filter compatibility is not unusual for an optic like this. Even Canon’s old EF 14mm f/2.8 didn’t take front filters either, despite being a full two stops slower.

A close-up view of a Canon camera lens, showing the lens mount, glass elements, and textured focus ring against a white background. — The RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM takes rear gel filters.

The Canon RF 14mm f/1.4L VCM has 18 elements arranged across 13 groups. Of these, it features one fluorite element, an ultra-low dispersion element, a specialized BR optic that promises to minimize chromatic aberrations, and three glass-molded aspherical elements. Canon doesn’t use fluorite or BR optics all that often, and has never used a fluorite optic for a wide-angle lens. The company says it pulled out all the stops for this fast new ultra-wide prime. The lens features an 11-bladed aperture.

As for autofocus, the lens’s name gives the game away. It features a voice-coil motor (VCM) autofocus system that promises fast, very quiet focusing. If the five other VCM lenses are any indication, the focusing performance will be impressive. The lens can focus as close as 9.5 inches (0.24 meters), resulting in a maximum magnification of 0.11x.

A Canon EOS R5 Mark II digital camera with a large lens attached, shown at an angle on a white background.

A black Canon camera lens with a red ring near the top, various switches and buttons on the side, and a silver mounting ring at the base, shown against a white background.

Sample Images

A clear night sky filled with countless stars and a dense, faint band of the Milky Way stretching vertically across the image above a dark horizon.

A hiker with a backpack and walking stick stands between large red rock formations, looking out at a desert landscape as the sun rises on the horizon, casting a warm glow over the scene.