Japan Patent Office Archives

Canon patents haptic shutter button that vibrates when you lock focus

Jan 24, 2023 by John Aldred 2 Comments

I’m quite surprised that it’s taken this long for something like this to appear. Even just in patent form, it’s taken quite a while. To have not seen it in an interchangeable lens camera yet has always struck me as a little odd given the prevalence of this feature in smartphones and countless other devices – especially given the need for silent shooting in many genres, like weddings and events.

Still, Canon has patented (Japanese Patent #2023009356) a vibrating shutter button. It provides haptic feedback, vibrating to let you know when you’ve locked focus on a subject. In all other respects, it’s a perfectly normal shutter. When you half-press it, though, and it nails focus, you get physical feedback, letting you disable your audible confirmation and still be sure your subject’s in focus.

[Read More…]

Canon comes up with a shutter button like no shutter button before it

Dec 20, 2020 by Udi Tirosh 22 Comments

There are many kinds of cameras: DSLRs, point and shoot, mirrorless, even that weird Sony F707 from when DSLRs started. But one thing almost never changed since when cameras started. Even the old Analog cameras. The Shutte Button. Sure, it was mechanical at first and got a new “half-press” when auto fucus was introduced. But the overall mechanics stayed the same. Click the button – make a photo.

In a patent application spotted by Canon News, you see something that resembles a touchpad. If you google translate the patent (like I did), you see that it does not just resemble a touchpad. It is a touchpad. Moreover, the back LCD has another touch screen, similar to what we are actually used to in recent camera lines.

[Read More…]

Canon patent suggests they’re working on scaling down IBIS to use less space inside cameras

Sep 7, 2020 by John Aldred 1 Comment

A Canon patent spotted by Canon News at the Japan Patent Office, suggests that Canon is looking to downsize their in-body image stabilisation system to make it smaller. While IBIS has obvious benefits, the drawback is that it takes up a lot more space inside a camera than simply housing a static sensor.

This might be why Canon hadn’t implemented IBIS into any of their mirrorless cameras before the launch of the EOS R5 and EOS R6. It simply made them too big. This patent might be for upcoming EOS M system cameras or simply to make future full-frame EOS R cameras a little smaller and lighter while still retaining the IBIS functionality.

[Read More…]

Fujifilm has filed a new patent for XF 300mm f/4 and super-long 500mm f/5.6 lenses

Mar 27, 2020 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

Given the social distancing measures in place around the world right now, this seems like a good idea. Fujifilm Japan has filed a new patent for a couple of long telephoto prime lenses. Specifically, XF 300mm f/4 and 500mm f/5.6 lenses. Designed for Fujifilm’s line of APS-C cameras, these would offer the equivalent field of view to about 450mm and 750mm respectively on full-frame systems.

[Read More…]

Canon has filed a patent for a fan-cooled EOS-M mirrorless camera

Mar 6, 2020 by John Aldred 4 Comments

One of the claims Canon’s made in the past over its DSLR and mirrorless cameras and the lack of certain video features compared to their higher end (more expensive) dedicated video cameras (and the DSLRs and mirrorless cameras their competition is releasing) is that they can’t keep the bodies cool enough.

Whether or not that’s true, a new Canon patent showing a camera with a built-in fan behind the LCD might suggest that they’re getting ready to start stepping things up a bit. At least when it comes to their EOS M APS-C mirrorless line.

[Read More…]

Canon patent shows a “vacuum cleaner” lens that sucks the dust off your sensor

Nov 4, 2019 by Dunja Djudjic 15 Comments

Here’s a fun patent from Canon – a lens that sucks. And I mean this quite literally. This lens incorporates a mini vacuum cleaner that cleans your camera sensor from dust.

[Read More…]

Canon patent shows dual-sensor camera and translucent mirror that resembles Sony SLT

Oct 28, 2019 by John Aldred 3 Comments

A Canon patent has been discovered by the folks at Canon News showing what appears to be a camera with a “translucent mirror” reminiscent of Sony’s SLT cameras. But that appears to be where the similarity ends, as the Canon implements a whole second image sensor, which appears to help overcome dynamic range issues with existing cameras.

[Read More…]

Canon has filed a patent for barndoor style lens caps you can’t lose that double up as a hood

Jul 18, 2019 by John Aldred 19 Comments

This is quite an interesting idea from Canon. I mean, photographers are often losing lens caps, especially if they shoot on location. You take off your cap, put it down somewhere, come back to it after shooting and suddenly, oh, where’s it gone? I’ve lost track of how many I’ve lost by now, to the point where I usually buy 5 at a time.

Canon’s new patent application (JP 2019-113645), though, describes a lens cap with a barndoor style configuration that allows you to open it up, shoot through it, and then close it again without having to take it off the lens at all.

[Read More…]