Patent: Canon Improved Mirror, AF at High FPS & EVF

[Diko]

Could it meant to be for some kind of hybrid between DSLR and MILC?

 

[Marsu42]

What I am reading is that the half mirror (Pellicle Mirror) is fixed. A part of the image beam from the lens is deflected down to the autofocus sensor while the rest passes thru to the main image sensor.

Right, that does make sense - it enables advanced image processing from a (2nd) digital sensor that you cannot achieve with a dslr-style phase af system, but circumvents to overload the main sensor with functionality (af system and picking up the actual image).

I take it the semi-transparent mirror is there to reduce shutter lag, just like on the good ol' EOS RT, with the added benefit of being able to continue tracking while images are taken?

And I understand this design change means that the camera has to have an evf which gets the image from the main sensor, i.e. it still has a shutter blackout (like a traditional dslr, and unlike the EOS RT)?