Canon patent to apply different skin effects to different subjects in the picture

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As usual, I hope I got it right. Any help is greatly appreciated. This Canon patent seems to refer to a an algorithm that applies skin effects to the subjects in a photo. The interesting thing is that according to my understanding of the patent description, the skin effects can be of different degree for the various subjects that may be in the frame.

The machine-translated description mentions “skin-beautifying effect“, so I guess this filter will make the skin of pictured people smoother. If I got it right, the algorithm should be able to get a measure of the “roughness” of the skin of portrayed subjects, and will then apply the right amount of “skin-beautifying effect“. Guess this will be a new picture style to be featured on future Canon cameras.

  • Patent Publication No. 2016-148933
    • Published 2016.8.18
    • Filing date 2015.2.10
  • Canon patent
    • Beautiful skin treatment to reduce the degree of roughness
    • As the degree of roughness of the skin after image processing is close, changing the beautiful skin effect in each subject
[via Egami]

Canon patent for 10.2-30.6mm F/2.0-4.9 for 1″ sensor Powershot cameras

canon patent

Canon patent for a 10.2-30.6mm f/2.0-4.9 lens for cameras featuring an 1″ sensor, that’s the Powershot G line-up.

  • Patent Publication No. 2016-161889
    • Published 2016.9.5
    • Filing date 2015.3.5
  • Example 1
    • Zoom ratio 2.85
    • Focal length 10.50 19.76 29.90
    • F-number 2.06 4.30 5.01
    • Half angle of view (degrees) 31.44 21.76 14.78
    • The image height 6.42 7.89 7.89
    • Overall length of the lens 52.34 49.73 53.96
    • BF 7.48 5.72 5.08
  • Canon patent
    • Inner focus
    • Vibration control
[via Egami]

Canon patent shows how LCD displays on future lenses may look and what information is displayed

canon patentcanon patent

A Canon patent spotted by Digicame-Info shows what Canon’s engineers have in mind for the company’s future lenses. An LCD display on the lens that will show all kind of information.

From the images above it seems the lens LCD display will show information about distance/depth of field, and also about stabilisation issues on both axis’.

Cool patent. Currently, a replacement for the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS is rumored to have such a display.

This patent shows how Canon increased AF point coverage in the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

eos 5d mark iv

Interesting patent that seems to refer to how Canon increased the coverage of Auto-Focus points in the new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. The image above shows the difference compared to the [shoplink 2431]EOS 5D Mark III[/shoplink]. It’s done by replacing the sub mirrors with laminated diffraction gratings, as in the image below. The laminated gratings alter the reflection angle.

 

eos 5d mark iv

  • Patent Publication No. 2016-142769
    • Published 2016.8.8
    • Filing date 2015.1.30
  • Canon patent
    • Sub-mirror constituted by the reflection type laminated diffraction grating
    • AF mirror constituted by the reflection type laminated diffraction grating

eos 5d mark iv

[via Egami]

 

Canon patent for “teardrop-shaped” micro lenses (to reduce vignetting)

canon patent

canon patent

A Canon patent for teardrop-shaped microlenses for the company’s image sensors was spotted by Image Sensors World. Such a microlens design should cut vignetting and other color aberrations.

The present invention provides a solid state image sensor including a pixel array having a plurality of pixels arranged therein, each of the plurality of pixels including a photoelectric conversion device and a microlens configured to guide incident light to the photoelectric conversion device, the microlens having a lower surface, on an exit side of the incident light, which has a convex shape with respect to the photoelectric conversion device, with a vertex of the convex shape shifting from a center position of the microlens to a central side of the pixel array.

And…

The surface of each microlens 103 which is located on the exit side of incident light, that is, a lower surface 102, will be described. The lower surface 102 of the microlens 103 has an asymmetrical shape with a position nearest to the photoelectric conversion device 104 (a position at which the thickness from a center plane 130 of the microlens 103 is the maximum) shifting from the center position of the microlens 103 to the central side of the pixel array 110A. The lower surface 102 of the microlens 103 has a convex shape with respect to the photoelectric conversion device 104.

Each microlens 103 is formed from a material having a higher refractive index than a material in contact with the lower surface 102 at a position between the microlens 103 and the photoelectric conversion device 104. The microlens 103 is formed from, for example, a color filter material.

[via Image Sensors World]

Canon patent for EF 28-560mm f/2.8-5.6L USM lens

canon patentCanon filed a patent for a EF 28-560mm f/2.8-5.6 optical formula that seems to be for an “L” lens (if I got the machine translated description right).

This is the second patent for a superzoom lens, after a crazy patent for a EF 40-800mm F4.5-5.6 lens. Hard to say if this patents will ever hit the market. Good to know Canon is working on such ideas.

  • Patent Publication No. 2016-142795
    • Published 2016.8.8
    • Filing date 2015.1.30
  • Example 1
    • Zoom ratio 18.86
    • Focal length 28.80 119.57 543.20
    • F-number 2.88 4.56 5.88
    • Half angle of view (degrees) 36.91 10.26 2.28
    • Image height 21.64 21.64 21.64
    • The total lens length 281.07 331.07 385.01
    • BF 53.05 61.31 40.00
    • The effective diameter of the front lens 120.00
[via Egami]