A new Canon patent spotted by the folks at Northlight Images shows a design for a new Canon EF to RF mount lens adapter. What’s so special about this one? Well, apparently, the purpose of this one seems to be to turn every Canon EF lens out there into a soft focus lens when used on an EOS R (or other, future RF mount body).
The patent shows the adapter working in conjunction with a variety of Canon EF lenses, including the 24mm f/1.4L, 35mm f/1.4L II and 135mm f/2L. It describes what soft focus is, and what the patent is for. At least, it describes it about as well as we’d expect a patent to describe it.
The present invention relates to a soft focus optical system, a soft focus adapter, a soft focus lens, and an image pickup apparatus.
Hitherto, there has been known a lens that is capable of providing a so-called soft focus effect (soft focus lens) as a lens for television broadcasting, a digital camera, or a lens for digital scinema. This is a lens in which performance in a center portion of an image area of an object is changed to provide a depiction property that is different from that of a lens for normal photography that is capable of sharp depiction (sharp focus lens or non-soft focus lens).
The present invention provides, for example, a soft focus optical system advantageous in causing an optical element to be in common between a sharp focus lens and the soft focus lens.
As always, a patent doesn’t necessarily guarantee that a product will come to reality, but this one could potentially become very popular. Especially amongst the portrait crowd. And it would certainly breathe some new life into those EF mount lenses as Canon photographers start to make the shift towards mirrorless.
If you want to read the full patent, you can read the whole mind-numbing document on the USPTO website.
[via Northlight Images]
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