MayaTlab said:
OK, where is the 50mm EF mount lens around 500 euros that's desperately needed ? It isn't there. Last FF EF prime, as you rightly pointed out, is from 2012. The excellent trio of the 24, 28, 35 IS USM has not been mirrored by a 50mm prime in the same price range or a replacement for the 85mm f1.8 (the latter is less of an urgency though). That 50mm, which is a major seller for all camera manufacturers, isn't there. Let's hope when it comes that it won't disappoint.
Why is a new 50mm lens 'desperately needed'? The current 50/1.4 remains a best seller, meaning demand for it is strong. Now, if you had stated, "A new 50mm for around 500€ is desperately
wanted by some people," I'd agree. By one person, in particular (you know who you are,
ahsanford!)
MayaTlab said:
If a lens' specifications is only chosen because they want to be the first to reach them and not because they're relevant to the practice of photography, that's showing off. Canon's answer in that interview makes it perfectly clear that they just wanted to be the first to reach these specifications.
As an aside, I'd say that for some people, an 11mm rectilinear lens is highly relevant to the practice of photography. Just ask someone who shoots real estate for a living.
Here's the Google Translate rendering of the interview answer to which you refer:
For example we had some sort of choice between 11-24mm f / 4 and 12-24mm f / 2.8. Both objectives would have had about the same dimensions and the production costs would have been the same. The basic goal being to be the first to produce the best lenses in the world, we opted for the 11-24 mm f / 4 (NB: there is already a 14-24 mm at Nikon).
You are interpreting that to mean they wanted to be the first to have a rectilinear zoom starting at 11mm, and that is just 'showing off'. But that's hardly 'perfectly clear'. What is descibed is a choice between an 11-24mm
f/4 and a 12-24mm
f/2.8. Given the optical constraints, it is highly likely that an 11-24/4 would be optically superior to a 12-24/2.8 – the aberrations introduced by a 1mm wider focal length are far less than those introduced adding a full stop wider aperture. So, it is quite possible – and I'd say, more likely – that what the answer actually means is that Canon chose to produce the
best lens from those two options, the 11-24/4. It was quality, not 'being first', that drove the decision as described.