According to a new patent, Canon may be working on a flurry of new telephoto primes for RF full-frame cameras – all designed to mix a compact design with bright apertures. The telephoto primes in question aren’t existing lenses in the RF ecosystem, meaning that they could still be under development.
Patent P2026067609 was published on the Japan Patent Office platform on April 21 and contains details of three high-performance telephoto primes: a 130mm f/1.8, 300mm f/2.8, and 500mm f/5.6, along with an 85mm f/1.4. While the designs outlined in the patent don't seem to be fundamentally different to existing Canon lenses, they do look to be optimized for compactness.
Of all the designs outlined in the patent, the 500mm f/5.6 emphasizes this the best. The total lens length is just under 12 inches (296.6mm), meaning it's nearly 40% shorter than the existing RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM, and closer in size to the RF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM or the EF 100-400mm f/5.6 IS USM. Going by this, the patented 500mm design could easily be a handheld lens rather than one you’d only want to use with a tripod.
Canon also seems to be switching the optical weight distribution to emphasize very short back focus. By pulling the heavy corrective glass closer to the camera body, the center of gravity is shifted toward the photographer. This makes the lenses feel much lighter during panning, even if the total weight is similar.
Although I hope that these lenses will be released in the near future, for the time being, they remain patents and, as such, there’s always the possibility they never leave the design phase.
Canon tends to rank among the top of the companies filing the most patents each year, so seeing a Canon patent is never a guarantee that the tech is actually coming to store shelves. However, it would be amazing to have fast telephoto primes that easily pass the "backpack test.”
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