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New patent shows Canon still working on Quad Pixel Autofocus

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Since the announcement of Canon’s Dual Pixel Autofocus system, introduced with the Canon EOS 70D, we kind of knew that Quad Pixel Autofocus would be inevitable eventually. Several new patents have been released over the last few years, including this one from 2020 suggesting that it might come with the EOS R1. Now a new patent from Canon about Quad Pixel AF adds more fuel to that EOS R1 fire.

Dual Pixel AF is pretty awesome, as evidenced by the significant lack of auto-backfocus jokes we used to regularly hear about Canon DSLRs. And while it’s not perfect, it seems to be leading the way lately in some respects. But Quad Pixel AF should help to make Canon’s EF more reliable and accurate than it has already become, posing a serious threat to the competition.

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Canon patents zoom lenses that get shorter as they get longer

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Well, this is a bit counterintuitive. Spotted by asobinet, Canon has patented a mechanism for a zoom lens mechanism that actually gets shorter as you increase the focal length. Yes, that’s right, the exact opposite to how zoom lenses normally work.

The patent was published on November 18th to provide zoom lenses with large apertures and small size with high optical performance. A number of lens examples are included in the patent, including a couple with ranges of approximately 28-70mm and 28-60mm with f/2.8 and f/4 maximum apertures respectively.

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Nikon files patents for two crazy f/1.2 zooms that will probably never be made

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Well, if this isn’t a bit of humble-bragging, I’m not sure what is. Nikon has filed a new patent that describes Nikkor Z 35-50mm f/1.2 and Nikkor Z 50-70mm f/1.2 lenses. Yes, that’s right, zoom lenses. With a constant f/1.2 aperture. But it’s unlikely that Nikon will ever actually make them. If they did, they’d be insanely expensive.

According to Asobinet, the patent was first filed back in January 2019, but it’s only just been issued this week. It feels like they’ve filed the patents just because they can. To show off what the Z mount is hypothetically capable of rather than as a real genuine product that they plan to bring to market. But oh boy, I wish they would!

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Patent suggests Olympus wants to become astrophotography king with new “astrotracer” feature

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Well, this is interesting. It seems that Olympus (AKA OM Digital) might be looking towards the stars. A new Japanese patent describes a new Micro Four Thirds system with a built-in “astrotracer” feature. Essentially they want the sensor to track the motion of the stars so that you can get longer exposures at night without getting blur from the planet’s rotation.

It’s a nifty sounding feature and it’s one we’ve actually seen before, although it’s perhaps not surprising that most people have never heard of it, as it was found in the Pentax K1 Mark II, amongst others. They both appear to work in a similar way, too, with the sensor moving to compensate for the earth’s rotation and keep the stars in the same part of the sensor.

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Canon patent shows a shutter-like mechanical barrier to protect your mirrorless sensor

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One of the great things about DSLRs was that the shutter was closed and the mirror was down when you weren’t actively shooting a photo. This meant that when swapping out lenses, your sensor was largely protected from the elements. With mirrorless cameras, though, not so much.

A new Canon patent shows an in-camera mechanism that looks similar to a shutter (but isn’t), that keeps your sensor protected when no lens is attached. What makes it different from closing the actual shutter is that there are no electronics involved in this one. It’s all mechanical and happens automatically as you twist the lens off the camera.

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Canon planning to replace focus rings with touch panels on the lens?

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Canon has filed a pretty interesting looking patent at the Japan Patent Office. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it yet, but it replaces the focus ring on the lens with a touch panel which would let you control the lens with your thumb as you handhold it.

On the plus side, it’d make people start to hold their cameras properly, but it does seem like it’d be a bit of a pain for a lot of photographers, particularly those shooting on tripods – like landscape or product photographers. It does offer a lot of potential for cool features, though.

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Canon has patented a bunch of fast(ish) portrait-length 70-100mm RF prime lenses

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A new Canon patent application has popped up on the Japan Patent Office website detailing six new RF mount prime lenses ranging in focal length from 70mm up to 100mm. With the exception of an 85mm f/1.8, all of the lenses sport an f/2 aperture. So, they’re not super fast (with perhaps the exception of one), but they’re faster than zooms, yet slow enough to potentially be relatively low budget lenses.

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A new patent suggests Canon’s eye-controlled focus may be coming back

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For those who hear about the fact that Canon used to have 35mm SLRs with eye-controlled AF, but have never had the opportunity to try it themselves, it’s an intriguing proposition. Look at something, and the camera just focuses on it. Sounds great, right? Well, for those that have actually used it, the response is very mixed. My dad had it on his EOS 5. He loved it. I tried it and I hated it.

The theory’s great, but the implementation wasn’t. Canon seemed to abandon the idea, but now a new patent suggests that they might be looking to reintroduce the concept into future EOS R mirrorless cameras at some point.

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Godox to release an updated “V1 Pro” round head speedlight with built-in cooling fan

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This seems a little bit weird, but not an entirely unreasonable idea. Godox has filed a patent that looks very similar to the existing Godox V1 speedlight, except that this one includes a built-in cooling fan below the lamp assembly. Lighting Rumours believes that an announcement for the improved “V1 Pro” is imminent.

In all other respects, the V1 and new “V1 Pro” detailed in the patent seen to be largely identical. Both will have similar zooming circular heads, both feature the magnetic mount for the AK-R1 kit and other round magnetic modifiers, and both are powered by seemingly the same lithium-ion battery.

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Canon has patented an Osmo gimbal-style camera with interchangeable lenses

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This is pretty odd, but also kind of cool. Canon has patented (through no fewer than five separate patents) a strange DJI Osmo-like gimbal with a built-in camera that actually has interchangeable lenses and a hotshoe on top. What makes it odd, though, is that it doesn’t really seem to be quite like any gimbals we’ve seen before.

For a start, there doesn’t appear to be a way to actually balance the lens horizontally for tilting. It doesn’t slide backwards and forwards, it just tilts. And it doesn’t look large enough to actually contain any kind of motor in there. It does pans from side to side, though. It looks like Canon is possibly going to be relying on IBIS for this one.

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