DireStudio’s ShutterCount, a popular software to get the shutter count of your Canon DSLR, added support for the EOS 7D Mark II.

ShutterCount sells for €2.69/$2.99/£1.99, and is available for Windows and Mac.

More at Direstudio.

Canon unwrapped a new innovation lab in in the Communitech Hub in Waterloo Region, Canada. Ted Egawa, President of Canon Canada, was interviewed by Communitech Canada. An excerpt from the interview (which doesn’t tell that much):

Q – Canon is already one of the world’s most innovative companies when it comes to the number of patents it produces. Why does it need an innovation lab?

A – With the advancement of technology, especially in the mobile area, the industry has changed a lot, and us being able to produce a quality product is a different story; how to utilize this mobile environment […]

Q – As one of the world’s most familiar brands, Canon still means cameras to most people. How is that changing, and what do you want Canon to mean to people in the future?

A – Canon will continue to produce quality products for the end users, and this effort of us being here, hopefully, will expand our opportunity to better use images for the end user. Not the hardware or device; the device is providing the tool to capture the images. However, because of this mobile technology, there are vastly different uses, or a variety of uses, that the user can enjoy.

By being here, we would learn a lot and provide the opportunity for us to learn a lot about how images are being utilized. By learning how images are being utilized, it will give us the opportunity to think better about not only product, but also the services that we can provide to the end user.

Canon opening an innovation lab sounds pretty good to me.

The interview can be read at Communitech.

Canon press release:

Canon technologies contribute to production of primary mirror used in TMT extremely large telescope

TOKYO, November 13, 2014—Canon Inc. announced today that the Company has been entrusted with the responsibility of processing the 30-meter-diameter multi-segment primary mirror to be incorporated in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) currently under construction near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The creation of the TMT, a next-generation extremely large telescope, is being made possible through the cooperative efforts of Japan and four other countries. Construction of the telescope began in 2014 with completion scheduled for the early 2020s. Japan will handle the processing of approximately 30% of the 492 segments (574 when including replacement segments) that make up the TMT’s primary mirror. Of the processing being handled by the team from Japan, Canon is currently responsible for grinding 26 segments and has already begun work.

The TMT’s primary mirror will comprise an array of 492 hexagonal segments, each of which measures 1.44 meters diagonally with a thickness of 45 millimeters. The segments will be closely arranged, separated by gaps measuring only 2.5 millimeters wide, to create the 30-meter-diameter primary mirror. The primary mirror’s construction requires the production of six each (seven when including replacement segments) of the 82 uniquely shaped segments used to create the mirror.