Canon confirms discontinuation of EF and EF-S lenses

In a report from PetaPixel, more information about the discontinuing of Canon EF and EF-S lenses has become apparent.  While here at CanonRumors we’ve already labeled most of these lenses as discontinued.  But, investigating this more and it’s painfully noticeable that slews of EF and EF-S lenses are now officially on a discontinued page for Canon Japan.

As CanonNews mentions; 

Currently, Canon Japan has 27 EF lenses, 6 EF-S lenses, and 7 EOS-M lenses available.  Everything else is on a page called “生産終了した商品情報” which machine translates into “Discontinued Product Information”.

Before when I at least looked at this, Canon was tagging these lenses as “not available” or “back ordered”, however, now, there’s no doubt that Canon has officially done away with manufacturing these lenses.  When Canon Japan lists them as discontinued – They’re dead, Jim.

I do believe that while Canon is quietly discontinuing many EF and EF-S lenses, not just due to Canon’s desire to move people to RF, even though that most likely figures into a large part of their calculus.   However other factors may have contributed to the acceleration of the discontinuations;

• increased labor costs since many of the older lenses are hand-assembled and not assembled mostly by automation
• the supply shortages have led Canon to perform triage on what lenses get the parts – RF or EF lenses.

Interestingly, EOS-M lenses are not being discontinued, and as a matter of fact, there are now more EOS-M lenses manufactured than EF-S lenses.  Take that tidbit of information as you will.

As far as the lenses that Canon Japan states are still being produced (for now), the list can be found here: https://cweb.canon.jp/ef/lineup/