7D Mark III to get illuminated buttons?

In what seems like forever, Nikon has had illuminated buttons in thier DSLR's while Canon remains totally in the dark.

Even Pentax has come up with some clever ways of illuminating their cameras, yet Canon.  Dark.

We found this patent which clearly shows a 5D or 7D series camera body, and a very detailed description on how Canon would implemented illuminated buttons.

This is yet another example of the massive amount of work that goes into developing a new camera.  Too many people think these are designed and developed in someone's basement and rolled out in three months.

Each aspect of the camera is researched and patented.  Nothing gets done without the paperwork.

As with all patent applications that we show, this is a patent application.  This illustrates to us what Canon is looking at in their research labs.  It may or may not become a patent, and may or may not even after that be used in a camera system. 

Japan Patent Application JP2017-147019A

How to view Japan Patent applications.

Unfortunately, there's no direct way of linking to the patent application (sad!) however, this is the easiest process to view a japan patent or application.

1. Go to the Japan Patent Office search page.
2. If it's a patent application (they are usually in the format of YEAR+Number ie: 2017-011300) then type the patent application number into the second field down from the top where it says publication of patent application. 
3. Click on search.
4. Then click on the patent application number link, and there's the patent application!