GB2321113A

GB2321113A - Camera with a support means for a masking plate

Info

Publication number: GB2321113A
Application number: GB9722586A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Quan Jiang
Original assignee: Ginfax Development Ltd; Ginfax Dev Ltd
Current assignee: Ginfax Development Ltd; Ginfax Dev Ltd
Priority date: 1997-10-24
Filing date: 1997-10-24
Publication date: 1998-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 2017-10-24
Also published as: HK1005951A1; GB2321113B; JP3064030U; GB9722586D0; GB2330662A; JP3064031U; GB9819266D0

Abstract

A camera (1) is provided with a support means (8) arranged in front of the lens system of the camera (1) supporting a plate (10) a predetermined distance from the lens system, wherein the plate has window (28) through which the lens can receive light. Also provided is a apparatus for holding an image in front of the lens. Further provided is a camera having a lens system with an additional focusing means with a focal length in a first area being infinite and in a second area being relatively short.

Description

CAMERA The present invention relates to a camera and a method for adding an image or pattern to the photographed image.

When a picture is taken, it is sometimes desirable to add or superimpose a desired pattern onto the picture to achieve advertising effects or simply to make the picture more attractive or appealing. The common methods to achieve this are: 1) Post-processing of the film to add words or pattern onto the final photograph.

2) Use of digital image processing technique together with use of digital camera or other digitising means.

3) Shooting of an object against a background screen with pattern pre-printed or projected onto it.

4) Installation of a filter pre-printed with the desired pattern in the camera such that when a picture is taken, light passes through the filter whereby the pre-printed pattern is printed on the film. In known cameras which use this arrangement, a number of filters are provided which are pre-printed with patterns and can be placed inside a central rectangular recess area of the internal compartment of the camera before mounting the film.

The first two methods, which rely on post-processing, have the disadvantages of being expensive to implement and inconvenient for casual picture taking. The third and the fourth methods both use pure optical methods to achieve the desired result. The third method has the disadvantage of being location dependent and inconvenient. Although the fourth method is inexpensive and convenient to use, it has the disadvantage that the filter cannot be conveniently replaced without replacing the whole roll of film, so that patterns cannot be changed at will within one roll of film.

The fourth method also has the disadvantage of the preprinted pattern being superimposed on the image being photographed. If the image being photographed in very busy or dark, the superimposed pattern will be indistinct.

The present invention provides a means for conveniently superimposing patterns onto a photograph using a pure optical method. The main advantage of this invention is that the pattern can be changed at any time during picture taking.

The present invention also provides a means of improving the clarity of a pattern superimposed on an image being photographed.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a camera with a lens having a support means disposed in front of the lens of the camera, and having a plate supported in the support means a predetermined distance from the lens.

Preferably, the plate has an aperture through which the lens can receive light from an object to be photographed.

Preferably, the plate is of white material at least on a surface opposite the lens. Preferably, the plate is a white plastics material.

Preferably, the support means is in the form of a holder with side walls. The plate may be supported in the holder by the side walls. Preferably, the holder is formed of a white plastics material.

Preferably, the support means has an aperture corresponding to the position of the lens. Preferably, a second aperture is provided in the support means for a view finder of the camera. Preferably, the plate has a second aperture corresponding to a view finder of the camera. Preferably, the holder has an additional wall between the two apertures.

Preferably, the holder has an aperture in one of the side walls adjacent a flash light of the camera to allow the ingress of light. Preferably, the side wall of the holder adjacent the flash light has a black coloured inside surface.

Preferably, the holder snap fits onto the camera.

A filter may be provided in the camera between the lens and the film for adding an image or pattern to a photographed image.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a camera with a lens having a means for holding an image in front of the lens and outside the camera.

Preferably, the means for holding an image is a plate supported in front of the lens of the camera. Preferably, the plate has an aperture through which the lens can receive light from an object to be photographed.

Preferably, the means for holding an image is supported by a support means in the form of a holder with side walls.

The plate may be supported in the holder by the side walls.

Preferably, the holder is formed of a white plastics material.

Preferably, the holder snap fits onto the camera.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a camera comprising a lens system formed of an object lens and an additional focusing means with a focal length in a first area being infinite and in a second being relatively short for focusing light from an image relatively close to the lens system.

The lens system may have two lenses, an object lens and the additional focusing means in the form of a lens with a nonuniform focal length, the two lenses being separably removable. Alternatively, the lens system may incorporate the additional focusing means in the object lens.

The lens with a non-uniform focal length may have an aperture providing the first area of infinite focal length.

Preferably, the lens with a non-uniform focal length is an aspheric lens. Preferably, the first area of infinite focal length is a central area of the lens system.

Optimally, the second area with a relatively short focal length has a focal length of approximately lOmm.

Preferably, a means for holding an image is provided at the focal length of the second area of the additional focusing means. Preferably, the means for holding an image is a plate provided with an image.

Preferably, the image is provided on the surface of the plate facing the lens system.

Preferably, the means for holding an image has an aperture corresponding to the first area of the additional focusing means. The means for holding an image may have a second aperture corresponding to a view finder of the camera.

Preferably, a light source is provided for illuminating the means for holding an image.

Preferably, a holder is provided in front of the lens system in which the means for holding an image is supported. The holder may have features as defined in the first and/or second aspects of the present invention.

The lens with a non-uniform focal length may be supported in or be integral with the holder in a position between the means for holding an image and the object lens. Preferably, lens with a non-uniform focal length is positioned at a back wall of the holder.

Preferably, the holder has diamond shaped corrugated features allowing multiple refractions of light.

Preferably, the plate is in the form of a sheet of plastics material. Preferably, the plate is white.

Preferably, the holder is of white coloured plastics material. Preferably, the holder has a black filter adjacent the light source for uniform distribution of light from the light source.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for super imposing an image on a photograph using a lens system for focusing an image provided close to a camera lens onto a film.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for superimposing an image on a photograph by providing the image outside a camera.

A specific embodiment of a camera in accordance with the present invention is now described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a camera in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention; Figure 2a and 2b are perspective views of a camera with a holder in accordance with the present invention; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the light path for a camera according to the prior art; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the light path for a camera in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 5 is an example of a photographed image using a camera and method in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, in a first embodiment a camera 1is provided with a lens 2 and a view finder 4. Light from an object to be photographed travels through the lens 2 and is recorded on a film. The camera 1 also has a flash light 6.

A holder 8 is provided for attachment to the front of the camera 1. The holder 8 has side walls 16, a back wall 20 and a front wall 18. The holder 8 snap fits onto the front of the camera 1 for easy attachment and removal. The back wall 20 of the holder 8 has a first aperture 22 corresponding to the position of the lens 2. The back wall 20 of the holder 8 has a second aperture 24 corresponding to the position of the view finder 4. The holder 8 is formed of a white plastics material.

The front wall 18 of the holder 8 has an opening 26 in which a plate 10 is positionable. The opening 26 is rectangular and greater in size than the first and second apertures 22, 24 in the back wall 20 of the holder 8. The plate 10 can be held in the holder 8 by grooves in opposite sides of the rectangular opening 26.

The plate 10 is formed of a white or light coloured plastics material. The plate 10 has a first aperture 28 corresponding to the first aperture 22 in the back wall 20 through which light can pass to the lens 2 from an object being photographed. The plate 10 also has a second aperture 30 corresponding to the view finder 4 and the second aperture 24 in the back wall 20.

The apertures 28, 30 in the plate 10 can be of varying shapes for different visual effects.

One side wall 16 of the holder 8 is adjacent the flash light 6 which is provided on the front of the camera 1. The inside surface of the side wall 16 is black coloured to improve the diffusion of light from the flash light 6 within the holder 8. A slit is provided in the side wall 16 adjacent the flash light 6 to allow light from the flash light 6 to enter the holder 8.

An additional wall is provided between the first apertures 22, 28 of the back wall 20 and the plate 10 and the second apertures 24, 30.

An optional coloured filter 12 is provided for placing in front of the lens 2 of the camera 1.

The holder 8 can be used with a camera 1 using an internal filter 14 as known from the prior art. The filter 14 provides an image or pattern to be superimposed on the photograph. The filter 14 is positioned in the camera and the film is placed over the filter 14 such that the filter 14 is disposed between the film and the lens 2.

The provision of the holder 8 with the white plate 10 means that light from the plate 10 passes through the lens 2 and the filter 14 and the image or pattern on the filter 14 is clarified as it is superimposed over a white area corresponding to the area of the plate 10. In this embodiment, the plate 10 has a central aperture 28, which can be round or alternatively shaped, thus the filter 14 is clarified around the central image of the object being photographed.

Light from the flash light 6 illuminates the plate 10. The material of the plate 10 and the holder 8 allow light to pass through. The diffusion of the light within the holder 8 is improved by the provision of the black inside surface of the wall adjacent the flash light 6. The flash light 6 can be used in day-light as well as in poor light resulting in a good image.

As an alternative second embodiment, the holder 8 described above can be used without a filter 14 inside the camera 1.

In this enbodiment, an image is provided on the inside surface of the plate 10.

In the camera in a third embodiment of one of the aspects of the present invention, a special lens is placed in front of the object lens of an ordinary camera, so that it is positioned in between the object to be taken and the object lens. The focal length is not uniform across the special lens, but is infinite in the central area of the lens and is relatively short in the "non-central" area (the lens being in effect an aspheric lens). Alternately, a hole can be provided at the centre of the special lens allowing light to pass through the object lens directly at the centre part of the special lens.

When light passes through the central area, it is not deflected at all before it reaches the object lens of the camera, so that the focal length of the camera with respect to the object to be taken is not altered by the presence of the special lens.

On the other hand, when light passes through the "noncentral" area of the special lens, it is focused onto the object lens such that the combined focusing effects of the "non-central" area of the special lens and of the object lens enable close objects to be focused onto the camera film. These close objects are in this embodiment the pattern that is desired to be superimposed onto the film.

A focus at a close distance of about lOmm can be achieved.

In an ordinary camera an object generally needs to be spaced at least lm from the object lens.

In this particular embodiment, a holder is provided which can be removably fixed to the front of the camera. The holder has a slot into which a replaceable thin plastic plate can be inserted. The plastic plate has two holes in it, corresponding to the object lens and the view finder respectively. The object taken is captured through the lower hole. The hole can be of any desirable shape. The holder as described above in the first and second embodiments can be used.

The special lens is place in a position between the plate and the object lens and can, for example, be removably installed or permanently fixed along the inner surface of the back wall of the holder. The "central" area of the special lens corresponds to the lower hole of the plate.

The pattern to be superimposed is pre-printed on the back of the plate, or can be drawn or written (with words) by customers.

A small flashbulb is installed on the camera such that when a picture of the object is taken, a flash of the flashbulb causes light to enter the holder and reflect the pattern onto the "non-central" area of the special lens and then the object lens.

A picture as shown in Figure 5 is thus taken, with the pattern surrounding the object being the pattern printed on the back of the plate.

To achieve good quality result, the holder is made of whitecoloured plastic material (as is the plate) to ensure that the pattern is superimposed on a white background. It should also allow flash light to pass through. To achieve uniform brightness across the plate, a black filter is installed on the side wall of the holder which is closer to the flashbulb to reduce the brightness on that side.

The holder also serves the purpose of producing an even distribution of light into the special lens.

It is envisaged that the diffusion of light inside the holder can be further improved by having diamond shape corrugated features allowing multiple refractions of light.

In another fourth embodiment, the special lens is incorporated with the object lens so that only one lens is necessary. A two-lens system, however, has the advantage that the camera can easily operate as an ordinary camera to take "normal" pictures without added effects by removing the special lens and/or the holder.

Modifications and improvements can be made to the forgoing without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A camera with a lens having a support means disposed in front of the lens of the camera, and having a plate supported in the support means a predetermined distance from the lens, wherein the plate has a window through which the lens can receive light from an object to be photographed.

2. A camera as claimed in claim 1, wherein the window is an aperture.

3. A camera as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the plate is of white or light coloured material at least on a surface opposite the lens.

4. A camera as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the plate is a white plastics material.

5. A camera as claimed in any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the plate has a second aperture corresponding to a view finder of the camera.

6. A camera as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the support means is in the form of a holder with side walls.

7. A camera as claimed in claim 6, wherein the plate is supported in the holder by the side walls.

8. A camera as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the holder is formed of a white plastics material.

9. A camera as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the holder has a back wall with an aperture corresponding to the position of the lens.

10. A camera as claimed in claim 9, wherein a second aperture is provided in the back wall of the holder for a view finder of the camera.

11. A camera as claimed in any of claims 6 to 10, wherein the holder has an additional wall between the two apertures.

12. A camera as claimed in any of claims 6 to 11, wherein the holder has an aperture in one of the side walls adjacent a flash light of the camera to allow the ingress of light.

13. A camera as claimed in any of claims 6 to 12, wherein the side wall of the holder adjacent the flash light has a black coloured inside surface.

14. A camera as claimed in any of claims 6 to 13, wherein the holder snap fits onto the camera.

15. A camera as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein a filter is provided in the camera between the lens and the film for adding an image or pattern to a photographed image.

16. A camera with a lens system having a means for holding an image in front of the lens and outside the camera, wherein the lens system is arranged to focus light from the image on a film recording medium.

17. A camera as claimed in claim 16, wherein the means for holding an image is a plate supported by a support means in front of the lens of the camera.

18. A camera as claimed in claim 17, wherein the camera includes any of the features of claims 3 to 14.

19. A camera comprising a lens system formed of an object lens and an additional focusing means with a focal length in a first area being infinite and in a second area being relatively short for focusing light from an image relatively close to the lens system.

20. A camera as claimed in claim 19, wherein the lens system has two lenses, an object lens and the additional focusing means in the form of a lens with a non-uniform focal length, the two lenses being separably removable.

21. A camera as claimed in claim 19, wherein the lens system incorporates the additional focusing means in the object lens.

22. A camera as claimed in claim 20, wherein the lens with a non-uniform focal length has an aperture providing the first area of infinite focal length.

23. A camera as claimed in claim 20, wherein the lens with a non-uniform focal length is an aspheric lens.

24. A camera as claimed in any of claims 19 to 22, wherein the first area of infinite focal length is a central area of the lens system.

25. A camera as claimed in any of claims 19 to 24, wherein the second area with a relatively short focal length has a focal length of approximately 10mum.

26. A camera as claimed in any of claims 19 to 25, wherein a means for holding an image is provided at the focal length of the second area of the additional focusing means.

27. A camera as claimed in claim 26, wherein the means for holding an image is a plate provided with an image.

28. A camera as claimed in claim 27, wherein the image is provided on the surface of the plate facing the lens system.

29. A camera as claimed in claim 27 or claim 28, wherein the plate in the form of a sheet of thin plastics material.

30. A camera as claimed in any of claims 27 to 29, wherein the plate is white.

31. A camera as claimed in any of claims 26 to 30, wherein the means for holding an image has an aperture corresponding to the first area of the additional focusing means.

32. A camera as claimed in claim 31, wherein the means for holding an image may have a second aperture corresponding to a view finder of the camera.

33. A camera as claimed in any of claims 19 to 32, wherein a light source is provided for illuminating the means for holding an image.

34. A camera as claimed in any of claims 19 to 33, wherein a holder is provided in front of the lens system in which the means for holding an image is supported.

35. A camera as claimed in claim 34 and including any of the features of claims 6 to 14.

36. A camera as claimed in claim 34 or 35, wherein the lens with a non-uniform focal length is supported in or is integral with the holder in a position between the means for holding an image and the object lens.

37. A camera as claimed in claim 36, wherein the lens with a non-uniform focal length is positioned at a back wall of the holder.

38. A camera as claimed in any of claims 34 to 37, wherein the holder has diamond shaped corrugated features allowing multiple refractions of light.

39. A method for superimposing an image on a photograph using a camera with a lens system including an object lens for focusing light from an object to be photographed on a recording medium, the method comprising providing an image to be superimposed in front of the lens system, focusing light from the image onto the recording medium.

40. A camera substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

41. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows CB.IMS 1. A camera with a lens ane guiding means for an image recording medium, the camera comprising: a support means disposed in trot of the lens of the camera; a plate supported in the support means a predetermined distance rom te lens; and a filter disposed between the lens and the guide means or an image recording medium; wherein the plate has a window through which the lens can receive light rom an object to be photographed.

2. A camera as claimed in claim 1, wherein the window is an aperture.

3. A camera as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the plate is o white or light coloured material at least on a surface opposite the lens.

8 A camera as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the holder is formed of a white plastics material.

9. A camera as claimed in any cf the preceding claims, wherein the holder has a back wall with an aperture corresponding to the position of the lens.

10 > camera as claimed in claim 9, ereir 2 secono aperture is provided in the back wall of the holder for a view finder of the camera.

11. A camera as claimed in any of claims O to 10, wherein the holder has an additional wall netween tne two apertures.

15. A camera as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the guiding means for an image recording medium is adapted to guide a frame of a film behind the lens.

19. A camera comprising a iens system formes of an object lens ant an additional focusing means with a focal length in a first area being infinite and in a second area being relatively short for focusing light from an image relatively close to the lens system.

30. A camera as claimed in any of claims 27 to 29, wherein the plate is white.