So, 3rd party RF lenses ARE possible after all...

[jolyonralph]

Have just seen the first third-party EF - RF mount adaptor - from Commlite, which appears to be a direct replica of the Canon EF- RF mount adaptor.

It's about 2/3 of the price, doesn't carry the Canon logo, not a big deal in itself and nothing that will make anyone really excited - other than the fact that it exists at all.

I predicted a while back that if Canon wanted to protect the RF mount they would put in some authentication circuitry into RF lenses and RF adaptors that would prevent anything non-Canon from being useable with the RF mount. If a Chinese company can replicate the EF-RF adaptor in such a hurry it would indicate that this is NOT the case.

This means there is no technical reason why a third party couldn't produce an RF mount lens. All they'd have to do is mimic the circuitry in this adaptor and use the standard EF protocols they already know about.

What this does mean is that there will no doubt be a possible confusion between future lenses that have an RF mount but still use the old (slow) EF protocols and genuine RF mount lenses which use the new faster protocols. But if this is an issue it'll no doubt come across in future comparative reviews.

Companies such as Sigma generally produce one lens with multiple mounts, the Sony FE mount versions usually being just longer bodies effectively with the FE->sigma adaptor built-in. They could not potentially do the same for RF lenses, but this wouldn't give any advantage over buying the EF mount version and using an adaptor (well, there's a minor advantage in one less moving part and one less thing to go wrong). But I can't see Sigma putting RF style control rings on their lenses just for R users.

 

[Kit Lens Jockey]

I think it would be foolish for Canon to have put any sort of robust protection within the RF protocol to prevent the use of third party lenses or adapters.

While they don't actively support other lens manufacturers making lenses for their cameras, it would be a major detractor if someone was looking at buying into a camera system and just one specific manufacturer (Canon) didn't have any third party lenses available for their cameras.

I'm sure Canon would love you to buy nothing but genuine Canon lenses. But as long as third party lens makers exist, any camera system that cannot work with them would look like a bad purchase decision to some people. Actively discouraging lens makers from making lenses for your camera is just a bad business decision.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Your title mentions lenses, but the real subject is adapters, There should be no need for electronics in the adapter, it just passes the contacts from a EF lens thru to the body and probably has some sort of jumpering to tell the camera its there.

This has 0 to do with RF lenses, we know the camera works with 3rd party EF lenses.

Until we see a 3rd party lens with all the RF functions, we won't know. I expect third party RF mount lenses with EF electronics and the dummy RF added contacts to appear first. They won't have all the RF advantages, but will work without a adapter.

 

[Kit Lens Jockey]

Does the adapter really do nothing to convert EF lens signals to something that can communicate with an RF camera? I assumed there was at least some kind of electronic wizardry in there to allow the older lens protocol to talk to the newer camera. Has anyone done a teardown of one?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I think its straight thru. Maybe I'll pull out my tester and check mine. The extra pins are supposed to support the additional functions. The patents I saw just had a jumper or switch to tell the camera that a EF lens was mounted.

 

[Kit Lens Jockey]

Oh, I had not seen the patents.

Also, the fact that the control ring adapter exists makes me think that adding a control ring onto a lens is probably a pretty trivial thing. If it is truly just a straight through adapter, I would not be surprised to see third party RF lenses come out that essentially still communicate like an EF lens, but also have a control ring added in whatever manner the adapter does it, just built into the lens.