Canon’s Next 18-55mm Kit Lens May Have a Built-In LCD Screen

It looks like electronic info displays are becoming a new norm for camera lenses. A new patent filed by Canon suggests that the company’s next 18-55mm kit lens will feature an LCD display.

New Camera first spotted the new Canon patent (JP2018005130A) for aberration reduction in an interchangeable lens. Within the document is an illustration showing what appears to be the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS III kit lens, and one of the reference indicators is for a “lens information display.”

The info display is found next to the AF/MF and IS ON/OFF toggle switches.

Zeiss kicked off the idea of sticking electronic displays on lenses with the Batis series back in April 2015.

Canon followed suit in September 2016 by introducing its first built-in display in the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II.

The display on the 70-300mm has different modes that show a distance scale with depth of field markers, current focal length, the current 35mm equivalent focal length if you’re shooting on a crop sensor body, and a graphic display of detected lens shake.

Zeiss Batis lenses cost over $1,000, and Canon’s 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II costs around $500. Canon’s current 18-55mm kit lens costs just $200 and is bundled with entry-level cameras, so introducing a built-in LCD display in the next affordable 18-55mm would be a big step in making built-in displays a ubiquitous lens feature used by the masses.