Despite a long-held reputation for being a company that’s nearly hostile to full AF compatibility with third-party lenses, Canon seems to be changing.
Many users of Canon cameras have long wanted to see lenses by external brands work with Canon’s cameras.
Specifically, there have been hopes of optics from brands like Sigma or Tamron and others being capable of functional autofocus.
However, Canon has so far drawn a sort of line in the sand on this development, blocking and sometimes even legally attacking third-party lens makers that tried to reverse-engineer Canon’s RF mount.
In fact, as of today, Canon is the only major camera maker that has completely blocked third-party lens makers from creating fully supported optics for its mirrorless cameras.
Now, however, Canon seems to be in discussions to change its policy on letting outside brands work with its cameras.
Recently, during an interview with staff from the website PetaPixel at CP+in Yokohama, Japan, an executive from Canon claimed his company to be more open to the idea than it used to be.
According to Go Tokura, Senior Managing Executive Officer and Deputy Head of the Imaging Group at Canon in quoted words to PetaPixel, “There is a slight change from last year,”
The website adds that according to Tokura, “[Since we have] launched more than 40 lenses and our product lineup has become more versatile and based on that, our communication with the third party has been seeing more progress from last year.”
Tokura claimed that “more than 50%” progress has been made in allowing third-party lens compatibility.
He himself admitted to how ambiguous this all sounded and further added that it at least shows how a discussion is being made inside Canon.
I suppose reading that is better than nothing at least.
Sure, you can buy lenses from certain brands that will attach to Canon cameras and work fine for quality photos, but full AF compatibility and connectivity remain absent.
Manufacturers like Sigma have also had to release workarounds like this one, to deal with Canon RF-mount compatibility.
PetaPixel also asked an obvious question to Tokura, wanting to know why the company has been so hostile to third-party lenses even if they come from quality brands like Tamron or Sigma.
His answer was unusually honest in admitting that it’s just business.
The executive explained,
“So basically, the reason why we have not been collaborating or partnering with a third party is because of our business strategy. Our business strategy says that we are not going to partner with a third party. And the reason why we came up with that strategy is because of the business that we are doing. So our business is that if we have some technology, we try to lock them up inside of our company and try to make a profit out of that. That’s the basis of our business,”
He then defended Canon by adding that it isn’t alone in doing this. However, he added that after 6 years, Canon has “quite enough product lineups” with over 40 different lenses for the RF mount.
Because of this according to Tokura, Canon has started internal discussions because it might be time to expand into letting in third-party lens manufacturers.
The outcome of these discussions is still ambiguous, but with these clarifications on motives and corporate thinking, it at least takes on a bit more substance.
As one of the leaders in the camera and lens market and a very prolific creator of lenses for its own ecosystem of cameras and mounts, Canon is perhaps more able than other brands to get away with closing itself off to external optics.
Doing this hasn’t visibly damaged Canon’s sales either. The brand’s mirrorless cameras are among the most popular in the world and sell exceptionally well by the standards of this market. So too do its lenses for these cameras.
Despite all this, many photographers would indeed love to see more external lenses work with their Canon cameras, and it’s not hard to image Canon finding itself overtaken in sales by rivals like Sony because it can’t adapt to this basic desire.
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