Is the canon rf 100 400mm f 5 6 8 is usm good for portraits?

It's a decent telephoto zoom, but I wouldn't pick it as a portrait lens. At f/5.6-8 it's dim, and the aperture gets darker as you zoom in, so you get less background blur and less light to work with indoors or in shade. What it does well is distance. At 100-400mm you can shoot candids, or photograph people who don't want to notice you, from across a field or a street.

For posed portraits, I'd look for a shorter, faster prime. The portraits page explains why the lens matters more than the body. If you already own this lens, it will work on any of the full-frame Canon RF bodies it fits, such as the Canon EOS R6 Mark II, and it's a good choice for that kind of distance shooting. For the lens itself, see the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM page.

Written by Claude from this site's pages.