Canon's Craziest Lens Ever Just Appeared

A Canon patent application published in Japan on October 16 includes a complete optical design for a 70-200mm f/2 zoom covering a full-frame sensor, a combination Canon has never sold in any mount. The design, Example 9 in the filing, holds f/2.06 from 71.65mm to 194mm.

The filing, JP 2026-168807, was first reported by Canon Rumors. Canon filed it on April 4, 2025, and it contains 11 numbered examples. Eight are f/1.46 zooms: two cover roughly 51-83mm, one 44-83mm, two 36-83mm, and three 36-48mm. Examples 9, 10, and 11 cover about 72-194mm at f/2.06, f/2.5, and f/2.3.

Example 9 needs an entrance pupil about 94mm wide to reach f/2.06 at 194mm, and the patent lists the front element's clear diameter at 94.17mm. The design uses 23 elements, six aspherical surfaces, and eight lens groups. Measured from the front element to the sensor, it is 240.16mm long at the wide, middle, and long settings, so the lens would zoom internally: the first group, the third group with the aperture, and the last group stay put while the other five move. Because the RF mount sits 20mm in front of the sensor, a lens built to this design would extend at least 220mm from the mount. 

The application describes its aim as a compact zoom lens with high optical performance. Every example zooms by moving a negative lens group near the front and focuses with at least three separate groups. The claims also set a range for the glass: the combined thickness of all the elements must fall between about 40% and 80% of the distance from the front element to the sensor. In Example 9, focusing is handled by three single elements, one negative, one positive, and one negative, which all travel forward as the lens focuses closer. Canon writes that the positive front group bends incoming light inward to keep the whole lens smaller, and that moving the weak negative element it labels F3 keeps spherical aberration from shifting during focusing. In Example 11, the last two elements form a fourth focus group, and they shift rearward during close focusing.

For comparison, the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Z is about 199 mm long and weighs 1,115 g. The last time Canon offered f/2 at 200mm was the EF 200mm f/2L IS USM, a 2,520 g prime from 2008. Canon already makes an f/2 zoom at shorter focal lengths, the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L USM, which came out in 2018 and weighs 1,430 g.

Canon publishes far more optical designs than it turns into products, and this application does not mean a 70-200mm f/2 is coming. Canon Rumors rates the chance of one shipping as very small and estimates it would cost $6,000 to $8,000 if Canon built it.