JPH07104357A - Flash light emitting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable flash photographing with a proper exposure regardless of one light or plural lights at the time of executing the flash photographing by plural strobes and to simplify the structure of a control system. CONSTITUTION:Plural strobes 10 arid 11 and a flashmatic control part controlling a diaphragm by the guide numbers and subject distances of these strobes 10 and 11 are provided. Plural strobes 10 and 11 simultaneously emit light in the emission of plural lights with the same flashmatic control as that in the emission of one light by the flashmatic control part. Moreover, constitution that one capacitor MC is used for emitting the light of plural strobes is adopted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to a camera capable of flash photography by an electronic flash device (hereinafter referred to as a strobe), and particularly to a multi-flash strobe built-in type camera having two or more strobes. The present invention relates to a suitable flash light emitting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a strobe mounted on a camera with a built-in strobe, it is generally sufficient to illuminate the subject even during normal shooting, that is, even when the subject is at a long distance from the strobe or the taking lens. There is used a light emitting device having a strong light emitting amount that enables flash photography having a large light emitting amount.

However, in a camera equipped with only one strobe having a strong light emission amount as described above, when the strobe is made to emit light, a strong light is emitted for a moment, and it is very dazzling, and a portrait photograph is taken. In that case, it is difficult to take a natural facial expression, and there are problems such as a red-eye phenomenon and a shadow on the back side of the subject.

Therefore, it has been attempted to solve the above-mentioned problems by using a plurality of strobes and making these strobes emit light at the same time or with a time delay, or by controlling the light emission amount of each strobe arbitrarily. A camera with a built-in multi-flash strobe has been already proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-104237. In this conventional flash light emitting device, a plurality of capacitors are used, and a single or a plurality of strobes are configured to emit light.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional apparatus, the photographed image is underexposed (exposure) when only one of the plurality of strobes is lit and when the plurality of strobes are lit. There is a possibility that there may be a problem that it becomes insufficient) or over (excessive exposure, overexposure).

That is, the conventional multi-flash built-in type camera does not perform flashmatic control such that the aperture is controlled according to the guide number of the strobe and the subject distance at the time of flash photography, or a single-flash or double-flash control is performed. It has been considered that individual flashmatic control is performed depending on the flash light emission of the lamp.

However, in the case of the former, it is difficult to obtain an appropriate exposure amount at the time of flash photography, and the above-mentioned problems of under and over cannot be avoided. Further, in the latter case, since the flashmatic control is independently performed under each condition, the control is complicated and the configuration of the flashmatic control unit becomes complicated. It is desirable to take some measures to eliminate such problems.

Further, a problem in constructing the multi-flash type flash light emitting device as described above is that a plurality of capacitors are used to emit a plurality of strobes. It is intended to increase the size of the device and to reduce the appearance of a shadow that is likely to occur on the back side of the subject due to the light emission from the strobe as much as possible, and it is desired to consider such a point.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when flash photography is performed by appropriately emitting a plurality of strobes, proper exposure is achieved regardless of whether flash photography is performed with a single light or multiple lights. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a flash light emitting device which enables photographing of a certain amount and simplifies the control system structure and the like.

[0010]

In order to meet such a demand, a flash light emitting device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of strobes, and a flashmatic control section for performing aperture control according to the guide numbers and subject distances of these strobes. This flashmatic control unit is designed to perform the same flashmatic control as in the case of single-flash firing in which one of the strobes is fired, in the case of multiple-flash firing in which multiple strobes are fired simultaneously. It is configured in.

Further, the flash light emitting device according to the present invention is configured such that one capacitor is used for accumulating electric energy for flashing a plurality of strobes, and a single or a plurality of strobes are caused to emit by this capacitor. It was done.

Further, in the flash light emitting device according to the present invention, at least one strobe is arranged near the photographing optical system so as to substantially coincide with its optical axis, and the rest are arranged at a predetermined distance from the photographing optical system. It was placed in.

[0013]

According to the present invention, when a plurality of strobes are made to emit light at the same time, the same flashmatic control is performed during single-light emission and during multiple-light emission. Although it is simple, the required flashmatic control can be performed to take a flash photograph with an appropriate exposure amount.

Further, according to the present invention, since one capacitor is used to emit one or a plurality of strobes, the size of the camera can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, since the plurality of strobes are arranged at positions near the photographing optical system and at positions separated from each other, a shadow appears on the back side of the subject during flash photographing. This can be reduced to the minimum necessary.

[0016]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of a flash light emitting device for a camera according to the present invention, and in these drawings, in this embodiment, a camera indicated by reference numeral 1 as a whole is apparent from FIG. As described above, the case where the camera body 2 is a compact camera having the photographing lens 3 as the photographing optical system held by the lens barrel in the center of the front surface is illustrated.

Here, the taking lens 3 is composed of, for example, a zoom lens or a single focus lens. It should be noted that a photographing distance of 50 cm or less is effective in macro photography (close-up photography), but in normal photography portrait photography, a photography distance of about 1 to 1.5 m may be set.

Further, a pair of AF distance measurement windows 4 and 5 are provided on the front surface of the camera body 2 above the photographing lens 3 and the distance to the object is determined by these AF distance measurement windows 4 and 5. When the distance is measured, the photographing lens 3 can be automatically focused by drive control from an object distance measuring means (not shown).

Reference numeral 6 in FIG. 1 denotes an AE photometric window provided side by side with the AF distance measuring units 4 and 5 and constitutes a part of control means for performing exposure control according to the brightness of the subject. further,
Reference numeral 7 in FIG. 1 denotes a finder window provided on the front surface of the camera body 2. In addition, on the upper end surface of the camera body 2, the camera 1
The main switch 8, the release button 9 and the like are provided.

On the other hand, above the taking lens 3 on the front side of the camera body 2, the first and second strobes 10 serving as flash emitting parts are arranged alongside the AF distance measuring windows 4 and 5 and the finder window 7.
First and second strobe windows 10a and 11a for radiating light emitted from a xenon tube (not shown) that constitutes 11 are provided.

These first and second strobe windows 10a, 1
The lens 1a is arranged at different distances from the taking lens 3 and has different functions. The first strobe window 10a is provided as a main strobe at a normal position on one side (right side in FIG. 1) on the upper front surface of the camera body 2.

The second strobe window 11a is arranged as a sub-strobe for reducing the shadow of the subject on the upper side of the taking lens 3 with its optical axis substantially aligned. Here, the amount of light emitted from the second strobe window 11a is at least such that the amount of light emitted at full flash is greater than the amount of light emitted from the first strobe window 10a.

For example, the first strobe 10 emits a guide number 8th to 16th, and the second strobe 11 emits a light amount required for close-up photography (close-up photography) or a light quantity required for red-eye emission. It is conceivable to select the numbers 1 to 4.

Here, if the subject is farther than a predetermined distance at the time of shooting, the first or second strobe 10, 11 is used.
It is preferable that either of the strobes 10 and 11 is made to emit light, and both strobes 10 and 11 are made to emit light at the same time when the distance is shorter than a predetermined distance.

That is, in this way, by causing one or a plurality of strobes 10 and 11 to emit light in accordance with the distance of the object to the object at the time of shooting, for example, the shadow of the object can be reduced as much as possible at the time of short-range shooting. Or, the shooting can be optimized.

According to the flash light emitting device for a camera of the present invention, at least the first and second strobes 10 and 11 and the first strobes 10 and 11 are provided in the above-described structure, as is apparent from FIGS. , The second strobe 10, 11
Is provided with a flashmatic control unit for performing aperture control according to the guide number (GNo) of the subject and the subject distance, and the flashmatic control unit is used for the first and second strobes 1.
The same flashmatic control is performed in the case of multiple light emission in which 0 and 11 are simultaneously emitted and in the case of single light emission in which any one of the strobes is emitted.

According to such a configuration, exposure control can be simplified by simultaneously emitting light from a plurality of strobes 10 and 11, and flash photography in which the exposure does not change regardless of whether it is a single light or multiple lights. I can do it.

To briefly explain this, FIG. 2 (a) is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the time T and the exposure A when a single light is emitted in the flash light emitting device according to the present invention,
(B) shows a similar characteristic diagram in the conventional device.

In these figures, reference numeral 20 is a characteristic showing the relationship between time and exposure during light emission from a single lamp. Conventionally, when such single-light emission is changed to multiple-light emission, FIG.
The first emission (21)
Is carried out at time T1 and the second light emission (22) is carried out at time T2. And, since a plurality of lights are emitted in this way, it is possible to reduce shadows.

However, in such a conventional apparatus, assuming that the exposures at the time of each light emission described above are A1 and A2, respectively, A2
> A1 and a time difference .DELTA.T (= T2-T1) between the first light emission 21 and the second light emission 22 occurs, resulting in a problem that the exposure changes. Therefore,
In such a multi-light emission, the control of the diaphragm becomes complicated, unlike in the single-light emission.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, as described above, the plurality of strobes 10 and 11 are made to emit light at the same time when the multiple lights are emitted. Therefore, comparison between FIGS. As is clear from the figure, at time T3, the first and second strobes 10 and 11 simultaneously emit light (2 in the figure).
3) and exposure A3, each strobe 1
The exposure does not vary between 0 and 11.

In particular, in the above-mentioned structure, when the single-flash emission mode is changed to the multiple-flash emission mode, the guide numbers GNo for the respective flash units 10, 11 ,.
・ GNo, B ・ GNo, ...

[Equation 1] Becomes

By making the strobes 10 and 11 simultaneously emit light based on the above-described formula, it is possible to obtain a flash light emitting device whose exposure does not change regardless of whether single-flash light emission or multiple-flash light emission is performed.

Further, in the above-mentioned structure, it is possible to reduce shadows by emitting a plurality of lights.
That is, as is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 3, the above-described flash light emitting device has the windows 1 of the first and second strobes 10 and 11.
0a and 11a, one of them is arranged at an upper position near the photographing lens 3 so as to substantially match the optical axis thereof, and the other one is arranged at a normal installation position separated from the photographing lens 3 by a predetermined distance. is doing.

With such a configuration, as is apparent from FIGS. 3A and 3B, both strobes 10,
By causing 11 to emit light at the same time, it is possible to reduce the shadow of the subject H.

To briefly describe this, FIG. 3A shows how the shadow of the subject H appears when the first strobe 10 placed at the normal position emits light. Strobe 1
When the subject H is irradiated with light emission of 0 and an image is taken by the taking lens 3, shadows 30a and 30b are formed in the background of the subject H.
Occurs.

However, since the shadow 30a is not within the photographing range of the photographing lens 3, the shadow is not photographed. on the other hand,
Since the shadow 30b is within the photographing range, it will be photographed. In the figure, 31 is a lens barrel and 32 is a film.

FIG. 3B shows a case where the second strobe 11 is arranged above the lens barrel 31 and close to the taking lens 3, and in this case, the shadow of the subject H is projected by the strobe 11. The way to go is as follows. That is, when the subject H is illuminated by the strobe 11 and an image is taken by the taking lens 3, the shadows 34a, 34 are formed on the background of the subject H.
b occurs. However, since the shadow 34a is not within the photographing range of the photographing lens 3, the shadow is not photographed. The shadow 34b is photographed because it is within the photographing range of the photographing lens 3.

However, by combining (a) and (b) of FIG. 3, it becomes possible to minimize the shadow generated in the background of the subject H by causing both strobes 10 and 11 to emit light. The detailed description is omitted here,
It can be easily understood from the light irradiation range of each strobe.

Further, in the flash light emitting device having the above-mentioned structure, one capacitor MC is used as the capacitor MC for storing the electric energy for flashing the first and second strobes 10, 11, etc., and a single or a single capacitor is used depending on the stored energy. The strobes 10 and 11 are configured to emit light as appropriate.

According to such a configuration, the first,
Since only one capacitor MC is used to cause the second strobes 10 and 11 to emit light, the camera 1
It is possible to reduce the size of the camera main body 2 because the space for assembling inside is small.

According to the camera 1 using the flash light emitting device having the above-described structure, the half-press operation of the release button 9 causes
Distance measurement processing to the subject is performed, and whether the strobes 10 and 11 emit single or multiple lights is selected according to the distance to the subject. Further, in each mode, when the brightness is less than a certain level, flash photography with a single light or multiple lights of the strobes 10 and 11 is performed along with the release operation to obtain a photograph with an appropriate exposure amount. You can

FIG. 4 shows a strobe circuit to which the present invention is applied, and one main capacitor MC is used to cause one or a plurality of strobes 10 and 11 to emit light.

To briefly explain this, the xenon tubes (Xe tube 1 and Xe tube 2) serving as the first and second strobes 10 and 11 and the main capacitor MC are connected in parallel.
Here, when the Xe tube 1 emits light, when the DTr is in the ON state (SBK terminal is Hi) and a Hi pulse is applied to the SBT output at the SB light emission timing of the shutter, only the SCR1 is in the conductive state and only the Xe tube 1 is in the on state. Triggered, Xe
The tube 1 emits light with the full capacity of the main capacitor MC.

Both xenon tubes, that is, Xe tubes 1 and 2
When both are to emit light, the DTr is turned off (S
When the BK terminal is opened) and the Xe tubes 1 and 2 are triggered by applying a Hi pulse to the SBT output at the SB light emission timing of the shutter, each light emission tube can emit light with half the energy of the main capacitor MC. It is like this.

Here, as circuit components other than those described above in FIG. 4, appropriate components such as diodes D1, D2, ..., Resistors R1, R2 ,. Detailed description thereof will be omitted.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the structure of the embodiment described above, and the shape, structure, etc. of each part of the camera 1 capable of flash photography can be appropriately modified or changed. For example, in the embodiment described above, the first and second strobes 1
Although the case where the windows 10a and 11a of 0 and 11 are provided at the portion closer to one side and the position corresponding to the optical axis of the photographic lens has been described, the present invention is not limited to this and at least two or more strobes are provided. It is preferable to provide the light emitting units at different positions on the front surface of the camera body, and various modifications can be considered as the number of the light emitting units and the arrangement position thereof.

In addition, the first and second strobes 10, 1
As the light emission control of No. 1 and the flashmatic control by the flashmatic control unit, appropriate modified examples can be considered. In short, light emission control of the strobes 10 and 11 may be performed in a required state in consideration of aperture control according to a subject distance, so that flash photography with a sufficient exposure amount can be performed.

[0049]

As described above, according to the flash light emitting device of the present invention, a plurality of strobes and a flashmatic control unit for performing aperture control according to the guide numbers of these strobes and the subject distance are provided. The flash matic control is made to be the same as the flashmatic control when the multiple flash is emitted from multiple strobes at the same time as when the single flash is emitted from one of the strobes. Despite the simple structure of each part including the system structure, the required flashmatic control is performed, the exposure does not change with single light or multiple lights, and flash photography with an appropriate exposure amount can be performed,
In addition, various excellent effects can be achieved in that the appearance of shadows can be reduced during this shooting.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, one capacitor is used to store electric energy for flashing a plurality of strobes, and one or a plurality of strobes are caused to emit light by this capacitor.
The size of the camera can be reduced.

Further, according to the flash light emitting device of the present invention, at least one strobe is arranged near the photographing optical system so as to substantially coincide with its optical axis, and the rest are separated from the photographing optical system by a predetermined distance. By arranging it at a different position, there is an advantage that the appearance of the shadow on the back side of the subject at the time of the above-described flash photography can be reduced to a necessary minimum.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an entire camera showing an embodiment of a camera to which a flash light emitting device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2A is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between time and exposure in the device of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a characteristic diagram of the conventional device.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are schematic explanatory views showing the relationship between the appearance of a shadow on the background of a subject due to the light irradiation from the first and second strobes and the shooting range.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a strobe circuit used in a camera to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Multi-flash camera with built-in flash 2 Camera body 3 Photographing lens 4 AF ranging window 5 AF ranging window 6 AE metering window 7 Finder window 8 Main switch 9 Release button 10 1st strobe (Xe tube) 10a 1st strobe Window 11 Second strobe (Xe tube) 11a Second strobe window MC main condenser

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A flashmatic control unit comprising a plurality of flashlight emission units and a flashmatic control unit for performing aperture control according to a guide number of these flashlight emission units and a subject distance. A flash light-emitting device, which is configured to perform the same flashmatic control as in the case of single-light emission in which any one of the flash light-emitting units emits light in the case of simultaneous multiple-light emission. 2. The flash light emitting device according to claim 1, further comprising a capacitor for accumulating electric energy for flashing a plurality of flash light emitting parts, wherein the capacitor causes the single or a plurality of flash light emitting parts to emit light. A flash light-emitting device characterized in that 3. The flash light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of flash light emitting units is arranged near the photographing optical system so as to substantially coincide with its optical axis. The other one is a flash light emitting device, which is arranged at a position separated from the photographing optical system by a predetermined distance.