The Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS gets some attention. It’s relatively affordable and has a rather good performance. Is it worth upgrading from the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS?
At a glance:
RF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
1.4x Magnification with Autofocus
Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/32
Minimum Focusing Distance: 10.2″
Super Spectra Coating
Smooth and Quiet Auto Focus
Optical Image Stabilization; Hybrid IS
Control Ring for Direct Setting Changes
9-Blade Diaphragm
Weather-Sealed Construction
If the upgrade is worth your money is what wedding photographer Katelyn James wanted to find out.
As a wedding photographer, a macro lens is a must have. I don’t use it very often but I use it at every single wedding for rings, earrings and other small details. I’ve never had an issue with my EF 100mm but when Canon announced the RF version I knew I had to give it a shot! So this video shares my thoughts and opinions on this new RF lens from Canon!
Canon appears to be rather active in discontinuing their EF and EF-S lenses at fast speed. Latest reports state that more lenses have been retired.
asobinet.com reports a tweet by photographer Kimio Tanaka, stating that Canon is discontinuing EF and EF-S lenses (machine translated):
CANON’s EF / EF-S lenses for SLR cameras are “low in stock” and “discontinued” at a tremendous speed (that is, production has been discontinued, and the rest is only in market stock). Currently, about 70 are “on sale”, but about 25 of them are treated as discons. I don’t want to think of a single-lens reflex camera as a light in front of the wind, but the remaining expectation is PENTAX. I want you to do your best.
The EF 40mm F2.8 and EF 85mm F1.2L II show up as discontinued, according to asobinet.com (the latter is not in stock at B&H). it seems Canon’s stock of EF and EF-S lenses is shrinking pretty quickly. The future is the RF mount, that seems ascertained.
A new Canon patent application for an RF mount lens. The interesting fact here: it seems to be be made for a camera with APS-C sensor. Is the EOS R with crop sensor really coming?
Canon patent application 2021-162822 (Japan, spotted by asobinet.com) discusses optical formulas for a 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 lens. A kit lens you might add. From the patent literature:
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lightweight zoom lens.
As a zoom lens used in an imaging device such as a still camera, a video camera, and a surveillance camera, Patent Document 1 discloses a negative lead type zoom lens in which the lens group on the most object side has a negative refractive power.
Embodiment 1:
Focal length: 18.53-43.65
F value: 4.54-6.50
Half angle of view: 33.78-17.38
Image height: 12.40-13.66
Overall length: 92.00-83.05
Back focus: 30.20-51.20
Embodiment 2:
Focal length: 20.01-43.64
F value: 4.60-6.50
Half angle of view: 31.79-17.38
Image height: 12.40-13.66
Overall length: 90.65-80.61
Back focus: 32.94-50.55
This definitely appears to be a lens for a APS-C sensors. asobinet.com notes that:
[…] the image height on the wide-angle side is 12.40 mm, which is a little too small, so it may be stretched by image processing. Since the back focus is longer overall, is it a mirrorless lens that uses a retractable structure? It’s similar to the patent application that appeared in 2019, but this time it’s different. The focal length at the wide-angle end is as low as 18.53mm, and you may feel that the angle of view is a little narrow for movie shooting.
The lens might also be for the EOS M system, although it seems less likely. Is an EOS R with an APS-C sensor really on Canon’s radar? We still have a somewhat hard time to believe it but there are signs it might be true. All comments welcome.
More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these:
Here is a very interesting Canon patent application, once more for an RF mount lens. An RF 28-70mm f/2.8L with inner focusing and that does not extend might be in the works.
The Canon patent application spotted by asobinet.com (they did not disclose the patent number), discusses optical formulas for a RF 28-70mm f/2.8L lens. The interesting part, if I got it right from the machine translated Japanese text, is that the lens not only does all the focusing but also employs a design that is usually found on wide-angle lenses.
It sounds like a patent for a small and lightweight standard zoom. The characteristic of this optical system is that the total length is the longest at the wide-angle end and the total length becomes shorter toward the telephoto end. This is a common optical system for wide-angle lenses, but I don’t see this type of lens with standard zoom lenses, especially with large-aperture zoom lenses. If it is really put into practical use, it will be a very portable lens.
Did I get it right? The lens is indeed described to be shorter at the telephoto end (emphasis mine) in both embodiment:
Wide-angle intermediate telephoto
Focal length 28.84 36.81 67.90
F number 2.91 2.91 2.91
Half angle of view (°) 32.68 29.23 17.67
Image height 18.50 20.60 21.64
Lens total length 117.09 109.31 101.58
BF 9.99 13.47 21.59
Focal length 28.84 37.17 67.90
F number 2.91 2.91 2.91
Half angle of view (°) 32.65 28.90 17.67
Image height 21.64 21.64 21.64
Lens total length 132.62 122.81 111.18
BF 21.92 26.79 39.84
Moreover, the lens uses a floating focus structure to achieve autofocus. That means it might have very fast and and highly responsive AF. The patent literature is very clear in what should be achieved:
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a zoom lens having a short overall lens length, being compact and lightweight, and having high optical performance.
All comments welcome.
More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these:
Today Canon announced the RF 5.2mm f/2.8L dual fisheye lens for VR. Here is a Canon patent for a head mounted display for VR applications.
Various Canon patent applications that deal with VR applications have been spotted by asobinet.com. Likely they are related to the RF 5.2mm f/2.8L lens.
Canon patent application 2021-89382:
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic device capable of more preferably displaying a VR image captured by using a plurality of optical systems.
[…] to obtain a wide-angle image with parallax using two optical systems, known technique for displaying a VR (Virtual Reality) image having a stereoscopic effect by displaying maps on the virtual sphere. A twin-lens VR camera for capturing an image with parallax has two optical systems oriented in the same direction, and captures two images with parallax by one imaging operation. As a twin-lens VR camera, a camera that captures a wide range of 180 degrees (hemisphere, 90 degrees in all directions from the center of an image) or more in each optical system is known. In addition, as a VR display method, “single-lens VR display” that displays one image by transforming the VR image into a virtual sphere, and VR images for the left eye and the right eye are displayed side by side in the left and right areas. “Binocular VR display” is known.
Canon patent application 2021-118415:
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately dimm an external light entering between a head-mounted display (HMD) and a face.
In recent years, VR (Virtual Reality) technology that allows users to experience virtual reality and MR (Mixed Reality) technology that allows users to experience mixed reality by seamlessly fusing reality and virtual reality are known. .. There is a head-mounted display as one of the technologies that allows you to experience the above. If there is a gap between the head-mounted display and the face when the head-mounted display is attached to the head, the displayed image will be difficult to see due to the influence of external light, and the immersive feeling such as virtual reality experience will be reduced.
Canon patent application 2021-118426:
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the compression rate of a moving image composed of a frame image having distortion of a lens and to suppress the processing amount.
Conventionally, a lens for stereoscopic photography has been used as an interchangeable lens system. By using a stereoscopic lens, a pair of left and right parallax images can be captured. When playing back a captured still image or moving image, the image for the right eye is displayed on the user’s right eye, and the image for the left eye is displayed on the left eye. As a result, an image having a parallax is projected on the right eye and the left eye, so that the user can visually recognize the image having a stereoscopic effect. As a related technique, a stereo adapter of Patent Document 1 has been proposed. The stereo adapter of Patent Document 1 has a left opening for capturing a left image and a right opening for capturing a right image, and is left in each region horizontally divided into two in the image pickup unit of the camera. The image and the right image are imaged at the same time.
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