Is Canon working on smartphone addons? This design seems to suggest that they are

Canon Rumors Guy

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Canon News has uncovered a smartphone lens add-on design by Canon.
On the surface, it looks like a lens addon, capable of different focal lengths. The different lenses in the design illustration seem to show that they are held together magnetically.
Canon has had some new designs and products such as the PowerShot Zoom over the last year or two, so it’s possible that this too will end up a consumer product.


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s66

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Jan 9, 2018
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I think the future for companies making high end cameras is not for add-on lenses on phones.
Phone makers add lenses on their own already, even adding multiple (tiny) sensors behind multiple lenses in the same phone already.

Let's face it:
- That phone has more CPU and GPU power than a camera
- The phone is highly connected to wireless networks (both cell/GSM as well as WiFi etc.)
- The phone has access to high end photo retouching software
- A phone's (touch) screen is far better than any ever found on any other device
- ...

And no matter what the phone makers keep adding as sensors and lenses in their ultra compact design, they'll never replace our DSLR (or mirrorless full frame for those that are there) camera's quality as the physical dimensions to do that are simply not there. Still that phone has Lightroom, Photoshop, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

The world today is expecting instant consumption for photography, not allowing a photographer a few weeks to process the images - the other attendees will have shared their crappy pictures long before the photographer gets home or to the office to process it all in Lightroom and send it to the (paying) customer.

So instead of making add-on lenses: making sensors(and lenses) that replace a phone's tiny camera and use the rest of the phone and its software to do editing in the field, to manage pictures, to upload it to social media, etc.
Then think about ergonomics while taking pictures and you'll end up with a need for physical buttons you can feel while taking a picture, to not have to watch a screen as the sun can make it impossible to look at while taking that picture etc.

I'm not talking about a crappy app by the likes of canon: just no. Just allow the phone high speed access tot the camera, and let the phone and it's third party apps do the rest and take control.

It's not just me either: it's also in articles like these:

So yes: I think there's a need to embrace parts of what makes a modern phone an appreciated device by almost all of us, but combine it with what makes a pro(sumer) camera wanted by photographers like the ergonomics, the sensor size, the choice in lenses, ...
 
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I have said it many times previously. Canon should link up with a phone manufacturer like Leica did with Huawei or they should make their own camera phone - one piece of equipment that takes great pictures to Canon specs and makes calls, whatsapp and everything else we do on phones. I do not mind if is bulkier than current phones, even the same size as current top of the range small cameras like Sony RX100 range or Canon's equivalent, but I just want one device not multiple.
 
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I love rumours like this as at face value they seem so logical, Canon makes cameras and lenses so why not make them that can be used with mobile phones?

On the other hand, why help your competitors?

Phone's like the iPhone 12Pro and Pro max have the capability to replace many point and shoot cameras, especially when their computational capacity is used. The results I have seen so far look ridiculously good.

I don't think they will ever replace cameras like the 1dx mkiii or the R5 etc as they don't have the resolution or the flexibility to interchange lenses etc.

I agree with a previous post in that Canon should focus on making their bodies more connectable with smart phones to allow these impressive and quite big OLED screens be used to increase how the DSLR / mirrorless body can be used instead of timers or remote release attachments.

Cannon Connect is OK but isn't that user friendly. Maybe concentrate on improving this and the Canon image app, that way the DSLR / mirrorless body becomes a really user friendly must have in conjunction with the smart phone that nearly everyone carries on them all the time.
 
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LDS

Sep 14, 2012
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Do people really buy these contraptions to be used with smartphones? People use smartphones to make photos because they are simple and quick to use. Having to attach other pieces, making them clumsier and slower to use never.

Nor I would like a camera body that needs too often a phone to be controlled. It is really far clumsier to have to operate both a camera and a phone at the same time.
 
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Mar 26, 2014
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I love rumours like this as at face value they seem so logical, Canon makes cameras and lenses so why not make them that can be used with mobile phones?

On the other hand, why help your competitors?

Phone's like the iPhone 12Pro and Pro max have the capability to replace many point and shoot cameras, especially when their computational capacity is used. The results I have seen so far look ridiculously good.

Canon hasn't released any new P&S or compact cameras for 2-3 years, so the competition on that front is over.
 
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Mar 26, 2014
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The world today is expecting instant consumption for photography, not allowing a photographer a few weeks to process the images - the other attendees will have shared their crappy pictures long before the photographer gets home or to the office to process it all in Lightroom and send it to the (paying) customer.

So instead of making add-on lenses: making sensors(and lenses) that replace a phone's tiny camera and use the rest of the phone and its software to do editing in the field, to manage pictures, to upload it to social media, etc.
Then think about ergonomics while taking pictures and you'll end up with a need for physical buttons you can feel while taking a picture, to not have to watch a screen as the sun can make it impossible to look at while taking that picture etc.

I'm not talking about a crappy app by the likes of canon: just no. Just allow the phone high speed access tot the camera, and let the phone and it's third party apps do the rest and take control.

Canon has added smartphone connectivity, and there's LR for smartphones, so what's missing?

And if John Q Public has cell reception and an electric socket, a photographer can bring a 13" 4K laptop to edit photos the same day, e.g. from a hotel room.
 
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I had (actually still hava) a Sony QX100, which seems to be similar to what Canon aims to do with this. A nice camera at the time (about 2013), and usable also without a phone (no viewfinder, though, but I attached an old optical viewfinder to the tripod mount). Phone cameras hava advanced a lot since those times, hard to see what this one could offer to be interesting.
 
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Do people really buy these contraptions to be used with smartphones? People use smartphones to make photos because they are simple and quick to use. Having to attach other pieces, making them clumsier and slower to use never.

Nor I would like a camera body that needs too often a phone to be controlled. It is really far clumsier to have to operate both a camera and a phone at the same time.

People love dji pocket 2.
 
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Starting out EOS R

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Canon has added smartphone connectivity, and there's LR for smartphones, so what's missing?

And if John Q Public has cell reception and an electric socket, a photographer can bring a 13" 4K laptop to edit photos the same day, e.g. from a hotel room.
All totally true. Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I could be. I was trying to say that with Smart phones becoming so much part of normal life for the majority of the population, why not concentrate on making the interfaces between the cameras and smart phones more useable and slick. Yes the Cannon connect and Image.Canon APPS work but they are not exactly what anyone would call slick or intuitive. I've tried using both these with the R5 and they are so clunky I don't use them anymore but if they were reliable, intuitive and easy to use, I would definitely use them when in awkward places where the camera needs to be somewhere I cant easily get to, especially as I have my phone with me all the time, connected to give GPS via bluetooth but currently that's all I use it for. Bit of a missed opportunity?
 
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jam05

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Mar 12, 2019
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I pre-ordered the powershot zoom. This does not look like anything that interests me. A camera linked wirelessly to a smart phone with a built in holder? It is apparently operated by a smart phone app. I don't like the idea of the tiny pieces to lose or drop. I don't expect to ever see this.
They already exist and sell very well by other manufacturers
 
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