Canon has recently filed multiple patents for various lenses, from birding lenses to ones with better autofocus. The company is looking to improve its strategy, with each patent showcasing the direction it wishes to take. It has now come to our attention that Canon is also working on its shutter speed bracket for future models. What is it, and how can it help photographers? Let’s have a look.
First reported by Asobinet, patent number P2025093064 is about a mechanism that seems to be bracket shooting of slow shutters independently. As the patent explains, this is the ability to “allow multiple images with different slow shutter expressions in a single shooting instruction.” This seems to be going in the same direction as OM System’s Live ND filters, which help photographers to capture running water and moving clouds with any additional filter.
What Does the Canon Patent State?
The patent suggests the new slow shutter can capture multiple shots at different shutter speeds. This is helpful for those who shoot with a slow shutter but need more sharpness in their images. So far, one has to take several shots at different shutter speeds, but with the new patent, one can combine the images shot at different speeds together.
For this to work, you can choose one shutter speed, and the camera can add two more slow shutter speeds. One before and one after. Then the camera will shoot four images, and then the images will be combined. The Canon patent suggests the use of smart blending options such as average, bright-only, or dark-only combinations for different looks of the same setting.
Why is This Helpful?
A patent like this, when passed, can be really helpful to landscape, travel, and many creative photographers. One can shoot images at different shutter speeds, with different events, without having to manually make the changes for every shot. In a normal slow shutter, you will have to manually adjust the shutter and hope that nothing changes in between the scenes. For instance, when shooting star trails or cars. With this option, one does not have to shoot until they fill their card, and hope that they get something in the end on the edit table. A feature like this can reduce trial and error, and even make long exposure photography a more enjoyable process.
While the patent is still in the research stage, it showcases that the company is trying to make photography is far easier process for its users. By adding more such features, a photographer can spend ample time on the vision board, then try to figure out the tiresome trial and error. A feature like this, just like a built-in ND filter, will have a positive impact on Canon users, and some may prefer the brand over others for updates like this.
Anyone who loves motion photography is set to have a blast with this one, just like Canon’s multiple exposure mode, which is in-built many of its cameras. So, keep an eye for more.