Canon announced today the achievement of a new lens-manufacturing milestone with the production on January, 2021, of the Company’s 150-millionth RF and EF1 series interchangeable lens for EOS cameras—an RF70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM telephoto zoom lens (released in November 2019). Canon EF lens production passed the 10-million-unit mark in 1995 and crossed the 50-million-unit threshold in 2009.
In April 2014, Canon celebrated its first-in-the-world achievement of having manufactured 100 million interchangeable lenses, and now, setting a new world record for the most interchangeable lenses produced, Canon manufactured its 150-millionth RF and EF lens in January 2021. Laid end-to-end, all of the RF and EF lenses Canon has manufactured thus far would measure approximately 12,450 km in length—nearly equivalent to the Earth’s diameter, which measures approximately 12,742 km. Production of interchangeable RF and EF lenses for Canon EOS-series AF (Autofocus) single-lens reflex film cameras began in 1987 at the Company’s Utsunomiya Plant, Japan.
Canon’s proprietary EF lenses, launched in March 1987 along with the EOS SLR camera system, have continued to evolve since their introduction, leading the industry through the incorporation of a wide range of innovative technologies, including such world’s firsts3 as the Ultrasonic Motor (USM), Image Stabilizer (IS) technology, and a multilayered Diffractive Optical (DO) element.
Thanks to the support provided by Canon’s rich lineup of lenses, Canon has maintained the No.1 market share for digital interchangeable-lens cameras since 2003—a total of 17 years and in September 2019, Canon celebrated the production of 100 million EOS-series interchangeable-lens cameras.
