Keith at Northlight Images has uncovered a USPTO patent that shows off optical formulas for ultra-wide-angle zoom lenses for the Canon RF mount.
USPTO Patent 2021 / 0096343:
- Canon RF 8-16mm f/4
- Canon RF 9-15mm f/4
- Canon RF 9-24mm f/4
- Canon RF 10-18mm f/4
The closest lens on the Canon RF lens roadmap is an RF 10-24mm f/4L USM.
Some of our articles may include affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.
come on canon do better.
We need a 200-600mm 5.6 or no darker than 6.3
Or even a RF 500mm 5.6. Most will be happy with.
One of the features of it is the use of an aspherical element at the front and its part in the design.
There was another patent application I spotted as well which included
70-200 f/4 | 100-500 f/4.6-6.8 | 70-200 f/2.8 | 55-250 f/4.6-6.5 | 100-400 f/5.6-8 |100-390 f/5.6-8
Mostly RF full frame but the 55-250 is for a crop sensor
I like the lens and it very much serves a purpose, but even using 11mm is a technical challenge that most honest people who own and use it will attest to. 9mm sounds more like a headline than a useful specification, a bit like 1,000,000 iso. Yes there will be a very few people who can and will use the feature but in truth it won’t be used effectively by most people.
So yes, a 9-24mm would be a niche within a niche that would obviously be a statement lens few could afford and even fewer will get genuine use out of.
At least you can put filters in an adapter using the EF 11-24 on R cameras, they’d better have a drop in filter slot for that RF 9-24 design!
Since i need a very wide lens i purcheased the EF 8-15. Do you think Canon will make soon (ie in about 1 year time) a similar RF lens like the RF 8-16mm? Shall i sell the EF?
And, as usual, one should consider the possibility the patent is just for IP protection, or for use in some other kind of lens. IIRC, it was mentioned in the past a patent for a 10mm prime became the 11-24mm, or maybe the TS-E 17mm.
True dat.
I will politely decline your challlenge
Would i be interested in wider? Not really... Most pics i took with it are in the 12-17 range.
I have the ef-rf adapter with filter, very useful
It should pair well in a kit with the existing Rf 15-35mm F2.8 or the future (is it confirmed?) RF 14-35mm F4 for "normal" UWA :)
If the Canon RF 1200mm F8 Canon is coming, an ultra wide angle starting at 8mm doesn't seems insane anymore, more extreme focal lengths need to be available for the RF mount, smartphones are already getting insanely wide lenses, 8mm rectilinear will put interchangeable lens cameras at the top again, Canon needs to make a number of lenses that no future smartphone camera in the next 10, 20 or even 30 years could challenge, any future customer of RF cameras will have a smartphone and if a good lens is already inside a smartphone less people will want to buy a mirrorless camera if there isn't a huge and evident advantage, the challenge is not (only) against Sony or Nikon anymore, but against Samsung or Apple smartphones, sure till now no smartphone camera is as good as any modern miorreless camera, Canon (Sony, Nikon, etc ...) need to push the boundaries to keep this advantage even with some insane lenses, just to mark the territory ;)
8mm is almost as impractical as 1200mm especially in a smartphone, but the few that want this kind of challenging focal lengths will love to use a proper camera to make this lenses useful for their creativity, this is the mindset that Canon engineers are probably using, also F1.2 lenses or F2 zoom are the sign of this trend, if a lens is too "extreme" to be available in a smartphone it's a good lens that will differentiate proper cameras from phone cameras.
Even if I could be happy with "just" a 15mm or 14mm wide lens and a 500mm or 600mm tele, I'll like to be able to rent or buy something much longer or extremely wider if i feel I need to expand my creativity.