Could Canon's new sensor design make the tilt-shift lens obsolete?

Tilt-shift lenses are a bit of a niche product, but for many professional photographers, absolutely indispensable. So is it possible that Canon is designing a whole camera with the capabilities to produce tilt images? Well, according to some recently discovered patents, it just might be!

These patents (unearthed by CanonRumors) show a non-descript camera box with a tilting mechanism designed around the sensor. Unfortunately, there is no additional information on what size sensor is featured in the patent drawing, or what camera this might eventually be intended for.

Canon designs a lot of non-consumer cameras including cameras for security, industrial applications, and medical use, so there is every chance that this patent will never see the light of day in an EOS R series model, but, its very idea is still an incredibly exciting proposition.

Tilt lenses are designed to give photographers the power to adjust the depth of field either creating front-to-back sharpness or some creative blur effects. The downside however is that tilt lenses are often another expensive bit of kit, for an already costly body, and often require photographers to double up on lenses with standard and tilt versions of similar focal lengths.

Moving the tilt into the camera could mean that potentially any lens would instantly become a capable tilt lens, even zoom lenses! This could open up the medium to any professional photographer who wants to dabble in tilt photography but doesn't want the additional expense of a tilt-shift lens.

But what about the 'shift' in tilt-shift lenses? Well, there is no mention of this in the patent, so architectural photographers might want to keep a hold of their tilt-shift lenses for the time being. Resolution-boosting pixel-shift tech has shown that sensors can be shunted around a little, but so far not to the same degree a tilt-shift lens is capable of.

Still, tilt sensors won't appeal to everyone, which might mean that any eventual camera featuring a tilt sensor might be a specialist model, potentially with a hefty additional price tag. Canon occasionally produces specialist versions of its cameras, such as the Canon EOS 5DR / 5DS, or highly sensitive astrophotography cameras like the Canon EOS Ra.

So, this might well be a patent that remains in the realm of dream camera features for the moment, but I was writing similar things a year ago around global shutters, so you never know!

Check out more from Canon with our guide to the best Canon camera and the best Canon RF lenses.