JP2002057919A - Panorama photographing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a panorama photographing device that can reduce unnaturalness of joined parts between photographed images. SOLUTION: The panorama photographing device has a camera main body 11 that can photograph an area of a prescribed size through one shot, a turning means 12 that turns the camera main body 11 in a prescribed direction, and control means 14, 15 that sets a turning angle of the camera main body 11 so that a difference between photographing times of adjacent areas photographed by the camera main body 11 is a prescribed value or below in the case of photographing an all-round panorama image in a prescribed direction around the camera main body 11 through a plurality of number of shots separately and apply drive control to the turning means 12 on the basis of the turning angle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a panoramic photographing apparatus for photographing panoramic photographs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of photographing a subject requiring a large angle of view such as a landscape, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 335, there is a panoramic photographing apparatus that photographs a subject in a plurality of times while rotating a camera with a motor, and connects the obtained images to reconstruct one image.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional panoramic photographing apparatus, since the camera is rotated in a certain direction and photographed a plurality of times, the first photographed image and the last photographed image adjacent to the first photographed image are taken. The difference in the photographing time between the photographed image and the photographed image becomes large. Therefore, for example, if you try to create a panoramic photo of a landscape where the brightness is changing every moment, such as a landscape in the evening, the brightness will differ greatly between the first shot image and the last shot image,
There is a problem that the seams of the images become unnatural.

[0004] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a panoramic photographing apparatus capable of reducing the unnaturalness of a joint between photographed images.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A panoramic photographing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a camera body capable of photographing an area of a predetermined size by one photographing; and a rotating means for rotating the camera body in a predetermined direction. When taking a panoramic image of the entire circumference in a predetermined direction surrounding the camera body in a plurality of times,
Control means for setting a rotation angle of the camera body so that a difference in photographing time between adjacent areas photographed by the camera body is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and drivingly controlling the rotation means based on the rotation angle; And having the following.

[0006] The panoramic photographing apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
A camera body capable of photographing an area of a predetermined size in one photographing operation, a rotating means for rotating the camera body in a predetermined direction, and a plurality of panoramic images of the entire circumference in a predetermined direction surrounding the camera body. When taking a picture separately, the turning angle of the camera body is set so that the first area and the last area shot by the camera body are not adjacent to each other, and the turning means is set based on the turning angle. And control means for controlling the driving of the motor.

Further, the panoramic photographing device according to the present invention comprises:
A camera body capable of photographing an area of a predetermined size in one photographing operation, a rotating means for rotating the camera body in a predetermined direction, and a plurality of panoramic images of the entire circumference in a predetermined direction surrounding the camera body. When shooting separately, the camera body is rotated so that the first shot area of the areas located at both ends of the areas shot up to that point contacts the next shot area. Control means for setting an angle and drivingly controlling the rotation means based on the rotation angle.

The preferred embodiments of the above inventions are as follows.

(1) The control means has a memory, and information on the rotation angle of the camera body is stored in the memory in advance.

(2) The control means calculates a rotation angle of the camera body based on characteristics of a photographing optical system provided in the camera body.

[0011]

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

(Configuration) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a panoramic photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an external configuration example.

As shown in FIG. 2, a camera (digital camera or the like) 11 includes a camera rotating unit 12 and a camera rotating unit 1.
Numerals 2 are attached to the tripods 13, respectively, and the camera 11 rotates with respect to the tripod 13 by operating the camera rotating means 12. The camera 11 and the camera turning means 12 are controlled by the CPU 14. In the ROM 15, angle data of a direction in which the camera is pointed in each shooting is stored in advance as information regarding a rotation angle when performing panoramic shooting of a subject in a plurality of times.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of angle data stored in the ROM 15. In this example, a lens having a slightly wider angle of view in the horizontal direction than 45 degrees, for example, a lens of 50 degrees is used. As shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the image is divided into areas and the entire area is photographed by eight photographing operations. The angle data shown in FIG. 3 is a relative angle with respect to the direction of the camera at the time of the first shooting.
Indicate the shooting area number (area 1 to area 8) and the number of times of shooting (first to eighth times).

The angle data is obtained at each time of the divided photographing.
Of the two areas located at both ends of a series of areas photographed before that, the side in contact with the previously photographed area is set to be the next photographed area. From another point of view, the difference between the photographing times between adjacent areas is equal to or less than a predetermined value (preferably, the difference between the two photographing times), or the first photographing area (area 1) and the last photographing time are different. The angle data is set so that the area (area 8) to be photographed in the order of photographing is not adjacent.

(Operation) Next, the operation of the panoramic photographing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing areas 1 to 5 of the eight areas for one round shown in FIG.

First, the CPU 14 reads out angle data for the first photographing from the ROM 15. The angle read at this time is 0 degrees as shown in FIG. CPU1
4 sends a rotation control signal corresponding to the angle data to the camera rotation means 12. The camera rotation means 12 receives the rotation control signal and turns the camera 11 in the direction of 0 degrees (this processing may be omitted if the initial position of the camera is 0 degrees). After turning the camera 11 in the direction of the first shooting, C
The PU 14 sends a shooting signal to the camera 11. The camera 11 receives this photographing signal and performs the first photographing.
Thus, the first image, that is, the image of area 1 is obtained.

Next, the CPU 14 reads out the angle data for the second photographing from the ROM 15. The angle read at this time is +45 degrees as shown in FIG. CP
U14 sends a rotation control signal corresponding to the angle data to the camera rotation means 12. The camera rotation means 12 receives the rotation control signal and turns the camera 11 in the direction of +45 degrees. After turning the camera 11 in the direction of the second shooting, the CP
U14 sends a photographing signal to the camera 11. Camera 1
1 receives this photographing signal and performs the second photographing. In this way, a second image, that is, an image of area 2 is obtained.

Thereafter, similarly, the third time (the angle is -45)
Degree), the fourth time (angle is +90 degrees), and so on while allocating the shooting area alternately left and right, the eighth time (angle is +90 degrees).
(Up to 180 degrees).

As can be seen from the above description, of the eight images taken, any two adjacent images have a time difference of at most two times in terms of time. If the time required is 10 seconds, at most 20
It is a time difference of seconds. Therefore, as in the related art, the first image and the last image are adjacent to each other, and their photographing time difference (seven photographing time differences = 70 seconds) becomes large, resulting in an unnatural seam between images. Problem can be prevented.

In the above example, the photographing area is divided into eight, but the number of divisions increases or decreases according to the angle of view of the lens used. That is, if the angle of view of the lens is wide, the number of divisions is small, and if the angle of view of the lens is small, the number of divisions is large.
Further, a means may be provided for determining the number of divisions and the direction of the camera for each photographing by calculation based on information on the angle of view of the lens to be used.

In the above example, the camera rotating means 1
2. Although the CPU 14 and the ROM 15 have been described as separate units from the camera 11, they may be incorporated in the camera 11.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof. Furthermore, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining the disclosed constituent features. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from the disclosed constituent elements, it can be extracted as an invention as long as a predetermined effect can be obtained.

[0024]

According to the present invention, the difference in photographing time between two images adjacent to each other can be shortened, so that unnatural joints are reduced even when a subject that changes with time is photographed. Panoramic photos can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a panoramic photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of an external configuration of a panoramic photographing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of angle data stored in a ROM of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a photographing area and a photographing order when performing divided photographing in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram more specifically showing a photographing area and a photographing order when performing divided photographing in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Camera 12 ... Camera rotation means 13 ... Tripod 14 ... CPU 15 ... ROM

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A camera body capable of photographing an area of a predetermined size in one photographing operation, a rotating means for rotating the camera body in a predetermined direction, and an entire circumference of the camera body surrounding the camera body in a predetermined direction. When shooting a panoramic image in a plurality of times, the turning angle of the camera body is set so that the difference in shooting time between adjacent areas shot by the camera body is equal to or less than a predetermined value. Control means for drivingly controlling the rotation means based on the control information. 2. A camera body capable of photographing an area of a predetermined size in one photographing operation; a rotating means for rotating the camera body in a predetermined direction; When shooting a panoramic image in a plurality of times, the turning angle of the camera body is set so that the first area and the last area shot by the camera body are in a non-adjacent shooting order. And a control means for drivingly controlling the rotating means. 3. A camera body capable of photographing an area of a predetermined size in one photographing operation, a rotating means for rotating the camera body in a predetermined direction, and an entire circumference of the camera body surrounding the camera body in a predetermined direction. When shooting a panoramic image in multiple shots, make sure that the next shot area touches the first shot area among the areas located at both ends of the multiple shot areas up to that point. Control means for setting a rotation angle of the camera body and controlling the driving of the rotation means based on the rotation angle. 4. A panoramic photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes a memory, and information relating to a rotation angle of said camera body is stored in said memory in advance. . 5. The panoramic photography according to claim 1, wherein said control means calculates a rotation angle of the camera main body based on characteristics of a photographing optical system provided in said camera main body. apparatus.