Few weeks ago I reported on a Nikon patent about a light meter built into the prism. Nikon has filed a series of related patents. One of them is 7876373 which describes a camera with a hybrid viewfinder:
"One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a means capable of confirming the state of field and the photographing area of an image pickup section in a camera capable of observing an electronic image through an optical viewfinder.
Moreover, one of the objects of the present invention is, in a camera capable of observing an electronic image through an optical viewfinder, to provide a means capable of acquiring various kinds of information depending on the situation without detaching eyes from the viewfinder."
Next patent drawing shows zooming for only a portion of the viewfinder:
Another drawing shows a build-in flash with an additional lens that can capture the surrounding environment and display it in the viewfinder:
The above described hybrid viewfinder will probably be implemented with two different sensors and patent application 20110038623 explains in more details the purpose of those sensors:
"A camera includes: a first sensor of a storage type that has a plurality of pixels; a focus detection unit that detects a focus adjustment state of a photographic optical system based upon a detection signal from the first sensor for a photographic subject; a second sensor that acquires an image of the photographic subject; an extraction unit that extracts a main photographic subject region from image information acquired by the second sensor; and a control unit that controls accumulation of electrical charge by the first sensor, based upon values outputted from pixels of the first sensor that correspond to the main photographic subject region."
Related posts:
- Nikon files patents for a new 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 lens and back-illuminated sensor, possibly for their EVIL camera
- Nikon files patents for 10-30mm and 7-13mm lens for mirrorless cameras
- New viewfinder patent from Nikon
- The latest Nikon patents
- Nikon files a patent for optical communication between lens and body
33 Comments
Hmmm, exciting times. It’s time for the SLR to pick up and join the 21st century. Technology is good, thanks Nikon.
Well, I hope to see this be a huge improvement for spot metering!
This would increase the cost of the cameras, but also increase their value after they are no longer in production. I also hope there arent any bugs in the first thousand made…
Knowing that I won’t be buying anything in the first thousand, I am fairly secure in my purchase (not that I’ve any money now). Cost, of course, is trivial as long as it isn’t an overreaching $$$ surge. I buy a camera and use it for 6 years or longer, so I get my money’s worth.
Very interested to see if/how this develops. But, with more than 14 000 dead in Japan, I don’t think technology will see any time till Japan can get somehow past the current disaster. I’ll be moving back in May for a spell, not sure how it’s going to affect my home senses.
ok this is the first time i say this
It Has Begun!
i can smell a D4 having seriously good improvements enough to keep us quiet for the next 3 or 4 years
*fingers crossed*
Does this patent overlap with the Fujifilm’s X100 hybrid viewfinder?
I wouldn’t think so, Fujifilm has a LOT invested in this new Hybrid system, I don’t think they would spend so much more as to pay for Nikon’s patent so they can use it.
The smartest decision, Try to improve what they have. It will become one of those “for one year, this company is better than the other, next year, vice versa” I forgot the name for that…
But you get the idea, I work in retail, I don’t see Fuji backing out and paying nikon to use theirs….but who knows!
You could say one upmanship or leap frogging….
I have tested the X100. If this is anything as good as the hybrid viewfinder, then Nikon will have a winner in its hands.
Will these gonna used in the d800?????
It looks like the D5 to me.
So it’s like a rangefinder, without all the pluses of a rangefinder camera.
You mean ‘minuses’.
The first image has an integrated grip. So that is most likely D4.
There is another image showing an on-board flash. So it is most likely D800.
What D4 with pop up flash?
wow, interesting patent.
Looks like they are preparing for the D4
I don’t want that stuff in D4.
No body ask you =]
Thx for remind me that.
My first thought on looking at it, My GOD, we’ve gone back to the original Nikon F meter. Same look external sensor.
How come this external meter would look like? Maybe the ‘Nikon’ logo will be transparent or camera will have a plastic window looking like a stripe on the D2 series?
Maybe the “O” in the “NikOn” logo will have a lens at its center to keep the cosmetics in check!
You could spend weeks trawling through the Nikon patents, here’s a flashgun patent I came across with a really interesting swivel action (fig 19 and 20)… maybe a SB-1000 ?
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7715705.pdf
There are a few more about zoom lenses and vr, but I was getting a headache reading through them and gave up lol.
Interesting that the camera shown in the images is NOT an interchangeable lens SLR, but a compact “superzoom” type. The hotshoe design is also totally different than the current Nikon SLR design.
Fig. 26 & 27 look more likely for an SLR application, but man is that one ugly looking flash unit! Not to mention that designing the hinge that way will limit battery storage space and make the flash unit very tall… and I thought my SB900 was big!
Doesn’t look very compact to me.
Ugly looking too.
Lol? Troll?
Yes, there are so many patents to go through and this doesn’t include the patents filed in Japan. I found an interesting one about a new wide angle lens. I will post it online after I get some clarifications.
Here’s an interesting one for a camera with 216 AF sensors in the viewfinder for tracking fast moving subjects http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20100214407.pdf
Actually, that’s a Sony patent. That’s why the hotshoe design is the Minolta/Sony type.
I saw that Anon, but the patents got Nikon in the pages and pages of text too ?…which is why it came up in a Nikon search?
Who knows, somebody pass me an aspirin.
Can we just go all the way and get rid of mirrors?
Buy a Coolpix.
For the rest of us who like good viewfinders and autofocus – we’ll keep those mirrors.
the real interesting patents are the low ref-index, high Abbe number materials – these are of high importance for any wide-angle (in microscopes or fotography) – the view-finder will require US to change the way we work – probably a challenge for many of us
It seems to be the 1st step into full control of action, while just using the view-finder and that’s for sure a pre-requisite for proper moving images rather than stills only.
Why do this? It’s pretty clear form the lenses that the camera is a nikon. The lenses are older ones, som maybe is a pretty old photo.
http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/appleipad2/images/groupshot.jpg