Canon Files Patent For 17-85mm F/4-5.6 Image Stabilized Lens

Canon Files Patent For 17-85mm

New Canon patent spotted by Egami (translated). This time the patent is about a 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens with image stabilization. According to the patent, chromatic aberrations are reduced by anomalous partial dispersion, which, in turn, is obtained using synthetic resin and the inorganic oxide fine particles.

  • Patent Publication No. 2013-25085
    • 2013.2.4 Release Date
    • Filing date 2011.7.21
  • Example 1
    • Zoom ratio 4.70
    • 37.33 – – 82.48mm f = 17.55 focal length
    • Fno 3.98 -. 5.06 – 5.64
    • Half angle of view ω = 37.89 – 20.10 – 9.40 °
    • Image height 13.66mm
    • 134.85 – – 156.62mm 119.65 overall length of the lens
    • BF 37.59 – 52.48 – 62.64mm
    • 18 images in 11 groups lens configuration
    • 2 UD glass sheets
    • One two-sided aspherical
    • 5-group zoom negative positive negative
    • Inner Focus (Group 2)
[via Egami]

 

Canon Files Patent To Reduce Noise And Aliasing

2013_12850_fig02-fd920

 

Another patent spotted by Egami (translated). Canon filed a patent to reduce sensor noise and aliasing by better processing the sensor output.

  • Patent Publication No. 2013-12850
    • 2013.1.17 Release Date
    • Filing date 2011.6.28
  • Traditional thinning processing
    • Sensitivity for color signal is lower than the luminance signal, the human visual characteristic is not a problem even if thinned out color signals
    • If the algorithm requires a memory, in terms of response and undesirable Continuous
    • Frequency band of brightness and color are different, depending on the algorithm, causes color streaks
  • Canon patent
    • By aligning the frequency band decimation and interpolation processing to the luminance signal, suppress the color stripes
    • Do to reduce the amount of data to be converted from YRB RG1G2B, decimating the RB
      • Each frequency band is divided into storage (YRB1 ~ YRB4)

[via Egami]

Canon Is The Patent Catcher – Unbeaten Among Japanese Companies For 8 Years

For the eight year Canon ranks first among Japanese companies in terms of patents filed in the USA. In 2005 Canon filed 1825 patents (2nd in the world). Ad the rate was growing until 2012, when Canon issued 3174 patents. The chart below (source: ) gives an idea about the figures.

Canon U.S. patent ranking among Japanese companies 2005 – 2012

Year Ranking* No. of patents
2012 1st (3rd) 3,174
2011 1st (3rd) 2,813
2010 1st (4th) 2,551
2009 1st (4th) 2,200
2008 1st (3rd) 2,107
2007 1st (3rd) 1,983
2006 1st (3rd) 2,367
2005 1st (2nd) 1,828

Today’s Canon press release says:

Canon prizes its corporate DNA of placing a high priority on technology. And with regard to research and development results, the company actively promotes the acquisition of patent rights in accordance with the management direction of the Canon Group and technology trends while conducting thorough pre-application searches to raise the quality of applications. Through close cooperation between Canon’s technology and intellectual property divisions, the company aims to improve its technological capabilities while further enhancing its intellectual property rights.

[via PetaPixel]

Canon Working On A Successor Of The G1X With APS-C Sensor?

Egami (translated) spotted a 18-70mm F2.8-6 lens patent for a filed by Canon that suggests the company is working on a fixed lens camera with an APS-C sensor. In other words: the successor of the G1X with a new sensor.

Patent Publication No. 2012-247758

  • Release Date 2012.12.13
  • Filing date 2011.5.31
  • Example 1
  • Zoom ratio 3.80
  • 35.12 – – 69.05mm f = 18.17 focal length
  • Fno 2.89 -. 4.58 – 5.94
  • Half angle of view ω = 33.37 – 20.87 – 11.14 °
  • 13.39 – – 13.60mm 11.97 image height
  • 89.56 – – 110.05mm 86.88 overall length of the lens
  • BF 0.36mm
  • 11 pictures in 9 groups lens configuration
  • 5 three aspherical surface
  • 4-group zoom positive negative positive
  • Rear Focus (Group 4)
Image credit: Egami

 

 

Four New Canon Telephoto Lens Patents: 2 x 400mm f/4, 600mm f/4 and 800mm f/5.6, all with macro)

Once more Egami (translated) spotted interesting new patents filed by Canon. A 400mm f/4 DO macro 1:1.4, a 400mm f/4 DO macro 2:1, a 600mm f/4 macro 1:1 and an 800mm f/5.6 DO macro 1:1. All lenses feature diffractive optical elements (the DO in the naming)

Self-interpretation and summary, Patent Documents

  • Patent Publication No. 2012-242742
    • Release Date 2012.12.10
    • Filing date 2011.5.23
  • Example 1
    • Focal length f = 788.34mm
    • Fno. = 5.80
    • 2ω = 3.14 ° angle of view
    • Image height 21.64mm
    • 486.00mm length lens
    • BF 110.67mm
    • β = -1.02
    • (The second and third group is for the focus) consists of four groups of positive and negative polarity
    • (One side of the image, such as the most protective glass) x 17 lens elements in 12 groups composed
    • Maximum effective diameter 135.92mm
    • Two two-sided aspherical
    • DOE 1 surface
    • One fluorite
    • Three Super UD glass
    • One low-dispersion glass
  • Example 2
    • Focal length f = 400.00mm
    • Fno. = 4.12
    • 2ω = 6.20 ° angle of view
    • Image height 21.64mm
    • 300.00mm length lens
    • BF 55.00mm
    • β = -2
    • (For the second focus group 2,4) consists of four groups of positive and negative positive negative
    • (One side of the image, such as the most protective glass) x 19 lens elements in 12 groups composed
    • Maximum effective diameter 97.09mm
    • Five 5-sided aspherical
    • DOE 1 surface
    • Two fluorite
    • 1 UD glass sheet
    • One low-dispersion glass
  • Example 6
    • Focal length f = 585.00mm
    • Fno. = 4.12
    • 2ω = 4.24 ° angle of view
    • Image height 21.64mm
    • 350.00mm length lens
    • BF 55.00mm
    • β = -1
    • (For the second focus group 2,4,5) group configuration 6 positive negative positive positive negative
    • (One side of the image, such as the most protective glass) 22 sheets 13 groups lens configuration
    • Maximum effective diameter 142.00mm
    • Four four-sided aspherical
    • DOE 1 surface
    • Two fluorite
    • 1 UD glass sheet
  • Example 9
    • Focal length f = 390.99mm
    • Fno. = 4.12
    • 2ω = 6.34 ° angle of view
    • Image height 21.64mm
    • 256.40mm length lens
    • BF 62.35mm
    • β = -0.7
    • (For the second focus group 2,4) consists of four groups of positive and negative positive negative
    • (One side of the image, such as the most protective glass) x 16 elements in 12 groups lens configuration
    • Maximum effective diameter 94.90mm
    • Four four-sided aspherical
    • DOE 1 surface
    • 2 UD glass sheets
    • Two low-dispersion glass
  • Inner focusing formula
    • Easy to shorten the minimum focusing distance
    • AF is faster
    • Large variations in aberrations
    • Many aberration occurs at close range
  • Inner focusing high-performance formula
    • With a focus group of two or more
    • However, optimization of the parameter is mandatory
    • In the macro range of 0.5 times more difficult to correct aberrations
  • Diffractive optics
    • Shortening of the total length can be
    • Distance of the lens group becomes narrow, the range of movement of the focus group will be limited
  • Canon patent
    • Group before and after the group of positive and negative
    • Inner Focus (and the second group, one of the rear group)
    • By setting multiple focus groups, perform the division of sensitivity, the amount of movement
    • In short travel distance, is focused on the short-range
[via Egami]

 

Rumor: A Bunch Of 400mm Lenses To Be Announced In 2013?

This Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Autofocus Lens

That's what Canon Rumors has been told, that we can expect up to four new lenses in the 400mm range. Quoting:

Below are lenses that are apparently in prototype form and are on tap to be announced in 2013.

    • EF 400 f/5.6L IS (Highly desired)
    • EF 400 f/4L IS (Not DO)
    • EF 100-400 f/4-5.6L IS (Not push-pull & patents exists)
    • EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x (Long known about)

[via CR]