Is Canon Planning to Add a Cooling Fan to an M-Series Camera?

With camera bodies getting smaller and processors getting faster, it’s no wonder that manufacturers are having to explore new means of dispersing heat. This is not the first Canon patent to show a cooling fan inside, and how they could be implemented is still something of a conundrum.

Last year, various patents emerged showing how Canon was researching ideas for adding fans to Speedlites, viewfinders, and a lens. Rather than heat dispersion, the latter was intended as a means of removing sensor dust — perhaps an indication that Canon isn’t afraid to throw a load of ideas at a wall and see which ones stick.

As reported by Canon News, the new patent appears to show a fan-cooled body that looks similar to the EOS M100 and M200 cameras. The M200 packs quite a few features for its diminutive size, though the APS-C sensor coupled with a DIGIC 8 processor is capable of more than the 4K 24p with a 1.6x crop, as proven by the M6 Mark II.

The fan seems to sit between the tilting LCD and the back of the camera, and as noted by Canon News, the design is intended to resolve the problem of a cooling that would need to be added and removed according to whether the camera was getting warm, and the noise being created by a fan that would be picked up by the on-board microphone.

Canon News also remarks that this is a curious patent that “could have implications for an ultra-small RF camera body.”

Canon isn’t the only manufacturer to be playing with fans. Last year it was suggested that Sony might also be tinkering with the idea in order to allow the mythical a7S III to shoot 4K 120p.

Are you a Canon fan? Do you want to be inside the next M-series camera? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.