Canon R7 Leaks and a Patent That Shows No Shutter Button

The Canon R7 has been rumored for a while now, and with some interesting patents acting as evidence, we now may have more information on exactly what role it aims to fill.

The Canon R5 and R6 were mostly well-received — very well. Save for a few video issues on the R5, the two new bodies from Canon are right at the forefront of mirrorless bodies, a position that many people wondered when Canon would challenge for. The new R range has been rumored to have more bodies on the way, with the R7 being the most likely to come next, so what is it?

Well, one of Canon's most successful and popular DSLRs in the last 10 years is the 7D. It saw widespread success across enthusiasts and even professionals, and the second version — the Canon EOS 7D II — continued to dominate its APS-C DSLR territory. If the Canon Rumors leaks and patent finds are anything to go by, it looks that the 7D is moving into the R range, with the R7 becoming the mirrorless version, all but confirming no 7D III.

Have you owned the 7D? Would a mirrorless version be interesting to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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4 Comments

The patent shows what appears to be a touchpad where the shutter button would be, but that doesn't mean that it can't still be a button (such as trackpads on some laptops which are touch-sensitive but still have a click to them). It could be interesting to have a touchpad which lets you move focus points around, or whatever they let you map it to, while also being a shutter button. Imagine going a step further and it being a fingerprint reader as well, I've seen the ability to lock your camera out via some kind of security being a feature request from time to time in forums and this could well be a solution.

I really would love to have a finger print lock on my camera and the data are fully encrypted.

I think it's voice activated and you have to scream click for instant photo, cheese for a 2 sec delay, rolling for video and cut to stop recording video.

Maybe we have to use something else than our fingers... Yelling or Cursing at our camera Yosemithe Sam-style?
And i don't want any biometrical protection on my camera's that's too privacy-sensitive - it's a crazy and expensive idea.