Canon has long been said to be working on a smartphone camera accessory, and now a new patent reveals more about how the accessory might work in practice. Spotted by Canon News, the patent (see images below) fleshes out some of the 3D renderings of the phone plug-in we saw last year, revealing what looks like a Canon Powershot Zoom-style camera with a smartphone holder. In the patent, Canon describes an external zoom lens that rotates around a hinge to allow it to fold up neatly, and it also has a stand to hold your smartphone. Wireless communication between the accessory and the phone would allow the phone to be used as a viewfinder, and Canon's patent adds that "remote control of the camera is possible." On the back of Canon's zoom lens attachment is a power switch and a zoom switch that, unsurprisingly, "allows you to change the focal length of the lens barrel." The patent doesn't specify exactly what focal lengths would be available, but speculates that "a zoom switch may be provided to input an instruction to set a focal length to 400" and one to do the same to "set a focal length to 100". of. That's interesting because the Canon Powershot Zoom, which was crowdfunded with Japanese site Makuake last year before going on general sale, also allows you to go from a 100mm to 400mm focal length with the push of a button. Rather than a traditional zoom, the Powershot Zoom is a three-level zoom, starting at 100mm and going all the way to 800mm thanks to a 2x digital extender. Like this little monocular-style camera, Canon's proprietary phone attachment also suggests it'll be able to shoot video, too. The patent mentions that its image processing unit, in addition to performing "color space conversion, white balance, auto exposure, and flash compensation," "will also output an 8-bit digital signal in YUV (4:2) format." : 2)" . There's no doubt that the existing Powershot Zoom is a bit limited on this front, shooting Full HD video at 30 frames per second that's limited to ten minutes. But it does offer 4-axis stabilization to help maintain image stability, and while that's not mentioned in Canon's patent, it's fair to assume some optical stabilization would be included as well.
Analysis: better on paper than in reality?
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(Image credit: Canon) As with all patents, there's no guarantee that Canon is seriously considering launching its telephoto zoom accessory for phones. That said, he developed a taste for testing crowdfunding concepts like the Canon Ivy Rec, Canon Powershot Pick, and Canon Powershot Zoom, and despite its awkward potential, there would probably be demand for a Canon-made smartphone accessory like the one described. in this patent. The problem is that we have seen various versions of this idea before. Sony launched the QX10 and QX100 smartphone lens accessories in 2013, while the DxO One even brought a 1-inch, 20.2-megapixel sensor (the same as the Sony RX100 compact cameras) to our phones in 2015. Despite a Impressive hardware, poor usability, and limited battery life held them back. Phone cameras have come a long way since then, but one area where they've seemingly hit a limit is optical zoom. We now have 10x optical zoom thanks to smart folded optics on phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, but that's an equivalent focal length of around 240mm. If Canon's concept managed to achieve a 400mm equivalent focal length using a larger sensor than today's flagship phones, there could still be a niche market among those who want extra range for sports and wildlife, but without having to buy or bring a camera. The question is whether the accessory's stabilization and autofocus could produce results that improve upon software techniques like Super Res Zoom, which was released for Google's Pixel phones. Unfortunately, we didn't find this to be the case on the Canon PowerShot Zoom, which was also hampered by a small 1/3-inch image sensor. But if Canon could make a second-generation version that works well with smartphones in the way its patent describes, we'd certainly be willing to give it a try, even if it feels like a somewhat Frankensteinian meeting of the old and new worlds of photography of the world The best Canon PowerShot Zoom deals right now
