One of the most expensive areas of photography for Canon users has traditionally been anything that requires a super telephoto lens. Whether your poison of choice was sports, wildlife or astrophotography, super telephoto lenses can often cost tens of thousands of dollars, making these genres inaccessible for many budding photographers.
However, a new patent from Canon shows that there could be a cheaper alternative coming soon. While we wouldn’t expect the same level of quality as, say, the Canon EF 800mm f5.6 L IS USM lens, this new patent could certainly be a game changer for those looking to dip their toes into the super telephoto waters.
Read more: Best Canon lenses
This new patent shows three potential designs, including a Canon 1200mm f/11, a Canon 400mm f/3.5 and even a crazy Canon 2000mm f/15. While a maximum aperture of f/11 or f/15 might initially seem ridiculous to some people, it’s worth noting that Canon’s release of the Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM lens was pretty well-received.
The benefit of a narrow maximum aperture is that lens manufacturers such as Canon can use a lot less glass than a lens with a wider maximum aperture. This means that super telephoto focal lengths can be achieved without making the lens incredibly large, heavy and expensive.
This new Canon lens patent was reported by Canon News, which notes: “These lenses are good for basically one thing; infinity focus. Outside of infinity focus, you have donut shaped bokeh, which is unavoidable, because the entry of light is obscured by the secondary mirror at the front of the lens. This central obscuration is a key trait of a Catadioptric lens.”
Canon News also goes on to say that: “The interesting part of these embodiments is the fact that Canon is adding image stabilization to the lenses. This has never been done before.”
Canon is well-known for patenting many designs every year that never make it to market, so it’s not guaranteed that we’ll ever see this patent become an actual product. However, it’s always interesting to see what ideas Canon is exploring.
Read more
Best Canon camera
Best Canon RF lenses
Best mirrorless camera
Best camera
Best DSLR
Canon reveals what the R in Canon EOS R really means
Canon EOS R image stabilization will be in-body and in-lens hybrid
