Canon EF lens shipments continue apace, passing a staggering 120 million milestone

 

 

Just 14 months after its last major milestone, Canon is celebrating production of its 120-millionth EF-mount lens right on time, as shipments continue at a steady (and extremely impressive) rate of around 23,200 lenses per day.

Canon passed the 100 million mark on April 22nd 2014, some 27 years and one month after it launched its brand-new EF mount alongside the EOS camera system. It took just another 426 days until the company announced that it had racked up another 10 million EF lens shipments on June 22nd, 2015.

Now, the next ten million has taken another 431 days to reach, which is just five days more than the previous ten million required, indicating that Canon's lens sales have maintained a fairly constant rate for the last few years. The 120-millionth Canon EF-mount optic manufactured on August 26, 2016 was an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM telephoto zoom lens, one of 97 different lens and extender models currently available globally.

At the current rate, we should expect to see Canon's EF lens shipments hit the 130 million mark some time around the end of October 2017. Watch this space to see how well our prediction holds up over time, and if you'd like to put your own estimate on the record, sound off in the comments below!