JP2001281746A - External power source device for camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that a secondary battery having a contact on its side surface has a strong ejection spring for ejecting the battery because it abuts on its side surface, so that its contact part is bent and the contact state of a signal terminal gets unstable when an external power source device is attached to a camera, and further there is possibility that the camera gets larger because the number of the external power source devices and control signal contacts is increased in a single lens reflex digital camera 1. SOLUTION: This external power source device for the camera is provided with a recessed part 215 at a part abutting on the camera battery ejection spring 102, and a 3rd contact part 212 coming into contact with the contact part of the battery amount entrance of the camera. Furthermore, the signal of an operation switch which is important for a camera system and whose frequency in use is high is allotted to a 2nd contact part 211 coming into contact with the contact of the battery chamber of the camera, and the signal of an operation switch which is not important and whose frequency in use is low is allotted to the 3rd contact part 212.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an external power supply for a camera, and more particularly, to an external power supply detachable from a digital camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed an external power supply device which can be attached to and detached from, for example, a lower part of a single-lens reflex camera. This external power supply device has a vertical position operation member used at the time of vertical position shooting, in addition to a battery room for storing a large capacity battery.
A power supply terminal for supplying power to the camera from the external power supply device and a signal terminal for transmitting a signal of the vertical position operation member are transmitted to the camera by contacting a contact provided in a battery compartment of the camera. You.

[0003] Most conventional single-lens reflex cameras use primary batteries, and since these batteries are configured such that the contacts on the camera side abut in the battery loading direction,
When removing the battery, the battery contact of the camera is configured to push the battery. For this reason, there was no need for a dedicated discharge spring for discharging the battery.

[0004]

However, in digital cameras that have become widespread in recent years, secondary batteries with low operating costs are often used due to high power consumption.
Many of these secondary batteries have a contact on the side, and since the battery contact of a camera using such a battery comes into contact with the side of the battery, no force acts on the battery in a direction to discharge the battery. Has a powerful discharge spring for discharging.

When an external power supply is mounted on a camera having such a strong discharge spring, the contact portion entering the battery chamber is pushed by the strong battery discharge spring, so that the contact portion is bent, and the signal of the vertical position operation member is transmitted. In some cases, the contact state of the terminals became unstable, resulting in poor contact.

In addition, this type of external power supply device is equipped with many operation members for photographing in a vertical position, and several types of power supplies can be mounted. The number of control signal contacts between the device and the camera has increased, and it has become impossible to secure a sufficient number of contacts only in the space deep inside the conventional battery compartment.

[0007] However, if the contact portion is formed in another place, a detachable or retractable contact protection member for protecting the contact portion other than the battery compartment is required when the external power supply is not used, thereby increasing the cost. In addition, the number of operations for attaching and detaching the external power supply increases, and the camera becomes larger, which causes many problems.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described aspects, and has as its object to provide means for solving these problems.

[0009]

Therefore, in the present invention, the above object is achieved by providing an external power supply device for a camera described in any of the following items (1) to (4). Is what you do.

(1) In a camera having a battery discharge spring for discharging a battery into a battery chamber and an external power supply device detachable from the camera, an electrical connection between the camera and the external power supply apparatus is made in the battery chamber of the camera. An external power supply device for a camera, comprising: a contact portion for performing the operation;

(2) The external power supply device for a camera according to the above (1), wherein a contact portion for a power supply and a contact for a control signal are provided at a contact portion between the camera and an external power supply.

(3) In a camera and an external power supply device detachable from the camera, a contact portion for making an electrical connection between the camera and the external power supply device is provided in a battery compartment of the camera, and the contact portion is connected to the camera. A first contact portion for supplying power to the camera; a second contact portion disposed at the back of the battery compartment of the camera for transmitting a control signal between the camera and an external power supply; and a battery compartment of the camera. An external power supply device for a camera, comprising a third contact portion disposed near an entrance of the camera.

(4) The second contact portion is a contact portion for transmitting a control signal of high system importance such as the camera judging the state of the external power supply device, and the third contact portion is a vertical contact portion. (3) The external power supply device for a camera according to the above (3), which is a contact portion for transmitting a control signal of low importance on the system such as a position operation member.

[0014]

According to the structure of the present invention described above, since the discharge spring of the battery does not need to act on the attachment / detachment of the external power supply device, a concave portion is provided at the contact portion of the external power supply device with which the discharge spring of the camera contacts. Thereby, the contact failure of the signal contact can be prevented by reducing the spring force acting on the contact portion or preventing the spring force from acting and reducing the amount of bending of the contact portion.

In order to increase the number of contacts, a contact portion is provided near the entrance of the battery compartment, and the contact portion is protected by a battery cover. This can greatly reduce the problem of increased operation at the time. The contacts at the entrance of the battery compartment, where dirt and the like tend to adhere to the contacts, are used for signal transmission of the vertical position operating member, which is not so important for the system and used less frequently, and the dirt does not easily adhere to the contacts. By placing contact points for signals important for camera control, such as the battery lid open / close detection switch, external power supply identification signal, battery identification signal, coupler detection switch, etc. Thus, it is possible to cope with the increase in the number of contacts while ensuring the same reliability as that of the related art.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail based on an embodiment with reference to the drawings.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a single-lens reflex camera to which an external power supply according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted. And
FIG. 2 is a front view of an external power supply that can be mounted on the single-lens reflex camera, and FIG. 3 is a front view of a state where the external power supply 2 is mounted below the single-lens reflex camera 1. 4 and 5 show a top view and a side view, respectively, of the external power supply device 2.

When the external power supply device 2 is mounted on the camera 1, first, a battery cover 218 (see FIG. 11 described later) of a battery chamber disposed on a grip portion of the camera 1 is removed. When the battery 3 (see FIG. 8 described later) is loaded, this battery is also removed. Then, the contact portion 210 of the external power supply device 2 enters the battery compartment of the camera 1 to make an electrical connection.

The external power supply 2 is fixed to the camera 1 by screwing a tripod screw 201 which rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the dial 202 into a tripod screw of the camera 1. The external power supply device 2 is also provided with a vertical position operating member such as a release button 203 used for vertical position shooting and an electronic dial 204.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view with the battery cover 218 (FIG. 11) removed, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the battery compartment of the camera 1. A tripod screw 101 is provided on the bottom surface of the camera 1, and the external power supply device 2 is fixed to the camera using the tripod screw 101. At the back of the battery compartment of the camera 1, there are a discharge spring 102 for discharging the battery and a second contact point 111. At the entrance of the battery compartment, a lock lever 105 for fixing the battery at the loading position and a third lever 103 are provided. A contact portion 112 is provided. A power contact 1 which is a first bipolar contact connected to a battery and a power terminal of the external power supply 2 is provided on the side of the battery chamber.
07 and 106 (FIG. 7) are arranged.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the external power supply device 2, and FIG. 5 is a right side view. A power supply terminal 213 which is a first contact part for supplying power to the camera 1
214 and a second contact 211 connected to a contact at the back of the battery compartment of the camera 1 and a third contact 212 connected to a contact at the entrance of the battery compartment of the camera. A concave portion 215 is provided at a portion where the contact portion 210 and the battery discharge spring 102 in the battery compartment of the camera come into contact with each other.

As shown in FIG. 6, a battery discharge spring 102 and a stopper 106a for loading a battery are provided in the battery chamber of the camera.
106b and the like make it impossible to increase the number of contacts. On the other hand, the number of signal contacts has increased with the increase in the number of operating members of the external power supply device 2 and the like, and it has become difficult to configure all the contacts in the battery chamber. Therefore, at the entrance of the battery compartment, the battery cover 218
By providing a new signal contact in a portion covered by (FIG. 11), the above-mentioned increase in the number of contacts is dealt with.

With this configuration, when the external power supply device 2 is not mounted, a protection member for protecting the contact portion is required, but a new second contact portion 212 is required.
Since the battery is covered by the battery cover 218, there is no need to prepare a new protective member.

As a result, it is possible to minimize an increase in the cost of preparing the protection member and an increase in the size of the camera, and it is not necessary to perform the work of attaching and detaching the protection member when attaching and detaching the external power supply device 2. Further, it is possible to prevent a problem such as complicated attachment / detachment operation or loss of the protection member, thereby providing a great effect.

Next, the role of the concave portion 215 (see FIG. 10) which contacts the battery discharge spring 102 in the battery compartment of the camera 1 will be described. FIG. 8 shows a state where the battery 3 is loaded in the camera 1, and the battery 3 is locked at the loaded position by the lock lever 105.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the battery chamber in which the battery 3 is loaded. The battery discharge spring 102 is compressed by the battery 3 and exerts a strong force in the direction of discharging the battery.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the battery compartment when the external power supply device 2 is mounted. The battery discharge spring 102 enters the concave portion 215 of the external power supply device and is not completely compressed. Therefore, the spring force generated by the battery discharge spring 102 is also reduced, and the amount of bending of the contact portion 210 of the external power supply device 2 can be reduced, so that the contact state of the signal contact 211 (FIG. 5) can always be kept good.

FIG. 11 is a view when the external power supply device 2 is viewed from the rear. When the battery cover opening / closing knob 217 is slid, the locking of the battery cover 218 is released and the battery cover 218 is opened. On the left side of the battery cover 218, there is a slide cover for passing a power cable of a coupler for supplying power from a constant voltage power supply.
These are operation members such as an AE lock button and an AF setting button used for vertical position shooting.

As described above, the external power supply device is equipped with many vertical position operating members, and many signal contacts are required to transmit these signals to the camera body.

FIG. 12 shows an external power supply 2 connected to the camera body 1.
FIG. 9 is a rear view of the camera when the camera is mounted, with the battery cover 218 opened. The external power supply device 2 has two battery chambers 222a and 222b on the left and right sides. Two batteries to be loaded into the camera 1 are loaded so that long-time continuous shooting or shooting in a low-temperature environment is possible. Like the camera, there are battery discharge springs 224a and 224b at the back of the battery compartment, and lock levers 223a and 223b at the entrance of the battery compartment for locking the batteries at the loading position. Here, a protrusion 225 is provided in the right battery compartment 222b, so that the battery can be loaded, but the coupler cannot be loaded. Since there is no protrusion in the left battery chamber 222a, either the battery or the coupler can be loaded.

FIG. 13 shows that the batteries 3a, 3
b, and each lock lever 223a,
23b is held at the loading position. FIG. 14 shows a state where the coupler 4 is loaded in the battery chamber 222a on the left side.
A cable 401 for supplying electric power from a constant voltage power supply comes out through an outlet 226 formed by retracting the slide cover.

As described above, the external power supply device 2 has a signal terminal and a battery cover 218 (FIG. 11) for transmitting information on the power supply being used to the camera 1 because a plurality of power supplies can be used.
Since a signal terminal for transmitting information necessary for system control of the camera 1 such as the open / close state of the camera and the mounting of an external power supply is also required, the number of contacts with the camera body 1 further increases.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, in the external power supply device 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. The provision of the third contact portion 212 connected to the contact portion at the entrance of the battery compartment of the camera 1 addresses the increase in the number of contacts.

Here, since the second contact portion 211 comes into contact with the contact portion at the back of the battery compartment of the camera 1, it is difficult for the second contact portion 211 to enter from the outside, which deteriorates the contact state such as dust or rain. Since the third contact portion 212 comes into contact with the contact portion at the entrance of the battery chamber, the third contact portion 212 has a structure in which a foreign matter that deteriorates the contact state easily enters.

Therefore, signal contacts necessary for system control of the camera, such as the type of power supply and the opening / closing signal of the battery cover, and the signal of a frequently used release switch are transmitted to the second contact portion 21.
By assigning a signal of an operation switch that is infrequently used or a signal that is insignificant for system control of the camera to the third contact portion 212, it is used in an environment where contact failure is likely to occur due to intrusion of foreign matter as described above. In this case, normal system control can be maintained, and photographing can be continued even if the third contact portion 212 has a poor contact.

[0036]

As described above, the external power supply according to the present invention has the following effects; By providing a concave portion in the portion of the camera that comes into contact with the battery discharge spring, the spring pressure acting on the contact portion of the external power supply device can be reduced, thereby reducing the deformation of the contact portion and preventing the contact failure of the signal contact. it can.

2. By providing a second contact portion that contacts a contact at the back of the battery compartment of the camera and a third contact portion that contacts a contact portion at the entrance of the battery compartment of the camera, it is possible to cope with an increase in signal contacts and increase the number of contacts. Cost increase and size increase can be minimized.

3. The signal of the second contact portion that contacts the contact at the back of the battery compartment of the camera is assigned a signal important in the camera system or a signal of an operation switch that is frequently used, and the third signal that contacts the contact at the entrance of the battery compartment of the camera. By assigning signals of low importance to the system or signals of operation switches that are not frequently used to the contact points of the system, it is possible to continue shooting even under adverse conditions where contact failures are likely to occur. The effect can be obtained, and the external power supply device can be enhanced in function and multifunctional.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a camera to which an external power supply is mounted.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an external power supply.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the camera with an external power supply mounted thereon.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the external power supply device.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the external power supply.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of a state where a battery cover is removed.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the battery compartment of the camera.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which a camera is loaded with a battery.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the state of battery loading in the battery chamber.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a battery chamber with an external power supply mounted.

FIG. 11 is a rear view when an external power supply is mounted.

FIG. 12 is a rear view of the camera when an external power supply is mounted (when the battery cover is opened).

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state where batteries are loaded in an external power supply device.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state where a coupler is mounted on an external power supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Single-lens reflex camera 2 External power supply device 3, 3a, 3b Battery 4 Coupler 102 Battery discharge spring 106, 107 Power contact (first contact part) 210 External power contact part 211 Second contact part 212 Third contact part 215 Concave part 222a, 222b left / right battery room

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A camera having a battery discharge spring for discharging a battery into a battery chamber, and an external power supply device detachable from the camera, wherein an electrical connection is made between the external power supply device and the battery chamber of the camera. An external power supply device for the camera, comprising: a contact portion for contacting the battery discharge spring of the camera with a contact portion of the external power supply device. 2. The external power supply device for a camera according to claim 1, wherein a contact portion for a power supply and a contact for a control signal are provided at a contact portion between the camera and an external power supply. 3. A camera and an external power supply device detachable from the camera, wherein a contact portion for making an electrical connection between the camera and the external power supply device is provided in a battery compartment of the camera, and the contact portion is connected to the camera. A first contact portion for supplying power, a second contact portion disposed at the back of the battery compartment of the camera for transmitting a control signal between the camera and an external power supply, An external power supply device for a camera, comprising a third contact point disposed near an entrance. 4. The second contact section is a contact section for transmitting a control signal of high system importance, such as the camera discriminating a state of an external power supply, and the third contact section is
4. A contact portion for transmitting a control signal of low importance on a system such as a vertical position operating member.
An external power supply for the camera as described.