The Optical Viewfinder Is Not Dead, Canon Patent Suggests

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This Canon patent suggests that despite all the mirrorless hype, and even now that Canon announced the development of a new industry game changer, the EOS R5, there is sill need for an OVF (Optical ViewFinder).

Canon patent application 2020-27113A (Japan, spotted by Hi Lows Note) shows that a big company like Canon is still doing R&D on optical viewfinder implementations.

More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these:

Canon Patent: 100-400mm f/5.5-7.1 Lens For APS-C Camera

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Here is an inetersting Canon patent for a 100-40mm lens.

Canon Patent Application 2020-027156 (Japan) discusses optical formulas for a 100-400mm f/5.5-7.1 lens. The interesting fact is that this 100-400mm f/5.5-7.1 is for APS-C cameras. For the EOS-M system? We think rather not but it is possible. For sure it seems to be consumer lens.

  • Focal length:        119.97 218.00 360.96  
  • F-Number:             5.50   6.50   7.10  
  • Half angle of view:  6.50   3.59   2.17  
  • Image height:         13.66  13.66  13.66  
  • Total lens length:   179.62 192.93 233.56  
  • BF:                   15.03  15.03  15.04

More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these:

Canon Patent: RF 17-70mm Lens For EOS R Camera System

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Might this Canon patent application lead to a product that will actually hit the shelves? We’ve not made up our mind so far.

Canon patent application 2020-012922 (Japan) discusses optical formulas of what might become a future kit lens for the Canon EOS R full frame mirrorless system. The patent literature discusses formulas for two 17-70mm and a 16-60mm lens, and for both the EF and the RF mount. We think the RF mount lens is the one to have an eye on. The discussed lenses:

Canon EF mount:

  • Focal length 17.40 35.00 68.00  
  • F-number 3.33 4.09 5.88  
  • Half-field angle (degree) 51.19 31.72 17.65  
  • Image height 21.64 21.64 21.64  
  • Total lens length 168.42 153.33 168.42  
  • BF 38.32 53.44 84.11  
  • Focal length 16.30 35.00 60.00  
  • F-number 3.31 4.22 5.88  
  • Half angle of view (degrees) 53.01 31.72 19.83  
  • Image height 21.64 21.64 21.64  
  • Total lens length 68.46 153.33 168.42  
  • BF 38.35 56.15 83.82 

Canon RF mount:

  • Focal length 17.40 34.99 67.97  
  • F-number 3.31 4.12 5.88  
  • Half angle of view (degrees) 51.20 31.73 17.66  
  • Image height 21.64 21.64 21.64  
  • Total lens length 168.41 154.99 168.39  
  • BF 8.36 52.48 81.91 

More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these:

Canon Patent: RF 24-100mm f/2.8 & RF 24-85mm f/2.8 Lenses For The EOS R System

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Here is very interesting Canon patent application (2020-8773A, Japan) for two zoom lenses for the EOS R full frame mirrorless camera system. Might be a patent application that hits the market sooner or later.

The lenses described in the patent application appear to be for the RF lens mount, i.e. for the Canon EOS. Optical formulas for an RF 24-100mm f/2.8 and an RF 24-85mm f/2.8 lens are discussed in the patent application.

Embodiment 1: 24-85mm f/2.8

  • Focal length: 24.70 50.00 85.00 mm
  • F number; 2.90 2.90 2.90
  • Half angle of view: 41.22 23.40 14.28
  • Image height: 21.64 21.64 21.64 mm
  • Lens length; 153.30 173.51 198.31 mm
  • Back focus: 12.00 26.12 43.44 mm

Embodiment 2: 24-100mm f/2.8

  • Focal length: 24.70 50.00 101.85 mm
  • F number: 2.91 2.91 2.91
  • Half angle of view: 41.22 23.40 11.99
  • Image height: 21.64 21.64 21.64 mm
  • Lens length: 158.52 176.33 218.42 mm
  • Back focus: 10.00 26.38 43.15 mm

More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these:

[via Hi Lows Note]

US Patents: Canon World’s Only Company To Be Ranked Among Top 5 For 34 Years

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Well, still there is some people loudly claiming Canon doesn’t innovate. We feature a lot of Canon patent applications, and they are all listed here.

this Canon patent application

Canon’s press release:

It’s Official: Canon Places 3rd in IFI CLAIMS 2019 U.S. Patent Rankings

The Only Company in the World to be Ranked in Top Five for 34 Years

MELVILLE, NY, January 15, 2020 – Aligning with its mission of empowering innovations, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to announce that its parent company, Canon Inc., was granted 3,548 patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office and maintained its third place ranking for patents granted in 2019 according to IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, a leading producer of global patent databases. With this year’s ranking, Canon has become the only company in the world to have ranked in the top five for number of patents granted for 34 consecutive years. Additionally, Canon has once again ranked first in patents among Japanese companies for the 15th consecutive year.

These patents continue to demonstrate Canon’s contribution to science and technology which are used to develop fundamental technologies designed to drive innovation and support customer and business needs.

“As technology continues to evolve, we too will continue exploring new areas and future innovation opportunities,” said Seymour Liebman, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel, Canon U.S.A. Inc. “Canon is proud to be in the top three patent holders as it reflects our dedication and commitment to delivering innovative ideas and solutions to meet market and customer demands.”

For more information on Canon and its products, please visit www.usa.canon.com.

Canon Patent Application: High Speed Mirror Control

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Canon patent application 20190310458 (US) discusses technology and methods for a high speed mirror mechanism.

From the patent application literature:

In view of improvement of continuous photographing performance, a technique for stably keeping the main mirror and sub mirror in the mirror-down state promptly by reducing bounds of the mirrors that occur when the mirror unit that is rapidly driven toward the mirror-down state contacts the stopper is continuously required. A conventional mirror drive device drives the mirror unit between the mirror-down state and the mirror-up state by transmitting power to the main mirror and by making the sub mirror follow a motion of the main mirror using a combination of a toggle spring and a reversal cam or a linkage mechanism. 

[…] A quick return mirror mechanism of a single-lens reflex camera moves a mirror unit that has a main mirror and a sub mirror at a high speed between a mirror-down state in which the mirror unit enters into a photographing light path and a mirror-up state in which the mirror unit is retracted from the photographing light path.

[…] A mirror drive device that is capable of achieving high speed drive of a mirror unit and of reducing generation of bounds of mirrors. A first mirror unit is rotatably attached to a mirror box and is movable between a fast position within a photographing light path and a second position outside the path. A second mirror unit is rotatably attached to the first mirror unit and is movable between a third position within the path and a fourth position outside the path. A drive member moves the first mirror unit to the second position from the first position and moves the second mirror unit to the fourth position from the third position when, the drive member is driven by an actuator to a sixth position from a fifth position.

We think this Canon patent application might get into production. High fps cameras like the EOS-1D X series in the future may well get the improvements discussed in the patent literature.

More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production are these: