JP2006162717A - Camera equipped with illuminator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera equipped with an illuminator uniformly illuminating a subject from macro-photographing of a very short distance near 0 cm to a long-distance photographing. <P>SOLUTION: The camera 1 equipped with the flash illuminator 12 includes a light emitting diode illuminator 4 in which a plurality of light emitting diodes 43 are arranged so as to surround the outer circumference of the forefront face of the photographic lens 32. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera, an interchangeable lens, and an accessory device including a light emitting diode (LED) illumination device for illuminating a short distance.

  In recent years, there are many cameras that claim to be capable of macro photography. In particular, in the digital still camera, there are many cameras that claim that macro shooting at a short distance is possible because a lens having a small screen size and a small actual focal length is used. For example, there are digital still cameras that claim to be able to shoot even at a very close distance of about 0 cm from the tip of the photographic lens.

  When you actually take a macro shot using a camera that claims to be able to take a macro shot at such a short distance, it is unlikely that you will get a beautiful shot image except for a self-luminous subject. . The macro shooting is difficult mainly because the shadow of the camera itself is reflected, or the shadow of the subject is reflected unless the subject is illuminated so well.

  The flash illumination device normally built in the camera is basically for illuminating a middle distance and a long distance. When macro photography is performed using a built-in flash illumination device that illuminates medium and long distances, the lens barrel causes a so-called vignetting phenomenon and precisely controls the large amount of illumination light of the flash illumination device. There are problems such as difficulty.

  Macro-accessory flashes have been commercialized in order to respond to users' desires to illuminate well and take beautiful macro shots. The macro accessory flash is used by attaching an illuminating device having a ring-shaped light emitter or a xenon tube light emitter to the front surface of the lens barrel (see, for example, Patent Document 1). However, the conventional macro accessory flash has various problems such as large equipment and unsuitable for closest macro photography near 0 cm.

  In order to solve the above problems, for example, the following lighting device has been proposed.

  A digital camera using a liquid crystal monitor as an illumination light source at the time of macro photography has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 2). In this case, the liquid crystal monitor is a uniform illumination body, but when the liquid crystal monitor is rotated and positioned on the lens barrel side during macro photography, there is a problem that vignetting occurs due to the lens barrel. .

  An illumination device for photographing using a plurality of white LEDs has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 3). In this case, although a plurality of white LEDs are used instead of a large amount of xenon tube, a considerable amount of white LEDs are used to illuminate a long distance because the amount of light in white LEDs is considerably insufficient. There is a need.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-091044 JP 2000-0775363 A JP 2002-207236 A

  Accordingly, a technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a camera equipped with an illumination device that can uniformly illuminate a subject in photographing from a very close distance macro photography near 0 cm to a long distance.

Means and actions / effects for solving the problem

  In order to solve the above technical problem, according to the present invention, there is provided the following illumination device equipped camera.

  That is, the camera equipped with a lighting device according to the present invention is a camera having a flash lighting device, and includes a light emitting diode lighting device in which a plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged so as to surround the outermost periphery of the front surface of the photographing lens. Features.

  In the camera equipped with the illumination device, a plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged so as to surround the outermost periphery of the photographing lens, so that the illumination light path of the light emitting diode is not obstructed by the photographing lens, that is, the vignetting phenomenon occurs. The light emitting diode can illuminate the subject without doing so.

  A plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged at positions avoiding the photographing optical path of the photographing lens so that the light emitting diodes do not appear in the subject image.

  It is possible to adjust the illumination optical axis of the light-emitting diode to be inclined with respect to the photographing optical axis after attaching the plurality of light-emitting diodes to a surface orthogonal to the photographing optical axis. Are arranged on an inclined surface inclined with respect to the photographing optical axis side. Since the optical axis alignment of the illumination optical axis of the light emitting diode is not required, the mounting operation of the light emitting diode illumination device is facilitated.

  The flash illuminator mainly operates during middle-range and long-distance shooting, but only the light-emitting diode illuminator operates during short-distance macro shooting. If the flash illumination device operates during close-up macro photography, problems such as the occurrence of vignetting and the inability to precisely control the amount of light occur, so the flash illumination device cannot be operated during close-up macro photography. . In addition, it is possible for the light emitting diode illumination device to supplementarily illuminate as the auxiliary illumination of the flash illumination device at the time of photographing at a medium distance and a long distance.

  The light-emitting diode illuminating device is configured not to operate when other attachments such as various filters or converter lenses are attached to the front surface of the photographing lens.

  Hereinafter, an interchangeable lens digital camera 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 as a camera equipped with an illumination device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The camera equipped with a lighting device according to the present invention can also be applied to a non-lens interchangeable camera. Moreover, it is applicable also to a silver salt type camera.

  FIG. 1 is a front view of an interchangeable lens digital camera 1 with a built-in illumination device according to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram thereof. FIG. 4 is a diagram for schematically explaining the state of illumination when photographing with the camera equipped with the illumination device, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation when photographing with the camera equipped with the illumination device. .

  The digital camera shown in FIG. 1 records an image photographed by the CCD 35 on a memory card via the memory card mounting unit 15. The operation of the entire camera is a microcomputer and is controlled by a body side CPU (central processing unit) 51 that centrally controls the photographing function and the reproduction function.

  The camera body 2 includes a release button 17, a mode setting dial 24 for setting shooting mode and playback mode, a jog dial 26 for setting continuous shooting mode and scene selection, and a control value setting dial. 23, a change dial 25, an autofocus setting button 19, a camera shake correction button 27, a setting button 28, and the like are provided. A signal corresponding to the operation on the operation unit is input to the CPU 51.

  A shutter is provided in front of the CCD 35. The shutter is, for example, a focal plane shutter that includes a front curtain and a rear curtain.

  The CCD 35 is a charge coupled device for photoelectrically converting a subject image into an electric signal, and a complementary MOS (CMOS) or the like can also be used.

  The subject image on the subject surface H is formed on the light receiving surface of the CCD 35 via the interchangeable lens 3 and the stop. The photographing lens 32 in the interchangeable lens 3 is driven by a focus motor (lens drive unit) controlled by the CPU 51 and the focus control unit based on the distance to the subject measured by the distance measuring means. Further, the subject brightness (EV value) is calculated based on the photometric value measured by the photometric module (photometric means). From the subject brightness (EV value), the exposure amount of the aperture, shutter, etc. is optimized.

  The shutter is driven by a shutter driving motor controlled by the CPU 51 and shutter control means, and controls the charge accumulation time (shutter speed) in the CCD 35.

  The signal charge accumulated in the CCD 35 is photoelectrically converted and read out as a voltage signal corresponding to the signal charge based on a read signal applied from the timing control circuit. The voltage signal read from the CCD 35 is subjected to signal processing and image processing by a signal / image processing unit such as an A / D converter, a black level correction circuit, a white balance correction circuit, and a gamma correction circuit. Such various processed image data is temporarily held in the image memory.

  The image data held in the image memory is input to the VRAM and then output to the liquid crystal monitor 13 provided on the back of the camera. As a result, the subject image is displayed as a live view display on the display screen of the liquid crystal monitor 13. The image data stored in the image memory may be output to the EVF (electronic viewfinder) 14 after being input to the VRAM.

  A built-in flash illumination device 12 that can be popped up is provided on the upper portion of the camera body 2. The built-in flash illumination device 12 includes a xenon tube, a condenser, and a flash circuit, and can irradiate a large amount of illumination light instantaneously, so that it is used to illuminate a subject at a medium distance or a long distance. Is done. The built-in flash illumination device 12 emits flash illumination light of a flash illumination optical path F2 having a certain spread along the flash illumination optical axis F1. The flash illumination optical axis F1 is configured so as to face downward at an angle of 2 to 3 degrees with respect to the photographing optical axis O, for example. The flash illumination device 12 may be an external type external flash.

  The interchangeable lens 3 includes a photographic lens 32 and a focus motor (lens driving unit) for driving the photographic lens 32 in a lens barrel 31. The interchangeable lens 3 can be detached from the camera body 2 by pressing the lens attaching / detaching button 18.

  The rear surface (camera body 2 side) of the interchangeable lens 3 is provided with an attaching / detaching portion for attaching / detaching the interchangeable lens 3, a power supply terminal for supplying electricity from the camera body 2, and a signal terminal for exchanging various signals. It has been.

  On the forefront (subject side) of the interchangeable lens 3, an attaching / detaching part for mounting other attachments such as various filters and a converter lens, a power supply terminal for supplying electricity from the camera body 2, and various signals are exchanged. A signal terminal is provided.

  On the forefront of the interchangeable lens 3, an annular mounting portion 33 is provided to surround the outer peripheral portion of the photographing lens 32. On the mounting portion 33, the eight light-emitting diode illuminating devices 4 are evenly arranged at an angle of 45 degrees.

  As the light emitting diode illumination device 4, for example, a surface mount type white light emitting diode (LED) manufactured by Stanley can be used. This light emitting diode (LED) has, for example, a driving voltage of 3.7 V, a luminous intensity of 500 mcd (at a forward current of 20 mA), and a directivity of 50 degrees. In addition, as a method of white light emission by the light emitting diode, a method of combining a blue LED and a yellow phosphor, a method of combining light emitting diodes of three colors of red, green, and blue, A method of irradiating green and blue phosphors can be used. In addition, a known light diffuser (for example, a resin mixed with a light diffusing substance or a transparent acrylic plate) is provided on the front surface of the light emitting diode illumination device 4 to make the emitted white light more gorgeous. it can.

  As shown in FIG. 4, from each light emitting diode illumination device 4, the light emitting diode illumination of the light emitting diode illumination optical path L2 with the light emitting diode illumination optical axis approximately parallel to the photographing optical axis O and having a certain spread is provided. Light is irradiated. The subject surface H illuminated by the eight light emitting diode illuminating devices 4 is illuminated with uniform illuminance.

  As described above, a subject at a medium distance or a long distance is illuminated by the built-in flash illumination device 12, and a subject at a short distance is illuminated by the light emitting diode illumination device 4. That is, when the subject is dark in macro photography, the subject is illuminated by the light emitting diode illumination device 4. In particular, the light emitting diode illumination device 4 can illuminate a subject at a medium distance or a long distance unless it interferes with photographing. Note that, depending on the illumination capability of the built-in flash illumination device 12 and the brightness of the lens 3 to be mounted, in an interchangeable lens camera, for example, a distance of approximately 0 m (very short distance) to 0.5 m is a short distance. In addition, a distance of approximately 0.5 m to 2 m corresponds to a medium distance, and a distance of approximately 2 m to 5 m corresponds to a long distance. In a non-lens-changeable small camera, for example, a distance of approximately 0 m (very close distance) to 0.2 m is a short distance, a distance of approximately 0.2 m to 1.5 m is a medium distance, and approximately 1. A distance of 5 m to 3 m corresponds to a long distance.

  Further, when other attachments such as various filters and converter lenses are attached to the forefront of the interchangeable lens 3, the light-emitting diode illumination device 4 is configured not to operate by detecting the attachment of the other attachments. ing.

  Next, the operation of the digital camera 1 including the interchangeable lens 3 in which the light emitting diode illumination device 4 is built will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step # 100, the photographing operation starts. When the main switch 22 is turned on (step # 102), the camera 1 is activated while performing various check operations (step # 104). BL communication is performed between the camera body 2 and the interchangeable lens 3 (step # 106), and various types of information regarding the interchangeable lens 3 and accessories are taken into the body side CPU 51.

  It is determined whether or not the attached interchangeable lens 3 includes the light emitting diode illumination device 4 (step # 108). If the interchangeable lens 3 includes the light emitting diode illuminating device 4, a short-distance shooting distance d is set according to the brightness of the mounted interchangeable lens 3 and the illumination capability of the light emitting diode illuminating device 4 (step #). 110). If the interchangeable lens 3 does not include the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4, the short-distance shooting distance d is not set.

  It is determined whether or not the release button 17 has been pressed and turned on (step # 112). When the release button 17 is ON, photometry and distance measurement are performed (step # 114 and step # 116). The distance measuring means can obtain that the distance to the subject is D. It is determined whether or not the subject brightness (EV value) obtained by photometry requires illumination of the subject (step # 118). When it is determined that the subject brightness (EV value) is low and the subject needs to be illuminated, it is determined again whether or not the interchangeable lens 3 includes the light emitting diode illumination device 4 (step # 120).

  It is determined whether or not the subject distance D is smaller than the short-distance shooting distance d, that is, whether or not it is macro shooting. If the subject distance D is smaller than the short-distance shooting distance d, only the light emitting diode illumination device 4 operates to illuminate the subject (step # 126). At the same time, the subject is photographed (step # 128).

  When the interchangeable lens 3 does not include the light-emitting diode illumination device 4 or when the subject distance D is greater than the short-distance shooting distance d, the built-in flash illumination device 12 operates (step # 136). At the same time, the subject is photographed (step # 138). If it is determined in step # 118 that illumination is not necessary, normal shooting without illumination is performed (step # 140).

  After image processing is performed on the photographed image (step # 142), the image is recorded on the memory card (step # 144), and a series of photographing operations ends (step # 146).

  Next, the illuminator-equipped camera 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The interchangeable lens digital camera 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9. FIG. The camera equipped with the illumination device according to the second embodiment can also be applied to a non-lens interchangeable camera.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the illuminator-equipped camera 1 has an accessory device 6 attached to the front surface of the interchangeable lens 3. Since the camera body 2 and the interchangeable lens 3 are the same as those of the first embodiment described above, detailed description thereof will be omitted, and description will be made focusing on differences from the first embodiment.

  That is, the difference from the first embodiment is that the accessory device 6 including the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 is attached to the front surface of the interchangeable lens 3, and that the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 is on the photographing optical axis O side. It is attached with an inclination at a predetermined angle.

  An annular mounting portion 33 is provided on the foremost surface (subject side) of the accessory device 6 to surround the photographing optical path of the photographing lens 32 of the interchangeable lens 3. The annular mounting portion 33 has an inclined surface inclined at an angle with respect to a surface orthogonal to the photographing optical axis O. On the inclined surface of the mounting portion 33, the eight light-emitting diode illuminating devices 4 are evenly arranged at an angle of 45 degrees.

  The light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 has the same configuration as that of the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 in the above-described first embodiment, and is, for example, a surface-mounting type white light-emitting diode (LED) manufactured by Stanley. As shown in FIG. 9, the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 includes an LED light-emitting portion 42, a reflecting mirror 45, a condensing lens portion 44 made of resin, an electrode terminal 43, and a flexible substrate 46. .

  The inclination angle of the inclined surface to which the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 is attached can be set to various angles. For example, the light-emitting diode illumination optical axis L1 intersects with the photographing optical axis O at approximately 0.2 m. Can be set to That is, the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 can be set so as to illuminate the subject surface H at approximately 0.2 m in a concentrated manner. Since the light emitting diode illumination optical axis L1 can be positioned simply by attaching the light emitting diode illumination device 4 to the inclined surface of the attachment portion 33, the optical axis alignment of the illumination optical axis of the light emitting diode illumination device 4 is easy. . In addition, it cannot be overemphasized that the structure which attached the light-emitting-diode illuminating device 4 with respect to the surface orthogonal to the imaging | photography optical axis O similarly to 1st embodiment mentioned above may be sufficient.

  Next, the operation of the interchangeable lens digital camera 1 including the accessory device 6 in which the light emitting diode illumination device 4 is built will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step # 100, the photographing operation starts. When the main switch 22 is turned on (step # 102), the camera 1 is activated while performing various check operations (step # 104). BL communication is performed among the camera body 2, the interchangeable lens 3, and the accessory device 6 (step # 106), and various information regarding the interchangeable lens 3 and the accessories are taken into the body side CPU 51.

  It is determined whether the attached accessory device 6 includes the light emitting diode illumination device 4 (step # 108). If the accessory device 6 includes the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4, a short-distance shooting distance d is set according to the brightness of the interchangeable lens 3 attached and the illumination capability of the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 (step #). 110). If the accessory device 6 does not include the light-emitting diode illumination device 4, the short-distance shooting distance d is not set.

  It is determined whether or not the release button 17 has been pressed and turned on (step # 112). When the release button 17 is ON, photometry and distance measurement are performed (step # 114 and step # 116). The distance measuring means can obtain that the distance to the subject is D. It is determined whether or not the subject brightness (EV value) obtained by photometry requires illumination of the subject (step # 118). When it is determined that the subject brightness (EV value) is low and the subject needs to be illuminated, it is determined again whether or not the accessory device 6 includes the light-emitting diode illumination device 4 (step # 120).

  It is determined whether or not the subject distance D is smaller than the short-distance shooting distance d, that is, whether or not it is macro shooting. If the subject distance D is smaller than the short-distance shooting distance d, only the light emitting diode illumination device 4 operates to illuminate the subject (step # 126). At the same time, the subject is photographed (step # 128).

  When the accessory device 6 does not include the light emitting diode illumination device 4 or when the subject distance D is greater than the short-distance shooting distance d, the built-in flash illumination device 12 operates (step # 136). At the same time, the subject is photographed (step # 138). If it is determined in step # 118 that illumination is not necessary, normal shooting without illumination is performed (step # 140).

  After image processing is performed on the photographed image (step # 142), the image is recorded on the memory card (step # 144), and a series of photographing operations ends (step # 146).

  Next, as a modification of the second embodiment, refer to FIG. 6 for operations when photographing in the macro photography mode with the interchangeable lens digital camera 1 including the accessory device 6 in which the light emitting diode illumination device 4 is built. While explaining. Although the interchangeable lens digital camera 1 will be described, it can also be applied to a non-lens interchangeable camera.

  In step # 200, the photographing operation starts. When the main switch 22 is turned on (step # 202), the camera 1 is activated while performing various check operations (step # 204). BL communication is performed among the camera body 2, the interchangeable lens 3, and the accessory device 6 to detect the accessory device 6 in which the light emitting diode illumination device 4 is built (step # 206). A display that the light-emitting diode illuminating device 4 is attached is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 13 or the EVF 14 (step # 208).

  In order to see the state of the subject, the subject is roughly photographed (step # 210) and displayed as a live view on the liquid crystal monitor 13 (step # 212).

  It is determined whether release button 17 is half-pressed and SW1 is ON (step # 214). When the release button 17 is half-pressed, photometry and distance measurement are performed (step # 216 and step # 218). The distance measuring unit measures the distance to the subject and determines whether or not the distance is a predetermined short distance (step # 220). When the release button 17 is not pressed halfway, the subject image is displayed again on the liquid crystal monitor 13 as a live view.

  In the case of macro photography where the distance to the subject is a short distance, the light emitting diode illumination device 4 operates to illuminate the subject (step # 222). Photometry and distance measurement are again performed on the object illuminated by the light emitting diode illumination device 4 (step # 224 and step # 226). The image of the subject illuminated by the light emitting diode illumination device 4 is displayed as a live view on the liquid crystal monitor 13 (step # 228).

  It is determined whether or not release button 17 is fully pressed and SW2 is ON (step # 230). When the release button 17 is fully pressed, the subject illuminated by the light emitting diode illumination device 4 is photographed (step # 240). Then, after image processing is performed on the photographed image (step # 242), the image is recorded on the memory card (step # 244), and a series of photographing operations ends (step # 246).

  If the non-macro shooting is not close to the subject, it is determined whether the release button 17 is fully pressed and SW2 is ON (step # 232). When the release button 17 is fully pressed, the subject is photographed with the flash illumination device 12 illuminated or without illumination (step # 240). Then, after image processing is performed on the photographed image (step # 242), the image is recorded on the memory card (step # 244), and a series of photographing operations ends (step # 246).

It is a front view of the illuminating device equipment camera which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a rear view of the camera with an illuminating device shown in FIG. It is a block diagram of the illuminating device equipment camera shown in FIG. It is a figure which illustrates typically the mode of illumination when image | photographing with the illuminating device equipment camera shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the camera with an illuminating device shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the camera with an illuminating device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates typically the mode of illumination when image | photographing with the illuminating device equipment camera which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the structure of the illuminating device equipment camera shown in FIG. It is an enlarged view of the light emitting diode illuminating device attached to the illuminating device equipment camera shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera 2 Camera body 3 Interchangeable lens 4 Light emitting diode illuminating device 6 Accessory device 12 Flash illuminating device 13 Liquid crystal (LCD) monitor 14 EVF (electronic viewfinder)
15 Memory card mounting portion 17 Release button 18 Lens attaching / detaching button 19 Auto focus setting button 22 Main switch 23 Control value setting dial 24 Mode setting dial 25 Change dial 26 Jog dial 27 Camera shake correction button 28 Setting button 31 Lens barrel 32 Shooting lens 33 Attaching Part 35 CCD (photoelectric conversion element)
42 Light Emitting Unit (LED)
43 Electrode terminal 44 Condensing lens part 45 Reflecting mirror 46 Flexible substrate 51 Body side CPU
52 CPU on the lens side
53 Power supply F1 Flash illumination optical axis F2 Flash illumination optical path H Subject surface L1 Light emitting diode illumination optical axis L2 Light emitting diode illumination optical path O Imaging optical axis O2 Imaging optical path

Claims (14)

A camera having a flash illumination device,
An illumination device-equipped camera comprising: a light-emitting diode illuminating device in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes are arranged so as to surround an outermost periphery of a forefront lens.   2. The camera equipped with a lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged at positions avoiding a photographing optical path of the photographing lens.   2. The camera equipped with a lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged on an inclined surface inclined with respect to the photographing optical axis side.   2. The camera with an illuminating device according to claim 1, wherein only the light emitting diode illuminating device operates during macro photography at a short distance.   2. The illumination device-equipped camera according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting diode illumination device is configured not to operate when another attachment is attached to the forefront of the taking lens. An interchangeable lens attached to an interchangeable lens camera having a flash illumination device,
An interchangeable lens comprising: a light-emitting diode illuminating device in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes are arranged so as to surround an outermost periphery of a forefront lens.   The interchangeable lens according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged at positions avoiding a photographing optical path of the photographing lens.   7. The interchangeable lens according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged on an inclined surface inclined with respect to the photographing optical axis side.   7. The interchangeable lens according to claim 6, wherein only the light-emitting diode illuminating device operates during macro photography at a short distance.   The interchangeable lens according to claim 6, wherein the light-emitting diode illuminating device is configured not to operate when another attachment is attached to the forefront of the photographic lens. An accessory device mounted on the forefront of a photographing lens of a camera having a flash illumination device,
An accessory device comprising: a light-emitting diode illuminating device in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes are arranged so as to surround an outermost periphery of a forefront lens.   The accessory device according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged at positions avoiding a photographing optical path of the photographing lens.   The accessory device according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged on an inclined surface inclined with respect to the photographing optical axis side. 12. The accessory device according to claim 11, wherein only the light-emitting diode illuminating device operates during macro photography at a short distance.

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