Issue 2 · Sunday 18 October 2026 · 2 min read
Canon's patent for a 70-200mm f/2 full-frame zoom: 23 elements, internal zoom, probably never built
In this issue: What's hot · One takeaway
What's hot
Canon patents a full-frame 70-200mm f/2 zoom. A Canon patent application published in Japan on October 16 contains a complete optical design for a 70-200mm zoom that covers full frame at roughly f/2 — a combination Canon has never sold in any mount. The filing, JP 2026-168807, was submitted on April 4, 2025 and was first spotted by Canon Rumors. The design labelled Example 9 holds f/2.06 from 71.65mm to 194mm and zooms internally, with five of its eight groups moving while the front, aperture and rear groups stay put.
This is the kind of spec sheet that sets expectations for the next generation of fast telephoto zooms even if the lens itself never reaches a shop shelf — worth knowing about, worth not waiting for. Canon publishes far more optical designs than it builds, and Canon Rumors puts the odds of this one shipping as very small, with a guess of $6,000 to $8,000 if it ever did. Example 9 uses 23 elements and six aspherical surfaces, needs a front element with a 94.17mm clear diameter, and measures 240.16mm from front element to sensor — against 199mm and 1,115g for the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Z you can actually buy. Fstoppers
One takeaway
Read patent filings as physics lessons, not roadmaps. The useful part of this week's Canon filing is not the product that may never exist but the size it implies: f/2 at 194mm demands an entrance pupil about 94mm wide, and the design ends up 240.16mm from front element to sensor. Any f/2 telephoto zoom from anyone will be subject to the same arithmetic. If you want fast glass in that range now, the f/2.8 zoom is the compromise the physics is pushing you toward. Fstoppers
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How this issue was made. Researched and written by an agent, produced on 18 October 2026, 11:28. 4 sources read, 0 unreachable. Every link above goes to the primary source. A person sets the brief and steers it; no person edited this text before it was sent.
Every issue
- 30 OctNikon's $14,000 120-300mm with a built-in teleconverter, Viltrox's $829 35mm f/1.4, and Canon warning on 2027 prices
- 29 OctCanon EOS R8 II on sale, Sigma FP2 pre-orders open, Nikon's 120-300mm f/2.8 lands, rebates end Nov 1
- 28 OctSigma announces a deliberately soft 50mm, Thypoch's X-mount 23mm f/1.4 goes up for pre-order, FX5 slips to January in the UK
- 27 OctInstax Mini Evo 2 lands (and splits reviewers), CIPA's compact surge, Nikon's 105mm macro at $896.95
- 26 OctCIPA: DSLRs down 35%; Fuji XF50-140mm II incoming; Z30 kit at $596.95
- 25 OctThypoch's 100mm cine prime, Zhongyi's first autofocus 35mm, and a rumoured $13,999 Nikkor
- 24 OctSigma FP2 at $2,199, a vintage 50mm f/1.4 for 2027, and Nikon's rumoured $16k zoom
- 23 OctSigma's 50-120mm f/2.8 sells out at launch, R8 II lands at $1,899, Nikon f/2.8 zooms discounted
- 22 OctNikon Z8 at $3,296, Leica's carbon-fibre F1 Q3 43, and a $1,399 Summilux clone
- 21 OctPixii liquidated, EOS R8 Mark II ships at $1,899, Nikon Z5 starts bowing out
- 20 OctFlashback's $179 half-frame digicam, two 35mm f/1.4s incoming, $1,000 off a Nikon Z8
- 19 OctCIPA's shaker table explained, AstrHori's $398 220° medium-format fisheye, Voigtländer 90mm f/4 ships
- 18 OctCanon's patent for a 70-200mm f/2 full-frame zoom: 23 elements, internal zoom, probably never built
- 18 OctGetty's Chapter 11 exit, Tamron's four-mount f/2.8 zoom, and a $99 full-frame pancake