Active Cooling of a Small R5 C-Like Camera with IBIS

A patent application (2023-166831) from Canon has just been released for improved cooling for a small form factor camera, that also includes IBIS. The form factor that Canon describes seems to be quite similar to that of the Canon R5C, but smaller. Originally I was going to suggest this was for a cinema camera, but nowhere in the application does Canon specifically mention video. It’s safe to assume though, that this amount of cooling would atypically only be necessary for shooting video – so you can draw your own conclusions.

From the patent application, Canon specifically mentions IBIS as being one of the primary considerations for the creation of this patent application. That combined with the miniaturization of the camera with active cooling is what Canon hopes to achieve.

According to the present invention, while achieving miniaturization, it is possible to arrange a portion that can exert an anti-vibration function for the image pickup unit, and the image pickup element can be quickly cooled to produce high-quality images

This is very similar to a prior patent application (2023-163923) that discusses a similar style of camera with IBIS and active cooling.

According to the present invention, while achieving miniaturization, it is possible to arrange a portion that can exhibit a vibration-proofing function for the image pickup section, and the image pickup element can be cooled quickly

Usually when I start to see similar patent applications coming out around the same time, the odds of this being in an actual product increase. But Canon has certainly trolled me before with patent applications. Such as the 9 or so patent applications about this:

Those were the days. So take all patent applications with a grain of salt, they may or may not end up in actual products. They may even have the best of intentions about being a product but get COVID-Cancelled^™. These patent applications do show us what Canon is actually researching.

Source: Japan Patent Application 2023-166831

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