Patent: Canon EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM II

about time they improve that lens. At the minimum, 15-45 Mk. II should be on par with the discontinued EF-M 18-55 (in overlapping FL range).


Edit: not "Mk II", because f/5.6 vs. f/6.3 on long end.

Maybe my second M50 to buy will be ordered with this lens if it enters the light of the real market! Good to see f/5.6 compared to f/6.3 - I hate these lower than 5.6 max. apertures!
The EF-M 32 has some addiction potential so I need a second M50 for other lenses!

Hopefully the new lens improves the variation on each copy. My first two copies of the current 15-45 had tremendous decentering! It was like the left side of the frame was at a different depth of field in some photos, but it turned out that it was simply a shifted focal plane. I have a good copy now! But wow, I thought it was just a garbage lens at first. It's convenient for snapshots/video and when selling the camera, not much else.

Can't help being a pedant, but it can't be a 15-45 f/3.5-5.6 IS STM II because there's never been a 15-45 3.5-5.6 IS STM version 1. The current lens is f/6.3 at the slow end.

you are right! No Mk. II but rather .... "2nd coming of an EF-M 15-45 lens".

Anyways, important would be for this patent turning into a "real product" soon with very noticeable improvement in IQ and copy variation over the current 15-45 kit zoom.

I bought a 2nd hand copy of the EF-M 15-45mm STM lens, and thankfully have a good copy. Very sharp in centre, and quite sharp at each of the edges too at all focal lengths. I really love the 15mm wide end, and 45mm tele end is 'ok' for some reach... but oh how I wish it had more reach, like my EF-S 15-85mm ... but hey, which is obviously a much larger lens.

From reading user and pro reviews online, it does appear copy to copy variation does exist for the 15-45mm lens. I have an EF-M 18-55 lens too, which is similarly sharp - with notably better build quality, but not as compact / convenient. In terms of IQ and range, the 18-150mm is the pick of the bunch, though significantly longer (again).

The 15-45mm is a great one lens option is wanting to keep things as small / light / portable as possible, with decent to good IQ, on e.g. my M5 (or my M10 as an option too). The f/6.3 vs f/5.6 doesn't really make that much difference. Particularly given that DPAF can focus at narrow apertures ok (though of course the lower the light, the brighter one wants a lens to be). That's why most often in low light I use my primes (e.g. Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 or Samyang 12mm f/2). That another patent for a 15-45mm is around is perhaps more experimental than production at this stage.

PJ

Hopefully, they are preparing this lens as the new kit lens for the M5 and M50 MkII's.

Wouldn't inconsistency in image quality indicate a manufacturing problem, not an optical design quality? How does a new design with a new optical formula correct a manufacturing problem?

The M50 just came out this year, so I doubt a M50 Mark II is right around the corner. My guess is that this new EF-M 15-45mm lens will be the one included on the M5 Mark II and M6 Mark II, and/or the M200

Maybe it is a problem to adust the current lens formula - optics and the corresponding mechanical parts - at low cost.
What about another design which is more tolerant to deviations from perfect alignment is cheaper compared to better adjustment of the old design?