Canon has achieved a new lens manufacturing milestone — the company’s 90-millionth EF-series interchangeable lens. This new milestone follows just over nine months since Canon announced the production of the 80-millionth lens in August 2012, highlighting the significant demand and continued popularity of the EF lens range.

Over the past 26 years Canon has been at the forefront of the imaging industry, driving demand with cutting-edge innovation. Production of Canon’s signature interchangeable EF lens series began in 1987 at the Utsunomiya Plant, when the series was first introduced together with the EOS SLR camera system.

Since then, the global demand for Canon’s EOS products and lenses has continued to gather pace and in 2011 there were only nine months between the increase from 60 to 70 million units manufactured. In order to meet this demand, Canon scaled up its production with facilities across Taiwan, Malaysia and Japan.

Throughout its history, Canon has continued to drive the imaging industry forward, introducing world firsts such as the ultrasonic motor (USM) for use in lenses, image stabilizer (IS) technology, a multi-layered diffractive optical (DO) element and subwavelength structure coating (SWC) anti-reflection technology.

Canon says it will continue to refine its diverse imaging technologies based on its core optical expertise, striving to produce exceptional and reliable lenses and cameras, while expanding the photographic and video imaging culture. Canon’s range caters to the varying needs of photographers — from first-time users, to advanced amateurs and professionals.