At its WWDC event, Apple revealed that Canon has developed a new lens to create spatial video for Apple Vision Pro: the Canon RF-S 7.8mm f/4 STM Dual.
This new lens, which currently works exclusively with the APS-C Canon EOS R7, makes Canon the first camera manufacturer to jump aboard the Apple Vision Pro express and create a dedicated lens for the platform.
The Canon RF-S 7.8mm f/4 STM Dual is the company's third Dual series optics, and another pillar of its EOS VR System – which records the 'feed' from both the left and right lens to a single image sensor on a single camera, rather than the user having to sync two cameras and manually stitch the feeds together.
It sits alongside the just-announced Canon RF-S 3.9mm f/3.5 STM Dual Fisheye (another APS-C optic designed for the R7) and the full-frame Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8L Dual Fisheye (which works with the EOS R5 and R6 Mark II).
However, while those are Dual Fisheye lenses – with the bug-eyed, View-Master-style design – intended for stereoscopic VR applications, the new Dual lens is intended for stereoscopic 3D applications such as spatial video.
"Spatial video can also be used by pro videographers to tell powerful brand, product, and creative stories," Apple explained at WWDC 2024. "To make creating and sharing spatial videos with commercial audiences easier, Canon will offer a brand-new spatial lens for their popular EOS R7 digital camera.
"It can record gorgeous spatial video for Apple Vision Pro, even under the most challenging lighting conditions. Spatial videos can then be edited in Final Cut Pro for Mac and shared and viewed in the new Vimeo app for visionOS."
Canon itself offered a little more detail, explaining that the lens' field angle is similar to the human field of view – making it perfect for this kind of use. In addition, unlike the new RF-S 3.9mm Dual Fisheye, the new lens appears to feature a full servo autofocus system.
First second look
I've actually seen the Canon RF-S 7.8mm f/4 STM Dual before – but it wasn't called that yet. I got up close and personal with a prototype of the lens at The Photography & Video Show 2024 in Birmingham, England, where the product name, focal length and filter thread had all been artfully removed.
As you can see in the side-by-side, the prototype that Canon showed me in Birmingham is virtually identical to the finished product. It's also interesting that Canon had also created a prototype VR headset, but told me that its focus is on the optics side – clearly, it's leaving headsets to the likes of Apple.
"We're opening up VR to more people," David Parry, the imaging product marketing lead at Canon EMEA, told me. The decision to produce the RF-S 7.8mm Dual and RF-S 3.9mm Dual Fisheye as APS-C lenses "should lower the barrier to entry and make recording Virtual Reality [VR], mixed reality [XR] and augmented reality [AR] footage much more accessible".
The Canon RF-S 7.8mm f/4 STM Dual will be available in the fall, pricing to be confirmed. You can check out a quick overview of the RF-S 7.8mm Dual and RF-S 3.9mm Dual Fisheye lenses below.
If you're interested in the best Canon cameras, you might want to check out the best Canon RF lenses for mirrorless cameras and the best Canon lenses for DSLRs.
