Canon Patents

Patent: Dual internal teleconverter telephoto lens.

Canon Rumors
Posted onMay 13, 2019 at 11:08 AM
Updated onUpdated on May 14, 2019 at 6:24 AM

Is this the next evolution of the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM 1.4x? Here is a patent showing a dual teleconverter Canon telephoto prime, an EF 400mm f/5.6.

What’s cool about the dual teleconverters, is one is a focal length reducer, so you get the EF 400mm f/5.6 and the built-in focal length reducer converter brings the lens to an EF 300mm f/4, or at the other end, a 560mm f/8 lens.

There has long been a desire for a replacement to the classic Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L, even if Canon just added image stabilization, but this is definitely a unique direction to take the lens on Canon’s part.

Japan Patent Application 2019-70689 summary:

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6

  • Focal length: 391.89mm
  • F number: 5.80
  • Angle of view: 3.16°
  • Image height: 21.64mm
  • Total lens length: 299.31mm
  • BF: 167.00mm

With teleconvertor (B)

  • Focal length: 560.02mm
  • F number: 8.29
  • Angle of view: 2.21°
  • Image height: 21.64mm
  • Lens total length: 299.31mm
  • BF: 46.56mm

With Teleconvertor (C)

  • Focal length: 286.00mm
  • F-number: 4.23
  • Angle of view: 4.33°
  • Image height: 21.64mm
  • Total lens length: 299.30mm
  • BF: 110.04mm
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mb66energy

EOS 6D MK II
Dec 18, 2011
1,235
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www.MichaelBockhorst.de
Would be a funny being! But after taking some time to look at it: A very interesting idea if you look how well the converters work with different lenses - two integrated (in terms of optical design) integrated adapters might be a three-focal-length lens with the excellent IQ of the best primes ... in one package.
 
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A

awair

EOS T7i
Jan 3, 2013
93
6
photo.awair.net
I would have “settled” for a 400/2.8 with 1.4x builtin, as a replacement for my 400 mk II. The 200-400 is too slow for some of the events I cover.

If a reducer could be added, enabling 280(?) f/2, that would be absolutely mind-blowing!

$20k or thereabouts, but worth every penny...
 
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3

3serious

May 13, 2019
5
11
This multi-converter lens is cool and all, but I'd much rather see something like a sub-$10k 600mm f/5.6 for us enthusiast mortals who live down here on Earth, and don't want a zoom sigma 150-600 f/6.3
 
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AlanF

AlanF

Everyone sits in the prison of his own ideas. A E
Aug 16, 2012
5,258
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3serious said:
This multi-converter lens is cool and all, but I'd much rather see something like a sub-$10k 600mm f/5.6 for us enthusiast mortals who live down here on Earth, and don't want a zoom sigma 150-600 f/6.3
Click to expand...
A sub $4k 500mm f/5.6 would be my preferred choice for two reasons. First, weight and secondly wider field of view, and 500mm would help keep the price down.
 
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unfocused

EOS 5D SR
Jul 20, 2010
4,791
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Not sure I get the point of this lens. Same focal length and aperture as the 100-400 which takes a 1.4 converter very nicely. I suppose a fixed focal length and matched teleconverter might be marginally sharper, but not sure it would be visibly sharper in real world use. Such a lens might be lighter than the zoom, but it would also be longer. Too long to fit in my camera bag. It would make more sense if this were an R lens. Shorter, lighter, maybe faster focus and something different to excite people.
 
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SwissFrank

EOS RP
Dec 9, 2018
290
113
I think this is a "just for the record we tried this" kind of patent.

There's no IS, and I'm led to believe IBIS isn't as good as in-lens IS for long teles.

And why do this instead of an actual zoom? Image quality, but the spherical aberration with TC B is bad and astigmatic. Not sure if better than a zoom, but at least this is no panacea.

A little related is that Leica tele's for their old SLR camera had interchangeable front "halfs" and back "halfs" you could mix and match for different focal lengths. I wonder how that worked, image quality-wise, compared to these solutions.
 
S

SwissFrank

EOS RP
Dec 9, 2018
290
113
mb66energy said:
1.8 35 - 1.4 50 - 2.0 70 incl. 1:3 Macro @70mm ...
Click to expand...
You remember how old TV cameras (1950s?) had three lenses on a rotating mount? Given the RF's short film-to-flange you could probably make something like that that could mount 3 EF lenses.

Leica's rangefinders also had a "Tri-Elmar" lens with three fixed focal lengths. I've used M for decades but literally have never touched the Tri-Elmars. I don't know if they're actually zooms that just have three zoom settings, or whether the image isn't really usabable between the specific focal lengths.
 
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RunAndGun

EOS RP
Dec 16, 2011
312
14
Kinda like these that we had in the days of 16x9/4x3 switchable TV cameras. Most of our ENG lenses had a built-in 2x extender, but for a while they added the option of adding in a .7x(I believe) element to maintain the FoV when the camera was switched from 16x9 to 4X3(the sides of the chips were just electronically cropped).

 
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RunAndGun

EOS RP
Dec 16, 2011
312
14
SwissFrank said:
You remember how old TV cameras (1950s?) had three lenses on a rotating mount? Given the RF's short film-to-flange you could probably make something like that that could mount 3 EF lenses.

Leica's rangefinders also had a "Tri-Elmar" lens with three fixed focal lengths. I've used M for decades but literally have never touched the Tri-Elmars. I don't know if they're actually zooms that just have three zoom settings, or whether the image isn't really usabable between the specific focal lengths.
Click to expand...
https://www.newsshooter.com/2019/04/10/multi-turret-old-school-meets-new-school/
 
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goldenhusky

goldenhusky

EOS RP
Dec 2, 2016
269
63
Canon rocks with lenses!!! imagine if Canon makes lenses for Sony and Nikon we will have best of all worlds. Best Sensor Tech (Sony), Best weather sealing and ergonomics (Nikon&Canon), Fantastic Lenses (Canon)
 
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