Canon is full steam ahead as far as lens development goes, as a whole slew of optical formulas have appeared at patent offices.
These are the latest EF mount optical formulas. It's possible that these are Cinema lenses as they appear to be close to parfocal.
Japan Patent Application 2019-066585
Canon EF 16mm f/1.4
- Focal distance 16.40mm 16.36mm 16.21mm
- F number 1.45 1.45 1.45
- Half field angle 52.84° 52.84° 52.84°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 98.97mm 98.65mm 97.42mm
- BF 38.50mm 38.83mm 40.05mm
Canon EF 20mm f/1.4
- Focal distance 20.50mm 20.45mm 20.26mm
- F number 1.45 1.45 1.45
- Half field angle 46.54° 46.54° 46.54°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 100.04 99.55 97.71
- BF 38.32mm 38.81mm 40.64mm
Canon EF 14mm f/1.8
- Focal distance 14.40mm 14.38mm14.29mm
- F number 1.83 1.83 1.83
- Half field angle 56.35° 56.35° 56.35°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 88.57mm 88.32mm 87.42mm
- BF 38.79mm 39.04mm 39.94mm
Canon 16mm f/1.8
- Focal distance 16.04mm 16.00mm 15.86mm
- F number 1.83 1.83 1.83
- Half field angle 53.45° 53.45° 53.45°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 94.99 94.67 93.46
- BF 38.80mm 39.13mm 40.33mm
Canon EF 17mm f/1.8
- Focal distance 17.16mm 17.14mm 17.06mm
- F number 1.83 1.83 1.83
- Half field angle 51.58° 51.58° 51.58°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 90.00mm 89.66mm 88.39mm
- BF 40.51mm 40.86mm 42.12mm
Canon 18mm f/1.8
- Focal distance 18.81mm 18.75mm 18.52mm
- F number 1.83 1.83 1.83
- Half field angle 48.99° 48.99° 48.99°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 93.37mm 93.37mm 93.37mm
- BF 39.52mm 39.52mm 39.52mm
Japan Patent Application 2019-066586
Canon EF 18mm f/1.4
- Focal distance 18.52mm 18.46mm 18.25mm
- F number 1.31 1.31 1.31
- Half field angle 49.44° 49.53° 49.85°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 106.98mm 106.51mm 104.95mm
- BF 38.97mm 39.44mm 41.00mm
Canon EF 20mm f/1.4
- Focal distance 20.50mm 20.45mm 20.26mm
- F number 1.45 1.45 1.45
- Half field angle 46.54° 46.54° 46.54°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 100.04mm 99.55mm 97.71mm
- BF 38.32mm 38.81mm 40.65mm
Canon EF 14mm f/1.8
- Focal distance 14.69mm 14.68mm 14.64mm
- F number 1.85 1.85 1.85
- Half field angle 55.82° 55.85° 55.91°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 104.15mm 103.78mm 102.95mm
- BF 38.33mm 38.70mm 39.53mm
Canon EF 22mm f/1.2
- Focal distance 22.6mm 22.60mm 22.20mm
- F number 1.24 1.24 1.25
- Half field angle 43.63° 43.75° 44.27°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 107.46mm 106.9mm 104.5mm
- BF 38.32mm 38.88mm 41.28mm
Canon EF 24mm f/1.2
- Focal distance 24.10mm 24.03mm 23.69mm
- F number 1.24 1.24 1.24
- Half field angle 41.92° 42.00° 42.40°
- Image height 21.64mm 21.64mm 21.64mm
- Whole length of the lens 108.28mm 107.72mm 104.96mm
- BF 38.33mm 38.89mm 41.65mm
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Only that I am missing some compact (70x70mm, 270g) 4.0 17mm STM lens @ 400 EUR with great IQ straight from f/4.0. With modern production technology this seems to be possible. But if the RF 17-70 comes true maybe this is the better (more flexibility) alternative.
Might the models even split for a while, EF work horses for big kit professionals and RF for the new feature chasing crowd?
I doubt those patents would turn into lenses. Most patents don't, and some of the specific examples don't make a lot of sense.
E.g. Canon didn't upgrade the EF 20mm f/2.8 when sales were on the rise following the DSLR revolution, I don't see Canon releasing an EF 20mm f/1.4L now that the market is shrinking even faster than it expected.
With the 11-24mm f/4L being four years old, and the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L mkIII under 3 years old, I don't even see any of those patents turning into an UW zoom, like Canon did with the 10mm f/4 patent.
At most we'll see a fast UW prime for astro, or cine lenses, my bet is the patents will gather dust in Canon's IP portfolio.
14/1.8 - Wow!
22/1.2 - Wow!
Edit - just noticed that these are EF mount. Might be more defensive patents than anything - that is, Canon locks up the formula so that nobody else can use it.
I doubt we will see such a clear cut split, but I do think Canon is very much concerned about not alienating their EF user base. As another thread indicates, Canon currently has almost 50% of the market in all interchangeable lens cameras. They would like to maintain or grow that market share, even as the overall market shrinks.
Too many on this forum think that DSLRs and Mirrorless are a binary choice. I'm not sure Canon sees it that way. They may be simply letting their lens mounts drive their lens designs – designing some lenses that work best for RF and other lenses that are more appropriate for EF. Once they have a solid selection of camera bodies and lenses in both formats, they will likely just sit back and react to the market. We don't know the economics, but I think it is reasonable to assume that a company that has 50% of the entire market worldwide can probably afford to continue offering four different formats pretty much indefinitely if they see the demand is there.
I'm hoping this is RF and not EF as the 16mm 1.8 isn't listed as either but I guess it is a EF lens, I don't think I will be buying any more EF glass now, but they are nice kt all the same
I'm not completely certain of the exact definitions, but I think those numbers might indicate that the lenses lack much "focus breathing". I've always understood "parfocal" to only be applicable to zoom lenses.
excellent point! was also surprised to see the term "parfocal" used in reference to prime lenses.
maybe crguy can comment on his use of the term here?
Parfocal means holding focus while zooming (so only applicable to zooms) while focus breathing means the image size changing depending on the focusing distance, an ideal cinema zoom lens is parfocal and also does not have focus breathing.
I'm pretty much of the same opinion as you and I have come under a lot of fire from the "binaries" or rather "RF will take over the world" forum posters. RF is a great format and a worthy inclusion into the Canon EOS world....but it's an inclusion into an existing system and not a replacement. I think there are unique benefits still in both EF and RF mounts. Both have their weaknesses too. EF...the obvious mirror box compromises (which we have all put up with for the entire DSLR journey so far). EF still has a far faster AF speed over the RF system...although there is nothing to stop Canon from fusing the two in a future DSLR. I'm sure one day Canon will crack the piss poor slow continuous AF on the EOS R...that can keep up with the astonishing 14 fps capable AF system found in the EOS 1DmkII. Or the crappy battery life that EVF's invariably bring. For all the virtues that the RF mount offers...I'm still attracted to the benefits of EF to RF. The ability to use a CPL on a TSe 17L using the EF to RF adapter with a filter slot for instance. But I can also see a lot of professional photographers not wishing to give up on a great optical view finder. Some may call me a Luddite, but it's nice to look through a real view finder. I know many other photographers who feel the same way too. I tend to compose tripodded landscapes with the optical view finder and then tweek the composition using live view (so I can see flare and depth of field).
I can see all of the low end Canon DSLR model range migrating to the cheaper to manufacture RF / Mirrorless mount. I can see the EF-m mount becoming extinct, partly due to the EOS M. Canon will sell a budget EOS RP Junior for the same money a EOS xxD...but it will be far simpler for Canon to manufacture...thus a bigger profit margin for sure. But I suspect there will always be a market for a 5Dx and a 1Dx class of top tier DSLR cameras that still have the manufacturing budget to build a great optical viewfinder. Those sales figures although smaller than the rest of the market, they are very healthy margin for Canon...and help sell a lot of top tier EF lenses (and I'm not just talking 2.8 zooms here). At that end of the market, Nikon and Sony fail to come close to Canon's market share and it's the most profitable and stable part of the market.
For many pros, me included, the Eos R and Rp and a curiosity. But not a serious replacement (at the moment) for the EF mount. But I can see many over lapping and dovetailing benefits that once canon release a more worthy Eos R+ of some sorts...then I would buy one to compliment and expand on my existing camera system. Although a 50+ mp mirrorless still isn't what I'm looking for...I want an Eos R that should have been launched (maybe a Eos RII).
I think that Canon kind of stopped investing in fast primes a long while back. Once upon a time, Canon owned that market and were well ahead of the competition. But now both Nikon and Sony have many very similar prime lenses to Canon portfolio. At a time when Canon really should have pushed ahead further and offered f1.2 21mm / 24mm / 35mm options and a 135 f1.8 IS too. Oh and a EF 50mm f1.2 that doesn't suck....really Canon...that lens isn't too much to ask for...really...If you can make a sharp 85mm f1.2 and a sharp 35mm....a sharp 50mm can't be that hard to make either.