Canon News has uncovered a patent that shows a touch panel on the barrel of a lens. The touch panel in this patent would take over for the focus control ring on the lens for autofocus.
It is possible that such a technology could also be expanded to allowing you to choose focus points with your thumb on the lens barrel. This is an interesting ergonomic development.
From patent 2021-043294
A technique described in Patent Document 1 is known as a technique in which a user-operable touch panel is provided on an interchangeable lens (lens device) that can be attached to a camera body. The interchangeable lens described in Patent Document 1 is provided with one or two rectangular touch panels extending in the circumferential direction, and focusing or the like is performed by the user operating the touch panels.
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