JP2000231148A - Electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic still camera the thickness of a camera front cover of which is suppressed to the minimum. SOLUTION: The camera is provided with a camera main body with a photographic lens 11 mounted, a rear cover 100 for covering the rear side of the camera main body, a grip cover 300 for covering the grip part of the camera main body and a front cover 500 for covering the front side of the camera main body together with the grip cover 300 and where a mount 525 for accessory attached to the photographic lens 11 is arranged. And, a mount ring constituting the mount is disposed projectingly from the front cover 500 so that the mount ring may be partly supported by a bent part BP which is formed by bending the front cover 500 from the front side of the camera main body to the side face.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic still camera having a back cover that covers the back of a camera body, a front cover that covers the front, and a grip cover that covers a grip. The present invention also relates to a step-up ring for attaching an accessory to a taking lens.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image pickup device such as a CCD that picks up an image of a subject passing through a photographing lens and outputs image data, and a device such as a white balance or γ correction for image data output from the image pickup device. A digital circuit comprising an image processing circuit for performing image processing, a compression circuit for compressing data after image processing by a method such as JPEG and storing it in a recording medium such as a flash memory, and a monitor for displaying the data after image processing. Still cameras are known.

[0003] As such a digital still camera,
A camera body having a grip portion and provided with a photographing lens, a back cover covering the rear surface of the camera body, a grip cover covering the grip portion, and a front cover covering the front surface of the camera body together with the grip cover. Are known. Usually, the front cover is formed by pressing a thin metal plate or by injection molding of a resin.

When an accessory such as a teleconverter lens or a fish-eye lens is attached to such a digital still camera, a step-up ring is screwed into a tip of a lens barrel of a photographing lens protruding from a front cover, and is attached to a tip of the step-up ring. Accessories may be attached. When the shooting barrel is fixed to the camera body, the weight of the step-up ring and the accessory is supported by the camera body via the shooting barrel. Therefore, such a front cover is merely a decorative board.

[0005]

(1) However, when an accessory mounting pedestal is provided on the front cover separately from the photographing lens barrel, the weight of the step-up ring and the accessory is supported by the front cover. It is necessary to design the strength of the front cover in consideration of the above. (2) The inner peripheral surface of the conventional step-up ring is a straight hole, and depending on the angle of view of the photographing lens, the luminous flux of the subject may be vignetted. In particular, a problem is likely to occur when one step-up ring is used in common for a plurality of digital cameras having different angles of view. Furthermore, since antireflection processing is not performed on the inner peripheral surface of the conventional step-up ring, halation may occur in a subject image incident on the image sensor, and improvement has been demanded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic still camera in which the thickness of a cover is minimized even when the weight of the accessory is supported by the front cover of the camera. It is another object of the present invention to provide a step-up ring that eliminates vignetting when using an accessory.

[0007]

The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings of the embodiments. (1) The invention of claim 1 provides a camera body provided with a photographing lens 11, a back cover 100 covering the back of the camera body, a grip cover 300 covering a grip portion of the camera body, and a camera together with the grip cover 300. The present invention is applied to an electronic still camera including a front cover 500 that covers a front surface of a main body and is provided with a mounting base 525 for an accessory 800 to be mounted on the photographing lens 11. The above-described object is achieved by setting the front cover 500 to the front surface 500 of the camera body.
Bending part B that can be bent from FS to side surface 500SS
This is achieved by projecting the mounting pedestal 525 on the front cover 500 such that a part of the mounting pedestal 525 is located at P. (2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic still camera similar to the first aspect, by providing the front cover 500 with the raised portion 520 bulging forward of the camera, and providing the mounting base 525 on the raised portion 520, Achieve the above objectives. (3) In the electronic still camera according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic still camera according to the second aspect, the raised portion 520 is extended to a bent portion BP where the front cover 500 is bent from the front surface 500FS of the camera body to the side surface 500SS, and an accessory is attached. The pedestal 525 is characterized by projecting from the raised portion 520 so that a part thereof is located at the bent portion BP. (4) The electronic still camera according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the mounting pedestal 525 is a ring mounting portion 522 that protrudes integrally from the front cover 500.
And an accessory ring 523 connected to the ring mounting portion 522. (5) The tapered hole 7 corresponding to the maximum angle of view of the photographing lens 11 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the step-up ring 700 for mounting the accessory 800 on the photographing lens 11.
By forming 02a, the above object is achieved. (6) According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the antireflection processing is performed on the inner peripheral surface.

In the means for solving the above-mentioned problems, for the sake of simplicity, the drawings are associated with the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a digital still camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view thereof, FIG. 3 is a view of the camera from the front, FIG. 4 is a view of the camera from the back, FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the camera, FIG. 6 is a right side view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is a left side view.

The digital still camera shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 has a photographing lens 11, and picks up an image of a subject light beam incident from the photographing lens 11 by an image pickup device (not shown). An image signal captured and output by the image sensor is subjected to well-known image processing by an image processing circuit (not shown), and is displayed on the monitor 12 as a through image. When the release button 13 is fully pressed, the image sensor newly captures an image of the subject, performs predetermined processing by the image processing circuit, and sets the image as a frozen image on the monitor 1.
2 (FIG. 4), compressed and stored in an external recording medium such as a CF card. As shown in FIG. 17, the digital still camera has an optical viewfinder 14, and an eyepiece window 14 of the optical viewfinder 14 is provided on the back of the camera.
a, an objective window 14b is provided on the front of the camera.
On the front of the camera, the projection window 15 of the electronic flash device and red eye reduction
A projection window 16 for a self-timer display lamp is also provided. As shown in FIG. 4, a monitor button 17 and a menu button 18 are provided below the monitor 12 on the back of the camera.

On the upper surface of the camera, a main switch 19 is installed coaxially with the release button 13.
Reference numeral 9 denotes a power-off position (OFF) and an automatic photographing position (REC).
A), a manual shooting position (RECM), and a reproduction position (PL
AY). A liquid crystal panel 20 and a flash photography mode button 21
, AF mode button 22 and image quality mode button 23
And an exposure correction button 24. On the liquid crystal panel 20, a flash mode of the flash device by the flash mode button 21, a distance range by the AF mode button 22,
Compression rate by image quality mode button 23, exposure compensation button 2
4 are displayed. A battery cover 25 and a CF card cover 26 are provided on the bottom of the camera so as to be openable and closable. The battery is inserted and removed by opening and closing the battery cover 25, and the CF card is inserted and removed by opening and closing the CF card cover 26. . An input / output port cover 27 is provided on the side of the camera so as to be openable and closable. When the input / output port cover 27 is opened, an external power terminal, a video output terminal, and a digital output terminal provided on the camera body are exposed. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 28 denotes a selection button for selecting a setting item displayed on the monitor 12, and after selecting the item, the release button 13 is operated to shift to a set menu.

This digital still camera has a camera main body (not shown), and the camera main body includes the above-described photographing lens 11, monitor 12, release button 13, image sensor (not shown), image processing circuit, electronic flash device, etc. Is mounted. The camera body has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a grip portion protruding forward from the camera is provided at a left front portion when viewed from the front, and a photographing lens 11 is provided at a right front portion. The surface of the camera body is covered with three covers. That is, the cover includes a back cover 100 covering the back of the camera body, a grip cover 300 covering the grip portion,
A front cover that covers the front surface of the camera body together with the grip cover. 400 is a grip decoration.

The cover for covering the camera body will be described mainly with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the back cover 100 covering the back of the camera body. The back cover 100 has a resin cover body 101 that is injection-molded into a lunch box shape. From the left inner side surface of the main body 101, mounting plates 102 and 103 for fastening the rear cover 100 to the camera main body together with the grip cover 300 with screws SC1 (FIG. 14) protrude forward from the camera. From the right side of the cover body 101, the rear cover 100 together with the front cover 500 is screwed to the camera body.
A mounting plate 104 for fastening at C2 (FIG. 9) protrudes in front of the camera. From the inner surface of the bottom plate of the main body 101, mounting plates 105 and 10 for fastening the rear cover 100 together with the front cover 500 to the camera main body with screws SC3 (FIG. 9).
6 projects forward of the camera. A step portion 107 with which the inner peripheral surface of the front cover 500 abuts is formed almost all around the open end surface of the cover main body 101. Note that, for simplification of the drawing, the step portion 107 is partially omitted. Step 107
The upper side 107U is provided with grooves 108, 109 for locking locking pieces 509, 510 of the front cover 500, which will be described later. Various buttons 21 are provided on the upper surface of the cover body 101.
An opening 110 is provided in which to 24 are provided.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the front cover 500, FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the accessory ring 523, and FIGS.
(B) and (c) are a front view, a left side view, and a right side view of the front cover 500, respectively, and FIGS. 12 (a) and (b) are a top view and a bottom view of the front cover of FIG. FIG.
11A and 11B are a sectional view taken along line aa and a line bb of FIG. 11A, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 9 to FIG.
Has a lunch box-shaped cover body 501 formed by pressing an aluminum alloy plate material. A mounting plate 5 for fastening the front cover 500 to the grip cover 300 with screws SC4 from the front edge of the camera on the left side of the main body 501.
02 and 503 project to the side of the camera. On the right side of the front cover body 501, a hole 504 for fastening the front cover 500 together with the rear cover 100 to the camera body with a screw SC2 is formed. Bottom plate 50 of main body 501
5, holes 506 and 50 for fastening the front cover 500 to the camera body together with the rear cover 100 with screws SC3.
7 has been opened. The bottom plate 505 also has the front cover 5
A hole 508 is formed for fastening the screw 00 to the camera body together with the grip cover 300 with the screw SC5. Grooves 108, 109 formed on the upper side 107U of the rear cover step 107 are formed on the upper side of the open end of the front cover body 501.
Locking pieces 509 and 510 are provided. Further, a front cover 500 is provided on the upper left edge of the front cover 500.
Locking opening 54 for locking the
A locking plate 540 having an opening 0a protrudes therefrom.

As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, the front cover body 501 has an elliptical (egg-shaped) raised portion 520 that projects (bulges) substantially forward of the camera with the photographing optical axis AX as a center. Is formed. An opening 21 through which a photographing light beam passes is formed at the top of the raised portion 520, and an accessory ring mounting portion 522 formed integrally with the raised portion 520 by press molding is provided so as to surround the opening 521. The attachment ring 522 shown in FIG.
3 is concluded. The attachment base 525 (FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIG. 10) is configured by the accessory ring attachment portion 522 and the accessory ring 523. Note that a female screw 523b is formed on the inner periphery of the accessory ring 523, and a step-up ring 700, which will be described later, is screw-connected. 522a is an insertion hole of the screw SC6 drilled in the mounting portion 522, and 523a is an accessory ring 52.
3 is a screw hole into which the screw SC6 is screwed.

As described above, the mounting base 525 is attached to the front cover 5.
00 and an accessory ring 523 connected to the ring mounting portion 522.
With this configuration, the protruding height of the ring mounting portion 522 formed integrally with the press can be reduced. As a result, the drawing depth at the time of press forming can be reduced, and the process can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced. Further, it is not necessary to form a screw directly on the ring mounting portion 522. That is, when the accessory ring 523 is not used, the mounting portion 522 is burred and threaded, which is a factor of cost increase. In this regard, if the accessory ring 523 whose tip is threaded in advance is used separately, burring or the like is unnecessary, and the cost can be reduced.

The elliptical ridge 520 is provided on the front cover 500.
The bulge 520 extends from the front surface 500FS to the side surface 500SS, and is connected to a bulge 511 that protrudes (bulges) to the side of the camera on the side surface of the front cover 500. The rightmost side (as viewed from the front of the camera) of the accessory ring mounting portion 522 is located at a bent portion BP where the elliptical raised portion 520 and the side raised portion 511 are connected.
Since the strength (rigidity) of the bent portion BP can be made higher than that of the flat plate portion, there is no problem in strength even if the front cover 500 is press-formed with a thin aluminum plate material. That is, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the converter lens 800 is attached to the accessory ring 523 via the step-up ring 700, their weight acts on the front cover 500, but the egg-shaped bulge 520 and the side bulge Since the rigidity of the bent portion BP with the portion 511 is sufficiently high,
The front cover 500 does not deform. Further, the space S as shown in FIG.
Since P is provided, space efficiency can be increased by arranging components such as a zoom drive mechanism and an auto focus drive mechanism of the photographing lens.

An opening 511 for a flash device irradiation window and an opening 512 for a finder objective window are provided on the front surface of the cover body 501.
And an opening 513 for a red-eye reduction / self-timer display lamp projection window.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the grip cover 300,
FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the grip cover decoration 400. The grip cover 300 is formed by injection molding a resin. The grip cover 300 has a convex shape as a whole in front of the camera, and a concave portion 301 into which the decoration 400 is fitted is formed on the front of the camera. An elongated elliptical step groove 302 is formed on the right side of the bottom surface of the concave portion 301. On the left side of the grip 300, the screw SC1 is attached to the camera body together with the back cover 100.
Holes 303 and 304 for fastening are provided. At the lower right front of the grip cover 300, there is a front cover 5
A mounting plate 305 for fastening the grip cover 300 to the camera body with the screw SC5 is provided along with 00.

On the right edge of the grip cover 300, a step 306 is formed in the vertical direction of the camera, with which the inner peripheral surface of the left edge of the front cover 500 abuts. Notch 3 in step 306
06a is formed. The notch 306a is a portion through which the side mounting plates 502 and 503 of the front cover 500 pass. On the back surface of the grip cover 300, circular bosses 307 and 308 serving as screw holes and locking projections 309 and 310 are protruded. The mounting plates 502 and 503 of the front cover 500 are inserted into the back side of the grip cover 300 through the cutouts 306a, and the front cover 500 is fastened to the bosses 307 and 308 of the grip 300 with screws SC4. At this time,
The locking projections 309, 310 engage with the rectangular openings 502a, 503a of the mounting plates 502, 503. Grip cover 3
A locking protrusion 311 is provided on the rear surface of the upper surface of the front cover 00, and the locking protrusion 311 is engaged with the opening 540a of the plate 540 on the upper surface of the front cover 500. A cutout 312 for mounting the release switch 13 and the main switch 19 is formed on the upper surface of the grip cover 300.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the grip decoration 400. Locking projections 401 and 402 project from the right edge of the decoration 400. The locking projections 401 and 402 are engaged with locking grooves (not shown) provided on the right edge of the concave portion 301 of the grip 300. Bosses 403 and 404 having screw holes formed on the back of the decoration 400 are provided with screws SC8.
Thereby, the decoration 400 can be attached to the concave portion 301 of the grip 300. The decoration 400 has an elongated elliptical opening 405 formed therein.
50 is attached to the step groove 302 of the grip 300.
Protrusions 451 and 452 are provided on the back of the decoration 450,
The protrusions 451 and 452 are formed in the engagement recesses 302 of the step groove 302.
The decoration 450 is fixed by engaging with a. It should be noted that the grip decoration 400 is previously provided with the grip cover 300 and the screw SC8.
And attach it to the camera body.

The step-up ring 700 will be described with reference to FIGS. The step-up ring 700 is an adapter for attaching accessories such as the teleconverter lens 800 and a fisheye lens to the photographing lens 11. The step-up ring 700 includes a base 701 having a male screw 701a provided on the outer circumference and a straight hole 701b formed on the inner circumference, and a tapered portion 702 having a tapered hole 702a extending from the base 701 and formed on the inner circumference. And a female screw 7 on the inner circumference
03a provided with a connecting portion 703.

The shape of the inner peripheral surface of the step-up ring 700, that is, the inner diameter and shaft length of the straight hole 701b of the base 701, the taper angle of the tapered hole 702a, and the inner diameter and shaft length of the female screw 703a of the connecting portion 703 are The step-up ring 700 is determined with reference to the angles of view of all the cameras in which the step-up ring 700 is used, and is determined so that the luminous flux of the subject does not vignet when photographing at the largest angle of view. Note that the outer diameter of the male screw 701a of the base 701 is determined by the diameter of the imaging lens 11 to be used, and the inner diameter of the female screw 703a of the connecting portion 703 is determined by the diameter of the accessory to be mounted. Further, the inner peripheral surface of the step-up ring 700 is subjected to an anti-reflection coating process so that the subject light flux does not cause halation.

As shown in FIG. 17, the step-up ring 700 is screwed to the accessory ring 523 of the front cover 500, and the teleconverter lens 800 is screwed to the female screw 703a of the connecting portion 703 of the step-up ring 700.

[0026]

According to the present invention, as described in detail above, the following operational effects can be obtained. (1) According to the first aspect of the present invention, since a part of the accessory mounting pedestal is located at the bent portion where the front cover is bent from the front to the side of the camera body, the accessory mounting pedestal can be supported by the rigid portion. Even when the front cover is formed by press-molding a thin metal plate material or by injection-molding a resin, deformation of the front cover when a heavy accessory is mounted can be suppressed. (2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, the raised portion swelling forward of the camera is provided on the front cover, and the accessory mounting pedestal is provided on the raised portion. Even when the front cover is made by press-molding a plate material or by injection-molding a resin, deformation of the front cover when a heavy accessory is attached can be suppressed. (3) According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the front cover further extends the raised portion from the front surface of the camera body to the bent portion which is bent from the front surface to the side surface of the camera body,
The accessory mounting pedestal can be supported by a portion having higher rigidity. (4) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the mounting pedestal is constituted by the ring mounting portion integrally projecting from the front cover and the accessory ring connected to the ring mounting portion, the protrusion height of the ring mounting portion. In particular, the drawing depth at the time of press molding can be reduced, so that the process can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. In addition, there is no need to directly screw the front cover, and cost can be reduced. (5) Since the tapered hole corresponding to the maximum angle of view of the photographing lens is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the step-up ring, the invention according to claim 5 can accommodate cameras and accessories with various angles of view and improves usability. . (6) According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the antireflection processing is performed on the inner peripheral surface of the step-up ring, the image quality is improved without causing halation in the subject image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the camera.

FIG. 4 is a view of the camera as viewed from the back.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the camera.

FIG. 6 is a right side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a left side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a back cover.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a front cover.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an accessory ring.

11A, 11B and 11C are a front view, a left side view, and a right side view of the front cover 500, respectively.

12A and 12B are a top view and a bottom view of the front cover 500 of FIG. 11A, respectively.

13A and 13B are a sectional view taken along line aa and a line bb of FIG. 11A, respectively.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a grip cover.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a grip decoration.

FIG. 16 is a half sectional view of a step-up ring.

FIG. 17 is a sectional view in which a teleconverter is mounted on a camera via a step-up ring.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: Back cover 300: Grip cover 500: Front cover 502, 503: Mounting plate 511, 520: Raised portion 522:
Ring mounting part 523: Accessory ring 525: Mounting base 700: Step-up ring 702a: Tapered hole 800: Tele-converter lens BP: Bending part SC1-8: Screw

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/781 F-term (Reference) 2H054 AA01 CD00 2H100 AA05 AA41 CC07 2H101 DD04 DD64 EE04 EE98 5C022 AA13 AB68 AC54 AC63 AC77 AC78 CA00

Claims (6)

[Claims] A camera body provided with a photographing lens, a back cover covering a back surface of the camera body, a grip cover covering a grip portion of the camera body, and covering a front surface of the camera body together with the grip cover; An electronic still camera comprising: a front cover provided with a mounting pedestal for an accessory mounted on the photographing lens; wherein the mounting pedestal for the accessory is provided at a bent portion where the front cover is bent from the front to the side of the camera body. An electronic still camera, wherein the electronic still camera is provided so as to protrude from the front cover so that a portion is located. 2. A camera body provided with a photographing lens, a back cover covering a back surface of the camera body, a grip cover covering the grip portion of the camera body, and covering a front surface of the camera body together with the grip cover. An electronic still camera comprising: a front cover provided with a mounting pedestal for an accessory to be mounted on the photographing lens; wherein the front cover has a raised portion bulging forward of the camera, and the mounting pedestal includes the raised portion. An electronic still camera provided in the electronic still camera. 3. The electronic still camera according to claim 2, wherein the raised portion extends to a bent portion where the front cover is bent from a front surface to a side surface of the camera body, and a part of the mounting base of the accessory is partially formed. An electronic still camera, wherein the electronic still camera protrudes from the raised portion so as to be located at the bent portion. 4. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, wherein the mounting pedestal includes a ring mounting portion integrally projecting from the front cover, and an accessory ring connected to the ring mounting portion. An electronic still camera, comprising: 5. A step-up ring for mounting an accessory on a photographing lens, wherein a tapered hole is formed in an inner peripheral surface according to a maximum angle of view of the photographing lens. 6. The step-up ring according to claim 5, wherein the inner peripheral surface is subjected to anti-reflection processing.