Canon Looking to add a new Full Frame Kit Zoom?

The first lens that people usually use is a kit zoom that comes with their camera, so it stands to reason that Canon is always looking at improving this lens, as it sets the path forward down that slippery slope we all know with new cameras and new lenses.

Kit lenses seem to have two main criteria, really – they should be as small as possible, and they should be cheap to make. As long as they are not Sony 16-50 level of bad, I'm good with them.

Canon has two such lenses right now, the Canon RF 24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM and the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM, and you either love them or you hate them. There is hardly any middle ground to this.

In this patent application (2025-120495), Canon explores various small-aperture “normal” zoom lenses with a reasonably simple element design. A simple element design typically doesn't have the best optical performance, but it can be made lighter. All these lenses are either 24-70 or 28-70mm lenses with a f/4 to 6.3 or 7.1 aperture. So, not world beating by any stretch of the imagination, but they can be made small and light.

The present invention relates to a zoom lens and an imaging device having the same, and is particularly suitable for imaging devices such as digital still cameras, video cameras, surveillance cameras, and vehicle-mounted cameras. [0002] In recent years, there has been a demand for zoom lenses with a small overall system and high resolution (high optical performance) in digital still cameras and video cameras. [0003] There is also a demand for zoom lenses to be equipped with a mechanism (anti-vibration mechanism) that compensates for image blur (image shake) that occurs when accidental vibrations such as camera shake are transmitted to the zoom lens.

Canon doesn't say much about the lens, and it certainly won't shake the industry, but these types of lenses are essential.

This patent application appears to be a republishing and review of an older patent application, but since I can't find us talking about that one either, it's good to talk about it.

Canon RF 24-70mm F4-7.1 IS STM

In this embodiment, Canon shows off a pretty standard 24-70mm element design with a smaller-than-required image circle on the wide end, which signifies that Canon will have to do image processing so that the lens projects the image at 24mm.

The back focus distance at 13mm is reasonable, and the entire lens is around 90mm in length – although this may not be the full retracted length.

Canon RF 28-70mm F4-7.1 IS STM

In this embodiment, Canon shows off a 28-70mm variable aperture zoom lens. Now granted, Canon already has a STM lens that is 28-70, but this one would be arguably cheaper and also smaller and lighter than that constant aperture F2.8 lens. The lens is 92mm in lens length at 28mm, but there seems to be quite a gap, as with the other embodiments, between the first LN group and the rest, leading me to think that it's very collapsible.

As with the other embodiments, this embodiment relies on digital post-processing stretching at the wide end as the image height is less than the required 21.64mm.

For cheaper zoom lenses, this seems to be a sign of the times.

Closing Thoughts

Continually looking at improving the kit lenses for the full frame cameras for consumers and prosumers is never a bad thing, and a small compact 24-70mm, even though it is a variable aperture, just may be the ticket for a lot of people. Not every full-frame kit is kitted out with an L F2.8 zoom, and keeping the price of entry into full-frame low is never a bad thing.

Just a Reminder!

With all patents and patent applications, I have to stress constantly – this is simply a look into Canon’s research; the only thing we can quantify accurately is that Canon is researching this. A patent application doesn’t mean they are going to release this in the next month, or even year, or even at all.

Go to discussion...