Patent: Canon Wide Angle Zoom for Full Frame Mirrorless Camera

[Canon Rumors]

<p>A patent for an optical formula showing  a wide angle zoom lens for a full frame mirrorless body has appeared.</p>
<p>It looks like this patent is for a 16-30mm f/2.8 and has a short backfocus of 11.34mm, which tells us it’s not for a DSLR.</p>
<p><strong>Canon 16-30mm f/2.8 Specifications:</strong> (Japan Patent Application 2018-077320)</p>
<ul>
<li>Zoom ratio: 1.67</li>
<li>Focal length: 16.48-27.44mm</li>
<li>F number: 2.88</li>
<li>Half angle: 52.70 – 38.25</li>
<li>Image height: 21.64mm</li>
<li>Back focus: 12.33 – 10.00mm</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
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[The Fat Fish]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

 

[Antono Refa]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

Not every patent turns into a lens.

There's the electronic side of EF, and there's the mechanical (= throat diameter & flange distance) side of EF. Canon might have the FF mirrorless have EF electronics, EF throat diameter, and a shorter flange distance, which would allow mounting all existing EF lenses with an extension tube.

 

[KeithBreazeal]

A sign that times are a changin'.

 

[Talys]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

Not every patent turns into a lens.

There's the electronic side of EF, and there's the mechanical (= throat diameter & flange distance) side of EF. Canon might have the FF mirrorless have EF electronics, EF throat diameter, and a shorter flange distance, which would allow mounting all existing EF lenses with an extension tube.

There is also still a possibility of a recessed mount that is EF compatible.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

No, there have been several patents that were FF mirrorless related over the past few years, lenses, including a EF- new lens mount converter. We know what the news lens mount will likely look like, assuming that Canon decides to go with it, which looks likely.

 

[BillB]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

No, there have been several patents that were FF mirrorless related over the past few years, lenses, including a EF- new lens mount converter. We know what the news lens mount will likely look like, assuming that Canon decides to go with it, which looks likely.

This patent is the latest of several signs that Canon is exploring the design of a new mount for mirrorless fullframe camera. Even if Canon does bring out a FF Mirrorless camera with a new mount, that does not mean that Canon will "abandon the EF mount". In the first place it will keep making DSLR cameras. In the second place, it may bring out mirrorless models that have the EF mount, depending on how the market develops.

 

[ethanz]

Time to sell all your EF gear

 

[Talys]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

No, there have been several patents that were FF mirrorless related over the past few years, lenses, including a EF- new lens mount converter. We know what the news lens mount will likely look like, assuming that Canon decides to go with it, which looks likely.

I like how likely how the mirrorless will have a mount like the design that I like! ;D

 

[brad-man]

Doesn't anyone bring popcorn anymore? This one should yield a few pages...

 

[ethanz]

Doesn't anyone bring popcorn anymore? This one should yield a few pages...

Mine's a popping now.

 

[KeithBreazeal]

So, when are we going to see the 8mm F1.0?

 

[infared]

Time to sell all your EF gear

Yes..because there are so many mirrorless lenses to choose from for a body that does not exist! LOL!

 

[Don Haines]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

Not every patent turns into a lens.

It seems like every week there are one or more lens patents.... it has to be less than ten percent of them that result in a lens being made.

 

[YuengLinger]

Time to sell all your EF gear

Yes..because there are so many mirrorless lenses to choose from for a body that does not exist! LOL!

Somebody's facetious radar is down. We can wait to sell until the fall.

 

[ahsanford]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

No, there have been several patents that were FF mirrorless related over the past few years, lenses, including a EF- new lens mount converter. We know what the news lens mount will likely look like, assuming that Canon decides to go with it, which looks likely.

Agree -- this is not a hard tell of what mount they'll use. Canon would be fools to put all their innovation eggs in one basket with the mount.

It's not uncommon (if not routine) to patent things you may never build for more reasons than I can count, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was just one of many ideas they've kicked around.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

This patent is the latest of several signs that Canon is exploring the design of a new mount for mirrorless fullframe camera. Even if Canon does bring out a FF Mirrorless camera with a new mount, that does not mean that Canon will "abandon the EF mount". In the first place it will keep making DSLR cameras. In the second place, it may bring out mirrorless models that have the EF mount, depending on how the market develops.

Yeah, we've covered this at length. Canon is large enough to plausibly:

* Go thin mount
* Go full EF mount
* Go with one and then offer the other
* Possibly make a full EF mount yet somehow allow some mirrorless-only lenses to nestle/telescope into the body where the mirror used to be (this is rather unlikely but a pretty neat idea)

So I wouldn't read this patent as the future of the platform. It's one of many potential futures for the platform.

- A

 

[rrcphoto]

Is this the first sign they could be dropping EF mount? So far almost every lens rumour favours EF.

No, there have been several patents that were FF mirrorless related over the past few years, lenses, including a EF- new lens mount converter. We know what the news lens mount will likely look like, assuming that Canon decides to go with it, which looks likely.

there wasn't that much. there was maybe one or two lenses, which ere simply embodiment of a much larger patent application.

and the mount converter wasn't really a mount converter it was a real odd duck.

this is the ONLY patent application that has been found to be specifically for a short registration distance stills camera, and really - the only sign of it.

 

[ahsanford]

this is the ONLY patent application that has been found to be specifically for a short registration distance stills camera, and really - the only sign of it.

Sure, but the odds of Canon opening their mirrorless history books with a salvo including an f/2.8 UWA zoom seems awfully low.

Surely -- if the thin mount is chosen -- the opening battery of glass will be a combination of staple tools and things that would show off the smaller form factor:

35 f/slow
50 f/quick but not screamingly quick
24-something f/slow

...and so on. If Canon goes thin, I see them pointing squarely at an EF adaptor for the first few years for anyone asking for the f/2.8 zooms and f/1.4 primes.

- A

 

[KevinLegend]

FYI - the mirrorless should be out by September and ready to ship. That's all I'm gonna say for now.