This is a curious patent from Canon. These are without a doubt higher-end lenses and are certainly for APS-C. Canon specifically mentions that these types of lenses would be advantageous for video as the center of gravity doesn’t change. Fixed-length zoom lenses are known in which the overall length of the lens does not change during zooming. Such a zoom lens is suitable for video shooting and the like because the center of gravity does not change much during zooming. In recent years, zoom lenses have been required to have high zoom magnification and high optical performance over the entire zoom range…
Author: Richard
In this patent application, Canon is illustrating some smaller primes. Since these designs are relatively simplistic, they could be good “bang for the buck” lenses as long as you are not expecting pristine resolving power, as they don’t optically fill the entire image circle but rely on software stretching. Canon’s entire purpose with this patent application is to create small primes. Something I’m sure we can all get behind. The lenses are around 50mm long, making them quite compact for F2.8 primes. Canon RF 15mm F2.8 Focal length 15.42 F number 2.91 Half angle of view (degrees) 49.73 Image height…
In a move that probably surprises no one but Sam (absolutely everything surprises Sam), Canon appears to have quietly discontinued the Canon EF-M 28mm F3.5, and the EF-M 32mm F1.4. While both products are going through the death throes – the Canon EF-M 28mm F3.5 has most certainly ceased to exist. It appears as if your mileage may vary with the Canon EF-M 32mm F1.4. On Canon Japan’s webstore the 32mm and 28mm do not appear as products. However, the lenses do not appear on Canon’s discontinued inventory page here (yet, at the time of writing this article). B&H still…
In these two patent applications, Canon is exploring adding haptic feedback into the grip surface of the camera. These are two separate patent applications but discuss similar functions, so I’ll lump them all in here. When I first read this I didn’t think much about it because Canon has done these patents before, until I realized that in a world that will soon have global shutters or fast enough rolling shutter sensors, the mechanic shutter “click” is going away. All we are left with, especially on cameras with fast and continuous EVFs is just some form of blinking visual indicator…
When we were first discussing the series of patent applications on motorized tilt-shift lenses for the RF mount, one of my musings was the ability to use this to automate stitching and various shooting at different shifts and tilts. It appears in this patent application that Canon had the same idea (if I gave it to y’all, someone owes me – I’ll be in Japan in February – k thanks) As what could be described as a natural thought evolution of having motor control over the shift and tilting functions of a lens, we have this patent application that provides…
In this patent application, Canon describes setting lens barrel button functions based on the orientation of the camera body. The idea that they are batting around is that as you change the orientation and you are hand holding a heavy lens, the buttons can be then in an awkward position when you are trying to steady a heavy lens, and also what buttons you can access normally change with orientation. The buttons change function between 121 and 122 depending on the orientation of the camera. So for instance, if the photographer sets 121 to EyeAF and 122 to ServoAF, when…
TTArtisan released an intriguing 10mm F2.0 for APS-C systems. It’s manual focus and manual aperture but it’s 10mm F2.0 so there’s that. Because there are no electronics, Canon ignores it as if it does not exist and so it’s available for the RF mount. Unfortunately, it has a fair amount of tangential astigmatism which makes it unsuitable for astrophotography, but for a 10mm lens even on APS-C you in most cases can live without autofocus, so it’s a useful lens, even if you only use it for terrestrial photography. Keep in mind that this lens is incredibly inexpensive for a…
A couple of patent applications caught my eye over the last week – and of course, with me traveling and living out of a suitcase right now I filed it in my head to revisit. These two patents show some unique pixel structures that we are not used to seeing from Canon. Keep in mind that one of the goals of Canon’s sensor development is also to provide sensors for industrial, automotive, and other applications than our precious cameras. When you consider how many cameras there are in autonomous vehicles, you certainly can’t blame Canon for wanting a piece of…
In this patent application (Japan 2023-178037) Canon is describing a tilting EVF for a mirrorless camera. I had the EVF-DC1 for the EOS-M system and loved the tilt function of the EVF. It gave a different perspective and shooting angle and was a useful feature. This seems to be a continuation of Canon’s research into tilting EVF such as this patent here before. In the prior patent application, Canon describes the mechanical movement of the EVF to minimize the overall size of the EVF assembly while providing a tilting option. In this patent application, Canon is describing the connection ribbon…
OpticalLimits formerly known by camera review elders as photozone.de has produced their review of the Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8.0 Without even really studying the review, it’s difficult to find fault in a telephoto 100-400mm that sells for $599 USD. Key features of the Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM include; In the review, OpticalLimits notes that the resolution is good throughout the range. [T]he Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 USM IS is quite good for what it is. On the positive side, the broader center performance is very good throughout the range – and that’s what’s most important with such a…