JPH11103411A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To track a subject even at the time of photographing by ultra high magnifying power. SOLUTION: A camera for photographing a subject image by forming an image on CCD 3 by incident light with a lens 1 is provided with a pointer 18 for indicating the tracking direction of the subject, an optical prism 1 for tracking the subject based on an input from the pointer 18 and a microcomputer 6, etc., which controls the optical prism 1 so that the subject is tracked without moving a camera mainbody.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image photographing apparatus for photographing an image of a subject or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image photographing apparatus for photographing an image of a subject or the like, a video camera mainly used for photographing a moving image and a still camera (an analog camera) mainly used for photographing a still image have been used. Still cameras, digital still cameras) and the like. Hereinafter, these are collectively called a camera.

When using these cameras, usually,
In order to quickly respond to the movement of the subject, it is more common to take a picture while holding the camera by hand (that is, so-called hand-held).

[0004]

Incidentally, the magnification of a lens mounted on a conventional camera is not very high, and is often up to about 30 times at most.

On the other hand, in recent years, a camera equipped with a lens having an ultra-high magnification of, for example, 100 times has appeared.

However, in the case of a camera equipped with such an ultra-high-magnification lens, it is very difficult to take a picture by hand-held camera work as in the prior art. That is, the conventional low-magnification lens has a wide angle of view. Therefore, even if the subject moves when the camera of the low-magnification lens is used by hand, for example, if the camera is moved in accordance with the movement, the subject is always tracked. While it was possible,
The ultra-high magnification lens has a very narrow angle of view. Therefore, if the subject moves when the camera of the ultra-high magnification lens is used by hand, for example, the subject cannot be tracked by the movement of the photographer's hand. Further, in the case of a camera having such an ultra-high magnification lens, even if the subject is stationary, it is difficult to keep the subject in the viewfinder due to camera shake.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image photographing apparatus capable of tracking a subject even when photographing at a very high magnification. .

[0008]

An image photographing apparatus according to the present invention forms an image of a subject by forming incident light through an optical system on an image pickup means, and provides an instruction for instructing a tracking direction of the subject. Means and a tracking means for tracking the subject based on the instruction input, and the subject can be tracked while holding the apparatus main body, thereby solving the above-described problem.

Here, the tracking means tracks the subject by changing the refraction angle of the incident light and / or changing the writing or reading timing of the imaging means. Also,
The tracking means also has a camera shake correction function, and operates the camera shake correction function during tracking of the subject. When the optical system has a zoom function, the tracking means turns on / off the tracking function in conjunction with the zoom magnification. As described above, when the tracking function is turned on / off, the photographer is confirmed to that effect.

That is, according to the image photographing apparatus of the present invention, by instructing the tracking direction of the subject and tracking the subject based on the instruction input, even at the time of ultra-high magnification photographing such as 100 times, The subject can be tracked.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the system configuration of a camera as an embodiment of the image photographing apparatus of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a lens 2 is the ultra-high magnification lens. The lens 2 may be not only a so-called zoom lens but also a single focus lens, and further, an interchangeable lens (interchangeable zoom lens or single focus lens).
It may be. In the present embodiment, as the lens 2, an ultra-high-magnification zoom lens is taken as an example.

Light from a subject (not shown) passes through an optical prism 1 and is incident on a lens 2, which forms an image on a CCD (solid-state image sensor) 3.

In the optical prism 1, the two glass sheets are connected by a bellows-like elastic member.
A transparent liquid is sealed inside, and the refraction angle of the incident light can be changed by changing the relative angle between the two glass plates by expanding and contracting the expandable member. . The relative angle between the two glass plates is driven and controlled by the horizontal control circuit 4 and the vertical control circuit 5 of the optical prism 1. The optical prism 1 is arranged at a stage before the optical axis of an optical block having the lens 2 and the CCD 3. Thus, the optical prism 1
Is arranged in front of the optical axis of the optical block, and by driving and controlling the relative angle between the two glass plates, the incident angle of light from the subject to the optical axis of the optical block is changed in the horizontal and vertical directions. That is, the image formed on the CCD 3 can be moved in the horizontal and vertical directions. In other words, when photographing using the camera, for example, the CCD 3
When the image to be formed on the image moves, the horizontal control circuit 4 and the vertical control circuit 5 drive and control the optical prism 1 in a direction to cancel the image movement on the CCD 3 due to the camera shake. By doing so, it is possible to make the image formed on the CCD substantially stationary.

As described above, when the horizontal control circuit 4 and the vertical control circuit 5 drive and control the optical prism 1, the amount of movement in the vertical and horizontal directions when moving the image formed on the CCD 3 is: It is calculated by a calculation in a microprocessor or a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer 6). Inside the microcomputer 6, an image movement amount (image movement amount due to camera shake correction, hereinafter referred to as a camera shake correction movement amount) for correcting image movement on the CCD 3 caused by the camera shake, and a pointer (to be described later). The amount of image movement based on input information from the pointer device 18 (the amount of image movement by pointer input;
(Referred to as a pointer input moving amount) are independently calculated, and these are mixed at an output stage to determine a final moving amount.

First, a description will be given of a sequence in the microcomputer 6 for determining a camera shake correction movement amount for correcting the movement of the image on the CCD 3 due to the camera shake. Note that each block configuration inside the microcomputer 6 in FIG. 1 is a functional block representation of an arithmetic process by software inside the microcomputer 6.

The camera is provided with an angular velocity sensor 7 for detecting pitch (vertical direction) and an angular velocity sensor 8 for detecting roll (horizontal direction). The vibration information (angular velocity signal) from the angular velocity sensor 7 and the angular velocity sensor 8 for detecting the lateral vibration is supplied to the microcomputer 6.

Inside the microcomputer 6, the swing information (angular velocity signal) is converted into digital data by an A / D converter section 12, and the digital data is sent to an angular velocity / camera shake correction data calculation section 11. The angular velocity / camera shake correction data calculation unit 11 calculates data necessary for camera shake correction (hereinafter referred to as camera shake correction data) based on the angular velocity data, and converts the camera shake correction data to a correction amount / movement amount conversion unit. Send to 10. The correction amount / movement amount conversion unit 10 calculates data (camera shake correction movement amount data) necessary for moving an image on the CCD 3 based on the camera shake correction data, and moves the camera shake correction movement amount data to the screen. It is sent to the quantity determining unit 9.

Next, a sequence for determining a pointer input movement amount based on input information from the pointer 18 in the microcomputer 6 will be described.

A pointer 18 is provided on the camera body. The pointer 18 is provided with four keys K1, K2, K3, and K4 for pointing up, down, right, and left. The data is read by the internal pointer input unit 15. The pointer input unit 15 of the microcomputer 6
The operation state of the pointer 18 is read and converted into vector information (hereinafter, referred to as pointer information) representing a position.
It is sent to the pointer on / off determination and display data control unit 14.

The pointer on / off determination and display data control section 14 determines whether or not the input information from the pointer 18 is valid, based on the zoom position of the lens 2, that is, the magnification. For example, the input information from the pointer 18 is automatically validated at a timing when the zoom position becomes a magnification at which the photographer cannot follow the subject in the normal camera work of moving the camera body. In other words, in the camera of the present embodiment, the subject tracking function is turned on / off in conjunction with the zoom magnification.

Here, the zoom position used when the pointer on / off determination and the display data control unit 14 determines whether the input information from the pointer 18 is valid is provided in, for example, the camera body. It can be created according to the operation of the zoom key 21 that is being operated. The zoom key 21 includes a wide key 21W for changing the magnification of the lens 2 which is the ultra-high magnification zoom lens to a wide side (wide angle side, low magnification side), and a zoom side for a tele side (telephoto side, high magnification side). The wide key 21W and the tele key 21T
Is read by the zoom key input unit 17 inside the microcomputer 6. The zoom key input unit 17 of the microcomputer 6 supplies the zoom key input information reading the operation state of the zoom key 21 to the zoom position information creating unit 16. The zoom position information creating unit 16 uses the pointer on / off determination and the display data control unit 14 based on the zoom key input information to determine whether to validate the input information from the pointer 18. To generate zoom position information.

The pointer on / off determination and display data control unit 14 also provides information for turning on / off the display of the pointer displayed on the display 20 (hereinafter, referred to as pointer display on / off information). Generate. The pointer display on / off information is input to the data display controller 19 and is displayed on a display 20 such as an EVF (electronic viewfinder) or LCD (liquid crystal display) panel.
The left and right four arrows a1, a2, a3, and a4 are displayed so that the photographer can recognize that the pointer is in the valid state.

The pointer information output from the pointer on / off determination and display data control section 14 is sent to the pointer information / movement amount conversion section 13. The pointer information / movement amount conversion unit 13 generates pointer input movement amount data based on the pointer information and sends it to the screen movement amount determination unit 9.

The screen movement amount determination unit 9 calculates the camera shake correction movement amount data from the correction amount / movement amount conversion unit 10,
The pointer information / movement amount data from the pointer information / movement amount converter 13 is mixed to generate vertical movement amount data to the vertical control circuit 5 and horizontal movement amount data to the horizontal control circuit 4.

Thus, the vertical control circuit 5 and the horizontal control circuit 4 can drive the optical prism 1 in the vertical and horizontal directions.

Next, the pointer operation and the processing contents of the pointer input section 15 will be described with reference to FIGS.

In (1) of FIG. 2, a frame indicated by a solid line in the figure indicates an image frame (screen) displayed on the display 20 composed of the EVF or LCD panel, and a frame indicated by a dotted line in the figure indicates a frame in the screen. The range of an image (hereinafter, referred to as a pointer movable area) in which the camera shake correction operates effectively and can be moved by operating the pointer 18 is shown. Arrows a1, a2, a3, and a4 in the figure correspond to the pointing directions of the four keys K1, K2, K3, and K4 of the pointer 18, indicate the directions in which the pointer movable area can move, and This is displayed to make the photographer recognize that the movable area can be moved.
Therefore, the pointer movable area is set to the pointer 1
By operating and moving the object 8, for example, it is possible to bring the subject B in (1) of FIG. 2 to the center of the screen as shown in (2) of FIG. At this time, the subject C
Since the object C is outside the pointer movable area, the subject C
Cannot be moved to the center of the screen. However,
In this case, since the outside of the movable area of the pointer is the range that the photographer can follow with the camera work, the camera may be moved as before.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show an example of the specifications of the pointer (pointer device) 18. FIG. FIG. 3 shows pointer 1
FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the relationship between the on / off state of each key K1, K2, K3, and K4 and the screen shift mode when the pointer 18 is operated. Here, for example, in order to shift from the state of (1) in FIG. 2 to the state of (2) in FIG. 2, the pointer 18 in FIG.
The photographer presses the keys K1 and K2 with his / her finger to turn them on. At this time, as can be seen from the timing chart of FIG. 4, when the state of the keys K1 and K2 is turned on, the screen of the state of (1) in FIG. 2 shifts to the upper right and shifts to the state of (2) in FIG. I do. The moving direction and the amount of the screen shift are determined according to the type of the key that is turned on and the length of time that the pointer input unit 5 is turned on.

Next, the processing in the screen movement amount determination section 9 in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In FIG. 5, the screen moving amount determining unit 9 includes a camera shake correcting moving amount data and a pointer information / moving amount converting unit 13 calculated by the correction amount / moving amount converting unit 10 in FIG.
Is supplied. First, in step ST1, a horizontal total movement amount X-move is obtained from the horizontal camera shake correction movement amount and the horizontal pointer input movement amount. In step ST2, the vertical total movement amount is calculated. The vertical total movement amount Y-move is obtained from the directional camera shake correction movement amount and the vertical pointer input movement amount, and the horizontal total movement amount X-move and the vertical total movement amount Y-move are stored in, for example, an internal register.

Next, in step ST3, the horizontal total movement amount X-move is compared with the horizontal movable limit X-limit. In the comparison in step ST3, the horizontal total movement amount X-move is equal to the horizontal movable limit X-limit.
Step S (when it is within the pointer movable area)
If the total horizontal movement amount X-move is equal to or greater than the horizontal movable limit X-limit after T7, the process proceeds to step ST4 and subsequent steps.

In step ST7, the vertical total movement amount Y-move is compared with the vertical movement limit Y-limit. In the comparison in step ST7, when the vertical total movement amount Y-move is within the vertical movement limit Y-limit (within the pointer movable area), the process is terminated, and the vertical total movement amount Y-move is moved in the vertical direction. Limit Y-limi
If it is not less than t, the process proceeds to step ST8 and subsequent steps.

Although not shown in FIG. 5, when it is determined in step ST3 and step ST7 that the total movement amount is within the pointer movable limit, the horizontal total movement amount X-move is determined by the horizontal movement amount. The transfer data to the control circuit 4 is used as the vertical total movement amount Y.
-move is the transfer data to the vertical control circuit 5.

On the other hand, in step ST3, the horizontal total movement amount X-move is equal to the horizontal movable limit X-limit.
In step ST4, which is reached when it is determined that the above is the case (the pointer is out of the movable area of the pointer), the value of the horizontal total movement amount X-move is changed to the value of the horizontal movable limit X-limit, and The photographer is notified as a message that the total movement amount X-move has exceeded the horizontal movable limit X-limit. The message includes a horizontal arrow a displayed on the display 20.
The display of 1, a3 is made to blink, for example. Alternatively, although not shown in FIG.
An LED (light emitting diode) or the like provided at a position easily visible to the photographer such as outside the display screen of 0 may be turned on or off.

In the next step ST5, it is determined whether or not the state in which the horizontal total movement amount X-move is equal to or larger than the horizontal movable limit X-limit has continued for a predetermined time or longer. When the judgment is made, the step S
If it is determined at T7 that the operation is continued, the operation proceeds to step ST.
Proceed to 6.

In step ST6, the pointer operation is initialized. More specifically, in the initialization of the pointer operation, the horizontal total movement amount X-move is set to the horizontal camera shake correction movement amount, and the horizontal pointer input movement amount is set to 0.
Then, the vertical total movement amount Y-move is set as the vertical camera shake correction movement amount, and the vertical pointer input movement amount is set to 0. After the initialization in step ST6, step ST7
Proceed to.

In step ST7, the vertical total movement amount Y-move is equal to the vertical movement limit XYlimit.
In step ST8, which proceeds when it is determined that the above is the case (the pointer has exceeded the movable area of the pointer), the value of the vertical total movement amount Y-move is changed to the value of the vertical movable limit Y-limit, and The photographer is notified as a message that the total movement amount Y-move has exceeded the vertical movement limit Y-limit. The message includes a vertical arrow a displayed on the display 20.
The display of 2, a4 is made to blink, for example. Alternatively, as in the case of the horizontal direction, an LED (light emitting diode) or the like, which is not shown in FIG. You may make it blink.

In the next step ST9, it is determined whether or not the state in which the vertical total movement amount Y-move is equal to or more than the vertical movable limit Y-limit has continued for a predetermined time or longer. When the determination is made, the process ends,
When it is determined that the operation is continued, the process proceeds to step ST10.

In step ST10, the pointer operation is initialized as in the horizontal direction. That is, in the initialization of the pointer operation, the horizontal total movement amount X-mov
Let e be the horizontal hand movement compensation movement amount, set the horizontal pointer input movement amount to 0, and make the vertical total movement amount Y-move
Is set to the vertical camera shake correction movement amount, and the vertical pointer input movement amount is set to 0. After the initialization in step ST10, the process ends.

The above steps ST6 and S
At the time of initialization of T10, the horizontal pointer input movement amount and the vertical pointer input movement amount are set to 0,
Pre-hold may be used. Furthermore, the initialization is performed simultaneously in the horizontal and vertical directions, but it may be limited to only the direction outside the movable range.

The display information determined by the image moving amount determining section 9 operating as described above is fed back to the pointer ON / OFF determination and display data controller 19 in FIG.

As described above, according to the camera of the embodiment of the present invention, photographing at the time of super-high-magnification zooming by a camera having a super-high-magnification (for example, 100-times) lens in which the photographer cannot track the subject. However, by utilizing the human interface of moving an image with a pointer and displaying its state, it was possible to easily track the subject.

In the above description of the present embodiment,
The image on the CCD 3 is moved by controlling the driving of the optical prism 1. For example, an effective imaging area smaller than the entire imaging area is set for the entire imaging area of the CCD 3, and for example, Movement amount determination unit 9
By moving the effective imaging area based on the vertical movement amount data and the horizontal movement amount data determined by
The same operation as the image movement on the CCD 3 by the optical prism 1 described above can be realized. In this case, the above C
Either taking out only the imaging data in the effective imaging area from the entire imaging area of the CD 3 or storing all the imaging data from the all imaging area of the CCD 3 in a memory (not shown), etc. Only the imaging data of the effective imaging area is extracted from the imaging data. In the case of using the former extraction method, a CCD drive circuit (not shown) for generating horizontal and vertical drive signals for the CCD 3 is controlled based on the vertical and horizontal movement amount data from the screen movement amount determination unit 9 to extract the latter. In the case of using the technique, a memory control circuit (not shown) for controlling the memory is controlled based on the vertical and horizontal movement amount data from the screen movement amount determination unit 9. Of course, both the image movement on the CCD 3 by the drive control of the optical prism 1 and the image movement on the CCD 3 by the above-mentioned CCD drive or memory control can be simultaneously adopted.

In the above embodiment, the pointer 18 is used only for moving the pointer movable area (screen shift). However, the pointer 18 can also be used as a menu switching pointer in the human interface. . Further, a so-called joystick can be used in place of the pointer device, and the movement direction can be indicated by a line-of-sight input.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the tracking direction of a subject is instructed, and the subject is tracked based on the instruction input. By enabling tracking, the subject can be tracked even when shooting at a very high magnification. In other words, even when shooting at ultra-high magnification zoom with a camera that has an ultra-high magnification mode where the photographer cannot track the subject, the subject can be easily tracked by utilizing the human interface of the pointer and the status display. It is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic system configuration diagram of a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram used to explain the motion of subject tracking in the camera of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an external view of a pointer device.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing an output signal of a pointer device at the time of pointer operation and a screen shift mode corresponding to the output signal.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process in an image movement amount determination unit of the camera according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 optical prism, 2 lens, 3 CCD, 4
Horizontal control circuit, 5 vertical control circuit, 6 microcomputer,
7 angular velocity sensor for detecting pitching, 8 angular velocity sensor for detecting rolling, 9 screen moving amount determining unit, 10 correcting amount / moving amount converting unit, 11 angular speed / vibration correction data calculating unit, 12 A / D converter unit, 13 pointer information / movement amount conversion unit, 14 pointer on / off discrimination and display data control unit, 15 pointer input unit, 16 zoom position information creation unit, 17 zoom key input unit, 18 pointer, 19 data display controller, 20 display, 21
Zoom key, 21T tele key, 21W wide key

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image photographing apparatus for photographing a subject image by forming incident light via an optical system on an image pickup means, wherein: an instruction means for instructing a tracking direction of the subject; and an instruction input from the instruction means. And a tracking means for tracking the object based on the image capturing apparatus, wherein the object can be tracked while holding the apparatus body. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tracking means includes a refraction angle changing means for changing a refraction angle of the incident light, and / or a timing changing means for changing a writing or reading timing of the imaging means. Item 2. The image photographing device according to Item 1. 3. The image photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tracking means has a camera shake correction function for correcting shaking of a subject image due to camera shake, and operates the camera shake correction function during the tracking of the subject. . 4. The image photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said optical system has a zoom function capable of changing a magnification, and said tracking means turns on / off a tracking function in conjunction with said zoom magnification. apparatus. 5. The image photographing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising display means for allowing a photographer to confirm whether the tracking function is on or off. 6. The image photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said instruction means has a function of switching an operation mode menu.