Two more RF mount lenses could be coming in 2019 [CR2]

This is yet another indicator that Canon will not develop the EF system any further. 100% of all R&D DSC resources will be for the RF system.

And that IMO sucks ...

When people wrote under EOS R announcement that EF is dead, everyone was like: "No it is not yet. Canon will not jump to RF immediately." But now we know that it was a proper assessment of the situation. Even expected 300/2.8 and 500/4 updates for this year are no longer mentioned. There may be one more 1D body for Olympics in 2020 but it is just because Canon may not be able to deliver RF body with the specs expected by professional sport photographers in time. That is pretty much all I expect from EF because I don't see why would Canon then go back and started again releasing L lenses for EF - unless RF bodies are failure which I strongly doubt.

Maybe good for me. I didn't spend a penny on lenses or camera last year. This year I may need to buy 24-70 or 24-105 but that will be because I have to replace current one not because I have a superb options I would run for. I'm tempted with 85/1.4 L - especially now when it may become even cheaper but I will hold on. It is fine not to spend thousands of pounds for gear per year as I did till 2018 and as I would definitely do if Canon did stop investing into EF - I was ready to buy second 5D4 but I'm no longer sure it is a good long term strategy.
 
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Don Haines

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That's assuming the Eos R can focus and track anywhere nearly as fast or accurately as a 1DxII....I think you'll find that the Ros R camera is nice but no where near the confidence inspiring AF lock on ability of a 1DxII. Canon have pretty much stated as much in their recent releases.
With my experiences with the Eos R (and i'm no expert with this camera) is that there is an inconsistent amount of time for the processor to read the focus data off the sensor. Sometimes it seems quite sprightly....other times it seems very pedestrian. It seems to have a period of time where the processor has to think a bit for the initial lock and that's the bit that feels very alien to me.
The 1DX2 delivers a higher voltage to the 600F4, and it really does focus faster! I strongly suspect that when a high end Rmodel comes out, it will be close to the 1DX2 in size and take the same battery
 
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What advantage would a native R lens in that range have over the current model with the adaptor?

Who knows, maybe faster AF due to new communication protocol (and perhaps a bit more accurate in tracking/low light?). And possibly, they could improve on the optical formula too. Not sure if a lighter option would be available.
 
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And that IMO sucks ...

When people wrote under EOS R announcement that EF is dead, everyone was like: "No it is not yet. Canon will not jump to RF immediately." But now we know that it was a proper assessment of the situation. Even expected 300/2.8 and 500/4 updates for this year are no longer mentioned. There may be one more 1D body for Olympics in 2020 but it is just because Canon may not be able to deliver RF body with the specs expected by professional sport photographers in time. That is pretty much all I expect from EF because I don't see why would Canon then go back and started again releasing L lenses for EF - unless RF bodies are failure which I strongly doubt.

Maybe good for me. I didn't spend a penny on lenses or camera last year. This year I may need to buy 24-70 or 24-105 but that will be because I have to replace current one not because I have a superb options I would run for. I'm tempted with 85/1.4 L - especially now when it may become even cheaper but I will hold on. It is fine not to spend thousands of pounds for gear per year as I did till 2018 and as I would definitely do if Canon did stop investing into EF - I was ready to buy second 5D4 but I'm no longer sure it is a good long term strategy.

Will Canon just abandon all wildlife shooters by not updating the 7D or just drop the whole Rebel line?
I don't think so. I think they will release one more version of 7D/80D and by the time of the next update in 4-5 years, mirrorless will be good enough in performance to make everything mirrorless.
 
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AlanF

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I'm a birder with a 1DX Mark II with a 600mm II lens. If Canon announced an RF lens like the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR Lens and an RF Mount 2X teleconverter I'd buy into the R system.

You would be shooting a t f/11 with a 2xTC. Even on a 24 mpx sensor you would lose considerable resolution - https://www.lenstip.com/540.4-Lens_..._500_mm_f_5.6E_PF_ED_VR_Image_resolution.html - and you would be upping the iso and increasing the noise to lower IQ even further.
 
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Don Haines

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Who knows, maybe faster AF due to new communication protocol (and perhaps a bit more accurate in tracking/low light?). And possibly, they could improve on the optical formula too. Not sure if a lighter option would be available.
I believe that Canon stated just that!
 
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The 1DX2 delivers a higher voltage to the 600F4, and it really does focus faster! I strongly suspect that when a high end Rmodel comes out, it will be close to the 1DX2 in size and take the same battery

It's not just the voltage to the lens, even the 5DIII has snappier AF than the Eos R. The problem with the Eos R's AF system is that the Digic 8 processor has to do a lot of thinking before it can start to focus a lens and that takes time.
 
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Don Haines

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Will Canon just abandon all wildlife shooters by not updating the 7D or just drop the whole Rebel line?
I don't think so. I think they will release one more version of 7D/80D and by the time of the next update in 4-5 years, mirrorless will be good enough in performance to make everything mirrorless.
It’s interesting to look at Olympus. Their latest beast has a 60FPS mode on the bursts, and then there is the “ pro capture” mode which buffers a number of shots before the shutter is pressed so that if you miss the action, you can go back! I really could have used that yesterday when photographing chickadees. Then we have AI tracking!

I’m not upgrading my 7D2 until I can do something similar, so at least for me, that means no more mirrored cameras.
 
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Don Haines

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It's not just the voltage to the lens, even the 5DIII has snappier AF than the Eos R. The problem with the Eos R's AF system is that the Digic 8 processor has to do a lot of thinking before it can start to focus a lens and that takes time.
Agreed! Having a processor dedicated to AF really helps!
 
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It’s interesting to look at Olympus. Their latest beast has a 60FPS mode on the bursts, and then there is the “ pro capture” mode which buffers a number of shots before the shutter is pressed so that if you miss the action, you can go back! I really could have used that yesterday when photographing chickadees. Then we have AI tracking!

I’m not upgrading my 7D2 until I can do something similar, so at least for me, that means no more mirrored cameras.

I know but looks like Canon can barely do 5 FPS in AF-C at the moment. I believe they still need a new sensor design with much faster readout and maybe dual processors to achieve 10+ FPS.
 
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Why develop the EF anymore?
The just introduced some powerhouses in it that will carry for several years.
Once EF cameras are stopped, sooner than later is a guess then why bother with new lenses for the EF?
The market is flooded with them and even used ones will be available for decades.
I would only ask that they somehow extend the life of servicing these older lenses to be perhaps 30 years.
This way most EF users will have moved on by death or got the new R mount camera.
Product development is different from product production.

Whatever EF system product that is availble today would be manufactured for the next 10 years depending on demand.

Just don't expect a 1DX3, 5D5, 5DsR2, 6D3 or 7D3.
 
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Tom W

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You think an EF to RF teleconverter would not add that length? I'm no optics engineer, but there would still be the flange distance to deal with. That isn't going away. Who knows? Maybe it is possible. I don't think so though.

Of course it would add length. But it would only add the length of one device rather than 2. As it stands now, you have the length of the adapter plus the length of the teleconverter. You could save maybe half an inch or so by combining the 2 functions, with a teleconverter that is designed for the shorter flange-sensor distance in the first place.

Again, not a really big deal, but not impossible either.
 
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AJ

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Of course it would add length. But it would only add the length of one device rather than 2. As it stands now, you have the length of the adapter plus the length of the teleconverter. You could save maybe half an inch or so by combining the 2 functions, with a teleconverter that is designed for the shorter flange-sensor distance in the first place.

Again, not a really big deal, but not impossible either.
Having an RF-mount teleconverter that fits EF glass would probably be longer. But the extra length may have advantages for optical design.
 
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AlanF

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Product development is different from product production.

Whatever EF system product that is availble today would be manufactured for the next 10 years depending on demand.

Just don't expect a 1DX3, 5D5, 5DsR2, 6D3 or 7D4.

So, we can expect a 7D3? In that case, good.
 
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Don Haines

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I know but looks like Canon can barely do 5 FPS in AF-C at the moment. I believe they still need a new sensor design with much faster readout and maybe dual processors to achieve 10+ FPS.

Yes, but the 7D2 can already do 10FPS with dual digic6... Surely dual Digic8 could do better. Plus, when shooting video the sensor is read 60 times per second.

I suspect that a large part of the speed problem is A/D settling time. When you are shooting stills you are generating 14 bit RAW files, and that means using a 14 bit (or higher) A/D chip. When you shoot video you do not need the same colour depth so you can clock it higher because you are not using the lower precision bits anyway.

(I am going to make up the following numbers to demonstrate the concept)
Lets say you have a 14 Bit A/D chip that is designed to run at 1Mhz. If you run that chip at 2Mhz, you will still get a digital output, but (lets say) the last two bits are now random noise.... but you don't really care because all you really want for video is 8 bits, so the 12 accurate bits are good enough. You might be able to push that same chip to 3 or 4 MHZ and still get your 8 bits of data for the video.

And yes, the mechanical mirror will be part of the reason for the slower frame rate, but just getting rid of it is not enough. If Canon rerally wants a high framerate monster it will take lots of computing power and massively parallel A/D on the sensor itself. I think that it is coming, but I will not hold my breath while
I wait.
 
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Don Haines

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So, we can expect a 7D3? In that case, good.
The 7D2 is the oldest camera in the Canon lineup and is 5 years into a 5 year refresh cycle. The 80D is three years into a 3 year refresh cycle. Normally, both should be updated soon. If they are not, it will be an interesting time for speculation as to why.....
 
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Ozarker

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Of course it would add length. But it would only add the length of one device rather than 2. As it stands now, you have the length of the adapter plus the length of the teleconverter. You could save maybe half an inch or so by combining the 2 functions, with a teleconverter that is designed for the shorter flange-sensor distance in the first place.

Again, not a really big deal, but not impossible either.

I'm just curious as to where you are pulling that 1/2 inch from? There is still the flange distance problem, but how do you know your idea would save 1/2 inch? How do you know what is and isn't possible? Fact is that you don't know. You want it to be true, and it would be nice, but you don't know. Speculation and want does not = the reality of physics.

And if it isn't a big deal (as you say yourself), then why should Canon spend the resources (assuming you are correct about the 1/2 inch)? If I had an 800mm L I don't believe 1/2 inch would make the slightest difference to me.
 
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