# The upcoming Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8L is a dual-lens VR lens



## Canon Rumors Guy (Oct 2, 2021)

> The recently rumoured and upcoming Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8L lens is actually a dual-lens for virtual reality. So it’s definitely a niche product.
> The full lens moniker is Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8L Dual Fisheye.
> This is definitely a surprising and interesting development for RF lenses, but it shows Canon is more than willing to branch out in lens development.



Continue reading...


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## snappy604 (Oct 2, 2021)

color me curious... how'd this work?


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## neuroanatomist (Oct 2, 2021)

Dual fisheye:


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## amorse (Oct 2, 2021)

That makes somewhat more sense, but now I can't help but wonder what this thing is going to look like mounted to a camera.


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## Maps (Oct 2, 2021)

What's the advantage of doing something like this on an ILC over an action-style camera? Exposure control? Certainly not stabilization.


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## Woody (Oct 2, 2021)

If someone (Canon or third party) sells software to turn the dual fisheye image into a single normal rectilinear output, it will be quite useful.


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## Chaitanya (Oct 2, 2021)

Panasonic had 3D lens for their micro 43 mount and there are some wierd VR options out there so its definitely interesting development.








Panasonic developing world's first intechangable 3D lens for Micro Four Thirds


Panasonic has announced it is developing a digital 3D interchangeable lens for the Micro Four Thirds system, to be launched by the end of the year. The lens will include two optical paths, projecting left and right image pairs onto the camera sensor. These twin images can later be combined to...




m.dpreview.com


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## aceflibble (Oct 2, 2021)

Maps said:


> What's the advantage of doing something like this on an ILC over an action-style camera? Exposure control? Certainly not stabilization.


Workflow and output consistency. It's hard to get 'action cam' footage to blend in with video from other systems seamlessly, and it's easier for large productions to just use one camera/mount.

Now, whether or not there's really that much call for a VR fisheye to be integrated with other footage, from a cinema body... eh, well, that's why this will be a very expensive, limited-production L lens unlikely to even be stocked by any 'regular' shop, and not marketed or intended to be sold to the general public.


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## landon (Oct 2, 2021)




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## john1970 (Oct 2, 2021)

I never saw this one coming and wished the lens would have been a 35 mm f1.2 or 500 mm f4. Oh well, I will just wait until 2022 and keep fingers crossed.


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## Alam (Oct 2, 2021)

Maps said:


> What's the advantage of doing something like this on an ILC over an action-style camera? Exposure control? Certainly not stabilization.


High Quality home made VR p*rn?


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## Ian K (Oct 2, 2021)

How do you get two lenses with 180deg field of view to sit next to each other. Surely in one direction they will only see the other lens?


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## Stig Nygaard (Oct 2, 2021)

Ian K said:


> How do you get two lenses with 180deg field of view to sit next to each other. Surely in one direction they will only see the other lens?


As long as the view is _not more_ than 180deg it shouldn't be a big problem.
If you are standing on the curb of a sidewalk facing the street, you can only see the street with a 180deg view, not the sidewalk. If a guy next to you does the same, you cannot see the guy, except maybe his nose and shoe tips, but it will be a very little fraction of the complete 180deg view.

(If the 180deg is from the absolute tip of the lenses, they won't see each other at all)


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## Flamingtree (Oct 2, 2021)

Alam said:


> High Quality home made VR p*rn?


100% The porn industry will be pumped for this lens.


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## entoman (Oct 2, 2021)

amorse said:


> That makes somewhat more sense, but now I can't help but wonder what this thing is going to look like mounted to a camera.


Quite scary I would think - the photographer’s head will be hidden from view, and onlookers will just see a bug-eyed monster!


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## LensFungus (Oct 2, 2021)

Flamingtree said:


> 100% The porn industry will be pumped for this lens.


Can't wait for upcoming press releases...

*"MELVILLE, NY (September 14, 2022) * Building on the success of the EOS R camera series, Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions and your favorite porn lens company, today announced..."


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## entoman (Oct 2, 2021)

Ian K said:


> How do you get two lenses with 180deg field of view to sit next to each other. Surely in one direction they will only see the other lens?


Think about human binocular vision - our own noses intrude into the field of view, but are “processed out” by our brains.

The image from a dual fisheye will be formed on a single sensor, so I imagine that some kind of AI software will be needed to process the images and remove the overlap.


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## fasterquieter (Oct 2, 2021)

I wonder if the images/video will be anamorphic and require post-processing, or the they will just be taller than they are wide.

EDIT: Forgot fisheye images are circles. I guess there will just be a lot of wasted sensor area. Only the highest resolution cameras are going to be any good for VR. 8K VR vids are massively better than 4K. If the rumored R5S with 100MP sensor is real and this lens can resolve images at that resolution, this would give you some amazing VR180 video.


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## Stig Nygaard (Oct 2, 2021)

neuroanatomist said:


> Dual fisheye:
> View attachment 200506



But that looks like opposite pointing lenses for a 360deg camera. I do _not _think that is the case here. I'm assuming the new Canon is a stereoscopic lens like the patent:








Patent: Canon stereoscopic lens for the RF mount


Canon News has uncovered an interesting patent for a stereoscopic lens for what appears to be the RF mount. According to the patent, this would only work on



www.canonrumors.com


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## Maps (Oct 2, 2021)

aceflibble said:


> Workflow and output consistency. It's hard to get 'action cam' footage to blend in with video from other systems seamlessly, and it's easier for large productions to just use one camera/mount.
> 
> Now, whether or not there's really that much call for a VR fisheye to be integrated with other footage, from a cinema body... eh, well, that's why this will be a very expensive, limited-production L lens unlikely to even be stocked by any 'regular' shop, and not marketed or intended to be sold to the general public.


Okay, yeah that makes sense. I actually use this workflow all the time. Shoot with an A cam and then have a VR cam mounted on kayak/helmet/backpack for some extra footage that gets pushed back to 180 degrees and cut into the timeline. And those cuts are pretty gruesome. While I'm not going to go skiing with an R5 strapped to my head, I could definitely see the appeal of putting something like this on a tripod and dropping it on a dancefloor at a wedding. Probably a great way to employ 8k once it becomes a little more practical.


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## HMC11 (Oct 2, 2021)

Woody said:


> If someone (Canon or third party) sells software to turn the dual fisheye image into a single normal rectilinear output, it will be quite useful.


Found this 'tutorial' (https://blog.kuula.co/fisheye-equirectangular) on how to stitch dual fisheye images into a rectilinear image. Quite interesting.


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## Joules (Oct 2, 2021)

Stig Nygaard said:


> But that looks like opposite pointing lenses for a 360deg camera. I do _not _think that is the case here. I'm assuming the new Canon is a stereoscopic lens like the patent:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It even has the same focal length and aperture as the one from the patent.

What an odd lens. But good job remembering that patent post, it probably is a great indicator for what this lens will be like.


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## RunAndGun (Oct 2, 2021)

Flamingtree said:


> 100% The porn industry will be pumped for this lens.



No pun intended…? Lol


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## jvillain (Oct 2, 2021)

Maps said:


> What's the advantage of doing something like this on an ILC over an action-style camera? Exposure control? Certainly not stabilization.


One advantage is is megapixels. It can also be used for ether stills or on the newer Canon cinema cameras.


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## DBounce (Oct 2, 2021)

When I first read about a 5.2mm fisheye lens, I thought who on earth works need such a wide lens. But now that we see this is in fact a stereoscopic lens for VR, I’m quite intrigued.


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## deleteme (Oct 3, 2021)

F2.8? If it isn't f1.2 I'm out.


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## AJ (Oct 3, 2021)

neuroanatomist said:


> Dual fisheye:
> View attachment 200506



Does it capture two 180 deg views in the same direction with parallax, or are the two 180 deg views in opposite directions?


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## usern4cr (Oct 3, 2021)

AJ said:


> Does it capture two 180 deg views in the same direction with parallax, or are the two 180 deg views in opposite directions?


If it's an implementation of the patent (posted above), then it's two 180 deg views in the same direction, projecting two non-overlapping image circles on the sensor. The only difference between the images would be the left-right separation for binocular viewing with appropriate software.


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## maulanawale (Oct 3, 2021)

Sorry for the off topic.
He's not my cup of tea but I think this was a beautiful collaboration with Canon that will have made lots of people happy, so thought I'd post it in the latest topic in case you've missed it on the tubes!
I like that he seems pretty humbled and not all that comfortable when making an actual change to that girls life. Makes him more human and less of a showman I guess.


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## koenkooi (Oct 3, 2021)

maulanawale said:


> Sorry for the off topic.
> He's not my cup of tea but I think this was a beautiful collaboration with Canon that will have made lots of people happy, so thought I'd post it in the latest topic in case you've missed it on the tubes!
> I like that he seems pretty humbled and not all that comfortable when making an actual change to that girls life. Makes him more human and less of a showman I guess.


It seemed to me Canon used "previous gen" items for this and the EF600 and EF400 being in that category confused me for a bit, then I realized those have RF versions now.

And yes, good of Canon and Jared to organize and execute this!


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## Intrepid (Oct 3, 2021)

Can we please stop using generic photos of unrelated lenses on this thread and actually post how a double fisheye full frame lens would look like? I'm really curious to see


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## neuroanatomist (Oct 3, 2021)

Intrepid said:


> Can we please stop using generic photos of unrelated lenses on this thread and actually post how a double fisheye full frame lens would look like? I'm really curious to see


You’ll have to wait for the announcement. Or at least for Nokishita to leak it the day before.


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## EOS 4 Life (Oct 3, 2021)

amorse said:


> That makes somewhat more sense, but now I can't help but wonder what this thing is going to look like mounted to a camera.


It is going to be mounted on a V-Raptor or an 8K Canon Cinema camera.
It also might be cool to try on an R5.


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## Flamingtree (Oct 4, 2021)

RunAndGun said:


> No pun intended…? Lol



I was up for a pun as soon as I saw the story


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## entoman (Oct 4, 2021)

maulanawale said:


> Sorry for the off topic.
> He's not my cup of tea but I think this was a beautiful collaboration with Canon that will have made lots of people happy, so thought I'd post it in the latest topic in case you've missed it on the tubes!
> I like that he seems pretty humbled and not all that comfortable when making an actual change to that girls life. Makes him more human and less of a showman I guess.


No need to apologise for being off-topic. Thanks for posting this, and it comes as absolutely no surprise to me that Jared organised this deal with Canon. He’s always struck me as one of the “nice guys” in photography.

I’m incredibly envious of some of that gear - the 400mm F2.8 or a 600mm F4 are dream lenses for a wildlife photographer like myself, but way beyond my reach. It’s great that such desirable gear is going to up and coming sports photographers, it’ll give them a fantastic start in their careers.

Some will criticise and say that it’s mostly outdated gear, but Canon didn’t need to do this, they are the biggest in the game and they don’t need free advertising. It was an act of considerable generosity.

Thank you Jared  , and thank you Canon  .


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## fabao (Oct 4, 2021)

In the meantime, I am still waiting for my 100-500...


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## PerKr (Oct 4, 2021)

so judging by the patent it will look like a set of binoculars attached to the front of your camera? That's going to look super weird but makes sense as you'd want the two lenses about as far apart as most humans eyes are. Looking forward to seeing what else Canon have planned in terms of VR.


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## TominNJ (Oct 4, 2021)

Maybe built under contract for the Oculus system or Canon will develop an Oculus like system. Imagine shooting 3D vacation videos or *ahem* whatever else you might imagine. Do Oculus patents and licensing allow Canon to develop an app for the Oculus that would allow users to view their own video and photos?


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## cayenne (Oct 4, 2021)

Maps said:


> What's the advantage of doing something like this on an ILC over an action-style camera? Exposure control? Certainly not stabilization.


Well, with IBIS and possibly in lens stabilization, I'd not rule that out as an advantage.

But also you have more and better quality glass and image quality with a MUCH larger sensor.

Just off the top of my head.

C


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## vrpanorama.ca (Oct 4, 2021)

I still think this is a new 360 camera coming from Canon to compete against Ricoh Theta that will include two 5.2 mm lenses. To hit the sensor using two lenses it requires a different body that what currently have Canon. I will be very surprised otherwise


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## cayenne (Oct 5, 2021)

vrpanorama.ca said:


> I still think this is a new 360 camera coming from Canon to compete against Ricoh Theta that will include two 5.2 mm lenses. To hit the sensor using two lenses it requires a different body that what currently have Canon. I will be very surprised otherwise


Either way, I'd be VERY excited to see what they come out with.

I've been keen for awhile to dip my toes into 360 photography/videography.

But I wanted high quality coupled with good software for stitching both in an efficient and convenient manner. With he current stuff, it seems Richoh has the best quality....but that Insta 360 has the best software onboard and post production.

I'd love to see a Canon solution.


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## leadin2 (Oct 6, 2021)




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## PhotoGenerous (Oct 6, 2021)




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