Canon has some of the best weather sealed camera bodies in the business, however that has lead to the omission of WiFi in camera bodies like the EOS-1D X, EOS 5D Mark III and EOS 7D Mark II. Canon has stated they have been unable to get reliable WiFi performance from behind all that magnesium.

A new US patent looks like it may have solved that issue, as they have figured out a way to put an antenna under the covering over the sloping surface of the pentaprism (thanks Mt Spokane). This could be fore Wi-Fi or other wireless communications device like a Speedlite transmitter.

US Patent US 9,113,062 B2

“Conventionally, there has been proposed a configuration of an imaging apparatus in which a wireless communication unit is arranged on the top side of a pentaprism in a finder section (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-244735). However, an accessory shoe for providing communication by being connected to an external device such as a strobe is provided on the visible face of an imaging apparatus. Therefore, the metal section of the accessory shoe disturbs a radio wave to be emitted from or received by the antenna section of the wireless communication unit upon wireless communication, so that stable communication state cannot be obtained. In addition, the clearance between the wireless communication unit and the accessory shoe needs to be ensured, resulting in an undesirable increase in size in the height direction of the imaging apparatus. Accordingly, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-75381 discloses a configuration in which the wireless communication unit is arranged on the inclined surface (Dach surface) of the pentaprism such that the accessory shoe does not disturb a radio wave upon wireless communication.”

Connectivity is going to have to be a big part of future DSLR bodies and this could show that Canon is planning on implementing more of these connectivity features with hardware and software.

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