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I missed this patent. In my defence, I looked at it and went.. meh, Canon doing ANOTHER Ultrawide? At the time, this was before the now likely trinity of f/2.8's IS STMs were forming, so I can be forgiven (maybe) for that judgment call.
After some looking around because I did remember the RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM appearing sometime this year, we have discovered a few things, there does seem to be very much the possibility that there's a 3 to 6-month lag between Canon's patent applications being published and then Canon announcing a lens. So when I do write up “yet-another-patent-application-on-a-rf-lens” just remember back to this conversation. Canon, it seems, still has the urge to surprise us.
Secondly, Canon is going outside the box in terms of its designs and what it thinks is a product, much more so than in the days of DSLRs. When you think of the RF 16-28mm and the RF 24-50mm lenses, these are designs that Canon wouldn't have considered in the EF days.
As someone who had to dump their full frame kit when they started to travel around Asia, I can get behind Canon looking at making a more travel-friendly kit for full frame, even if it is on the pricey side. Considering that a significant amount of money gets spent on full frame mirrorless in Asia, and most of Asia is very limited to onboard carry-on, taking this into account with your biggest market – is something to be expected.
Now, back to this patent application (2024-101615), we see that the first embodiment is the Canon RF 16-28mm F2.8 IS STM (naturally, it is, just to rub it in, Canon). From embodiment 1, here's the optical formula and how the elements move as the lens zooms.
And just to confirm that this is the Canon RF 16-28, here's the published element layout.
But this allows us to garner more information than what the MTFs tell us, primarily how much of this performance is due to digital correction.
| Wide | Middle | Telephoto | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focal length | 15.488 | 24.114 | 27.160 |
| F-number | 2.900 | 2.900 | 2.900 |
| Half angle (°) | 54.532 | 42.075 | 38.744 |
| Image Height | 17.550 | 20.100 | 20.460 |
| Lens Length | 140.161 | 129.781 | 129.964 |
| Back Focus | 13.270 | 13.270 | 13.270 |
I have bolded the image height because that tells us how much the image circle needs to be digitally expanded. For full frame the image height needs to be at least 21.64mm. In this case, image height is the radius of the image circle. Don't ask me why they call it “height”.
As you can see, there is a digital correction throughout the zoom range to fill the entire 35mm full-frame sensor. This is evident by the fact that in the three described focal lengths, the image height does not meet or exceed 21.64mm.
While 17.55mm is pretty excessive, the amount of digital correction needed by 24 and 28mm, as shown in the table, is fairly minimal. Now is this bad? Some will point out that it's an expensive lens to rely on digital correction, while this is true, it's also a very compact and lightweight lens.
Preorder Options
- B&H Photo: Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM $1149
- Midwest Photo: Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM $1149
- Adorama: Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM $1149
- Canon USA: Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM $1149
- Foto Koch: Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM €1309
- Wex Photo: Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM £1249
Source: Patent Application 2024-101615
TLDR; If you are okay with the limited zoom range, this lens will not disappoint you.
Canon RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM MTF Comparison
it's L quality performance though. the MTF's are very good. limited zoom range helps with that.
Wondering what benefits and disadvantages I´d have if I swap it for my RF 14-35mm F4. Given the current price point and the fact I love my 14-35mm, I´m not gonna switch now. But if the new lens has good performance in the corners and wide open (night sky/ night scapes) I might consider swapping them one day.
Just judging from MFT´s (Thx Richard) it almost looks like the new lens might outperform the 15-35mm L. If so, there is another reason for a mkii version (beside weight).
Still quite expensive
German MRSP: 1.299,00 €
Ah, GAS is a wonderful thing.
I was shocked that I hadn't read about it here yet ;-)
doesn't surprise me. the R8 plus the two lenses is a very good travel kit for under 1400g.