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A flurry of patent applications was released to the public, and instead of creating 4-5 articles about each one, it made more sense to combine everything. So here we go. This has probably been the largest flurry of lens patent applications I’ve seen in a long time.
Super Telephoto Zooms
Canon had published two applications with the same design. In these two patent applications (2025-150145 and 2025-150157), Canon explores the 200-500 f/5.6 IS configuration.
Now this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Canon RF 200-500mm F5.6L IS Patent application (or in this case, two patent applications), and I suspect it will not be the last. Will there be a lens that comes out of it? It’s hard to say, but it is undoubtedly a targeted focal range and aperture that Canon is spending a considerable amount of time researching. There is a massive gap between Canon’s 100-400 f/2.8L and the Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1L IS USM in terms of price, so there’s quite a bit of room for Canon to slide another fixed aperture zoom lens into the mix.
This is an internal zooming lens as the lens length does not change with focal length and is also teleextender friendly.
| Wide | Middle | Telephoto | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focal Length | 206.00 | 85.04 | 145.50 |
| F-Number | 5.77 | 5.77 | 5.77 |
| Half Angle of View | 6.00 | 4.06 | 2.55 |
| Image Height | 21.64 | 21.64 | 21.64 |
| Lens Length | 345.00 | 208.50 | 234.55 |
| Backfocus Distance | 48.83 | 48.83 | 48.83 |
Compact Fast Zooms
In this patent application (2025-149060), several designs for a fast yet more compact zoom are presented, ultimately resulting in a 3x 50-150 mm zoom lens with a fixed f/2.8 aperture.
Canon RF 50-150mm F2.8
I know this is also a sweet spot for many APS-C users, and this may be a lens that serves a significant amount of use across both APS-C crop cameras and also full-frame cameras. The design looks fairly complex enough to warrant the “L” label, perhaps, but it could very well be a slightly under-L in terms of weather sealing and lens body, for instance, something like the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8. Just hopefully not as much of a dust magnet as that lens.
This is an external zoom lens with a 50-150mm focal length, suitable for full-frame cameras, and it is also teleextender-friendly. With a lens length of around 150mm, it would be very compact, and if you find yourself using the wide to middle focal lengths on the 70-200, this lens may be something you’d consider if Canon actually made it.
This feels like the theme this week is “Hey, this lens would be great for full frame and crop cameras – but would serve two different use cases.” I’m not sure if this is an actual thing that Canon is going to try to do, or just some random synapses running through Richard’s head, having to read too many patents lately.
| Wide | Middle | Telephoto | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focal Length | 51.50 | 85.04 | 145.50 |
| F-Number | 2.89 | 2.89 | 2.91 |
| Half Angle of View | 22.79 | 14.14 | 8.28 |
| Image Height | 20.53 | 21.63 | 21.63 |
| Lens Length | 176.15 | 208.50 | 234.55 |
| Backfocus Distance | 41.56 | 41.56 | 41.56 |
Canon RF 60-175mm F2.8
This lens reminds me of the Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 Lens, where shaving off a little on the telephoto focal length allows the lens size to be reduced, as well as the cost. This lens is slightly longer than the Tamron, at 177mm, but it compensates with a slightly wider focal length of 60mm. Still though, if Canon could make a smaller, cheaper and more lightweight zoom similar to the Tamron, i doubt many would complain. Yes, there would be some. This is the internet, after all.
| Wide | Middle | Telephoto | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focal Length | 61.51 | 101.60 | 174.60 |
| F-Number | 2.89 | 2.89 | 2.91 |
| Half Angle of View | 19.37 | 11.96 | 6.91 |
| Image Height | 19.320.57 7 | 21.63 | 21.63 |
| Lens Length | 197.48 | 232.04 | 262.48 |
| Backfocus Distance | 37.73 | 48.93 | 59.79 |
Super Zoom is Coming?
These two patent applications (2025-147872 and 2025-148230) feature numerous examples of the same focal length, suggesting that Canon was explicitly focused on creating a lens with this kind of zoom range. Canon varied the aperture, offering 3.5 to 6.3 and 4.0 to 8 variants, but for this example, we’ll discuss the 4.0 to 8 variant.
Canon RF 28-400mm F3.2-6.3 IS
It wouldn’t surprise me if this were to be marketed as an F2.8-6.3, but we’ll go with the closest 1/3 stop of F/3.2. This is a reasonably compact lens, measuring around 153mm in length. The count of 20+ elements suggests to me that the pricing would be at least mid-range, if not higher.
As we previously discussed, these super zooms were primarily used in conditions where it was impossible to swap lenses in the field, and carrying more than one camera body was not feasible.
| Wide | Middle | Telephoto | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focal Length | 28.90 | 105.93 | 388.00 |
| F-Number | 3.37 | 5.36 | 6.49 |
| Half Angle of View | 33.71 | 11.54 | 3.16 |
| Image Height | 19.28 | 21.64 | 21.64 |
| Lens Length | 173.50 | 222.63 | 282.93 |
| Backfocus Distance | 14.73 | 36.49 | 45.07 |
Closing Thoughts
There is alot of overlapping patent applications. So many that I wonder if Canon’s release plans for lenses got delayed this year, and all the lenses were supposed to come out earlier. We’ll see soon.
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.
@Richard CR:
Please check the numbers in the first table. FL says 206.0 mm at the wide end. That must be a typo.
[TR]
[td]Focal Length[/td][td]206.00 [/td][td]85.04[/td][td]145.50[/td]
[/TR]
I couldn't find the numbers in the patent in a quick search. So I cannot offer the correct ones.
Fot events, concerts and stuff, 50-150, 70-150, whatever is fine, but 2.8 is just often too slow (especially on concerts).
I'm using 24/1.4 (sigma), 35/1.8, 50/1.8, 135/1.8 but I'm pretty fed up with always needing to change.
(Current 28-70 is just too heavy and what makes it even worse is that it's nose-heavy, very unbalanced to hold.)
- 70-180mm F2.8 STM (or similiar)
- 70-150mm F2 which weighs less than Sonys offering. If not, make it 50-150mm
- 24-300mm L superzoom (or similar)
In one thread there was a rumor about a wild UWA zoom. Maybe a 14-28mm F2? I don´t know, I don't believe it is imminent.
After that, we´d need mkii of:
- 28-70mm F2 (give a big fat diet)
- 24-70mm F2.8 (put it on a diet, improve it like Nikon did, fb compensation, make it faster... maybe it the version rumored lately to feature VCM motors)
- maybe 15-35mm F2.8 mkii (see above)
- 50-150 f2.0, starting at 70mm would make it significantly less useful. Ideally I would even prefer if it could start at 35mm like a 35-135mm to skip the 28-70.
- 15-30mm f2.0 or even 16-35mm f2.0 for using as both a Landscape and street photo beast.
- 28-70 f2.0 MK2 or even better 24-70 f2.0
When you see the 50-150 f2.0 from Sony and 35-150 f2.0-2.8 from Tamron Canon has to release something to compete against it. And I can't see them having years and years to do it. Especially as it's a very useful lens for wedding photographers.