We got ourselves a patent!

Our clever inventor and company owner John Mans has just been formally recognized for one of his original designs, with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office issuing a utility patent for the snazzy COMPACT lens shade. The baby brother or, as we sometimes prefer to call it, “Son of Dinkum” lens shade completes the family of French flags that were first conceptualized, built and bought to market by John in the mid 1990s.

John’s original clamping French flag offered shooters a new way to quickly deal with lens flare, without taking the time to set up more complicated matte boxes, or convincing a PA to hold a clipboard up to block glare! While several imitators have appeared on the market since John brought his large format shades to market, we feel flattered by the attention, knowing we can stand by the quality of the Dinkum design and construction, backed up with close to 20 years of field testing by professionals all over the world. We’re stoked our little hot shoe mounted COMPACT shade for DSLRs and small video cameras has been formally recognized by the USPTO. The fact that this will make it a little harder for cheeky blokes to knock off John’s invention is just a bonus!