Canon’s Lens Quality Has a Big Chance of Dropping

Canon has created some wonderful lenses over the years. With their latest introduction RF lenses, the price and the weight of some optics are slightly more than some other offerings. To change this, Canon is now working on a new patent that can fix this, in a major way.

First reported by Asobinet, Canon has published patent application P2026101032 that showcases a few lens designs. The catch? These f1.2 options utilize resin material to reduce their weight. This includes models such as: 50mm f1.2, 80mm f1.2, 35mm f1.4, and a 100-400mm f5.6-8.3.

Example 1

• Focal length: 51.70
• F-number: 1.24
• Half-Angle of View: 22.71
• Image height: 21.64
• Overall length: 96.19
• Back Focus: 37.67

Example 2

• Focal length: 80.80
• F-number: 1.24
• Half-Angle Angle: 14.99
• Image height: 21.64
• Length: 117.62
• Back Focus: 42.06

Example 3

• Focal length: 34.80
• F-number: 1.45
• Half-Field Angle: 31.87
• Image height: 21.64
• Length: 117.82
• Back Focus: 22.13

Example 4

• Focal length: 20.60-38.80
• F-number: 4.10-6.16
• Half-field angle: 46.40-29.14
• Image height: 21.64
• Length: 101.91
• Back Focus: 22.06

Example 5

• Focal length: 102.62-388.00
• F-number: 5.77-8.24
• Half-Angle of Field: 11.91-3.19
• Image height: 21.64
• Total length: 179.91-258.73
• Back focus: 38.51-102.12

The approach showcases the use of aspherical resin layers onto glass lens elements. Traditionally, aspherical lenses are grounded directly into glass, or they are molded from glass at higher temperatures. The former is an expensive process that is also time-consuming. But a composite optical element will take a different approach. The layer of resin onto the glass and then shaping the glass into aspherical form could result in a more cost-effective procedure. One that is also cheaper.

Canon also points out in its patent that it will be used on both the object and the image sides. By distributing the aspherical correction, Canon can reduce the deformation each surface needs to perform. This will also address the concern regarding resin’s sensitivity to temperature and humidity. The design shows that when aspherical load is shared between two surfaces, it makes the overall system stable and reliable.

In fact, with models, Canon is trying to explore ways to build faster primes, where weight is managed, and the cost of the models remains low. With the 100-400, it also proves that Canon could create zoom lenses that are resin elements that could make them lighter and more affordable without sacrificing optical quality — or at least that’s the hope.

Glass has long been the industry standard for optical elements for very good reasons. Sure, the lenses in your eye glasses are probably not made of glass. But the megapixels on a camera sensor are a far different beast.

Weight reduction is of importance for many portrait, sports, and wildlife photographers, who have to carry more than one lens for their assignment. A substantial weight reduction can reduce fatigue of assignment day all together. And reducing the length can make primes and zoom easy to carry for any shot.

Wide aperture lenses such as f1.2 are quite expensive, costing anywhere between $2500 to $3000. This means some of the lenses can only cater to the needs of professionals, with the rest turning to third party lenses. If resin-made lenses can fix this, many young photographers will choose first-party options.

However, with patents, it also must be remembered that products take time to launch. Sometimes, they are shelved mid-way. Since there is a large range of lenses left to be tested with resin build, the filing is yet to cover that. Canon, however, is only keen on ensuring resin is the future of RF lenses. That counts, even if it’s a thought for now.