My Navi had a chat with Tsuyoshi Tokura, Senior Managing Executive Officer in charge of the Canon Imaging Group at CP+ 2024. And it looks like Canon’s easing up a little more on third-party RF mount lenses.

Gone are the days of Canon shutting down 3rd party RF lenses, apparently. Mr Tokura said that Canon is in “deep discussions” with third-party manufacturers to produce RF mount lenses. But there’s no mention of when.

Canon RF Mount – Rewriting history?

In the interview posted to My Navi, Mr Tokura said that communicating with third-party lens manufacturers. He denied the speculation in the photography and video communities that Canon is restricting third-party manufacturers.

This pretty much flies completely in the face of the company’s actions over the last few years. In August 2022, Viltrox told customers that Canon had ordered them to cease production of RF mount lenses. This was confirmed by Canon Germany only a week later.

In 2021, Samyang’s autofocus RF mount lenses also disappeared from the market before they went on sale, never to re-appear. There was no mention of either of these brands during the interview, or questions about exactly what happened.

Of course, in August last year, Canon announced this was starting to change. Instead of completely blocking third parties, they had started to work with some to create autofocus RF lenses. Of course, here we are, six months later, and none have been announced.

First 3rd-party lenses from Sigma and Tamron?

While Viltrox and Samyang weren’t mentioned during the interview, two other companies were. Sigma and Tamron. Admittedly, these were included by the author of the article and not Mr Tokura. However, these are two of the most popular third-party lens manufacturers out there. But how close are they to release from somebody?

According to Mr Tokura, things are getting pretty close. He says that discussions are “more than half of the way” towards autofocus third-party RF lenses being released.

While E-mount, Z-mount, and X-mount lenses are being introduced one after another by third-party lenses, there are no third-party interchangeable lenses for the RF mount, with the exception of a few MF lenses. Due to this situation, there are speculations and rumors among photography enthusiasts, such as “Is the policy not to release RF mounts to other companies? Are there restrictions such as AF lenses are not allowed but MF lenses are allowed?” It’s flying around.

When I asked these questions to Mr. Tokura, he immediately replied, “Canon is communicating with third-party manufacturers regarding RF mount lenses” and “There are no restrictions.” He quickly denied the speculations that were circulating among photography fans.

My Navi

Mr Tokura didn’t specify how soon we might see something. Nor did he say exactly which companies Canon is communicating with. But My Navi reports that he indicated negotiations are progressing smoothly.

Canon has 40 lenses in the RF Mount lineup

Canon has 40 RF mount lenses in the lineup since the EOS R system’s announcement in 2018. Given that it was announced towards the end of 2018, that averages a little more than seven lenses per year.

But it’s still not enough. There’s a lot of overlap in the range but there are also a few gaps. There are also some unique speciality lenses, like the Canon 5.2mm dual fisheye (buy here). Lenses that very few people will buy. At least, few according to the overall number of EOS R camera owners.

There’s also the price to consider, too. Most Canon RF mount lenses are extremely expensive, even compared to their EF mount predecessors. Third-party lenses present other options to many photographers, especially hobbyists and enthusiasts.

Without the third-party options, well, Canon might be on top right now (or think they are), but it won’t work well in the long term. Not when third parties are creating so many new lenses for Nikon Z, Sony E and Fuji X. The speed at which the L mount alliance is growing will also be a concern to Canon at some point.

At least, it will if there are no third parties making RF mount lenses. If Google’s translation of the interview is accurate, however, this may be about to change. Now that Canon’s lineup is starting to fill out a little bit, what do they have to lose?

It’s going to be too little, too late for many, though. A lot of people who would’ve gone with Canon over the last year or two have already gone with other brands. And many of those people already feel slighted by Canon due to previous actions. So, it would take a lot to convince them to switch to RF mount now.

We’ve heard no announcements or even hints from Sigma, Tamron or others. So, there’s no telling exactly who or when we’ll start to see the first autofocus RF mount lenses. Or how fast we’ll see them coming once they do start to appear.

We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.