Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

[Canon Rumors]

<p>We all know that the brand new Canon EOS-1D X Mark II has GPS function built in, it’s the bump you see on the top of the viewfinder. However, the camera does not have WiFi built in for various reasons, and most of them good ones, as reliability and performance is going to be way better with the external solution, something sports professionals shooting 14fps need.</p>
<p>The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV will have WiFi built in we’ve been told and this patent mentions that it’s possible to put GPS and WiFi under the bump on top of the viewfinder.</p>
<p>Patent Publication No. 2016-53665</p>
<ul>
<li>Published 2016.4.14</li>
<li>Filing date 2014.9.4</li>
<li>Magnesium alloy</li>
<li>Providing a GPS module to the finder part</li>
<li>To protect the GPS module in the wireless communication lid made of a synthetic resin material</li>
<li>The GPS module and the warship portion connected by high thermal conduction efficiency copper foil tape, heat away</li>
</ul>
<p>Canon had said that getting reliable wifi connections with a full metal camera body was a challenge, and that’s why the previous generation of full metal bodies cameras such as the EOS 5D Mark III didn’t have the feature, but the EOS 6D, which doesn’t have the same durability did.</p>
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[H. Jones]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

I am a big fan of the WTF-E7/8 adapters and their ease of use, so while I'm alright with buying one, I still wish this would have been available on the 1DX Mark II. I understand this was probably a decision made because of regional issues, but I'd assume they'd have to deal with regional GPS issues as well, so if it's going to be in the same place as the GPS, why not?

 

[KeithBreazeal]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

Score! This and DR improvements should do it. My credit card is in standby mode.

 

[Mark D5 TEAM II]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

Of course, the GPS module should be in the warship portion obviously! The only thing we have to wait for now is the JPEG anger quality of photogrammetry for great justice. ;D

 

[d]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

Of course, the GPS module should be in the warship portion obviously! The only thing we have to wait for now is the JPEG anger quality of photogrammetry for great justice. ;D

"GPS....locked. Copper foil tape thermal conduction efficiency...high. Heat....away!"

 

[mrsfotografie]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

Of course, the GPS module should be in the warship portion obviously! The only thing we have to wait for now is the JPEG anger quality of photogrammetry for great justice. ;D

Obviously the warship portion is the Cannon ;D

 

[David the street guy]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

<p>The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV will have WiFi built in we’ve been told and this patent mentions that it’s possible to put GPS and WiFi under the bump on top of the viewfinder.</p>

I'm happy to learn that the 5D Mark IV will be equipped with a GPS, but let's hope it's way faster and more precise than my Garmin…
But I don't really know what wifi can bring to me, unless it is used, like in the iPhone, to give a more precise location, or when you're inside and you don't have a GPS fix.
What would you use the wifi for?

 

[AdamBotond]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies


What would you use the wifi for?

For remote wildlife photography to name one of the many uses. This is one of the reasons I did not switch from my 6D to 5D III.

 

[Loswr]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

What would you use the wifi for?

Facebook mode!!!!!!! ;D

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

I have yet to be impressed with Canon Wi-Fi tethering for my G1X. If canon can get fast and long range Wi-Fi that allows remote tethering suitable for wildlife, that would be a big improvement.

Right now, for my 5D MK III. a eye-fi mobi pro works great for download images as I shoot when in range of my Wi-Fi. I also have a IUSBCamera2 which is reasonable for tethering to my iPhone or ipad (works with Android as well). Even though it is supposedly faster than the cam ranger, its still a pain to use for fast moving wildlife. Birds are often gone by the time the shutter closes. Fast Wi-Fi is needed to really be useful for wildlife that moves quickly.

 

[H. Jones]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

Wifi is one of the most important things you can have in a camera as a photojournalist. It allows me to get images of breaking news out as they happen, beating most news organizations to the chase.

Nowadays a lot of news organizations have solved that problem by throwing up cellphone images until they can get back to a laptop to post full-resolution copies, but with wifi you can effortlessly be the first to post images of breaking news. It almost feels like cheating! There'll be people with wifi Jetpacks for their laptops that run back to their cars to throw images up off their laptop, and I can just stand around and upload an image as soon as it happens.

 

[scott_m]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

Of course, the GPS module should be in the warship portion obviously! The only thing we have to wait for now is the JPEG anger quality of photogrammetry for great justice. ;D

Will the square damp-proof portion still be reinforced? And how many degummed yarn will it have?

Raise from the information dimension!!!1

;D

 

[weixing]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

<p>The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV will have WiFi built in we’ve been told and this patent mentions that it’s possible to put GPS and WiFi under the bump on top of the viewfinder.</p>

I'm happy to learn that the 5D Mark IV will be equipped with a GPS, but let's hope it's way faster and more precise than my Garmin…
But I don't really know what wifi can bring to me, unless it is used, like in the iPhone, to give a more precise location, or when you're inside and you don't have a GPS fix.
What would you use the wifi for?

Hi,
I got the 7D2 which had a GPS module, but I still use a Garmin as it's a lot faster to acquire a signal compare to the 7D2 GPS. Also, my 7D2 sometime is not very responsive (delay wake up from sleep, delay shoot when shutter press & etc) when the GPS is on, so I only on the 7D2 GPS once in a while to sync the time.

Wifi is also quite useful as you can remote shoot using remote live view and transfer photo to a tablet for a larger screen preview.

Have a nice day.

 

[blanddragon]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

I played around with the GPS on my 7D Mk II, but have not found it too useful really. I would much rather have Wifi.

Tried Eye-fi, but it so slow with RAW files it's worthless mostly to me. I still am waiting for the portable SSD with built in Wifi that I can dump to, in the field. Unless I can have both a camera and drive like that I am not a buyer.

 

[romanr74]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

what would be awesome is to be able to use WIFI to use your tablet as remote screen and control...

 

[rfdesigner]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

This is a step forward.. but does anyone know what the antenna gain is?.. (more gain = more range), I'm guessing it's going to be doing well to achieve -5dBi at 2.4GHz

Also wifi can benefit from MIMO (multiple data streams on a single channel) for which you really need two antennas at each end of the link (for fastest speeds). File sizes are not getting any smaller so higher speed is pretty key for downloading. Would be interesting to concider where one might place a second antenna.

Finally Wifi in a camera will mean the camera HAS to be relatively quiet from an EMI perspective (way beyond regulations) otherwise the wifi will be deaf as a post. I suspect this is at least part of the reason for the 6Ds lack of banding.

 

[extide]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

I would guess they are using just a little 'chip antenna' so barely any gain, maybe 1-3db? At least it would be better than a pcb-trace-antenna. I would HIGHLY doubt we will see anything other than a 1x1:1 solution, meaning one antenna, no MIMO.

 

[rfdesigner]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

I would guess they are using just a little 'chip antenna' so barely any gain, maybe 1-3db? At least it would be better than a pcb-trace-antenna. I would HIGHLY doubt we will see anything other than a 1x1:1 solution, meaning one antenna, no MIMO.

Ill be shocked, truely truely shocked, if they're in positive territory.

and yes of course it's a single antenna.. I was just thinking as I do at work.. wondering where I might add a second antenna.

 

[Don Haines]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

I would guess they are using just a little 'chip antenna' so barely any gain, maybe 1-3db? At least it would be better than a pcb-trace-antenna. I would HIGHLY doubt we will see anything other than a 1x1:1 solution, meaning one antenna, no MIMO.

Ill be shocked, truely truely shocked, if they're in positive territory.

and yes of course it's a single antenna.. I was just thinking as I do at work.. wondering where I might add a second antenna.

We have done several flat plane MIMO antennas at work with decent gain.....unfortunately they are all bigger than a DSLR

 

[Chapman Baxter]

Re: Patent: GPS & Wifi in Metal Bodies

what would be awesome is to be able to use WIFI to use your tablet as remote screen and control...

That will definitely be a feature - it's exactly how I use my 6D now, e.g. for outdoor macro or wildlife. I use the EOS Remote app on my tablet and just connect the camera to the tablet directly via wi-fi hotspot. EOS Remote enables remote operation of, among other things, focus (manual or AF), aperture, shutter speed and of course the shutter itself. I also recently bought the third-party DSLR Controller app which I believe is more sophisticated but I haven't tried it out yet.