Seventy years ago (February 10, 1950) Hugo Wehrenpfennig filed the patent for the Leica M-mount. The patent for the M-bayonet (“Bajonettvorrichtung für die lösbare Verbindung zweier Kamerateile”) was registered by Ernst Leitz GmbH at the German patent office on 10 February 1950 and published on 23 October 1952. Hugo Wehrenfennig was credited with the invention. The […]
Apparently, Leica recently filed a patent that describes a new GUI based controls probably designed for the Leica TL product line that doesn’t have any physical buttons and everything is controlled from a big touchscreen. The control dial position is customizable depending if you are shooting with your left or right hands:
Last year Leica filed a patent in Japan for a 23mm f/2 ASPH lens designed for mirrorless APS-C cameras. This could be a variation of the lens on the Leica X (23mm f/1.7) or the existing Summicron-T 23mm f/2 ASPH lens for TL mount. Here are the details:
Leica Camera has several patents for a hybrid “optoelectronic rangefinder” that might be used in the next M model:
Leica Camera AG has licensed a patent portfolio of Intellectual Ventures™ (IV) to strengthen the existing intellectual property (IP) strategy and position of Leica Camera.The agreement provides the Wetzlar based manufacturer of cameras and sport optics products with a license to IV’s patent portfolio of nearly 40,000 IP assets in more than 50 technology areas, […]
Epson filed patent 2012-186726 in Japan for a way of displaying manual lens information (aperture, focal length, focusing distance) on the camera LCD screen or viewfinder. This can be achieved with a small camera located above the lens that captures the lens information and shows it on the LCD screen:
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