JP2001125191A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera capable of excellently radiating heat without giving an uneasy feeling to a user. SOLUTION: A CCD 101 is held on a CCD holding plate 121 through a wiring board 122. The lower end of the plate 121 abuts on a tripod mounting member 123. The plate 121 and the member 123 are made of metal having high heat conductivity. After the heat emitted from the CCD 101 at the time of using a digital camera 1A is conducted to the plate 121 through the board 122, it is conducted to the member 123 and discharged to the outside directly or through an attached tripod. Therefore, heat radiation is hardly sensed by the user in comparison with the case the heat is radiated by other parts, whereby the uneasy feeling due to the heat generation is not given.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a camera having a built-in electric element which generates heat during operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various electronic components that generate heat have been used in cameras. For example, a CPU is often provided for functions such as autofocus, automatic exposure, and control of a shutter, and calculation and control for realizing such functions are often performed.

In a digital camera, an image as electronic data can be obtained by using a photoelectric conversion element, unlike a conventional silver halide photograph. Generally, CCDs are often used as photoelectric conversion elements. Also,
A storage element such as a DRAM for temporarily storing photographed image data has been increasingly used.

[0004]

By the way, recently, the control by the CPU becomes complicated due to the sophistication of the camera and the like.
As a result, the speed of the provided CPU has been increased, and the amount of heat generated has increased. Therefore, when the temperature of the CPU becomes high, a control error occurs. Further, the CCD consumes a large amount of power and generates a large amount of heat due to an increase in the number of pixels, but this causes a noise signal to be generated. Further, the DRAM generates more heat due to higher capacity and higher speed, which causes a data error.

Further, when an error occurs or a noise signal is generated due to heat generation as described above, the user perceives the heat generation, which hinders the security of the camera itself.

As a countermeasure against this, there are two methods of "suppressing the amount of generated heat" and "dissipating the generated heat to the outside". The former has a limit in using an electric element. Such an electric element having a small amount of generated heat is generally expensive, so that the cost is also increased. For this reason, the latter measure is generally adopted.

In general, in a device that generates heat, measures are taken to prevent heat storage in the main body by devising heat radiation such as providing a heat sink, but in portable devices such as cameras. The main body has many parts that the user touches, and there are few suitable places where the user does not feel heat.Therefore, it is difficult to take measures against heat storage by the above-mentioned heat radiation. It is the present condition that gives anxiety to the elderly.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a camera that can satisfactorily radiate heat without giving a user a feeling of anxiety.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is a camera body having a built-in electric element which generates heat when operated, and a tripod mounting portion for mounting a tripod to the camera body. And the tripod mounting part,
There is a combination of a thermally conductive first portion that is in thermal contact with the electrical element and a thermally conductive second portion that contacts the tripod when the tripod is attached.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the camera according to the first aspect, the first portion of the tripod mount holds the electric element.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera body having a built-in electric element which generates heat during operation, a thermally conductive tripod mounting member for mounting a tripod to the camera body,
A heat conducting member interposed between the electric element and the tripod mounting member.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the camera according to the third aspect, the heat conductive member is an element holding member for holding the electric element.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the camera according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the electric element is a CCD.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the camera according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the electric element is a CPU or a recording element.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<1. Overall Configuration> FIGS. 1 to 3 are perspective views showing the external configuration of a digital camera 1A (1B) according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view from the front side, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the front side in a state where the imaging optical unit is housed, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the back side. The digital camera 1A (1B) includes a substantially cylindrical imaging optical unit 3
And a camera body 10 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape.

The imaging optical section 3 includes a photographic lens 31 and a lens barrel 30 for holding the photographic lens 31.
The lens barrel 30 is configured to protrude and retract from the camera body 10. When the lens barrel 30 is collapsed, the lens barrier 909 closes and covers the taking lens 31.

A finder window 4 and an A for automatic focus detection (hereinafter, referred to as AF) are provided on the upper front part of the camera body 10.
An F unit 5 and a flash 6 are provided.

The camera body 10 has a release button 7, a mode changeover switch 8, a self-photographing setting switch 9, and a display 17 on its upper surface.

When the release button 7 is half-pressed, the switch S
An operation member 1 is turned on (preparation for photographing), and the switch S2 is turned on (release) when fully depressed. The mode switch 8 switches between “OFF”, “recording”, and “playback” modes. The self-shooting setting switch 9 switches between normal shooting and self-timer shooting each time the switch is pressed. The display 17 is composed of, for example, an LCD or the like, and displays photographing data, self-timer photographing settings, frame numbers at the time of photographing, and other setting mode contents.

The camera body 10 has a memory card insertion slot 18 on one side. The memory card insertion slot 18 is an insertion slot formed in a slit shape,
This is for inserting an external recording medium (hereinafter, referred to as a memory card) 112 into the camera body 10.

Further, the camera body 10 is provided with zoom buttons 14 and 15, a finder window 906, a focus indication lamp 907, and an image display LCD 905 on the back.

As for the zoom buttons 14 and 15, when the zoom button 14 is pressed, the photographic lens 31 is driven to the wide side, and when the zoom button 15 is pressed, the photographic lens 31 is driven to the tele side. The zoom buttons 14 and 15 are also access buttons for calling image data recorded on the memory card 112 during reproduction. Each time the zoom button 14 is accessed, the recorded image is sequentially forwarded (UP), and each time the zoom button 15 is accessed. (DOWN).

The finder window 906 communicates with the finder window 4 inside the camera body 10 so that an object to be photographed can be viewed from the finder window 906 during photographing. Further, the image display LCD 905 displays a photographed image at the time of photographing,
At the time of reproduction, a recorded image selected from the recorded images recorded on the memory card 112 is displayed.

During shooting, the focus indication lamp 907 is pressed halfway down the release button 7 (switch S1 to be described later).
When the shooting preparation operation is completed, the light is turned on, and when the subject cannot be shot at a close distance or when the flash is charged, the light flashes to notify the photographer.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the digital camera 1A (1B) according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The digital camera 1A (1B) includes a system controller (hereinafter, referred to as a CPU) 100 for controlling the operation of the entire digital camera. This CP
U100 performs various functions by executing predetermined software.

A subject image formed through the photographing lens 31 is a solid-state image sensor (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 101.
The output image signal of the CCD 101 is processed by the signal processing unit 102. The driving of the photographing lens 31 is controlled by the lens driving unit 103 so as to be in focus on the basis of the distance measurement result. Distance measuring unit 104
Is used to determine the distance to the subject by using, for example, a phase difference detection method. The driving amount of the photographing lens 31 by the lens driving unit 103 is calculated from the distance measurement data. The lens driving unit 103 includes the photographing lens 31
The lens barrel 30 holding the lens, the lens barrier 909
It also drives the opening and closing of. The photometric unit 105 measures the luminance of the subject and outputs photometric data to the CPU 100. The exposure control unit 106 controls the exposure of the digital camera 1A (1B) by receiving data of the exposure time (shutter speed) Tv and the aperture value Av from the CPU 100 obtained based on the distance measurement and photometry results.

The flash unit 108 emits light from the flash 6 under the control of a boosting control and a light emission control signal for charging from the CPU 100.

The recording unit 111 includes a digital camera 1A (1
A data recording unit fixedly provided in B). At the time of photographing, photographed image data subjected to predetermined image processing in the signal processing unit 102 is recorded in the recording unit 111.

The memory card 112 is a recording medium that is detachable from the camera body 10 and that can record a plurality of image data, such as an SRAM, for example. And the I / F unit 1
Through 13, data can be transferred between the memory card 112 and the CPU 100. Note that, when the captured image data recorded in the recording unit 111 is transferred to a personal computer or the like, the data is temporarily transferred to the memory card 112 and read out by the personal computer.

Next, the functions of the switches SOFF to SSELF will be sequentially described below.

SOFF: The mode switch 8 is set to "OF"
F ”, the digital camera 1A (1
B) is disabled.

SREC: Mode switch 8 is "record"
ON when in the position of, and the digital camera 1A (1B)
Can be taken.

SREP: Mode switch 8 is "play"
Is turned on when it is at the position of, and the display of the recorded image on the image display LCD 905 is enabled.

S1: At the time of photographing, the release button 7 is turned on by one-step pressing (half-pressing) to instruct photographing preparation.

S2: At the time of shooting, the release button 7 is turned on by two-step pressing (full pressing) to instruct exposure.

SUP: Turns on each time the zoom button 15 is pressed, and performs forward playback of recorded images.

SDOWN: The zoom button 14 is turned on each time the zoom button 14 is pressed, and the recorded image is played back in reverse.

SCARD: Turns on when the memory card 112 is inserted.

SSELF: Each time the self-photographing setting switch 9 is pressed, it is turned on by switching between normal photographing and self-timer photographing.

<2. Features of First Embodiment> Features of the digital camera 1A of the first embodiment will now be described.

FIGS. 5 to 7 are a perspective view, a side view, and a plan view of a main part of the digital camera 1A of the first embodiment, respectively. As shown in the figure, the digital camera 1A has a CCD holding plate 121, a wiring board 1
22, a tripod mounting member 123.

The CCD holding plate 121 is fixed to the back of the digital camera 1A by a mechanism (not shown), and is made of a material having thermal conductivity (high thermal conductivity), specifically, metal. However, the wiring substrate 122 is electrically insulated.

The wiring substrate 122 is a flexible printed board for connecting the CCD 101 and the signal processing unit 102. The aforementioned CCD 101 is provided on a wiring substrate 122. The CCD 101 and the wiring substrate 122 to which the CCD 101 is attached are integrally mounted and held on the CCD holding plate 121.

The tripod mounting member 123 has a tripod screw holding portion 123a having a female screw into which a tripod screw is mounted.
And a heat transfer section 123 for transmitting heat from the CCD holding plate 121
b, which is also formed of a material having good thermal conductivity (high thermal conductivity), specifically, a metal.

The tripod screw holding portion 123a has a structure in which a female screw portion is embedded in an internal fitting hole.
The female screw portion is provided on the bottom surface of the digital camera 1A with its tip exposed. Then, the tripod can be attached by externally screwing a tripod screw which is a male screw provided on a tripod (not shown) to the female screw of the female screw portion. The female screw may be cut into the inner surface of the fitting hole of the tripod screw holder 123a.

The heat transfer section 123b is provided above the tripod screw holding section 123a, and is formed by laminating two large and small disks 123b1 and 123b2 each having a certain thickness. The disk 123b2 has a larger diameter than the upper disk 123b1 and thus protrudes around.

The lower end of the CCD holding plate 121 is in contact with the upper surface of the disk 123b2, the CCD holding plate 121 is supported, and a part of the side surface of the disk 123b1 is also in contact with the CCD holding plate 121. Thus, the heat of the CCD holding plate 121 is transferred to the tripod mounting member 1 through the heat transfer section 123b.
It is transmitted to 23.

Since the digital camera 1A has such a configuration, the heat generated by the CCD 101 during use thereof is transmitted to the CCD holding plate 121 through the wiring substrate 122. That is, the CCD holding unit 121 is in thermal contact with the CCD 101. Then, the heat transmitted to the CCD holding plate 121 is further transmitted to the tripod mounting member 123. Then
The heat transmitted to the tripod mounting member 123 is
In a state where the tripod is not attached to 3, it is directly discharged from the female screw portion to the outside. When the tripod is attached to the tripod mounting member 123, the heat generated by the CCD 101 is transmitted from the female screw to the tripod and is released from the tripod surface to the outside.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the CCD 101 as the electric element and the tripod mounting member 1
Since the CCD 101 has the CCD holding plate 121 as a heat conducting member interposed between the digital camera 1A and the digital camera 1A, the heat generated by the CCD 101 can be efficiently released to the outside. As compared with the case where the heat is radiated from the part, the heat is hardly perceived by the user, and the heat can be satisfactorily radiated without giving the user anxiety due to heat generation.

Since the CCD holding plate 121 as an element holding member for holding the CCD 101 also functions as a heat conducting member, the number of components can be reduced as compared with a case where the element holding member and the heat conducting member are separately provided. As a result, the manufacturing becomes easy, and the number of members (the amount of the material forming the members) can be substantially reduced, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Further, the CCD 10 is used as an electric element for generating heat.
1, the heat from the CCD 101, which generates a large amount of heat, can be released, so that heat can be efficiently radiated and the generation of noise signals can be suppressed.

<3. Features of Second Embodiment> A digital camera 1B according to a second embodiment of the present invention has all the configurations shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 similarly to the digital camera 1A according to the first embodiment. The configuration is exactly the same as that of the digital camera 1A except that the configuration for heat radiation is different. Hereinafter, a configuration for heat dissipation will be described.

FIGS. 8 to 10 are a perspective view, a side view, and a plan view of a main part of a digital camera 1B according to a second embodiment, respectively.

The tripod mounting portion 124 in the second embodiment is the one in which the CCD holding plate 121 and the tripod mounting member 123 of the digital camera 1A according to the first embodiment are integrated, in other words, the thermal conductivity (high thermal conductivity). It is a combination of Specifically, the tripod mounting portion 124 is
A heat transfer portion 124b projects vertically (in the X-axis direction) at the lower end of a plate-shaped CCD holding portion 124a that holds the camera, and a tripod screw holding portion 124c projects downward (in the negative Z-axis direction) from the heat transfer portion 124b. It has a shaped shape.

Then, the digital camera 1 of the second embodiment
As shown in FIG. 11 which is a bottom view of the main part in FIG. 11B, the tripod screw holding part 124c has a female screw part 124c1 inside, and the lower end thereof is digital, similarly to the tripod screw holding part 123a of the first embodiment. The tripod is exposed to the outside on the bottom surface of the camera 1B, and the tripod can be attached by externally screwing a tripod screw, which is a male screw, to the female screw. The tripod mount 124 is also formed of a material having good thermal conductivity (high thermal conductivity), specifically, a metal.

With this configuration, the heat generated by the CCD 101 is transferred to the CCD holding section 124 via the wiring board 122.
a. That is, the CCD holding unit 124a
Is in thermal contact with the CCD 101. Then, the heat transmitted to the CCD holding portion 124a is transmitted to the tripod screw holding portion 124c via the heat transfer portion 124b, and is efficiently and directly discharged from the tripod mounting portion 124 to the outside or from the tripod to the outside. As a result, the digital camera 1B has good heat radiation characteristics.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.
The first portion of the thermal conductivity in which the tripod mounting portion 124 is in thermal contact with the CCD 101 as an electric element, that is, the wiring substrate 12
2 occupied by CCD 101 attached through
A heat conductive (high heat conductivity) coupling body including P and a heat conductive second portion that comes into contact with the tripod when the tripod is mounted, that is, the female screw portion 124c1, makes the tripod mounting portion Since 124 also plays the role of a heat conducting member, there is no need to separately provide a heat conducting member, so that the number of parts can be reduced and manufacturing becomes easy.

<4. Modifications> In the above embodiment, an example of a camera, especially a digital camera, has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the digital cameras 1A and 1B having good heat radiation characteristics have been described. However, even in a silver halide camera, good heat radiation can be achieved by providing a member for transmitting heat generated in the CPU to the tripod mounting portion. It can have characteristics.

In the above embodiment, the heat generated by the CCD is released to the outside by the tripod mounting section (tripod mounting member). However, the heat of the storage element such as the CPU and the DRAM is transferred to the tripod mounting section (tripod mounting member). May be released to the outside. In that case, occurrence of an error can be suppressed.

[0063]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, when the tripod is mounted on the tripod, the first portion having thermal conductivity in thermal contact with the electric element and the tripod are mounted. According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, there is provided a combined body with the second portion having thermal conductivity in contact with the tripod.
Since the heat conduction member is provided between the electric element and the tripod mounting member, the heat generated by the electric element can be released to the outside directly from the tripod mounting portion (tripod mounting member) or through the attached tripod. Therefore, compared with the case where heat is radiated from other portions of the camera, the heat can be radiated better without giving the user an uneasy feeling. Claim 5
According to the invention of claim 6, since it is dependent on any one of claims 1 to 4, the same effect as described above is exerted.

According to the present invention, the tripod mounting portion has a first portion having thermal conductivity in thermal contact with the electric element and a first portion having thermal conductivity in contact with the tripod when the tripod is mounted. Since the tripod mounting portion also functions as a heat conducting member by having the combined body with the two portions, there is no need to separately provide a heat conducting member, so that the number of parts can be reduced and manufacturing becomes easy.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first portion of the tripod mounting portion holds the electric element. In particular, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the heat conductive member is provided with the electric element. Because it is also an element holding member that holds the element,
Since it is not necessary to separately provide an element holding member, the number of components can be reduced, the manufacturing becomes easy, and the number of members can be substantially reduced, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the electric element is a CCD, it is possible to radiate heat from the CCD which generates a large amount of heat. Signal generation can be suppressed.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, since the electric element is a CPU or a recording element, occurrence of an error can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a perspective view from the front side of the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the back side of the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part of the digital camera according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a main part of the digital camera according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a main part of the digital camera according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a main part of a digital camera according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a side view of a main part of a digital camera according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a main part of a digital camera according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a bottom view of a main part of a digital camera according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1A, 1B Digital camera 10 Camera body 101 CCD (electric element) 121 CCD holding plate (heat conductive member, element holding member) 123 Tripod mounting member 123a Tripod screw holding portion 123b Heat transfer portion 124 Tripod mounting portion (combined body) 124a CCD Holding part 124b Heat transfer part 124c Tripod screw holding part 124c1 Female screw part (second part) Part occupied by OP CCD (first part)

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Daigo Yoshioka 2-3-13 Azuchicho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hisanori Ito 2-chome, Azuchi-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka No. 13 Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd. (72) Yoshio Nakagawa 2-13-13 Azuchicho, Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shoichi Minato Osaka-shi, Osaka 2-13-13 Azuchicho, Chuo-ku Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2H104 AA00 2H105 AA18 5C022 AB12 AB15 AB17 AB37 AB66 AC03 AC13 AC26 AC32 AC42 AC54 AC64 AC70 AC77 AC78 AC80

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A camera body having a built-in electric element that generates heat during operation, and a tripod mounting part for mounting a tripod to the camera body, wherein the tripod mounting part is in thermal contact with the electric element. A camera comprising a combination of a first conductive portion and a second thermally conductive portion that contacts the tripod when the tripod is mounted. 2. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of the tripod mount holds the electric element. 3. A camera body having a built-in electric element which generates heat during operation, a thermally conductive tripod mounting member for mounting a tripod to the camera body, and an interposition between the electric element and the tripod mounting member. And a heat conductive member inserted therein. 4. The camera according to claim 3, wherein the heat conducting member is also an element holding member that holds the electric element. 5. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the electric element is a CCD. 6. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the electric element is a CPU or a recording element.