Patent Application: Full Frame Power Zoom lenses

In this patent application (2025-68536) we see that Canon is exploring power zoom full frame lenses.  While it's all together possible that Canon will take this patent application and make something out of it, it's usually not the case that we see optical design patent applications before the lenses actually come out.  Most times we see the patent application 2-3 months after the lens is released.

So no clickbait here, but it's obvious that Canon is exploring more internally driven power zoom lenses.   Internal power zoom lenses are great, because the frankenstein attachment that Canon was using before just had to go.

According to the patent application the purpose of this application is;

To provide a zoom lens having a high zoom ratio and high optical performance, and capable of being equipped with an electric zoom function.

The designs look fairly unremarkable, but would make interesting kit lenses around the same focal range as the Canon RF 24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens.  All three embodiments are basically the same, so we'll only show one embodiment.

Canon RF 20-50mm F4 IS PZ

This is a fairly large lens at around 112mm in lens length, does perform optical stretching on the wide end, but assuming you are shooting some aspect of crop video this may be less important to you than full frame stills. Still though, we rather see lenses that do not have to do this digital correction in camera, especially when the image stretching happens from the very wide to past mid-focal on the lens.   This would be quite the compex lens too, with two seperate zoom groups with IS sandwitched in between the groups.

This is only a Patent Application

As with all patent applications that we talk about, this is simply a patent application that was published. It means that Canon was researching this item, or simply blocking others from doing a similar item.  Because there's a patent application doesn't mean that Canon is doing such a product, and even if it's coming out soon.  I've seen credible patent applications that I would have sworn would come to fruition, simply dissappear.

• Japan Patent 2025-068536

Richard @ CanonNewsRichard @ CanonNews

Richard has been using Canon cameras since the 1990s, with his first being the now legendary EOS-3. Since then, Richard has continued to use Canon cameras and now focuses mostly on infrared photography. Richard is the founder and editor of CanonNews since 2017, and has worked as a writer on CanonRumors and other websites in the past.

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