Canon announced the production of 90 million EOS series cameras and 130 million interchangeable EF lenses:
Canon celebrates significant milestone with production of 90 million EOS series cameras and 130 million interchangeable EF lenses
United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 17 October 2017—Canon Inc. announced today that the Company has reached two major production milestones—a cumulative total of 90 million interchangeable-lens EOS cameras and 130 million1 EF-series interchangeable lenses. The EOS 5D Mark IV was the 90 millionth EOS Series camera range to be produced, while an EF16-35mm f/2.8L III USM became the Company’s 130 millionth interchangeable lens.
Canon’s EOS system debuted alongside the EF series of interchangeable lenses in March 1987 as the world’s first fully-electronic mount system for film AF SLR cameras. Over the years, both product lines have continued to expand, gaining support among users ranging from first-time users to professionals. Production accelerated in the early 2000’s with the spread of digital SLR cameras. Canon’s interchangeable-lens digital cameras have maintained the No. 1 share of the global market for 14 consecutive years since 2003.2
Since its conception, the EOS series has continued to develop revolutionary technologies under the series concept of “speed and comfort”. Canon has since developed every key device in-house including the CMOS sensors, image processors and interchangeable lenses—employed in the EOS series. Particularly noteworthy are the Company’s EF lenses, which lead the industry in sales and feature such world-first3innovations such as the Ultrasonic Motor (USM), Image Stabilizer (IS) technology and a multilayered Diffractive Optical (DO) element.
Canon will continue to strengthen and expand the EOS series and EF lens lineups by refining its imaging technologies, by striving to combine optics, stills, video and network technologies. The Company will also continue its pursuit of manufacturing products that are both stylish and reliable.
EOS Series
The EOS series of interchangeable-lens cameras began with the EOS 650 SLR camera, released in March 1987, that not only featured the world’s first electronic lens mounting system, but also fully digitized communication between the camera body and lens to produce a new generation of autofocus technology.
As film cameras boomed, Canon launched several models covering a wide range of user needs, including the EOS-1 in 1989, aimed at professionals, and the EOS 500 in 1993, which achieved a compact, lightweight design and greatly expanded Canon’s user base. Then in 2003, during the early years of the digital camera age, the Company released the groundbreaking EOS 300D Digital, an entry-level digital SLR camera that offered a compact, lightweight body at an affordable price. This move would trigger a massive expansion of the camera market, with Canon claiming the overwhelming lead in market share that same year. With the later release of the EOS-1D Series for professionals and the EOS 5D series, which helped popularize video capture using SLR cameras, Canon has continued to release epoch-making products that have enabled the Company to maintain the No. 1 share of the global interchangeable-lens digital camera market for 14 consecutive years from 2003 to 2016.
EF Lenses
Since the release of the first EF lens, launched alongside the EOS series in 1987, Canon has produced EF lenses featuring world-first technologies such as the EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM with IS in 1995, the EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM with a DO lens in 2001 and the EF24mm f/1.4L II USM, treated with highly antireflective
Subwavelength Structure Coating (SWC) in 2008. In 2015 Canon released the EF11-24mm f/4L USM, the world’s first4 ultra-wide-angle zoom lens to achieve an 11mm focal length.
Today, Canon boasts 93 lenses5 in its rich EF lens lineup that comprises of lenses such as an ultra-wide-angle 8 mm focal length lens, an 800mm focal length super-telephoto lens and EF Cinema Series lenses for video production. With a wide selection of lenses for every purpose including zoom lenses, IS-equipped lenses, fast-aperture lenses, macro lenses and even the TS-E tilt-shift lenses, Canon is well-positioned to meet the needs of various users.
