Top New Lenses of 2023

2023 has been a busy year on the optics front, with all brands showing a bevy of new releases spanning super-telephoto zooms to ultra-wide primes. Mirrorless camera development has reached a state of maturity now, and brands seem to be more focused on rounding out and filling in lens lineups to suit the different tiers of cameras and to address the broad variety of shooting genres. Here are some of our picks for the top lenses of the year.

Canon

Canon released a few significant lenses this year, but the standout lens has to be the RF 100-300mm f/2.8 L IS USM. This zoom hits a unique place in the market, combining the versatile 100-300mm with an unheard-of f/2.8 constant maximum aperture. It’s like the 70-200mm f/2.8’s bigger brother: more reach, same speed. Look out for this lens in some of the major fashion shows, concerts, and other indoor events where solid, but versatile, telephoto reach is needed along with speed, image stabilization, and top-notch optics.

Canon’s other major lens releases of the year include the similarly impressively fast RF 24-105mm f/2.8 L IS USM Z, with its unique PZ-E2 Power Zoom Adapter compatibility; the ultra-long RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS USM telephoto zoom; and the super-wide RF 10-20mm f/4 L IS STM. Canon clearly prioritized high-performance zooms this year, with an emphasis on being wider, longer, and faster than what’s expected from a variable focal length lens.

FUJIFILM

It was a slower year for lens development for FUJIFILM, with just a single lens release for its APS-C-format X System and three new lenses for the brand’s medium format mirrorless system. The sole optic for X shooters is the XF 8mm f/3.5 R WR: an ultra-wide 12mm equivalent prime with a massive 120° field of view that’s perfect for architectural and interior subjects. Despite the huge perspective afforded by this wide-angle lens, it still manages to remain compact and lightweight—and even sports a 62mm threaded filter ring, to boot.

On the medium format front, FUJIFILM is backing up this year’s GFX 100 II release with a trio of new lenses for the medium format mirrorless system. The GF 55mm f/1.7 R WR is an ultra-fast short-normal prime that’s going to be a great option for full-body portraits, everyday low-light shooting, and precise depth-of-field control. And for something very different, FUJIFILM also released a pair of tilt-shift lenses: the GF 110mm f/5.6 T/S Macro and GF 30mm f/5.6 T/S. Tilt-shift lenses are already a rare, niche-type lens, so to see development in this arena is exciting, and the GFX platform feels like the perfect system for these specialized lenses that excel in the architectural and product photography genres.

Leica

With a very productive 2023, Leica released several lenses that span the company’s mirrorless SL and rangefinder M systems. My choice for Lens of the Year from the respected German producer has to be the Super-APO-Summicron-SL 21mm f/2 ASPH. ultra-wide prime. According to the legendary lens manufacturer, it’s the brand’s first apochromatic 21mm lens, but what stands out even more is how small Leica engineers managed to keep the lens, despite its awesome field of view; it matches all the other Summicron-SL lenses in the series with a 67mm front filter thread.

Leica released a few more SL-series lenses this year, too, including the sleek Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 ASPH. and Summicron-SL 35mm f/2 ASPH. primes; the Vario-Elmar-SL 100-400mm f/5-6.3 telephoto zoom; and the Super-Vario-Elmarit-SL 14-24mm f/2.8 ASPH. ultra-wide zoom.

Additionally, it’s worth pointing out a couple of new M-mount rangefinder lenses from Leica: the Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. and the Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. The key update for these lenses is a redesigned lens housing and closer focusing performance—compared to the conventional 70cm minimum focusing distance for nearly all M lenses, these new lenses offer 40cm and 45cm minimum focusing distances, respectively, to be used in conjunction with cameras with live view.

Nikon

Nikon had a very productive year for lens releases, with eight separate optics new to the market. Narrowing this down by half, four of the brand’s lenses really stand out due to extreme speed, impressively light weight, apt reach, or a combination of these assets.

The NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena is one of these exciting lenses, and not just because it’s only the second lens in Nikon’s Z lineup to feature a special name on the barrel (the other being the famed Noct). This breakthrough portrait prime really emphasizes a unique, controlled image quality that’s all about rendering the smoothest bokeh possible while flattering subjects, thanks to its medium tele focal length, brightness, and sophisticated optical design. The other key lens announcement in the portrait realm was the NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.2 S; a shorter portrait-length prime with an impressively fast maximum aperture. This is the aspirational lens for Nikon shooters looking for that ultra-shallow depth of field and ability to shoot vivid, clear portraits in low-light conditions.

The other two standout lenses from Nikon in 2023 are on the super-telephoto end of the spectrum: the NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S and the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR. The prime 600mm f/6.3 is a satisfyingly manageable beast, mixing huge length with handholdable convenience, thanks to the modest f/6.3 aperture and inclusion of a space- and weight-savings Phase Fresnel element. On the zoom front, the 180-600mm fills a gap in Nikon’s long zoom lineup and will be an immensely popular choice among wildlife and sports photographers.

OM SYSTEM

It has been a slow, but steady, release schedule for OM SYSTEM, and despite this lens previously being available under the Olympus moniker, OM SYSTEM re-released the impressive M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC 1.25X IS PRO with new branding in 2023. This is a 300-800mm-equivalent super zoom that’s a perfect fit for wildlife and bird photographers because of its long reach and integrated 1.25x teleconverter for even greater zoom at the flip of a switch.

Sigma

Sigma saw another productive year of lens releases, ranging from a trio of compact prime lenses to a 60-600mm all-in-one zoom, but two of its new lenses stood out over the rest. First was the 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art ultra-wide prime, which seems wider and faster than most other lenses in this category. Naturally, this impressive optic will be a go-to choice for astrophotography practitioners along with architectural, interior, and landscape shooters. It’s a lens with more speed and more field of view than most people know what to do with, and a very dynamic choice for wide-field applications.

The second exciting release from Sigma is one of the most anticipated lenses of the last few years: Sigma’s 70-200mm f/2.8 DG DN OS Sports zoom. This is a lens many people have been waiting for since DG DN lenses showed up, and it’s great to see competition and options in the 70-200mm f/2.8 space.

Sony

To close out our look at 2023 lenses with Sony’s series of releases, the Japanese manufacturer sent five very solid lenses into the world for its E-mount mirrorless system, including a pair of G lenses and a trio of G Master lenses.

The first lens of the year is also one of the smartest lenses from Sony. The FE 20-70mm f/4 G is a riff on the 24-70mm, with a wider wide end that better suits vlogging and content creation needs. It’s the contemporary update to that standard zoom. The second release of 2023 from Sony was the FE 50mm f/1.4 GM—yes, yet another 50mm lens but somehow it still retains a fresh and desirable appeal, thanks to its inspiring mixture of speed and small size. It’s a sweet-spot lens for those who don’t require the massive f/1.2 performance but still desire the G Master optics.

Next in line is the FE 70-200mm f/4 Macro G OSS II, an inspiring update to the second-tier 70-200 that adds close-focusing performance to make this f/4 version a desirable alternative to the faster f/2.8 version. The second version II lens of the year was the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II, which is an all-around stellar, ultra-wide, bright f/2.8 zoom option in a new smaller form factor for greater portability.

Finally, there’s the FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS, the fast super-tele prime that was in development and announced at the beginning of the year, formally announced toward the end, and will hit the shelves in early 2024. Despite not shipping this year, this has been one of the most highly anticipated lenses in recent history and a lens many working Sony shooters have been wishing to add to their super-telephoto kit. It’s going to be seen at many sporting events in the next year and will be a great complement to the 2023-announced a9 III camera, too.

What are your thoughts on the lens releases for 2023? Did you have a favorite lens you added to your kit or are you anticipating something else to arrive next year? Share your thoughts and ask questions in the Comments section, below.