JP2006235077A - Lens interchangeable camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lens interchangeable camera capable of contributing to the miniaturization of a product without spoiling the appearance of the product. <P>SOLUTION: A digital camera 2 is a lens interchangeable camera where a lens unit 11 is freely attached to/detached from the front of a camera main body 2a through a mount 30, and is equipped with a mount moving mechanism 36 moving the mount 30 between a housing position where the mount 30 is housed in the camera main body 2a in a state where the lens unit 11 is detached from the camera main body 2a, and an exposing position where the mount 30 is exposed to the outside from the camera main body 2a when the lens unit is attached to the camera main body 2a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an interchangeable lens camera in which a lens unit having an imaging lens and an imaging element is detachable from a main body via a mount.

  Digital cameras that convert a subject image captured by a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD into digital image data and store it in a storage medium such as a built-in memory or a memory card have become widespread. As such a digital camera, there is a so-called interchangeable lens camera in which a lens unit having an imaging lens and an imaging element is detachable from a camera body via a mount.

  Regardless of whether the lens unit is attached or not, the above-described interchangeable lens camera has a barrier that covers the front surface of the lens unit insertion portion in order to accurately protect the inside of the camera body. A device that opens and closes a barrier as it is not mounted has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

  In addition, an imaging lens, an optical low-pass filter, and a back are provided so that the lens unit having a predetermined control function that is provided for business use can be easily replaced without the need for back focus adjustment when the lens is mounted. There has been proposed one using a lens unit that includes an image sensor that has been subjected to focus adjustment and a control means for performing control related to focusing and exposure (see Patent Document 2).

In addition, in order to ensure continuous compatibility between the lens unit and the camera and to easily expand the camera system, the male connector of the lens unit should be installed in case the lens unit male connector is added in the future. There has been proposed a camera body provided with a space that can be stored in advance (see Patent Document 3).
JP-A-8-171130 JP 2000-106640 A JP 2003-215589 A

  By the way, a screw type and a bayonet type have been conventionally used for mounting a lens-interchangeable camera. In addition, as in the interchangeable lens camera described in Patent Document 1, the camera main body side controller and the electric signal are used, such as those employing cam grooves and cam pins, and interchangeable lens cameras described in Patent Documents 2 and 3. There is also a connector with signal terminals for exchanging data.

  However, the conventional mount adopting the screw type or bayonet type has a problem that the appearance of the product is impaired because the mount is exposed to the outside in a state where the lens unit is detached from the main body. Here, in the interchangeable lens camera described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the cam groove and the connector are not exposed to the outside in a state in which the lens unit is detached from the main body, but it is large for fitting the lens unit. It was necessary to secure space on the camera body side, which was contrary to the recent trend of miniaturization of products.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an interchangeable lens camera that can contribute to downsizing of a product without impairing the beauty of the product.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an interchangeable lens type in which a lens unit having an imaging lens and an imaging element that captures a subject image that has passed through the imaging lens is detachable from a camera body via a mount. In the camera, when the lens unit is detached from the camera body, the storage position is housed in the camera body, and when the lens unit is attached to the camera body, the camera body is moved from the camera body to the outside. A mount moving mechanism for moving the mount between the exposed position and the exposed position is provided.

  In conjunction with the operation of the mount moving mechanism, when the mount is moved to the storage position, it is closed so as to cover the mount, and when the mount is moved to the exposure position, the mount is exposed. It is preferable to provide a door that opens like this.

  It is preferable to provide a biasing member that biases a terminal for electrically connecting to the lens unit disposed on the mount in a direction in which a fitting force between the lens unit and the camera body is increased.

  According to the interchangeable lens camera of the present invention, when the lens unit is detached from the camera main body, the storage position stored in the camera main body, and when the lens unit is attached to the camera main body, Since the mount moving mechanism for moving the mount between the exposure position exposed to the outside is provided, it is possible to contribute to downsizing of the product without impairing the beauty of the product.

  1, in a digital camera 2 to which the present invention is applied, a lens unit 11 having an imaging lens 10 is detachably attached to the front surface of a camera body 2a via a mount 30 (see FIG. 4 and described later in detail). This is a so-called interchangeable lens camera.

  In the center of the front surface of the camera body 2a, a mount housing portion 12 (see FIGS. 3 and 4; details will be described later) for housing the mount 30 is incorporated, and around the viewfinder objective window 13 and the strobe light emitting window 14 are arranged. , And a mount operation switch 15 are arranged. A release button 16 and a power switch 17 are provided on the top surface of the camera body 2a, and a lid 18 is provided on the side surface to cover a memory card slot into which a memory card 60 (see FIG. 7) is detachably loaded. It has been.

  The release button 16 is a two-stage push switch. When the release button 16 is lightly pressed (half-pressed) after the framing of the subject, various shooting preparation processes such as automatic exposure adjustment (AE) and automatic focus adjustment (AF) are performed. In this state, when the release button 16 is pressed once more (fully pressed), the imaging signal for one screen subjected to the imaging preparation processing is converted into image data, and thereafter image processing and compression processing described later are performed. Stored in the memory card 60.

  In FIG. 2, a viewfinder eyepiece window 19, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 20, and an operation unit 21 are provided on the back surface of the digital camera 2. The LCD 20 displays captured images, so-called through images, and various menu screens. The operation unit 21 is used to display a menu screen on the LCD 20 and a mode selection switch 22, a zoom operation button 23 that changes the zoom lens of the imaging lens 10 to the wide side or the tele side, and a selection content. The menu button 24 is operated.

  In the digital camera 2, a still image shooting mode for shooting still images, a moving image shooting mode for shooting movies, a playback mode for displaying captured images on the LCD 20, and a setting mode for performing various settings can be selected. These modes are switched by sliding the mode switch 22. In the moving image shooting mode, surrounding sound is recorded through a microphone (not shown) along with shooting of a moving image.

  3 and 4, the mount 30 is accommodated in the mount accommodating portion 12. A substantially U-shaped groove 31 is formed in the front plate 30 a of the mount 30. The space surrounded by the front plate 30a, the bottom plate 30b, the side plate 30c, and the partition plate 30d of the mount 30 is a female fitting portion 32. In the groove 31 and the fitting portion 32, a backbone 41 and a flat plate 42 (see FIG. 6) of the male fitting portion 40 of the lens unit 11 are fitted.

  Racks 33 are formed on the side plates 30c. The rack 33 meshes with a pinion gear 34 provided inside the mount 30. A motor 35 is connected to the pinion gear 34. When the pinion gear 34 is rotated by driving the motor 35, the mount 30 is moved in the arrow direction of FIG. 4 via the rack 33. Thus, the mount 30 is moved to the storage position shown in FIG. 3 when the lens unit 11 is detached from the camera body 2a, and the exposure position shown in FIG. 4 when the lens unit 11 is attached to the camera body 2a. Moved to. The rack 33, the pinion gear 34, and the motor 35 constitute a mount moving mechanism 36.

  A plurality of terminals 37 for electrical connection with the lens unit 11 are arranged on the partition plate 30d. The terminal 37 includes a signal terminal for exchanging signals with the lens unit 11 via a serial driver 67 (see FIG. 7), and a power supply terminal for supplying power from the power supply unit 68 (see FIG. 7) to the lens unit 11. Is prepared.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal 37 penetrates the partition plate 30d, and is mounted on the mount 30 by a leaf spring 38 that is disposed inside the mount 30 separated by the partition plate 30d and bent in a substantially U-shape. Is biased in the direction of the front surface 30a.

  Returning to FIGS. 3 and 4, an upper door 39 a and a lower door 39 b are attached to the front surface of the mount housing portion 12. The upper door 39a and the lower door 39b are closed so as to cover the mount 12 when the mount 30 is moved to the storage position of FIG. When moved to the exposure position in FIG. 4, the mount 30 is configured to open to expose.

  In FIG. 6, a substantially T-shaped male fitting portion 40 is provided on the back surface of the lens unit 11. The fitting portion 40 includes a base 41 that fits into the groove 31 of the mount 30, and a flat plate 42 that is integrally connected to the base 41 and fits with the fitting portion 32 of the mount 30. A plurality of terminals 43 for electrical connection with the digital camera 2 are disposed on the flat plate 42 at positions facing the terminals 37 disposed on the partition plate 30 d of the mount 30.

  In FIG. 7 showing the electrical configuration of the digital camera 2, the CPU 50 comprehensively controls each unit of the digital camera 2 via the bus 51. The system memory 52 includes a ROM that stores various programs for performing a shooting sequence, and a RAM that temporarily stores various data necessary for executing the programs. The nonvolatile memory 53 includes a rewritable storage medium such as an EEPROM, and records various data necessary for operating the digital camera 2. The CPU 50 reads programs and data stored in the ROM of the system memory 52 and the non-volatile memory 53 to the RAM, which is a working memory, and controls each part of the digital camera 2 based on them.

  A USB cable is connected to the USB connector 54, and data is transmitted / received to / from an external device such as a personal computer via the USB driver 55. The operation unit 21 including the above-described release button 16 is connected to the I / O port 56, and a signal input via the operation unit 21 is transmitted to the CPU 50. The CPU 50 operates each part of the digital camera 2 in accordance with the signal transmitted from the I / O port 56.

  The signal processing circuit 57 performs various signal processing such as edge enhancement, gamma correction, and white balance adjustment on digital image data transmitted from the lens unit 11 via a serial driver 67 described later. The image compression / decompression circuit 58 performs compression processing on the image data subjected to various signal processing by the signal processing circuit 57 in a predetermined compression format (for example, JPEG format). The compressed image data is recorded on the memory card 60 via the card I / F 59.

  In the frame memory 61, image data for one frame subjected to various signal processing by the signal processing circuit 57 is written. The LCD driver 62 converts the image data written in the frame memory 61 into the NTSC system and displays it on the LCD 20.

  The strobe device 63 is controlled in operation by a strobe control circuit 64 and emits strobe light from the strobe light emission window 14 toward the subject. The timer 65 measures the delay time of shooting during self-shooting. The calendar / clock circuit 66 manages the shooting date and time and generates a system clock necessary for operating the digital camera 2.

  The serial driver 67 mediates data exchange with the lens unit 11 via the terminal 37. The power supply unit 68 supplies power from the battery or battery to each part of the digital camera 2 and supplies power to the lens unit 11 via the terminal 37.

  In FIG. 8 showing the electrical configuration of the lens unit 11, the CPU 70 comprehensively controls each part of the lens unit 11 via a bus 71. The system memory 72 includes a ROM that stores various programs and a RAM that temporarily stores various data necessary for executing the programs. The nonvolatile memory 73 is composed of a rewritable storage medium such as an EEPROM, and records various data necessary for operating the lens unit 11. The CPU 70 reads programs and data stored in the ROM of the system memory 72 and the non-volatile memory 73 to the RAM, which is a working memory, and controls each part of the lens unit 11 based on these.

  A lens motor 75 and an iris motor 76 are connected to the imaging lens 10 and the diaphragm 74. These motors 75 and 76 are stepping motors, which are controlled in operation by drive pulses transmitted from motor drivers 77 and 78 connected to the CPU 70, and perform photographing preparation processing in response to half-pressing of the release button 16.

  The lens motor 75 moves the zoom lens of the imaging lens 10 to the wide side or the tele side in conjunction with the operation of the zoom operation button 23. Further, the focus lens of the imaging lens 10 is moved in accordance with the subject distance and zoom lens zooming, and the focus adjustment is performed so that the shooting conditions are optimized. The iris motor 76 operates the diaphragm 74 to perform exposure adjustment.

  Behind the imaging lens 10 is a CCD 79 that captures a subject image that has passed through the imaging lens 10. A timing generator (TG) 80 controlled by the CPU 70 is connected to the CCD 79, and the shutter speed of the electronic shutter is determined by a timing signal (clock pulse) input from the TG 80.

  The imaging signal output from the CCD 79 is input to the signal processing circuit 81. The signal processing circuit 81 outputs the imaging signal output from the CCD 79 as R, G, B image data that accurately corresponds to the accumulated charge amount of each cell of the CCD 79, and amplifies it with a predetermined amplification factor. The A / D converter (A / D) 82 converts the analog image data amplified by the signal processing circuit 81 into digital image data.

  The AE / AF detection circuit 83 refers to the digital image data output from the A / D 82 and detects whether the exposure amount, that is, the shutter speed of the electronic shutter and the aperture value of the aperture 74 are appropriate for shooting. At the same time, it is detected whether or not the focus adjustment of the imaging lens 10 is appropriate for photographing. The AE / AF detection circuit 83 sequentially transmits detection results to the CPU 70 via the bus 71 when the release button 16 is half-pressed. The CPU 70 controls the operations of the imaging lens 10, the diaphragm 74, and the CCD 79 based on the detection result transmitted from the AE / AF detection circuit 83.

  The serial driver 84 mediates data exchange with the digital camera 2 via the terminal 43, such as transmitting digital image data output from the A / D 82 to the signal processing circuit 57 of the digital camera 2. The power supply unit 85 supplies the power supplied from the power supply unit 68 of the digital camera 2 via the terminal 43 to each unit of the lens unit 11.

  Next, the operation of the digital camera 2 having the above configuration will be described. First, when the lens unit 11 is attached to the digital camera 2, the mount operation switch 15 is turned on. When the mount operation switch 15 is turned on, the motor 35 of the mount storage unit 12 is driven to rotate the pinion gear 34, and the mount 30 is moved from the storage position to the exposure position. At this time, in conjunction with the rotation of the pinion gear 34, the upper door 39a and the lower door 39b are opened so as to expose the mount 30.

  Next, the base 41 of the fitting portion 40 of the lens unit 11 is fitted into the groove 31 of the mount 30, the flat plate 42 is fitted into the fitting portion 32, and the lens unit 11 is attached to the camera body 2 a via the mount 30. Accordingly, the terminals 37 and 43 of the mount 30 and the lens unit 11 are electrically connected. Further, the mount 37 and the lens unit 11 are firmly fitted by the terminal 37 urged by the leaf spring 38.

  After the lens unit 11 is mounted on the camera body 2a, when the subject is photographed with the digital camera 2, the mode switch 22 is operated to select the still image photographing mode or the moving image photographing mode.

  Under the photographing mode, subject light incident through the imaging lens 10 and the diaphragm 74 of the lens unit 11 is photoelectrically converted by the CCD 79, sampled and amplified by the signal processing circuit 81, and converted into digital image data by the A / D 82. Is done.

  The digitally converted image data is transmitted to the AE / AF detection circuit 83. Further, the signal is transmitted to the signal processing circuit 57 of the digital camera 2 by the serial driver 84. In the AE / AF detection circuit 83, when the release button 16 is half-pressed, the image data is referred to detect the exposure amount and the focus, and the shooting preparation process is performed based on the detection result.

  Image data transmitted from the lens unit 11 by the serial driver 67 is transmitted to the signal processing circuit 57 by the serial driver 67. Then, after various signal processing is performed by the signal processing circuit 57, it is stored in the frame memory 61 and displayed as a through image on the LCD 20 via the LCD driver 62. When shooting is performed by fully pressing the release button 16, the image data stored in the frame memory 61 at that time is compressed by the image compression / decompression circuit 58 in the still image shooting mode, and the card I / It is recorded on the memory card 60 via F59.

  On the other hand, under the moving image shooting mode, image data is recorded at a constant frame rate (for example, 30 frames / second) until the release button 16 is fully pressed again. At the same time, ambient sounds are recorded via the microphone. The sound recorded by the microphone is recorded on the memory card 60 in association with the image data.

  After the photographing is finished, the lens unit 11 is pulled up to release the fitting between the fitting portion 32 and the fitting portion 40, the lens unit 11 is detached from the camera body 2a, and the mount operation switch 15 is turned off. When the mount operation switch 15 is turned off, the motor 35 of the mount storage portion 12 is driven to rotate the pinion gear 34, and the mount 30 is moved from the exposure position to the storage position. At this time, in conjunction with the rotation of the pinion gear 34, the upper door 39a and the lower door 39b are closed so as to cover the mount 30.

  As described in detail above, when the lens unit 11 is detached from the camera body 2a, the storage position in the camera body 2a and when the lens unit 11 is attached to the camera body 2a, Since the mount 30 is moved between the exposure position exposed from the main body 2a to the outside, it is possible to contribute to the downsizing of the product without impairing the aesthetic appearance of the product.

  Further, when the mount 30 is in the storage position, the mount 30 is covered by the upper door 39a and the lower door 39b, so that the dustproof and waterproof performance can be improved. Further, since the terminal 37 is urged by the leaf spring 38 in the direction in which the fitting force between the lens unit 11 and the camera body 2a is increased, the fitting between the lens unit 11 and the camera body 2a becomes stronger, and the lens is used during use. There is no possibility that the unit 11 is detached from the camera body 2a and dropped or damaged.

  The structure of the mount housing portion, the mount, and the lens unit is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, the mount housing portion 90 and the mount 91 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 and the lens unit 100 shown in FIG. 11 are adopted. May be.

  The mount 91 shown in FIG. 10 has a substantially L shape. As in the case of the mount 30, a terminal 92 is disposed on the back surface 91 b facing the front surface 91 a of the mount 91. The mount 91 has a storage position shown in FIG. 9 and a mount position shown in FIG. It is moved between the exposure positions shown in FIG. Although not shown, a leaf spring for urging the terminal 92 in the direction of the storage position is attached to the terminal 92 as in the case of the terminal 37 of the mount 30.

  In FIG. 11, a substantially U-shaped female fitting portion 101 is provided on the back surface of the lens unit 100. The fitting portion 101 includes a fitting hole 101a into which a portion bent in an L shape of the mount 91 is fitted. In the fitting hole 101a, a plurality of signal terminals 102 for exchanging electrical signals with the digital camera 2 side are arranged at positions facing the terminals 92 of the mount 91.

  The mount moving mechanism is not limited to the rack, pinion gear, and motor of the above-described embodiment, and a mechanical configuration such as a spring or a lock mechanism may be adopted to move the mount by manually pushing it. Good. Moreover, the structure of the mount quoted in the said embodiment is an example, The structure which enables not only the linear movement of the said embodiment but rotation and the movement of an oblique direction may be sufficient, and this invention is specifically limited. Not what you want. That is, any configuration may be used as long as the lens unit is housed in the camera body when it is detached from the camera body and is exposed to the outside from the camera body when the lens unit is attached to the camera body.

  In the above embodiment, the digital camera 2 has been described as an example of the imaging device. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to other imaging devices such as a camera-equipped mobile phone.

It is a front external perspective view of a digital camera to which the present invention is applied. It is a back external view of a digital camera. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the mount storage part when a mount exists in a storage position. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the mount storage part when a mount exists in an exposure position. It is a top view which shows the internal structure of a mount accommodating part. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a lens unit. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of a digital camera. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of a lens unit. It is a perspective view which shows another embodiment of a mount accommodating part. It is a perspective view which shows another embodiment of a mount accommodating part. It is a perspective view which shows another embodiment of a lens unit.

Explanation of symbols

2 Digital Camera 2a Camera Body 10 Imaging Lens 11 Lens Unit 12, 90 Mount Storage 15 Mount Operation Switch 16 Release Button 20 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
30, 91 Mount 33, 93 Rack 34, 94 Pinion gear 35, 95 Motor 36, 96 Mount moving mechanism 37, 92 Terminal 38 Leaf spring 39a, 39b Upper door, lower door 50 CPU (digital camera)
70 CPU (lens unit)
79 CCD

Claims (3)

In the interchangeable lens camera in which a lens unit having an imaging lens and an imaging element that captures a subject image transmitted through the imaging lens is detachable from the camera body via a mount.
When the lens unit is detached from the camera body, the storage position is housed in the camera body;
An interchangeable lens camera comprising a mount moving mechanism for moving the mount between an exposure position exposed to the outside from the camera body when the lens unit is attached to the camera body. In conjunction with the operation of the mount moving mechanism, when the mount is moved to the storage position, it is closed to cover the mount,
The interchangeable lens camera according to claim 1, further comprising a door that opens to expose the mount when the mount is moved to the exposure position. An urging member for urging a terminal for electrically connecting to the lens unit disposed on the mount in a direction in which a fitting force between the lens unit and the camera body is increased is provided. Item 3. The interchangeable lens camera according to Item 1 or 2.

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