These are the best Canon lenses for still life photography, chosen for their flat-field sharpness, precise manual focus feel, controllable bokeh, and working distances that keep lights and flags out of frame while delivering clean, retouch-friendly files—whether you’re on RF mirrorless or adapting EF glass. The RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM is the hero: true 1:1 magnification, crisp micro-contrast, Hybrid IS for handheld tweaks, and an SA Control ring to tune blur character from clinical bite to gentler glow on ceramics, glass, and botanicals; it’s the first lens onto most tabletops. For scene-with-detail storytelling and overheads, the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM and RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM (both 0.5×) are compact, stabilized, and close-focusing—perfect for flat-lays, book spreads, stationery, and styled food props—while the RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS STM brings flattering short-tele compression with half-macro for textured fabrics, labels, and jewelry. When you want prime-like rendering and fast workflow on set, the RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM is the workhorse for three-quarter angles and packaging cutaways, and the RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM trades a stop for broader reach through long shoot days; the RF 14-35mm f/4L IS USM stays rectilinear and filter-friendly for tight interiors, shelving vignettes, and architectural still lifes. For camera movements that elevate still life from good to surgical, Canon’s tilt-shift macros are transformative: TS-E 50mm f/2.8L Macro to lay the focus plane across products without stopping into diffraction, TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro for tighter frames with elegant compression, TS-E 135mm f/4L Macro for extra working distance and reflection control, and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II (or TS-E 17mm f/4L) when you’re composing larger set builds and want parallax-free shifts for stitches. Adapting EF glass remains a budget-savvy, studio-proven path: EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM mirrors the RF macro’s reliability, the non-L EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM is excellent value, the MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1–5× Macro handles engraving and micro-texture beyond life size with rails and diffused flash, and the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II plus EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II are dependable set zooms; the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM provides rectilinear wides for room-scale vignettes. Technique turns these lenses into gallery-ready results: shoot RAW with fixed Kelvin or custom white balance on gray for consistent color, stabilize on a solid tripod and switch IS/IBIS off when locked down, use manual focus with magnification and peaking, and “rock” through focus to nail critical edges; start around f/8–f/11 for across-frame clarity at close distances (open to f/4–f/5.6 for dimensional falloff, stop to f/13–f/16 only when depth demands and watch diffraction). Light with large diffusion (scrims, softboxes, tents), add negative fill to carve form, and control speculars with a circular polarizer on filter-friendly lenses or full cross-polarization (polarizing gels on lights + CPL on lens) for glass and glossy packaging; for extreme depth and micro-detail, stack 10–50 slices on a focusing rail; for motion loops and BTS, a slim variable ND on RF lenses keeps a 180° shutter. A simple, high-impact RF still-life kit is RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro for hero/detail, RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro (or RF 24/1.8) for flat-lays and context, and TS-E 50mm Macro when plane control matters; add RF 24-70/2.8L for set coverage and you can move from minimal product plates to styled editorials with precision and ease.