JP2001160915A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital camera improved in operability. SOLUTION: This digital camera 1 provided with 1st and 2nd shutter buttons 5a, 5b, and 1st and 2nd memory cards 40a, 40b can be mounted onto the digital camera 1. Then photographing conditions in the case of photographing are read from the 1st and 2nd memory cards and is set in cross-reference with the 1st and 2nd shutter buttons 5a, 5b respectively. When the 1st shutter button 5a is operated, photographing is conducted under the photographing condition read from the 1st memory card 40a and the 1st memory card 40a records acquired image data. When the 2nd shutter button 5b is operated, the photographing is conducted under the photographing condition read from the 2nd memory card 40b, and the 2nd memory card 40b records acquired image data. As a result, a user can substantially obtain a photographing environment equivalent to the case where provisions of two digital cameras and the operability can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a digital camera for acquiring an image of a subject as image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a digital camera, photographing is performed after various settings are made. For example, whether to give priority to aperture or shutter, manually set the aperture value and shutter speed, what to do with exposure compensation and color temperature, whether to shoot only one frame when the shutter button is pressed, A combination of various settings (photographing conditions) such as whether to perform the setting and what kind of sensitivity or recording image quality is to be used is selected according to the state of the subject.

[0003]

As described above, when the photographing conditions are properly used according to the subject, an operation of resetting the photographing conditions is required. As a result, a shutter chance may be missed while the resetting operation is being performed. Therefore, a technique of switching the resetting of the photographing conditions by a simple operation is desired.

On the other hand, some digital cameras have a plurality of built-in memories for recording image data, a built-in memory and a memory card, or a plurality of memory cards or the like having a plurality of recording units (or can be mounted). Have been. In such a digital camera, there is a demand to use a recording location properly according to a photographing condition, and furthermore, to associate a recording unit for recording image data with a photographing condition. However, in a conventional digital camera having a plurality of recording units, the plurality of recording units merely serve to increase the recording capacity, and it cannot be said that the plurality of recording units are effectively utilized.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and makes it easy to set photographing conditions.
An object of the present invention is to improve the operability of a digital camera by effectively utilizing a plurality of recording units.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital camera, wherein a photographing unit for acquiring an image of a subject as image data, and the image data acquired by the photographing unit are recorded in a recording unit. A recording unit, a first shutter button on which image data is recorded by being operated under a first photographing condition when operated, and an image data which is photographed under a second photographing condition by being operated And a second shutter button on which the image is recorded.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the digital camera according to the first aspect, the recording means is capable of recording image data in a first recording section and a second recording section. When the first shutter button is operated, image data is recorded in the first recording section, and when the second shutter button is operated, image data is recorded in the second recording section.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the digital camera according to the second aspect, the first photographing condition is read from the first recording unit, and the second photographing condition is read from the second recording unit. Is read.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital camera, wherein a photographing section for acquiring an image of a subject as image data, and the image data acquired by the photographing section are recorded in a first recording section or a second recording section. Recording means for performing the operation, a first shutter button for taking an image when operated, and recording image data in the first recording section, and performing an operation for taking an image in the second recording section when operated. A second shutter button on which data is recorded.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the digital camera according to any one of the second to fourth aspects, the recording means has two card slots, and the first recording section and the second recording section. Is a memory card mounted in the two card slots.

[0011]

1 to 4 are views showing the appearance of a digital camera 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of the digital camera 1, and FIG. , FIG. 3 is a top view, and FIG. 4 is a side view. Note that FIGS. 1 to 3 show the memory cards 40a and 40b so that they can be mounted, and FIG. 4 does not show the memory cards.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a lens unit 31 for capturing an image of a subject and a flash 8 for emitting flash light toward the subject are provided on the front of the digital camera 1, and on the rear side. Is a monitor 21 having a pixel display type liquid crystal display for displaying a captured image or a live view image, and a changeover switch 6 for switching an operation mode between a shooting mode and a reproduction mode.
1, and a 4-way key 62 for changing a display image and changing various setting conditions are arranged. Further, a finder 7 for determining a photographing range is provided at an upper portion.

On the upper surface of the digital camera 1, there are provided two shutter buttons (release buttons) 5a and 5b for photographing a subject by being pushed in, and a camera for simply displaying photographing conditions and the like of the digital camera 1. A function display unit 22 is provided. The camera function display section 22
Is composed of a segment display type liquid crystal display or the like, and is provided separately from the monitor 21 for confirming a photographed image, so that the user can visually recognize the photographing conditions and the like even during photographing.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, two card slots 41a, 41b are provided on the side of the digital camera 1, and one memory card can be inserted into each card slot 41a, 41b. ing.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing the internal structure of the lens unit 31 of the digital camera 1. FIG.
As shown in the figure, the lens unit 31 and the imaging unit 32 are arranged in order from the front of the digital camera 1 to the inside,
With these configurations, a signal of an image of a subject captured via the finder 7 is obtained. The lens unit 31 includes various lenses and an aperture stop 311 for limiting the amount of light. The imaging unit 32 includes an imaging sensor 321 on which an image of a subject is formed by the lens unit 31 and an optical axis front surface of the imaging sensor 321. And an optical low-pass filter 322 that reduces moire.

The image sensor 321 is constituted by an all-pixel readout type CCD area sensor having a plurality of pixels in a plane (image surface) perpendicular to the optical axis. On the imaging surface side of the imaging sensor 321, R (red), G (green),
B (blue) primary color transmission filters are attached in a checkered pattern in pixel units, and each pixel acquires a stimulus value for each color component of light incident through the lens unit 31. Image sensor 32
In 1, the exposure amount is optimized by controlling the charge accumulation time.

Next, the functional configuration of the digital camera 1 will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the digital camera 1.

The image photoelectrically converted inside the image sensor 321 is shifted to a light-shielded transfer path in the image sensor 321 and is sequentially read out from this transfer path for each pixel via a buffer. Then, the image sensor 32
1, the image signal obtained by the correlation double sampling unit (C
DS: Correlated Double Sampling 331, auto gain control unit (AGC) 332, A / D converter 3
The image is guided to the image processing unit 10 via 33. That is, the image signal is sampled by the correlated double sampling unit 331 to remove noise components by the image sensor 321, and thereafter, the sensitivity is corrected by the auto gain control unit 332. The A / D converter 333 is, for example, a 10-bit A / D converter, and converts a normalized analog signal obtained from the auto gain control unit 332 into a digital signal.

As described above, in the digital camera 1, the lens unit 31, the imaging unit 32, and the components 331 to 333 for processing the obtained image signals are processed by a digital image signal (hereinafter, referred to as an "image"). Data ”).

A camera control CPU 14 is provided to control each mechanism of the digital camera 1 during photographing. The camera control CPU 14 sends control signals to an aperture driver 15 and a timing generator 16. Here, the operation of the camera control CPU 14 differs between a live view in which images are continuously taken by the image sensor 321 and an image is displayed on the monitor 21 almost in real time, and a main shooting in which images are taken for recording. I do.

At the time of live view, the aperture 311 is fixed to the open state by the aperture driver 15. Exposure control data is calculated by the camera control CPU 14 according to the light amount data from the photometry area on the image sensor 321. Based on the exposure control data and a prepared program chart, the exposure time by the timing generator 16 Feedback control is performed so that

On the other hand, at the time of actual photographing, the aperture value of the aperture 311 and the accumulation time of the image sensor 321 are obtained by the camera control CPU 14 based on the exposure control data and the program diagram. Then, the camera control CPU 14 gives a control signal to the aperture driver 15 and the timing generator 16 according to the obtained result, and the exposure amount at the time of the main photographing is appropriately controlled. That is, the aperture driver 15
Drives the diaphragm 311 based on a control signal from the camera control CPU 14 to adjust the diaphragm diameter, and the timing generator 16 controls accumulation start timing and end timing of the image sensor 321 based on a control signal from the camera control CPU 14. I do.

The camera control CPU 14 is connected to two shutter buttons 5a and 5b, a changeover switch 61, a four-way key 62, and the like (hereinafter, operation switches other than the shutter button are referred to as "operation switches 6"). The photographing timing is input to the camera control CPU 14 by the shutter buttons 5a and 5b, and various setting conditions and operation modes are input to the camera control CPU 14 by the operation switch 6.

Further, the photographing conditions set by the camera control CPU 14 are simply displayed on a camera function display section 22 provided on the upper surface of the digital camera 1.

The camera control CPU 14 controls the image processing unit 10
Are connected to each other so that data can be exchanged with each other, and, for example, send various setting conditions to the image processing unit 10 and receive the operation state of the image processing unit 10.

On the other hand, an image processing unit 10 for performing a plurality of types of processing on image data which is a digitized image signal
Is implemented, for example, as a one-chip IC (Integrated Circuit), and includes a pixel interpolation unit 101, a color balance control unit 102, a gamma correction unit 103, and an image compression unit 104 as a configuration for performing image processing. These components transfer data to and from the bus line 110. The bus line 110 has a CPU 111 for performing various arithmetic processing, a ROM 112 for storing basic programs, and the like.
And a RAM 113 serving as a work area are connected.

The bus line 110 further stores a video encoder 121 for displaying an image on the monitor 21, a memory card driver 122 for recording image data on a memory card, and temporarily stores image data obtained by photographing. The image memory 13 to be stored is connected. Note that the memory card driver 122 and the two card slots 41a and 41b constitute a unit for recording image data.

Next, each component related to the image processing unit 10 will be described.

The image memory 13 is a memory for temporarily storing image data input to the image processing unit 10, and the image data stored in the image memory 13 is subjected to image processing.

The pixel interpolating unit 101 reads out image data from the image memory 13 and masks the image data with the filter pattern of the primary color transmission filter.
Is replaced by a median (intermediate value) filter with an average value of the intermediate values of the four peripheral pixels, and the values of R and B are averagely interpolated by the peripheral pixels.

The color balance control unit 102 performs white balance adjustment by independently performing gain correction on data for each color component generated by pixel interpolation.
Specifically, an area that is originally considered to be white in the image is estimated from the luminance, saturation, and the like, the average value of each color component in this area is obtained, and the G / R ratio and G / B ratio of the average value are calculated as R, respectively. , B
And then automatically adjusts the white balance using the correction gain (auto white balance).

The gamma correction unit 103 outputs an image to the output data (for example,
Non-linear conversion suitable for the monitor 21 or a general display is performed.

The image compression unit 104 compresses the image data in the image memory 13 according to the JPEG method or the like when saving the image data in the memory card, and reduces the data amount of the image data. Note that the image compression unit 104 also performs expansion processing of the compressed image data.

The video encoder 121 has the image memory 1
3 is encoded into NTSC or PAL data, and the monitor 21 displays a preview of the image. In the case of a digital camera having an electronic finder, the preview display may be performed by the electronic finder.

The memory card driver 122 is a part for transferring data to and from the memory card. When the user instructs storage of image data, the image data in the image memory 13 is converted by the image compression unit 104. After being compressed, it is stored in a memory card via a card slot. Conversely, when an instruction to read image data from the memory card is issued, the memory card driver 12
2, the image data is read out of the memory card and decompressed by the image compression unit 104,
Is stored in. Thus, the read image data can be displayed on the monitor 21.

The memory card is not limited to a recording medium using a semiconductor memory, but may be a recording medium using a magnetic disk or a magneto-optical disk.

CPU 111 in image processing unit 10, ROM
The CPU 112 and the RAM 113 are configured to control various operations of the digital camera 1. The CPU 111 executes arithmetic processing while using the RAM 113 as a work area in accordance with a basic program stored in the ROM 112, so that photographing conditions of the digital camera 1 can be controlled. Setting, image display operation, and the like are performed. In FIG. 6, each of the processing units 101 to 1
04 is shown as a block provided as a dedicated electric circuit, but the CPU 111, the ROM 112,
The function of any of these processing units 101 to 104 (or a part thereof) may be realized by the RAM 113.

The configuration of the digital camera 1 according to the present invention has been described above.
It has a configuration having one shutter button 5a, 5b and two card slots 41a, 41b. next,
The operation of the digital camera 1 using these shutter buttons 5a, 5b and card slots 41a, 41b will be described.

In the following description, when it is necessary to distinguish two card slots, the first and second card slots 41a and 41b are referred to as the first and second card slots 41a and 41b. Each of the memory cards mounted on the first memory card 40
a, the second memory card 40b. The two card slots are associated with two shutter buttons, respectively, the first card slot 41a is associated with the first shutter button 5a, and the second card slot 4a.
It is assumed that the second shutter button 5b is associated with 1b.

FIG. 7 shows the digital camera 1 when the memory card is inserted or removed, or when the power is turned on.
5 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation for setting a photographing condition in FIG.

First, the digital camera 1 checks whether a memory card is inserted in any one of the card slots (step S11). If no memory card is inserted in any of the card slots, a predetermined value is set. (Step S1)
2).

Here, the photographing conditions refer to various setting conditions at the time of photographing, such as operating conditions such as the aperture at the time of photographing, the charge accumulation time (ie, shutter speed), and the obtained image data. And the image processing conditions to be performed.

If a memory card is inserted in any one of the card slots, it is determined whether only one or two memory cards are inserted (step S13).

If two memory cards are mounted, the digital camera 1 reads out the photographing conditions recorded on each memory card (step S14). The shooting conditions (hereinafter, referred to as “first shooting conditions”) read from the first memory card 40a are set as shooting conditions when the first shutter button 5a is pressed.
The shooting conditions read from the second memory card 40b (hereinafter, referred to as “second shooting conditions”) are set as the shooting conditions when the second shutter button 5b is pressed (step S15).

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure inside the memory card. The memory card stores the name, recording capacity, attributes, and the like of the memory card as basic information 411. The operating conditions 412a of the digital camera 1 and the image data processing conditions 412 when the memory card is used.
b is stored as the photographing condition 412. Further, when shooting is performed under these shooting conditions as described later, the obtained image is stored as image data 413.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state where the first and second photographing conditions of the digital camera 1 are displayed on the monitor 21 when two memory cards are inserted. , The changeover switch 61 to the “photographing mode”
, The screen displayed by operating the 4-way key 62 after switching to.

In FIG. 9, "slot 1" indicates the first card slot 41a, and "slot 2" indicates the second card slot 41b. The name of the first memory card 40a inserted in the first card slot 41a is "AESP12", and in the first shooting condition, the aperture priority (A priority) and the exposure correction step are 1/2 (STEP1 /
2), it is displayed that the color temperature at the time of shooting is 5500K, continuous shooting (CONT), the shooting sensitivity is equivalent to ISO 100, and the image quality (that is, the compression ratio setting of the image data) is FINE.

The name of the second memory card 40b inserted in the second card slot 41b is "MACRO2".
In the second shooting condition, shutter priority (S priority),
The display shows that the exposure compensation step is 1/3 (STEP 1/3), the color temperature at the time of shooting is 2850K, normal shooting (SINGLE), the shooting sensitivity is equivalent to ISO50, and the image quality is S-FINE.

Note that the photographing conditions shown in FIG. 9 are merely examples, and other photographing conditions may include, for example, an interval between continuous photographing, a color mode (monochrome, sepia, color, etc.), an image size, and the like. Good.

FIG. 9 shows that the first photographing condition of the slot 1 is indicated by the frame by displaying the camera function display section 22 disposed on the upper surface of the digital camera 1 by displaying the first photographing condition. ing. FIG. 10 is a view showing a display example of the camera function display section 22, in which the card name is "AESP".
12 ", that the image quality is FINE and the shutter speed is 250 is displayed. The symbol 221 indicates the color temperature at the time of shooting, and the symbol 222 indicates continuous shooting.

If it is determined in step S13 of FIG. 7 that the digital camera 1 has only one memory card, the photographing conditions are read from this memory card (step S16). The read shooting conditions are set for both of the shutter buttons (step S17). That is, regardless of which shutter button is pressed, shooting is performed under the shooting conditions read from the memory card.

Next, the flow of operations when taking a picture when two memory cards are mounted on the digital camera 1 will be described with reference to FIG. In the following description, it is assumed that the first shooting condition includes a first operating condition and a first processing condition, and the second shooting condition includes a second operating condition and a second processing condition.

When the first shutter button 5a is pressed (step S21), first, the digital camera 1 obtains image data by controlling the aperture, the accumulation time (or shutter speed) and the like according to the first operation condition (step S21). Step S22).

The obtained image data is processed by the image processing unit 10 according to the first processing condition (step S2).
3). That is, color balance and gamma correction are performed according to the first processing condition, and further, compression processing is performed at a compression ratio included in the condition. Thereafter, the processed image data is recorded and stored in the first memory card 40a via the first card slot 41a (Step S24).

On the other hand, when the second shutter button 5b is pressed (step S21), image data is obtained according to the second operation condition (step S25), and after image processing is performed according to the second processing condition (step S26). ), The image data is recorded and stored in the second memory card 40b via the second card slot 41b (step S27).

As described above, when only one memory card is mounted on the digital camera 1, the photographing conditions read from the memory card are associated with both of the two shutter buttons. Even when the shutter button is pressed, acquisition and processing of image data are performed according to the read imaging conditions.

As described above, in the digital camera 1, by providing the two shutter buttons 5a and 5b as shown in FIG. 3, the user selects the shutter button operated by the user to select the photographing conditions and to set the image. A memory card to which data is written can be selected. As a result, two types of photographing can be performed while distinguishing the memory card with one digital camera, and substantially the same photographing as when two digital cameras are prepared and photographed can be performed. Operability is improved.

Since the shooting conditions are stored in the memory card, the user can automatically switch the shooting conditions of the digital camera 1 by inserting a desired memory card into the digital camera 1. As a result, it is not necessary to change the setting of complicated shooting conditions every time shooting is performed, and operability is improved.

Although the digital camera 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

For example, in the above embodiment, the photographing conditions are read from the memory card. However, two photographing conditions may be set in advance by a digital camera.
Two shooting conditions may be recorded in one memory card or one built-in memory. Even in such a case,
The photographing conditions can be easily switched by the two shutter buttons. That is, the technique of selecting shooting conditions using two shutter buttons can be applied to a digital camera in which only one memory card can be inserted or a digital camera having only one built-in memory. The number of shutter buttons is not limited to two, and three or more shutter buttons may be provided.

Further, it is possible to distinguish between a memory card storing the shooting conditions and a memory card storing no shooting conditions. If the shooting conditions are stored in only one memory card, at least the shooting conditions are determined. If none of the memory cards is associated with one of the shutter buttons and stores the shooting conditions, the standard setting may be used.

In the above embodiment, the memory card to be recorded is selected by selecting the shutter button by associating the two shutter buttons with the two card slots. Three or more sets of shutter buttons and card slots may be provided.

In the above embodiment, the description has been given assuming that the photographing conditions are stored in the memory card. However, the data stored as the photographing conditions may be in any form. For example, parameters that directly control the operation of the digital camera, such as an aperture value, charge accumulation time, white balance correction parameters, and gamma correction parameters, may be used.

[0064]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the photographing condition can be selected according to the operated shutter button.
Operability can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a recording section in which image data is recorded can be selected according to a shutter button to be operated, and operability can be improved.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to perform photographing in accordance with the photographing conditions from the recording unit, thereby improving operability.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to select a recording section in which image data is recorded according to a shutter button to be operated, thereby improving operability.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a memory card in which image data is recorded can be selected according to a shutter button to be operated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the digital camera.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the digital camera.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the digital camera.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view schematically showing an internal structure of the digital camera.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the digital camera.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation of the digital camera when setting photographing conditions.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure in a memory card.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitor on which a photographing condition is displayed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a camera display unit.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation of the digital camera at the time of shooting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 digital camera 5a first shutter button 5b second shutter button 10 image processing unit 31 lens unit 32 imaging unit 40a first memory card 40b second memory card 41a first card slot 41b second card slot 122 memory card driver 412 shooting conditions 413 Image data

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A digital camera, comprising: a photographing unit that acquires an image of a subject as image data; a recording unit that records image data acquired by the photographing unit in a recording unit; A first shutter button for taking a picture under the photographing condition and recording the image data; and a second shutter button for taking a picture and recording the image data under the second photographing condition when operated. A digital camera, comprising: 2. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is capable of recording image data in a first recording unit and a second recording unit, and the first shutter button. A digital camera wherein image data is recorded in the first recording section when is operated, and image data is recorded in the second recording section when the second shutter button is operated. 3. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein the first photographing condition is read from the first recording unit, and the second photographing condition is read from the second recording unit. And a digital camera. 4. A digital camera, comprising: a photographing unit that acquires an image of a subject as image data; a recording unit that records the image data acquired by the photographing unit in a first recording unit or a second recording unit; A first shutter button for taking a picture when operated and recording image data in the first recording section; and for taking a picture and recording image data in the second recording section when operated And a second shutter button. 5. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein said recording means has two card slots,
A digital camera, wherein a recording unit and the second recording unit are memory cards mounted in the two card slots.