Ed Sawyer
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 p.2 #20 · New Canon 14-24L? interesting patent... | |
jcowell - actually I do peruse the patents quite a bit. one for looking up old lenses, to learn of their design ideas. And two, to see what companies are up to recently.
theSuede - indeed, in the patent they describe several iterations of it, but interestingly really only one diagram/optical formula. they are deliberately vague in the patent too, talking about silver halide (film) camera usage, digital and/or video camera usage also. The patent reads a lot more vague and general than many of their lens patents in the past, which is somewhat odd. They seem to be hedging their bets some, or else it's a catch-all patent for some recent lenses (TSE 17?) and some forthcoming ones (zooms?). Usually patents on lenses though are for a specific lens, not a general concept.
Additionally, it specs out 5 aspherical surfaces (similar to 14-24 nikon I'd guess), which is a hell of a lot, and bound to add to cost.
Also, on lens patents, usually there are multiple iterations in a given patent - basically listing 3 or so versions of a given lens, with one being the production model. Not sure why that is usually done but it's the case often. that might explain the multiple zoom options. I highly doubt they'd actually put out a zoom from 14-18 or 20-24 (too limited, and no need for that big of a front element setup for something only 20mm focal length), so my guess is it's a combination of the two ranges, e.g. 14-24.
Even if this patent is designed to cover multiple lenses (e.g. 14L II and 17-TSE), it still doesn't explain the zoom iterations, as those don't exist (yet) as far as I can tell from comparison with existing canon lenses and their formulas. So, my guess is they still have a wide 14-24L type zoom on the horizon, most likely.
Also given the image circle radiuses, it's clearly not EF-S.
hopefully it will see the light of day!
-Ed
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