JP2004159374A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize exchangeability of a plurality of kinds of camera accessories. <P>SOLUTION: Using an adapter 16 having a common-structured mounting mechanism 8, a plurality of kinds of camera accessories such as battery adapters 19 are selectively mounted on the rear side 2d of a video camera body 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

  The present invention relates to a video camera optimally applied to, for example, a VTR-integrated video camera, and more particularly to mounting of camera accessories.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plurality of types of camera accessories such as a battery, a battery pack, and a camera adapter have been selectively attached to a VTR-integrated video camera.

  However, the conventional VTR-integrated video camera is incompatible with a plurality of types of camera accessories such as a battery, a battery pack, and a camera adapter of different manufacturers, and cannot meet the needs of photographers.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide a video camera capable of realizing compatibility of a plurality of types of camera accessory parts.

  In order to achieve the above object, the video camera of the present invention is formed with a plurality of adapters to which a plurality of types of camera accessories are attached, a rear surface of the video camera body, and a front surface of the plurality of adapters. A mounting mechanism common to the plurality of adapters for selectively removably mounting the plurality of adapters to the rear surface of the video camera body.

  In the video camera of the present invention configured as described above, a plurality of types of camera accessories can be selectively attached to the rear surface of the video camera body using an adapter having an attachment mechanism having a common structure. Compatibility of various camera accessories can be realized.

  The video camera of the present invention configured as described above has the following effects.

  Claim 1 realizes compatibility of a plurality of types of camera accessories by selectively mounting a plurality of types of camera accessories to a rear surface of a video camera body using an adapter having an attachment mechanism having a common structure. Because it can be used, it is possible to use it according to the needs of photographers, which is very convenient.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the attachment mechanism includes a mechanical connection portion and an electrical connection portion, so that the mechanical connection and the electrical connection when the adapter is attached to and detached from the video camera main body can be performed at the same time. Can be easily attached and detached.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the plurality of camera accessory parts include a battery case for interchangeably storing a battery and a battery mount for interchangeably attaching a battery pack. realizable.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the battery adapter and the camera adapter which are detachably attached to the rear surface of the video camera body are provided with the same mounting mechanism as the adapter, and compatibility with camera accessories for different purposes can be realized.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a VTR integrated video camera to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Description of the whole video camera]
First, an entire VTR-integrated video camera (hereinafter, simply referred to as a video camera) will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The video camera 1 includes a video camera main body 2, and an imaging device and a cassette type VTR (both not shown) are built in front and rear sides of the video camera main body 2.

  A lens 3 such as a zoom lens is interchangeably mounted on the optical axis of the image pickup apparatus by a lens mount 4 on a front surface 2a which is a vertical front side surface of the video camera body 2.

  On a top surface 2b of the video camera body 2, a pair of front and rear legs 5a of a handle 5 formed in a substantially downward U-shape, which will be described in detail later, is screwed with a plurality of screws 6.

  A shoulder pad 7 which is curved in a substantially arch shape is attached to the lower surface 2c of the video camera body 2 by screwing or the like.

  A mounting mechanism 8 for selectively mounting a plurality of camera accessories described later is mounted on a rear surface 2d which is a vertical side surface on the rear side of the video camera body 2. A plurality of connectors 9 are provided on the lower surface of the rear surface 2d.

[Description of battery pack mounting mechanism]
Next, an attachment mechanism 8 for attaching the battery pack to the rear surface 2d of the video camera body 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the battery pack 11, which is a camera accessory, constitutes a flat rectangular parallelepiped small battery pack made of a lithium battery or the like.

  The mounting mechanism 8 includes a concave / convex fitting portion 13 which is a mechanical coupling portion with a lock mechanism 12 for mechanically detachably coupling the battery pack 11 to the video camera main body 2, and And a power supply connector 14 which is an electrical connection part for electrically detachably connecting the power supply 2 to the power supply 2.

  The concave / convex fitting portion 13 includes a concave member 131 vertically screwed by a plurality of screws 130 at approximately the center of the rear surface 2 d of the video camera body 2 in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the vertical front surface of the battery pack 11. A convex side member 132 formed by integral molding or the like in the upper, lower, left and right substantially central portions of 11a. In addition, this convex side member 132 is formed in the upper central part in the concave part 133 formed in the front surface 11a.

  A concave member 131 is formed in the groove 134, and a convex member 132 is formed in the groove 135. The left and right side surfaces of the dovetail groove 134 and the dovetail 135 are formed in tapered guides 136 and 137 which are tapered and symmetrical in the direction of arrow a, which is downward.

  Then, the lock mechanism 12 is inserted into a pair of upper and lower horizontal guide grooves 120 and 121 formed in parallel with the rear surface 2d on the back side of the groove 134 of the concave member 131 and arrows b and b in the left-right direction. The lock slider 123 and the lock release lever 124 having the lock claw 122 configured to be slidable in the direction ′, and compression means as biasing means for slidingly biasing the lock slider 123 and the lock release lever 124 in the direction of arrow b. A coil spring 125, an unlocking knob 126 fixed to the tip of an unlocking lever 124, and a locking concave portion 127 formed on one side surface of the convex member 132 and engaged with the lock claw 122. It is configured.

  An unlocking knob 126 is slightly projected from the rear surface 2d of the video camera body 2 to the left as viewed from the direction of arrow c in FIG. 14, and the front surface 11a of the battery pack 11 corresponds to the unlocking knob 126. 14, a recess 128 is formed at a corner portion between the side surface 11b and the left side surface 11b viewed from the direction of arrow c in FIG.

  The connector 14 includes a male member 142 having a plurality of vertical connector pins 141 screwed upward and vertically by a plurality of screws 140 directly below the concave member 131 on the rear surface 2 d of the video camera body 2. And a female member 144 having a plurality of vertical pin insertion holes 143 formed downward by integral molding or the like at a position directly below the convex member 132 on the front surface of the battery pack 11. The male member 142 is provided with a slide shutter 145.

  A pair of right and left vertical guide protrusions 146 are formed on the lower end of the rear surface 2d of the video camera body 2, and a pair of right and left cuts upward from the lower end of the front surface 11a of the battery pack 11. A vertical guide groove 147 is formed. A pair of left and right vertical guide projections 148 are formed on the left and right side edges of the male member 142 of the connector 14 in parallel with the rear surface 2 d, and a pair of left and right vertical guide grooves 149 are formed on the left and right sides of the female member 144. Is formed.

[Battery pack installation operation]
When attaching the battery pack 11 to the rear surface 2d of the video camera main body 2, as shown by a dashed line in FIG. 16, the photographer uses the right thumb and the other four fingers (the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger, and the little finger). The vertical center of the left and right side surfaces 11b and 11c of the battery pack 11 is pinched from both sides, and the lower end of the recess 132 of the front surface 11a of the battery pack 11 is formed as a concave member as shown by a dashed line in FIG. The front surface 11a is brought into parallel contact with the rear surface 2a in the direction indicated by the arrow c as shown by a dashed line in FIGS.

  Next, the battery pack 11 is pulled down along the rear surface 2d from the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 2, FIG. 14, and FIG.

  Then, as shown by a solid line in FIGS. 2 and 3, the convex member 132 is automatically guided in the arrow a direction into the concave member 131 by the pair of left and right tapered guides 136 and 137, and there is a dovetail 135. It is automatically fitted into the groove 134.

  At this time, the centering of the connector 14 is automatically performed by the tapered guides 136 and 137, and the plurality of pin insertion holes 143 of the connector 14 are smoothly inserted into the plurality of connector pins 141 in the direction of arrow a.

  At this time, the pair of left and right guide grooves 147 and 149 are inserted into the pair of left and right guide protrusions 146 and 148 in the direction of arrow a.

  When the dovetail 135 is completely fitted in the dovetail groove 134, it has been pushed and moved in the direction of arrow b 'by the one tapered guide 137 of the dovetail 135 as shown by the dashed line in FIG. The locking claw 122 is moved and returned in the direction of the arrow b by the compression coil spring 123 as shown by a solid line in FIG. 4, and the locking claw 122 is inserted into the locking recess 127 of the convex side member 132 as shown in FIG. The battery pack 11 is automatically locked to the video camera body 2 by being engaged from the direction of the arrow b.

  Then, at this time, the recess 128 of the battery pack 11 is inserted into the lock release knob 126.

  Therefore, according to the mounting mechanism 8 of the battery pack 11, the battery pack 11 can be directly mounted on the rear surface 2d of the video camera main body 2 without being put in the battery case.

  In addition, when the battery pack 11 is mounted, the one-touch operation of simply moving the battery pack 11 in the direction of arrow a after roughly inserting the recess 133 of the battery pack 11 into the outer periphery of the concave member 131 from the direction of arrow c. The battery pack 11 can be mechanically and easily connected to the video camera main body 2 by the concave / convex fitting portion 13 at the same time, and the battery 11 can be easily and electrically connected to the video camera main body 2 by the connector 14. Thus, the power of the battery pack 11 can be supplied to the video camera body 2.

  Therefore, the attachment of the battery pack 11 to the rear surface 2d of the video camera body 2 can be performed very simply and easily.

  Since the centering of the connector 14 can be automatically performed by the pair of left and right tapered guides 136 and 137 of the concave and convex fitting portion 13, the plurality of pin insertion holes 143 of the connector 14 are connected to the plurality of connector pins 141. It can be inserted smoothly without erroneous operation.

  The fitting direction of the dovetail 135 into the dovetail groove 134 of the concave-convex fitting portion 13 and the insertion direction of the plurality of pin insertion holes 143 into the plurality of connector pins 141 of the connector 14 are in the direction of arrow a, which is downward from above. The fitting and the insertion can be reliably performed by utilizing the weight of the battery pack 11.

  Therefore, the battery pack 11 can be mechanically and firmly connected to the video camera main body 2, and a highly reliable connection can be made electrically, so that adverse effects due to vibration and the like can be prevented.

  In addition, by utilizing the weight of the battery pack 11, the pair of right and left tapered guides 137 of the dovetail groove 134 can be firmly adhered to the pair of left and right tapered guides 137 by wedge action. Can be stably coupled to the video camera body 2 without any backlash.

[Battery pack removal operation]
When removing the battery pack 11 from the rear surface 2d of the video camera main body 2, first, as shown by a dashed line in FIG. 16, the photographer substantially removes the left and right sides 11b and 11c of the battery pack 11 in the vertical direction. Hold the thumb on the unlocking knob 126 with the right thumb and the other four fingers (index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger) in the center.方向 direction.

  Then, as shown by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 4, the lock slider 123 is slid in the direction of arrow b ′ against the compression coil spring 125 by the lock release lever 124, and the lock claw 122 locks the convex side member 132. The battery pack 11 is released from the recess 127 and the lock of the battery pack 11 is released.

  On the other hand, at this moment, the unlocking knob 126 pushed by the thumb enters the direction of the arrow b 'to the inside of the recess 128 of the battery pack 11, and the thumb may hold the left side surface 11b of the battery pack 11 as it is. it can.

  That is, the recesses 128 are formed in the corners of the front surface 11a and the left side surface 11b of the battery pack 11 in correspondence with the unlocking knobs 126, so that the unlocking knob 126 is moved in the direction of arrow b 'with the right thumb. To unlock the battery pack 11, and at the same time, the right and left sides 11b and 11c of the battery pack 11 can be easily and securely grasped by the right thumb and the other four fingers.

  Then, after that, when the battery pack 11 is pulled up in the direction of arrow a ', which is upward along the rear surface 2d, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. At the same time, the plurality of pin insertion holes 143 of the connector 14 are removed from the plurality of connector pins 141 in the direction of arrow a '.

  At this time, the battery pack 11 can be prevented from being twisted by the pair of left and right guide protrusions 146 and the guide grooves 147, so that the battery pack 11 can be smoothly pulled up in the direction of arrow a '.

  Therefore, after that, the battery pack 11 can be easily removed in the direction of arrow c in FIG. 14, and the operation of removing the battery pack 11 can be performed easily and easily similarly to the above-described mounting operation.

[Description of camera accessories]
Next, a plurality of types of camera accessory parts that can be selectively attached to the rear surface 2d of the video camera body 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  That is, the camera accessory shown in FIG. 5 shows a small battery adapter 19 in which a small battery 18 is exchangeably housed in a small battery case 17 fixed to the rear surface 16b of the adapter 16. The battery case 17 is configured such that an upper lid 17a can be freely opened and closed, and is configured so that a small battery 18 can be inserted into and removed from the battery case 17 from above.

  Next, the camera accessory shown in FIG. 6 shows a large battery adapter 23 in which a large battery 22 is exchangeably stored in a large battery case 21 fixed to the rear surface 16b of the adapter 16. In addition, the battery case 21 is configured so that the side lid 21a can be freely opened and closed, and is configured so that a large-sized battery 22 can be attached and detached from the lateral direction.

  Next, the camera accessory shown in FIG. 7 shows a large battery pack adapter 27 in which a large battery pack 26 manufactured by Anton Bower is detachably attached to a battery mount 25 fixed to the rear surface 16b of the adapter 16. The large battery pack 26 is configured to be detachably attached to the rear surface 25a of the battery mount 25 from three sides by using three pins 26a with flanges and a connector 26b.

  Next, the camera accessory shown in FIG. 8 shows a camera adapter 29 integrally formed on the rear surface 16b of the adapter 16.

  The small and large battery adapters 19 and 23, the large battery pack adapter 27, and the adapter 16 of the camera adapter 29 are all configured to have the same structure. The structure of the concave / convex fitting portion 13 and the connector 14 as the electrical connection portion on the front surface 11a side of the battery pack 11 is all formed.

  Therefore, the small and large battery adapters 19 and 23, the large battery pack adapter 27 and the camera adapter 29 are selectively attached to the rear surface 2d of the video camera body 2 in exactly the same manner as the attachment and detachment operation of the battery pack 11 as described above. Can be locked.

  However, the camera adapter 29 has a connector 30a for signal connection in addition to the connector 14 for power supply connection, and is vertically attached to one side of an upper side of the front surface 16a of the adapter 16 in a downward direction. Therefore, the connector 30a is inserted into a concave portion 31 formed on one side of the upper surface of the rear surface 2d of the video camera body 2, and the connector vertically attached upward to the lower end in the concave portion 31. 30b is configured to be inserted from above (in the direction of arrow a) and connected.

  The camera adapter 29 needs to be firmly fixed to the video camera main body 2 because it is connected to a controller (not shown) by a cable 32. Therefore, the lock screw 33 attached to the upper central portion of the adapter 16 is screwed from above (in the direction of arrow a) into a lock screw attachment hole 34 formed in the upper central portion of the rear end of the video camera body 2 to securely lock. I do.

[Explanation of handle]
Next, the handle 5 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The handle 5 includes a pair of front and rear legs 5a, a handle main body 151 in which upper ends of the legs 5a are connected to each other in a gently curved shape in the front-rear direction, and a handle main body 151 integrally formed with the handle. A plurality of types of finger hooks 152, 153, 154, etc., which are interchangeably attached to the lower part of the hand hooks 5b of the main body 151, constitute a vertically divided structure.

  The handle body 151 is formed of aluminum die-cast or synthetic resin, and a pair of front and rear legs 5b of the handle body 151 are provided on the upper surface 2a of the video camera body 2 as shown in FIGS. Screw 6.

  On the other hand, a plurality of types of finger hooks 152, 153, and 154 are formed by die-casting aluminum, synthetic resin, wood, or the like. For example, the finger hook 152 shown in FIG. The lower surface 153a of the finger is formed in a wavy shape, and a finger slip 154b is formed on the outer periphery of the other finger hook 154 on the lower surface 154a side by bonding or the like.

  The plurality of types of finger hooks 152, 153, and 154 have the same structure, and are exchangeably attached to the lower side of the hand hook 5b of the handle body 151 by a pair of front and rear screws 155 and 156. Note that an opening / closing lid 157 is detachably attached to an upper portion on the front end side of the handle 5b by a screw 158.

  Further, an illumination light mounting portion 36 and a viewfinder mounting portion 37 are provided on an upper portion and a front surface of the handle 5 on the front end side of the handle body 151.

  By forming the handle 5 into a vertically divided structure by the handle body 151 and a plurality of types of finger hooks 152, 153, and 154, a hollow portion 38 is formed inside the handle 5 over the entire length of the handle 5. It can be easily processed into a hollow structure.

  The hollow portion 38 inside the handle 5 is connected to the inside 40 of the video camera main body through a pair of front and rear ventilation holes 39 formed on the upper surface 2b of the video camera main body 2 directly below the pair of front and rear legs 5a. .

  Therefore, by using the handle 5, heat in the video camera main body 40 can be effectively circulated through the pair of front and rear ventilation holes 39 and the hollow portion 38 in the handle 5, and heat dissipation in the video camera main body 40 can be achieved. The effect can be promoted.

  When the cameraman carries the video camera 1, the thumb of one hand is placed on the handle 5 b of the handle 5, and the other four fingers (forefinger, The handle 5 is grasped such that the middle finger, ring finger, and little finger) are applied to the finger hook 152 of the handle 5 from below.

  Accordingly, in particular, the material (aluminum, synthetic resin, wood, etc.), structure (non-slip, etc.), shape (flat, corrugated, etc.), shape (flat, corrugated, etc.), etc. of the finger rest 152 on the side to which the four fingers are to be touched need to be set for each photographer. It is preferable that it can be exchanged corresponding to.

  At this time, a plurality of types of finger hooks 152, 153, 154 and the like are prepared in advance on the handle 5, and by simply removing a pair of front and rear screws 155, 156, a finger hook 152 of a type corresponding to the needs of the photographer can be obtained. 153, 154, etc. can be easily and freely replaced.

  Next, in night photography or the like, as shown in FIG. 14, an illumination light 41 is attached to an illumination light attachment portion 36 above the front end of the handle 5, and the light cable 42 is connected to the rear surface 2 d of the video camera body 2. Then, the connector 43 at the rear end of the light cable 42 is inserted into one of the connectors 9 on the rear surface 2d for use.

  At this time, by attaching and detaching the finger hooks 152, 153 and 154, the light cable 42 can be inserted into the hollow portion 38 of the handle 5 and routed as shown in FIG. Thus, when the handle 5 is gripped with one hand, the light cable 42 does not interfere at all, and the operability of the video camera 1 is very good.

  As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a pair of front and rear notches 44 are provided at both front and rear ends of the handle body 151 and the finger hooks 152, 153, 154, etc., so that the light cable 42 can be easily inserted into the hollow portion 38. , 45 are formed.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.
For example, the concave side member 131 and the convex side member 132 of the concave-convex fitting portion 13 and the male side member 142 and the female side member 144 of the connector 14 are replaced with the video camera main body 2 and the battery pack or the adapter 16 on opposite sides. Is also good. At that time, the tapered guides 136 and 137 of the concave-convex fitting portion 13 are turned upside down.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a mechanism for attaching a battery pack to a video camera body in one embodiment of the video camera to which the present invention is applied. It is a rear view in the vertical section explaining the above-mentioned attachment mechanism. 3A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a mechanism for attaching a small battery adapter to a video camera body. FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a mechanism for attaching a large battery adapter to a video camera body. FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a mechanism for attaching a large battery unit adapter to a video camera body. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a mechanism for attaching a camera adapter to a video camera body. It is a perspective view of a handle. It is a side view explaining several types of finger hooks of a handle. It is an exploded plan view of a handle. It is sectional drawing in the DD arrow of FIG. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing an assembled state and a disassembled state in a cross section taken along line EE in FIG. It is a side view of the whole video camera. It is a top view of the whole video camera. It is a rear view of the whole video camera.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Video camera 2 Video camera main body 2d Rear side of video camera main body 11 Small battery pack (camera accessories)
11a Front of small battery pack 13 Unevenness fitting part (mechanical connection part)
14 Connector (electrical connection)
16 Adapter 17 Small battery case 18 Small battery 19 Small battery adapter (camera accessory)
21 Large Battery Case 22 Large Battery 23 Large Battery Adapter (Camera Accessories)
25 Large battery mount 26 Large battery pack 27 Large battery pack adapter (camera accessory)
29 Camera Adapter (Camera Accessories)

Claims (4)

Multiple adapters with multiple types of camera accessories,
A mounting mechanism common to the plurality of adapters formed on a rear surface of the video camera body and a front surface of the plurality of adapters to selectively removably attach the plurality of adapters to the rear surface of the video camera body. A video camera characterized in that:   2. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein the mounting mechanism includes a mechanical connection and an electrical connection.   3. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of camera accessory parts include a battery case for accommodating a battery in a replaceable manner, and a battery mount for attaching a battery pack in a replaceable manner. The video camera according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a detachable battery pack and a camera adapter are provided on a rear surface of the video camera body, and the camera adapter has the same mounting mechanism as the adapter.

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