Canon To Possibly Release An Unusual New Zoom Lens
News | By Stephan Jukic | April 16, 2024
Canon, a company that’s rather prolific in the patents it registers for new lenses and other camera parts, has filed one for a possibly groundbreaking new lens.
A recent Canon patent application has created something of a stir among watchers of camera-related patents because it’s for an ultra-wide-angle lens that could create major waves in the optics market.
The current range of ultra-wide zoom lenses from Canon is impressive in its broadness. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise for a brand that has a long history of being energetic in creating new cameras and new optics.
However, even among Canon lenses, a recently discovered patent application for a 14-20mm f/2 zoom lens takes the limits of what seems plausible for this kind of glass to a new level.
With an f/2 aperture, this particular lens is called the Canon RF 14-20mm F2.0 in the patent filing, and could possibly deliver exceptional performance through its specific ultra-wide zoom range.
If actually turned into a production model, this concept lens could deliver unusually good low-light performance and very impressive visuals with a low depth of field.
This could make the lens especially useful for landscape photography, astrophotography and possibly even architecture photos.
Other lenses on the market with somewhat similar specs include Canon’s own RF 20-70mm f/2 L USM zoom lens and Sigma’s 14mm f/1.8 for Canon cameras, though this latter model is a prime lens instead of a zoom.
However, neither of these offers quite the impressive combo that this new Canon lens patent does, with its f/2 aperture in a zoom lens with this specific focal range.
Maybe the biggest beneficiaries of a lens like this would be nocturnal landscape, panorama and astrophotographers. Its f/2 aperture would let them enjoy crisp, clear shots with lots of detail even in low light.
It would also be an interesting optic for certain types of street photography, focusing mainly on crowds in large open spaces.
The obvious is worth mentioning here, that we’re just talking about a patent and nothing resembling a production lens.
However, given Canon’s propensity for frequently releasing interesting new lenses, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this patent application emerge in the next year or so as something you can buy.
The brand’s RF 20-70mm f/2 mentioned above has been very popular and that gives the company a bit of incentive to take this new patent beyond the concept stage.
You can check out the patent application itself right here for a look at the technical details presented by Canon. If you’re using Chrome, you can if needed set it to translate the text from Japanese.
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Stephan Jukic is a technology and photography journalist and experimental photographer who spends his time living in both Canada and Mexico. He loves cross-cultural street photo exploration and creating fine art photo compositions.
