Filed under: Digital Cameras

While the advanced processing, glass and sensors of DSLRs has made them a likely candidate for video capture for some date now, a few technical obstacles have stood in the way. All that could be changing, though, with that DSLR “Movie Mode” patent from Japanese inventor Hiroshi Terada uncovered by Photography Bay. The wide-ranging patent addresses trouble spots such as AF focus speed and tolerance, and the auto-cropping DSLRs perform during AF adjustments, but most interesting is the mirror. The patent suggests a mirror that lets through 70% of light, while reflecting the other 30%. Reflected light can be used for continual AF, while transmitted light is captured on the camera’s primary sensor. This mirror configuration additionally allows live view while shooting stills. There’s no telling when we’ll start seeing that in cameras, or whether any major manufacturers have even licensed it yet — or have developed similar systems — but it does seem clear that DSLR movie shooting is fairly inevitable.

[Via Photography Bay]

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Read the full article: Patent details DSLR "Movie Mode," your compact shooter could be out of a job