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Friday rant: The future of Canon RF and 3rd party lenses

Started 4 weeks ago | Discussions thread
Mika Y.
Mika Y. Senior Member • Posts: 2,130
Re: Friday rant: The future of Canon RF and 3rd party lenses

jumpthesnark wrote:

sportyaccordy wrote:

JoWinter wrote:

At the risk of sounding dramatic, if it came down to a choice of only having Canon brand lenses available for my camera or not having Canon cameras available to buy, obviously I'd choose the former. To put it another way, if the camera division doesn't make enough money, it will go away. If blocking third party AF lenses is what it takes, that is an acceptable price, to me.

I hope not, but perhaps this is really where we stand at this point.

As literally every other FF MILC system shows, it's not. Canon could bring in more users and revenue by charging licenses for 3rd party glass. Adapting EF glass isn't really a substitute IMO.... the more time goes the bigger the gap will be between current and SLR glass, both in unique offerings as well as performance.

I'm sure Canon has done a cost-benefit analysis of both opening up/licensing their mount & AF tech to third party manufacturers and keeping their system proprietary. They must know the difference and it seems they want to keep their RF system to themselves, at least for the time being.

Are they making more money off the status quo? Are they losing potential and real customers to Sony or Nikon because of this decision? Is their long-term plan to open up the walled garden of RF lenses to third parties only after they have released and sold a certain amount of their own lenses? Is it just a date on a calendar? Will it never happen?

Another variable is also how much money a 3rd party asking for a license would be willing to pay. I'm sure they aren't 100% committed to not licensing anything to anyone ever, but the minimum amount of money may want not be what 3rd parties themselves consider worth it financially.

 Mika Y.'s gear list:Mika Y.'s gear list
Canon EOS Rebel T4i Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EOS R7 Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM Canon EF-S 10-22mm F3.5-4.5 USM +13 more
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