There are times I see a cool patent, and look at it and can't for the life of me explain what it does. I still may have gotten this one wrong, but I don't think so. I actually sat on this patent all weekend and even forced Craig into an Irish triple expresso before finally writing it up.

In this patent Canon is describing the Canon RF dual fisheye lens, but with a twist. They want to be able to control the 3D effect and also change the distance the two lenses are apart when the aperture changes.

However, you can't just slide the lenses closer or further apart though, as it would change the length of the optical path internally in the lens. So to accomplish this and still be able to vary the distance between the two lenses, Canon has implemented a rotating geared assembly that would rotate both lenses thus changing the distance between the two fisheye lenses, but internally the light path would remain the same length.

Would Canon make a Mark II of the unique Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Fisheye? It's hard to say that there's one in the look given the fact that the current one is only a few years old, but Canon is always looking ahead to interesting things that make us go “Why on earth did they think that was a good idea?”, so here we are.

As with all patent applications that I drag in here, they are simply the applications, they may not be a future product or even a real patent. It does, however, give us some ideas about things that Canon is studying and possibly working on for future projects.

Source: Japan Patent Office: 2023-133340

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.

Go to discussion...

21 comments

  1. This wouldn't merely allow lenses to be closer. Instead, consider if the "default" position was only rotated 1/3 of the way through the quarter-circle. It would thus let you then go like 3x WIDER than that default position, which is often used on binoculars to give an exaggerated effect of 3D.

    So, if the current lens is at all popular, the next version might be a relatively telephoto creation that can be positioned to normal eye separation when only partly deployed, but also a wider, binocular-style separation at full deployment.
    • 0
  2. This wouldn't merely allow lenses to be closer. Instead, consider if the "default" position was only rotated 1/3 of the way through the quarter-circle. It would thus let you then go like 3x WIDER than that default position, which is often used on binoculars to give an exaggerated effect of 3D.

    So, if the current lens is at all popular, the next version might be a relatively telephoto creation that can be positioned to normal eye separation when only partly deployed, but also a wider, binocular-style separation at full deployment.
    I understand about the distance between the lenses changing the 3d effect, but what do you mean, "relatively telephoto"?
    • 0
  3. but what do you mean, "relatively telephoto"?
    Thanks for hearing me out Eric. I meant more telephoto than the current fisheye :D And given that it uses at most half the sensor, even 40mm would be possibly equivalent to a full-frame 100mm???Also, if the result was still used in VR, then the user might only be looking at 25% of the actual captured view at a time?? So what I was thinking was somewhere between 10mm and say 75mm or something, not actually telephoto as it normally means, such as 135mm+.
    • 0
  4. It sounds great for someone that wants to make more of a classic 3D style than a modern VR. Although, I guess some people will be more upset that there is no successor to various EF lenses or Sigma lenses.
    • 0
  5. Admin please don't ban me for saying this...This lens gets Mk.II probably because of the Japanese _orn industry utilized this lens so well.....there's enough demands from the them...
    • 0
  6. Admin please don't ban me for saying this...This lens gets Mk.II probably because of the Japanese _orn industry utilized this lens so well.....there's enough demands from the them...
    Data source please!
    • 0
  7. Certainly not - it doesn't fit any EF-M lenses!
    I will be surprised if there is any other camera produced that can fit EF-M lenses. About an update for the EF 50 mm f/1.4, do you want it to be EF?
    • 0

Leave a comment

Please log in to your forum account to comment