Canon Inc. has reached two major production milestones— a combined production of the company's film and digital EOS-series interchangeable-lens cameras surpassed 90 million last month and 130 million EF-series interchangeable lenses on October 12th. A Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Camera was the 90 millionth EOS Series camera produced, while an EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens was the Company’s 130 millionth interchangeable lens.
Canon’s EOS system of SLR cameras made their debut alongside the EF series of interchangeable lenses in March 1987 as a fully electronic mount system for silver halide Auto Focus (AF) SLR cameras. Throughout the years, both product lines have continued to expand, providing equipment for various users ranging from first timers to well-seasoned professionals. Production accelerated in the early 2000s with the popularization of Digital SLR cameras.
Since its inception, Canon has continued to develop the EOS series, which is designed for high-image quality, speed and intuitiveness at the core of the design process. The company has also continued to develop their own CMOS sensors and DIGIC Image Processors for the EOS series. Canon’s EF lenses feature innovations such as the Ultrasonic Motor (USM), Image Stabilizer (IS) technology and a multilayered diffractive optical (DO) element.
EOS Series
The EOS series of interchangeable-lens cameras began with the Canon EOS 650 SLR camera, released in March 1987. The camera not only featured an electronic lens mounting system, but also included fully digitized communications between the camera body and lens, providing photographers with a new generation of autofocus technology capabilities.
As popularity of silver-halide cameras boomed, Canon launched several models that covered a wide variety of end-user needs, including the Canon EOS-1 SLR camera in 1989, aimed at professional photographers, and the Canon EOS Rebel XS SLR camera in 1993, a compact, lightweight, entry-level model that expanded Canon’s user base.
According to the company’s press release, “Throughout the years, Canon has continued to advance its products that enabled the Company to maintain the No. 1 share of the global interchangeable-lens digital camera market for 14 consecutive years from 2003 to 2016. (Based on a Canon survey.”
In 2003, during the dawn of the digital camera age, Canon released the Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR camera, an entry-level, digital SLR camera designed to have a compact, lightweight body at an affordable price. The future release EOS 5D series DSLR cameras, aimed at professional photographers, helped popularize video capture using DSLR cameras.
EF Lenses
Since the development of Canon’s first EF lens, launched alongside the EOS series in 1987, Canon has continued to produce EF lenses featuring leading edge technologies such as the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM with Image Stabilization in 1995, the EF 400mm f/4 DO IS USM with a Diffractive Optics in 2001 and the EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM, treated with highly anti-reflective Subwavelength Structure Coating (SWC) in 2008. Additionally, in 2015, Canon released the EF11-24mm f/4L USM, an ultra-wide-angle zoom lens to achieve an 11 mm focal length.
Today, Canon boasts 93 lenses in its comprehensive EF lens lineup, with focal lengths that range from an ultra-wide 8 mm angle all the way to a super-telephoto 800 mm focal length as well as EF Cinema Series lenses for video production. The company now has a wide selection of lenses for every application including zoom lenses, image stabilization-equipped lenses, fast-aperture lenses, macro lenses and even the TS-E tilt-shift lenses.
