JPH11174543A - Camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To impart a function for confirming an exposed image to a camera with simple constitution and also to prevent the camera from getting larger by restoring a stroboscopic device from a power saving mode in response to a starting signal and executing image pickup operation and display operation in response to an image pickup trigger signal continuous to the starting signal. SOLUTION: A CPU 12 judges whether a zoom driving requiring signal is generated from a CPUM 43 in the camera 45. When it judges that the signal is generated, it allows a stroboscopic zoom driving circuit 5 to drive image pickup lenses 7 and 8 so as to set at a desired image pickup viewing angle. Then, it judges whether an image pickup trigger signal is generated from the CPUM 43. When it judges that the signal is generated, a signal processing circuit 13 designates an area sensor driving circuit 9 to drive an area sensor 10 and fetches the image from the area sensor 10. The circuit 13 converts the fetched image to a digital electronic image, which is stored in a non-volatile memory 11 and displayed on an LCD monitor 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera system comprising a camera and an external strobe device detachable from the camera, and more particularly, to a camera for exposing a silver halide film and a subject image converted into an electric signal. The present invention relates to a camera system including an electronic imaging device having an electronic imaging device for performing the operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a silver halide camera, a photographed image can be evaluated only after a film development process. Therefore, it is generally required to judge whether a film image is as intended by a photographer at the time of photographing. Impossible. In addition, in the case of a single-lens reflex camera, the optical viewfinder darkens at the moment of film exposure, so that even the viewfinder image cannot be confirmed. Therefore, there is known a camera for both silver halide photography and electronic imaging, in which a subject image is exposed to a silver halide film and, at the same time, the subject image photoelectrically converted by an electronic imaging device is stored in a memory. For example, JP
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 114169/1995 discloses that a movable mirror linked to a shutter operation changes the direction of a part of a subject light beam, guides it to an image sensor, and outputs an image signal corresponding to a film image from the image sensor. Is disclosed.

[0003]

However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1-1
According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 14169, it is possible to confirm the composition at the time of photographing, but the operation of the movable mirror is complicated, and it has been difficult to realize a small mirror driving mechanism. In addition, since a large-sized image sensor equivalent to a film screen and a driving mechanism of the movable mirror are built in the vicinity of the mirror box, an increase in the size of the camera cannot be avoided.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a camera with a function of confirming an exposure image with a simple configuration and to prevent the camera from being enlarged.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera system for exposing a silver halide film, and a device detachable from the silver halide camera. In the camera system, the device has a function of capturing a subject image with an electronic image sensor and converting the captured image into an electronic image, displaying the electronic image on a monitor, and setting a power saving mode. The camera returns from the power saving mode in response to an activation signal from the silver halide camera, and executes the imaging operation and the display operation in response to an imaging trigger signal subsequent to the activation signal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera system comprising a silver halide camera for exposing a silver halide film and a device which is detachably attached to the silver halide camera. Imaging means for capturing an image with an electronic image sensor and converting the image to an electronic image; means for setting a power saving mode when a signal from the silver halide camera is not received for a predetermined time; and a start signal from the silver halide camera. Means for returning from the power saving mode in response to the start signal, and means for executing an imaging operation by the imaging means in response to an imaging trigger signal following the activation signal.

Further, in the camera system according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the camera system according to the second aspect, the device further includes a non-volatile memory, and the electronic image is transmitted after the imaging operation. Is stored in the nonvolatile memory.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1A and 1B are block diagrams illustrating a schematic configuration of a camera system according to an embodiment. FIG. 1A shows a strobe device detachable from a camera.
The strobe device 1 has an imaging lens system including a positive lens 7 and a negative lens 8. A fixed diaphragm member 18 is provided in the optical path of the imaging lens system, and an area sensor 10 as an imaging element is provided at an image forming position of a light beam passing through the imaging lens system. The area sensor 10 is connected to the area sensor drive circuit 9 and the signal processing circuit 13.

The signal processing circuit 13 includes a volatile memory 11
And a liquid crystal display panel and an image display means
The monitor 14 and the internal flash bus 46 are connected to each other. In addition to the above, the CPU 46 is a CPU (central processing unit) in the strobe.
, A nonvolatile memory S16, a strobe circuit 6, a strobe zoom drive circuit 5, and a transmission / reception circuit S17 are connected as shown. The CPU S12 communicates with a camera, which will be described later, and controls the operation of each unit in the flash device.

The strobe device 1 has a built-in power supply S15, and the various circuits described above are supplied with power from the power supply S15. The imaging lens system and a reflector 3 described later are driven forward and backward by a strobe zoom drive circuit 5,
The strobe circuit 6 charges a main capacitor (not shown),
In addition, the light emitting operation of the arc tube 4 is controlled.

In this strobe device 1, a light emitting tube 4 emits light in response to an output of a strobe circuit 6, and the light is reflected by a reflector 3, condensed by a Fresnel lens 2 and emitted toward a subject. The reflecting umbrella 3 and the arc tube 4 are integrated, and are advanced and retracted in the irradiation optical axis direction by a strobe zoom drive circuit 5 to make the irradiation angle variable. Further, the stroboscopic zoom drive circuit 5 causes the imaging lens system to advance and retreat in the optical axis direction, thereby making the focal length (imaging angle of view) of the imaging lens system variable. That is, in order to associate the irradiation angle of the strobe device 1 with the imaging angle of view of the imaging lens system, the reflector 3, the arc tube 4, and the imaging lens system move forward and backward in conjunction with each other.

The area sensor 10 is driven and controlled by an area sensor drive circuit 9, converts a subject image formed on a light receiving surface of the area sensor 10 into an analog video signal by a photographic lens system, and outputs the analog video signal to a signal processing circuit 13. . The signal processing circuit 13 performs predetermined signal processing including conversion of the analog video signal into a digital video signal, and stores a digital video signal, which is an electronic video signal, in the volatile memory 11 capable of high-speed writing.

The signal processing circuit 13 reads the digital video signal from the volatile memory 11 at a predetermined timing, displays the captured subject image on the LCD monitor 14, and transfers the digital video signal to the strobe bus 46. The CPU S12 stores the digital video signal sent to the in-strobe bus 46 in the nonvolatile memory S16. This nonvolatile memory S16 is electrically rewritable, and holds the stored digital video signal in a nonvolatile manner even when the power switch of the strobe device 1 is off.

Next, the configuration of the camera 45, which is a silver halide film photographing apparatus, will be described with reference to FIG. 1B. The camera 45 has a positive lens 19 and a negative lens 21 that are imaging lenses that form a subject image on a film surface. A variable aperture mechanism 20 is disposed in the optical path of the taking lens system,
The drive of the aperture mechanism 20 is controlled by an aperture drive circuit 35. A movable mirror 26 whose central portion is a half mirror is provided in a mirror box (not shown) behind the negative lens 21, and a part of the subject light is reflected downward on the central rear portion of the movable mirror 26. The movable sub-mirror 27 is provided as described above. A separator optical system 36 for separating two images is arranged in the direction of the reflection optical axis of the sub-mirror 27, and a line sensor 37 is arranged at a position where the subject optical image is formed by the separator optical system 36. The line sensor 37 is a line sensor drive circuit 39
It is connected to the. The sub-mirror 27, the separator optical system 36, the line sensor 37, and the like constitute a focus detection device using a known phase difference method.

A CPU M43, which is an in-camera CPU, obtains a relative distance between two images of the subject based on a signal input via a line sensor driving circuit 39, and drives the photographing lens to an in-focus position based on the two image intervals. To calculate the amount of driving to perform. A zoom / focus drive circuit 34 performs a zooming operation of the photographing lens system and adjusts a focus based on the drive amount.

On the optical path of the light reflected by the movable mirror 26, an optical viewfinder 22 including a not-shown focusing plate, a pentagonal roof prism, and an eyepiece optical system is arranged. Part of the finder light beam is
3 and enters the photometric sensor 24. Photometric sensor 24
Is generated by the photometric circuit 31, and a subject brightness value is calculated according to the measured value.

The above-mentioned movable mirror 26 is a mirror driving circuit 3
8 driven by the focal plane shutter 28
Are driven by the shutter drive circuit 40. When the diaphragm mechanism 20 is controlled, the movable mirror 26 is raised, and the focal plane shutter 28 is moved, the silver halide film 29 is exposed. The CPU M43 calculates an aperture value and a shutter speed for giving an appropriate amount of exposure to the film 29 based on a subject luminance value output from the photometry circuit 31 and a film sensitivity detected by a film sensitivity detection circuit (not shown). Then, the drive of the aperture mechanism 20 and the shutter 28 is controlled in accordance with the value thus calculated.

A zoom focus drive circuit 34, an aperture drive circuit 35, a mirror drive circuit 38, a line sensor drive circuit 3
9, the shutter drive circuit 40, the non-volatile memory M42, and the CPU M43 are connected to the in-camera bus 47, respectively, and the operation of these drive circuits is controlled by the CPU M43. The various drive circuits, the CPU M42, and the non-volatile memory M42 operate by being supplied with power from the power supply M41.

On the other hand, a magnetic recording layer is formed on the silver halide film 29, and a magnetic head 30 is arranged inside the camera so as to be in sliding contact with the magnetic recording layer. The magnetic head 30 is driven by a magnetic head driving circuit 32 and magnetically records various information on film exposure on the film 29. Further, a film drive circuit 33 is provided in the camera 45, and when the film shooting of one frame is completed, the film 29 is wound up. The magnetic recording by the magnetic head 30 is executed during the film winding operation.

The switch input 44 includes a plurality of switches such as an operation switch (not shown) and an operation detection switch of a camera internal mechanism. The nonvolatile memory M42 is a memory for storing image data transferred from the strobe device 1 to the camera 45 via the data bus 46 in the strobe, the transmission / reception circuit S17, and the transmission / reception circuit M25. As described above, by providing the nonvolatile memory M42 inside the camera 45, even if the flash device 1 is detached after taking an image using the flash device 1 and another flash device having a similar function is attached, By transferring the image data stored in the camera 45 back to the new strobe 1, it is possible to display an electronic image taken in the past.

The non-volatile memory for storing the electronic image may be one of the non-volatile memory S16 built in the strobe device 1 and the non-volatile memory M42 built in the camera 45 as necessary. Is also good.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of the strobe device 1 and the camera 45 of the present embodiment. A strobe device 1 detachable from the camera 45 has a Fresnel lens 2 for irradiating a strobe light toward a subject, an imaging lens 7 constituting a strobe imaging optical system, and an electrical connection to the camera 45. Connection pins 51 are provided as shown. With the flash device 1 fixed to the flash mounting shoe 52 of the camera 45, the flash device 1 can communicate with the camera 45. The release button 55 of the camera 45 is connected to a two-stage push switch for starting the exposure preparation operation and the exposure operation. The power switch 54 is a switch for controlling the power of the camera, and the lens barrel 56 is connected to the photographing lenses 19 and 21 of the camera.
And moves back and forth in the optical axis direction according to the zooming operation.

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the strobe device 1 of the embodiment. An LCD monitor 59 for observing a subject image picked up by the strobe device 1, a charge completion lamp 61 indicating completion of charging of a main capacitor (not shown), and a slide mode selection switch 60 also serving as a power switch are arranged as shown in the figure. Have been. The slide switch 6
When 0 is stopped at the “OFF” position marked on the exterior,
Power supply to the strobe device 1 is stopped. When the slide switch 60 is stopped at the "MODE1" position, the above-described image pickup device is deactivated, and the device operates as a known external strobe device that emits light in response to a light emission signal output from the camera 45.

The slide switch 60 is set to "MODE".
When stopped at the 2 "position, the imaging device incorporated in the flash device 1 is activated, and in response to an imaging trigger signal from the camera 45, an image of a subject is taken and the LCD monitor 59 is taken.
To display the subject image.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a photographing subroutine of the CPU M43 of the camera 45. The photographing operation of the camera system using the strobe device 1 and the camera 45 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This camera 4
The release switch 5 is a two-stage pressing type and is called a first release and a second release in this order.

When the first release (not shown) is pressed (step S1), a distance measuring operation is performed (step S2). The focusing lens is driven based on the distance measurement result (step S3). Measure the subject brightness (step S
4) Based on the measured photometric value and the film sensitivity detected by a film sensitivity detection circuit (not shown), a shutter speed and an aperture value for obtaining a proper exposure by the silver halide photographing device are calculated (step). S5).

Next, it is determined whether or not the second release switch has been pressed (step S6), and if not, the determination in step S6 is repeated. On the other hand, when the second release switch is pressed, the process proceeds to an exposure sequence of the silver halide photographing device and an imaging sequence of the electronic imaging device in step S7 and subsequent steps. The aperture mechanism 20 is stopped down by the aperture value calculated in step S5 (step S7),
The movable mirror 26 is retracted above the mirror box by the mirror driving circuit 38 (step S8), and an imaging trigger signal is sent to the CPU S12 of the flash device 1 (step S9). Upon receiving the imaging trigger signal, the CPU S12 of the flash device 1 starts an imaging sequence described later. Next, the shutter 28 is controlled by the shutter driving circuit 40 so that the shutter speed becomes the shutter speed calculated in step S5, and the subject image is exposed on the silver halide film 29 (step S10).

When the exposing operation on the silver halide film 29 is completed, the retracted movable mirror 26 is returned to a position where finder observation is possible (step S11), and the aperture 20 is driven to an initial position (normally an open aperture value). (Step S1
2) The film 29 is wound up by one frame by the film drive circuit 33, and at this time, various information is magnetically recorded on the magnetic recording medium on the film by the magnetic head 30 (step S13). Next, the CPU S12 of the flash device 1
(Step S14), and then returns to the main routine (not shown) (step S15). Upon receiving the winding end signal, the CPU
S12 is a nonvolatile memory S16 inside the flash device.
Then, the captured electronic image is stored.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a main routine of the CPU S12 of the flash device 1. When a battery is loaded into the strobe device 1, the CPU S12 starts executing a program, and first performs an initialization process (step S16). The initialization process includes, for example, initialization of a program counter of the CPU S12 and a RAM (not shown) built in the CPU S12.
(Random access memory). Subsequently, a standby process is performed (step S1).
7) The CPU S12 enters the power saving mode, and the execution of the program is stopped. CPUM of camera 45
43 via the camera internal bus 47, the transmission / reception circuit M25, the transmission / reception circuit S17, and the strobe internal bus 46
When the start signal is given to the CPU 12, the CPU S12 returns from the power saving mode and resumes the program processing. When the program execution is resumed, the counting operation of the timer is started (step S19). The reason for this control is to prevent the CPU S12 from returning to the power saving mode when the control signal is not generated from the CPU M43 for a predetermined time, thereby preventing wasteful consumption of the power supply S15.

Next, the CPU S12 is the CPU of the camera 45.
It is determined whether or not a zoom drive request signal has been generated from M43 (step S20). If it is determined that a zoom drive request signal has been generated, the strobe zoom drive circuit 5 drives the imaging lenses 7 and 8 to set the desired imaging angle of view. Then, the reflecting umbrella 3 is driven to set a desired light emission angle of view (step S21), and the process returns to step S19.

When it is determined that the zoom drive request signal has not been generated (step S20), it is determined whether or not a light emission trigger signal has been generated from the CPU M43 (step S2).
2) If it is determined that a light emission has occurred, a light emission signal is sent to the strobe circuit 6, and the light emitting tube 4 emits light (step S2)
3) Return to step S19.

If it is determined that the light emission trigger signal has not been generated (step S22), it is determined whether or not the imaging trigger signal has been generated from the CPU M43 (step S24).
If it is determined that an alarm has occurred, the mode of the flash device 1 is set to mode 2 (the slide switch 60 is set to “MODE”).
2 "), and if it is determined to be set, the process from step S26 is performed. That is, the signal processing circuit 13 drives the area sensor drive circuit 9 to drive the area sensor 10. To perform image capture from the area sensor 10 (step S2).
6), the signal processing circuit 13 converts the captured image into a digital electronic image (step S27), and
1 is stored (step S28), an electronic image is displayed on the LCD monitor 14, and the process returns to step S19.

When the imaging trigger signal has not been generated (step S24), or when it is determined that the mode 2 has not been set even when the imaging trigger signal has been generated (step S25), the winding end signal is sent from the CPU M43. It is determined whether or not it has occurred (step S30). If it is determined that it has occurred, the captured image, that is, the volatile memory 1
The electronic image stored in 1 is transferred to and stored in the nonvolatile memory S16 (step S31), and the process returns to step S19.

If it is determined that the winding end signal has not been generated (step S30), it is determined whether the timer has elapsed for a predetermined time (step S32). If it has been determined that the timer has elapsed, the process returns to step S17 to perform the standby processing. I do. If it is determined that the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S20, and the processes from step S20 are repeated.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since an electronic image pickup device having an electronic image pickup device for converting a subject image into an electric signal is built in the external strobe device, a photographed film image can be confirmed, and the camera is not enlarged and is portable. Does not impair.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a camera system according to an embodiment, wherein A indicates an external strobe device 1, and B indicates a camera 45.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view illustrating an example of a strobe device 1 and a camera 45 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an example of a rear perspective view of the strobe device 1.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a shooting subroutine of a CPU M43 of the camera 45;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a main routine of a CPU S12 of the flash device 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Strobe device 7 Imaging lens 8 Imaging lens 10 Area sensor 11 Volatile memory 12 CPUS 14 LCD monitor 15 Power supply S 16 Non-volatile memory S 17 Transmission / reception circuit S 18 Fixed aperture 22 Optical finder 25 Transmission / reception circuit M 37 Line sensor 42 Non-volatile memory M 43 CPUM

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A camera system comprising a silver halide camera for exposing a silver halide film and a device detachable from the silver halide camera, wherein the device captures a subject image with an electronic image sensor and converts the image into an electronic image. In addition to having a function of displaying the electronic image on a monitor, the electronic image display apparatus can be set to a power saving mode, and returns from the power saving mode in response to a start signal from the silver halide camera, and performs imaging following the start signal. A camera system that performs the above-described imaging operation and display operation in response to a trigger signal. 2. A camera system comprising a silver halide camera for exposing a silver halide film and a device detachable from the silver halide camera, wherein the device captures a subject image with an electronic image sensor and converts the image into an electronic image. Imaging means for performing; a means for setting a power saving mode when a signal from the silver halide camera is not received for a predetermined time; and a means for returning from the power saving mode in response to a start signal from the silver halide camera. Means for executing an imaging operation by the imaging means in response to an imaging trigger signal following the activation signal. 3. The camera system according to claim 2, wherein the device further includes a nonvolatile memory, and the electronic image is stored in the nonvolatile memory following the imaging operation.