Canon Patent Application: Periscope lens for compact cameras

In this patent application, Canon looks at doing a periscope styled lens for a compact camera.

These have been getting all the fame lately for their use in smartphones to provide a telephoto lens without dramatically increasing the thickness of the smartphone.

It's kind of an odd patent application, because the lenses described in the patent are telephoto primes, and not zooms. However, to be fair to the patent author, the focal length equivalents are quite large.  I could see, as this patent mentions the value of making a small compact surveillance camera using these lenses as well.

The embodiments are for a 1/3" sensor.

focal length 57.20 (effective focal of 412mm!)
F-number 5.88
view angle 3.00
Image height 3.00
lens length 36.46
BF 2.00

focal length 72.00 (effective focal of 519mm)
F-number 5.88
field angle 2.39
Image height 3.00
Total lens length 45.00
BF 7.03

focal length 85.00 (effective focal of 612mm)
F-number 5.71
stroke Angle 2.02
Image height 3.00
Total lens length 53.00
BF 4.76

Richard CanonNewsRichard CanonNews

Richard has been using Canon cameras since the 1990s, with his first being the now legendary EOS-3. Since then, Richard has continued to use Canon cameras and now focuses mostly on infrared photography. Richard is the founder and editor of CanonNews since 2017, and has worked as a writer on CanonRumors and other websites in the past.

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