Canon have today announced that global production of interchangeable SLR EF lenses surpassed a huge 50 million units as of December 2009.

Canon has a strong heritage in the lens market. More than 50 years ago, Canon sold its first single-lens reflex camera, and, in 1987 the first Canon EF lens mount was manufactured. Today there is an impressive range of more than 60 EF lenses available for purchase in Australia, with focal lengths ranging from 14mm to 600mm and offering a range of fixed, zoom, specialist macro, tilt/shift and fisheye models.

The EF lens mount revolutionised SLR photography in 1987 by replacing mechanical links between camera and lens with electronic contacts and providing for an internal auto focus motor. Even with continued development and evolution of focus systems, Image Stabilizer technologies, lens element materials science, weather sealing and design, the EF mount remains consistent. Every EF lens is compatible with every EOS camera ever produced, including all new digital EOS cameras.

“Worldwide, Canon has seen production and demand for EF lenses grow exponentially in the last five years,” said Darren Ryan, General Manager – Consumer Marketing, Canon Australia. “Indicative of the accelerating popularity of SLR photography, 10 million EF lenses have been produced in the last 20 months alone.”


“Reaching the 50 million units milestone is symbolic of our strength in lens research, design and manufacture. These are core competencies for Canon,” continued Ryan. “Lens expertise gives us a strategic advantage across categories and is fundamental to our ongoing success in the digital SLR market.”

“We witnessed this success in 2009 when Canon’s Australian sales value in the digital SLR category grew by 33%, exceeding market growth of 20%[1]. Across camera categories Canon enjoys the number one position in Australia, which contributes to growth in DSLR market share as consumers graduate from Canon’s high-end compact camera ranges to become DSLR users.”

“Canon’s iconic EOS brand is synonymous with creativity and the 60-plus EF lenses available in Australia, together with the challenges laid down to users on the World of EOS, enable photographers to really push their skills and techniques to new limits,” added Ryan.

Heritage of precision optics

The 50 million EF lens milestone adds to the millions of FD lenses produced prior to 1987, replaced with the EF mount introduction. It complements the tens of millions of Canon compact camera and camcorder lenses, and wide range of Canon broadcast lenses favoured for their image fidelity by the film and television industries.

World firsts

First commercialisation in 1987 of the Ultrasonic Motor (USM) for use in interchangeable SLR camera lenses. Now employed in the majority of EF lenses, USM provides high-speed, near-silent auto focus with good holding torque for accurate, rapid-response stopping with no overshoot.
First appearance of an aspherical lens element in an interchangeable SLR lens, introduced to eliminate the spherical aberrations that soften the image quality of conventional lenses.
First introduction of fluorite, UD (Ultra-dispersion) and Super UD lens elements in interchangeable SLR lenses in order to correct chromatic aberrations.
First interchangeable lens to incorporate Image Stabilizer (IS). Converted into shutter speed, the effect of Canon’s latest IS is to allow for handheld photography at about four stops less, with no perceptible increase in image blur. IS is now incorporated into 24 current model EF lenses.
First company in the world to incorporate a diffractive optical (DO) element into an interchangeable SLR lens. Using diffraction rather than refraction as the primary means of focusing light, Canon’s EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM and EF70-300 f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lenses produce outstanding image quality, yet are significantly lighter and smaller than similarly specified conventional lenses.
First 10x zoom (EF35-350mm f/3.5-5.6L USM)