Firmware Upgrade = Third-Party Lens RISK???

Since third-party lenses do reverse-engineering on the Canon EF-mount so they could fit their lenses to Canon bodies, I can see that Canon software developers can change their "Algorithm" in the future on the next firmware upgrade to not support third-party lens which will result to unusable lens or lens chip upgrade. I did see this happen yet.

Why is it that Canon is not doing this if it is possible?

Is the effort in vain if there are "insiders" still give the program to third-party lens manufacturer?

What do you guys think?

FCG said:

Since third-party lenses do reverse-engineering on the Canon
EF-mount so they could fit their lenses to Canon bodies, I can see
that Canon software developers can change their "Algorithm" in the
future on the next firmware upgrade to not support third-party lens
which will result to unusable lens or lens chip upgrade. I did see
this happen yet.

Why is it that Canon is not doing this if it is possible?

Click to expand...

It shouldn't be that easy. If you change a lot, then not even Canon lenses would work, right?

FCG said:

Is the effort in vain if there are "insiders" still give the
program to third-party lens manufacturer?

Click to expand...

You don't need insiders. You just have to do reverse enginnering.

FCG said:

What do you guys think?

Click to expand...

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Luciano Oliveira

Even if Canon can change haw the contacts work with a firmware upgrade, won't that make all the EF/EF-S lenses out there malfunction, since, you can't upgrade them too?

IMHO in the past, old sigma lenses had problems with the newer Canon mounts simply because they wern't 100% EF compliant, not because Canon trayed to shut them out or changed the specifications.

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http://bgbejan.blogspot.com/

...but, can't they make to just support their own lenses and add additional "EF-mount" secret codes?

Will be happy if this is not possible since i have few non-Canon lenses. I am just afraid that I might just throw away my non-Canon lenses in the future.

There are really non-Canon lenses out there that are far better than their Canon equivalent.

much of the problem was that at some point Canon engineers reduced the voltage to the aperture control circuits.

The reduction was within the design specification of EF lenses so they had no problem, but some third-party lenses actually required the higher voltage and didn't like the change. Hence the aperture didn't respond as expected and the camera reported an error.

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KRs
Chris

My meagre efforts are at http://www.dslr.co.uk

Chris Maddock said:

much of the problem was that at some point Canon engineers reduced
the voltage to the aperture control circuits.
The reduction was within the design specification of EF lenses so
they had no problem, but some third-party lenses actually required
the higher voltage and didn't like the change. Hence the aperture
didn't respond as expected and the camera reported an error.

Click to expand...

Hadn't really thought about it before, but that makes sense.

My understanding is that the Sigma lenses with problems worked fine at max apreture, but threw an error when trying to stop down.

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http://paulme.smugmug.com/

.. then that Canon can do a firmware upgrade that would trash all our non-Canon lenses in the future?

I hope this will not happen.

To echo everyone else, no, assuming that current third party lenses meet EF specifications.

I doubt they could use a code to disable third party lenses since Canon lenses (and some current production lenses are over a decade old remember) would need to have the code built in to them. So unless they hatched this code idea as some kind of grand evil plot back in the 80's it probably cant be done since it'd require modification to all existing Canon lenses to make them work.

Even if they did do this it'd simply be a matter of sending your third party lens in to the manufacturer to have it re-chipped.

If they could do it easily without lens modifications I still kinda doubt they would. The anti-Canon posts on websites like this would be through the roof, which would probably put off a lot of potential buyers and be a kick in the balls to their existing customers. Chances are even if nobody bought a third party lens for the next few years it'd still be counter productive. Definately not worth the risk.

I had to adjust Canon 70-200mm IS USM and Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 HSM to 1DS. Later I sold 1DS and bought 1DS2 and had to adjust the same lenses again. Plus I also bought Sigma 24-70mm (as a backup) and it had to be adjusted. Canon 24-70mm F2.8 L worked fine on both bodies.

All other lenses I have (Sigma 150mm macro, 15-35mm (sold) 12-24mm, Canon 16-35mm F2.8 and 85mm F1.2 work fine too. Oh, as soon as I received 1Ds2 it had to go back to Canon for focus adjustment. Apparently it is common occurrence according to Canon's tech.

FCG said:

Since third-party lenses do reverse-engineering on the Canon
EF-mount so they could fit their lenses to Canon bodies, I can see
that Canon software developers can change their "Algorithm" in the
future on the next firmware upgrade to not support third-party lens
which will result to unusable lens or lens chip upgrade. I did see
this happen yet.

Why is it that Canon is not doing this if it is possible?

Is the effort in vain if there are "insiders" still give the
program to third-party lens manufacturer?

What do you guys think?

Click to expand...

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Eugene

The only time a smaller sensor with the same pixel count is superior to a larger sensor (aka higher pixel density) is when you are focal-length limited.

Lee Jay

I doubt that a firmware change would be able to do something as fundamental as altering the voltage supplied to the lens.

--
KRs
Chris

My meagre efforts are at http://www.dslr.co.uk

Member said:

The only time a smaller sensor with the same pixel count is
superior to a larger sensor (aka higher pixel density) is when you
are focal-length limited.

Click to expand...

This is wrong. As we move to smaller and smaller fabrication processes, less area is consumed by the electronics part so fill factor increases. Also, noise can be better addressed as the technology improves, AA filters softening effect gets less, etc. etc. Enough with the "invalid profound comments" please!

Excal

My understanding is that Sigma offer free lifetime fix for those lense w/ incompatibility problem, but you still have to pay for shipping.

PlainBoy said:

My understanding is that the Sigma lenses with problems worked fine
at max apreture, but threw an error when trying to stop down.

Click to expand...

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If picture worth a thousand words, how many megapixel is it?
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Eugene

The only time a smaller sensor with the same pixel count is superior to a larger sensor (aka higher pixel density) is when you are focal-length limited.

Lee Jay