JP2002118772A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital camera that can display a histogram whose display requires a display capacity to a degree in an easy to view way, in response to the desire of a user. SOLUTION: The digital camera, where a liquid crystal display monitor 39 provided to a camera body displays a photographed image and also displays image information items 81, 83, 94 related to the image and superimposed on the photographed image, selects a state (Figure 5 (d)), where a histogram of the image as one of the image information items relating to the image is displayed or state (Figure 5 (a)), where the histogram is not displayed, depending on an operation of an 'INFO' button.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital camera for displaying various kinds of image information on a corresponding image on a monitor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as personal computers have become widespread, digital cameras capable of easily photographing and acquiring image data have become widespread.

In this type of digital camera, a CCD (Charge), which is used as an image pickup device in many models, is used.
Due to the characteristics of the Coupled Device (charge coupled device), the latitude (dynamic range) is narrower than that of a camera using a silver halide film (hereinafter abbreviated as “silver halide camera”) at the time of shooting, so that the exposure is particularly accurately controlled. There is a need.

However, as one method for obtaining an appropriate exposure taking advantage of the characteristics of a digital camera, arithmetic processing is performed using luminance information for each pixel constituting a captured image, and a histogram is obtained. It has been considered to make adjustments to obtain an appropriate exposure after displaying the image on a liquid crystal finder displayed on a monitor.

[0005]

However, the histogram does not display numerical values by itself, but the display itself requires a very large capacity.

Therefore, the image itself, the state of the camera at that time and other information relating to the corresponding image, such as the state of a memory card as a storage medium, the state of consumption of a battery as a power supply, and the setting state of exposure and white balance. If sensitivity information, strobe usage, file names and file identifiers are displayed in parallel with the histogram, the screen becomes very complicated. This makes it difficult to identify the information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to enable a histogram requiring a certain display capacity to be displayed in an easily viewable state according to a user's request. It is to provide a simple digital camera.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A digital camera capable of displaying a captured image on a monitor display unit provided in the camera body and displaying a plurality of pieces of image information related to the image in a superimposed manner on the captured image. Image information 1
And a display changing means for switching between a state in which a histogram of the image is displayed and a state in which the histogram is not displayed.

With this configuration, the user can change whether or not to arbitrarily display the histogram as needed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, by setting one of a plurality of layers for each of a plurality of pieces of image information related to the image, the image information to be displayed according to the layer is set. Further comprising a variable setting unit that variably sets the number of the image information in a stepwise manner, wherein the display change unit does not display the state in which the histogram is displayed while the number of image information items displayed in the plurality of layers is the smallest. It is characterized in that the switching is changed depending on the state.

According to this structure, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, it is particularly possible to change whether or not to display the histogram during the display of the hierarchy having the smallest number of other image information. Since it is possible, the histogram does not become difficult to see in other image information, and the content can be grasped more clearly.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A single lens reflex digital still camera according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the external structure.
1A is a top view, FIG. 1B is a left side view, and FIG.
(1) is a rear view, and FIG. 2 (2) is a front view.

In these figures, a zoom lens 2 is disposed on the front surface of a camera body 1, a focus ring 11 is provided on the front side of the lens barrel peripheral surface of the zoom lens 2, and a zoom ring 1 is provided on the rear side.
2 are provided.

A built-in flash 13 is mounted on the front side of the top of the camera body 1 on the upper side of the zoom lens 2 in a face-down state, and pops up by manual operation of a built-in flash pop-up button 14 provided near the left side. And it can be turned on.

On the left side of the camera body 1, "+"
// "button 15, a macro button 16 for performing macro shooting, a wired remote control jack 17 for connecting a wired remote controller (not shown), a synchro socket (X contact) 18 used when an external strobe is mounted, a manual focus mode ( A focus mode switching lever 19 for switching operation between MF) and auto focus mode (S); an AC adapter cap 20 having a jack for connecting an AC adapter (not shown);
Here, a terminal cover 21 having various terminals for connecting to a personal computer or a printer (not shown),
A strap hanging ring 22 for attaching a strap, an LCD monitor unlock button 23 for unlocking a movable angle of the LCD monitor described later, a drive button 24 for switching a drive mode such as a self-timer mode, and a photometry for switching an exposure photometry pattern. Button 25 is provided.

Further, on the upper surface of the camera body 1, in addition to the hot shoe 26 provided on the rear side of the built-in flash 13 for mounting an external strobe, a guide for displaying the operation state of the camera by a monochrome liquid crystal panel and the like. Panel 2
7. SM / CF button 28 for switching and selecting SmartMedia (registered trademark) / CompactFlash (registered trademark) as a memory card for storing a captured image;
A backlight button 29 for turning on / off a backlight of a liquid crystal monitor to be described later, a mode selection dial 30 for setting various modes of shooting conditions by rotating operation, and a power lever 31 coaxially disposed below the mode selection dial 30. , A strap hanging ring 32 for attaching a strap, a WB mode set button 33 for setting a white balance mode, a sub dial 34 for setting various photographing conditions in combination with an operation of a main dial described later, a release for a shutter release. Button 3
5. An image quality mode setting button 36 for setting an image quality mode for photographing, and a flash switching button 37 for switching and setting the light emission pattern and light amount of the built-in flash 13 are provided.

In addition, an optical viewfinder 38, a liquid crystal monitor 39 which can be moved by operating the liquid crystal monitor lock release button 23, an eyepiece shutter lever 40 used for self-timer shooting, and a sub dial 34 are provided on the back of the camera body 1. The main dial 41 for setting various photographing conditions in combination with the operation of the LCD monitor 39
LCD ON / OFF button 42 for setting ON / OFF of the menu, a menu button 43 for displaying menu items on the liquid crystal monitor 39, a cross button 44 for selecting an item displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 39, OK button 45 for selecting an item, card cover lock lever 4 for restricting inadvertent opening and closing of a card cover, which will be described later.
6. An AEL button 47 for temporarily locking the automatic exposure state, a card cover 48 covering a storage portion of a memory card as a recording medium, a card LED 49 for displaying an installed state of the memory card as an indicator, and a histogram display /
An INFO button 50 for setting non-display, a protect button 51 for setting a captured image to a protected state, and a one-frame erase button 52 for erasing an image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 39 frame by frame are provided.

The optical viewfinder 38 is provided with a diopter adjusting ring 53 on the peripheral surface of its torso so that an eyeglass user can perform accurate focusing and the like.

On the front surface of the camera body 1, in addition to the zoom lens 2, a strap hanging ring 22 receives an infrared signal from a wireless remote controller (not shown), and blinks when a self-timer is used. / Self LED 54 and WB (one push auto) input button 5 for white balance by one operation with white paper or the like as the subject
5 are provided.

Next, the configuration of an electronic circuit in the camera body 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, a light image of a subject incident via the image pickup lens 61 in the photographing mode is formed on the image pickup surface of the image pickup element 62.

The image sensor 62 is, for example, a primary color system (RG
B) is configured by a CCD having a color filter, and is driven and controlled by a system controller 63 described later. Image data obtained by photoelectric conversion is output to a digital process circuit 64.

The digital process circuit 64 includes the image sensor 6
2 is expanded and stored in the frame memory 65. The frame memory 65 stores a memory controller 77 based on control from the system controller 63.
Controls various operations. The image data stored in the frame memory 65 includes white balance adjustment, gradation conversion, color conversion (conversion of primary color system image data to luminance color difference image data), sharpness adjustment, After the image processing such as the above, each image data of the resized main image and the thumbnail image is generated.

The image data of the main image is read out from the frame memory 65 to a compression / expansion circuit 66, and is compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 66 in accordance with a data compression method selected and set in advance by the digital camera. The output is sent to the first card interface 68 or the second card interface 69 via the selector 67 for switching and selecting the output according to the signal from the system controller 63.

The image data of the thumbnail image is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 39, read out from the frame memory 65 to the compression / expansion circuit 66, and is JPEG (Joint Photograph) with a predetermined compression ratio.
The data is compressed by a coding experts group (coding experts group) and then sent to the first card interface 68 or the second card interface 69 via the selector 67.

Here, the image data of the main image is described as J
Only when the selection setting for compression by the PEG method is made, both image data of the main image and the thumbnail are combined into one and the first card interface 68 or the second card It is sent to the interface 69.

Thus, the first card interface 68 converts the image data received via the selector 67 into the first
Memory card 7 installed in slot 70 of
After being appropriately converted according to the first file format, the data is written to the first memory card 71.

The presence or absence of the first memory card 71 in the first slot 70 is determined by the first slot 7.
The detection signal is sent to the system controller 63 by the slot attachment detection means 72 provided with a microswitch, for example.

Similarly, the second card interface 69 appropriately converts the image data received via the selector 67 in accordance with the file format of the second memory card 74 installed in the second slot 73. Writing to the second memory card 74.

The presence or absence of the second memory card 74 in the second slot 73 is determined by the second slot 7.
3 is detected by the slot mounting detecting means 75 constituted by, for example, a micro switch, and the detection signal is sent to the system controller 63.

Each of the first memory card 71 and the second memory card 74 has a flash memory sealed according to a different standard.
Assume that the first memory card 21 is a smart media and the second memory card 24 is a compact flash as described above.

The system controller 63 has an EEPRO
The operation of the entire digital camera is controlled according to an operation program fixedly stored in M78.
Signals corresponding to the operation of the various buttons and dials shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are directly input.

The system controller 63 is also connected to a calendar circuit 79 for measuring the date and time at that time and an LCD 80 in the finder for displaying the operation status in the optical finder 38, and controls these operations. .

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 4 exemplifies the contents of image information displayed together with the selected image on the liquid crystal monitor 39 when the histogram is not displayed in the reproduction mode.

In the figure, a card display 81 and a battery remaining amount mark 82 are displayed at the upper left corner of the screen, and "SM" indicates that the image displayed at that time is from the smart media which is the first memory card 71. Indicates that it was read. The battery remaining mark 82 indicates that the battery is fully charged in this state.

At the upper right end of the screen, a protect mark 8
3, print reservation mark 84, copy reservation mark 85,
Image quality mode information 86, shooting information 87, WB setting information 8
8, ISO information 89, and flash exposure correction information 90
Is displayed.

The protect mark 83 is displayed when the image is protected.

The print reservation mark 84 indicates the number of print reservations made by a print reservation mark imitating a printer and “× reserved number (for example,“ 1 ”)”.

The copy reservation mark 85 indicates that the copy of the image is reserved.

The image quality mode information 86 indicates that the image is, for example, 2240 pixels (horizontal) × 1680 pixels (vertical) and the compression ratio is “1/1”.

Here, the WB setting information 88 indicates that the white balance (WB) is set to automatic (AUTO). If the white balance (WB) is set manually, the color temperature is displayed together with the light source symbol mark. The above WB
If the (one-push) input button 55 has been operated, its content is indicated by a special symbol mark.

The ISO information 89 is stored in the image sensor 62 at the time of photographing.
Is displayed, for example, as “ISO 200”.

The flash exposure correction information 90 indicates that the image was shot by activating the built-in flash 13 and was dimmed by "0.7 (EV)".

In addition, at the lower left side of the screen, folder / file name information 91, DCF file information 92, and date / time 93 are displayed.

The folder / file name information 91 includes, for example, DCF (Design rulefor Files).
system) A folder name consisting of 3 digits + 5 characters in accordance with the standard and a 4 letter + 4 digits number with an identifier of the file added.

The DCF file information 92 is file information automatically added based on the DCF standard.

The date and time 93 indicates the date and time when the image was taken.

At the lower right corner of the screen, a frame number 94 indicating the serial number of the image in the selected memory card is displayed.

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, a description will be given mainly of a transition state of image information which is controlled by the system controller 63 in response to an operation input of a button or a dial, particularly in a reproduction mode.

Here, the amount of image information to be displayed in the histogram non-display mode in the one-frame playback mode is represented by a plurality of layers.
For example, it is assumed that three layers are set.

After the power is turned on by operating the power lever 31,
Whether the playback mode is selected with the mode selection dial 30 or
Alternatively, when the liquid crystal monitor ON / OFF button 42 is operated twice consecutively from the shooting mode, the mode is set to the reproduction mode, and at that time, it is determined whether the mode for displaying the histogram is already selected in the custom menu.

Here, when the histogram non-display mode is set, as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c), a large number of pixel displays shown in FIG. 4 are hierarchically displayed. ing.

That is, in the first hierarchy shown in FIG. 5A, only the card display 81, the battery remaining mark 82, and the frame number 94 are displayed as the image information for the selected image. The print reservation mark 84, the copy reservation mark 85, and the date and time 93 are displayed in addition to the above in the second hierarchy shown in FIG.

Then, in the third hierarchy shown in FIG.
Further, in addition to the above, shooting information 87, WB setting information 8
8, by displaying the ISO information 89, the flash exposure correction information 90, the folder / file name information 91, and the DCF file information 92, all the image information is displayed as shown in FIG.

These layer changes can be easily performed by operating the main dial 41 or the sub dial 34 in the forward and reverse directions as shown in the figure.

On the other hand, when the histogram display mode is set in advance in the reproduction mode, first, as shown in FIG. 5D, the first hierarchy of the histogram non-display mode shown in FIG. Similarly, for the selected image, a card display 81, a battery remaining mark 8
2, and a frame number 94 is displayed, and a histogram 95 of the image is displayed.

That is, the state in which the histogram 95 is displayed in the histogram display mode shown in FIG. 5D is the first state in which the amount of image information is the smallest in the histogram non-display mode shown in FIG. 5A. The difference is that only the histogram 95 is displayed in comparison with the hierarchy, and the present invention is not limited to the change setting in the custom menu described above.
Each time is operated, the display state and the non-display state of the histogram 95 can be easily switched and set.

However, from the display state of the histogram 95 shown in FIG. 5D, the main dial 41 or the sub dial 34 is turned in the "CW" direction (the direction in which the finger is moved away).
When the operation is performed, the index display state is set by a plurality of images recorded on the memory card selected at that time, as shown in FIG.

At this time, in addition to the card display 81, a frame number 94 is displayed as in each image, and only the selected image is displayed in a predetermined colored frame so as to be distinguished from other images. By arbitrarily operating the cross button 44, the selected image can be moved up, down, left and right, or the displayed image range can be scrolled.

When an arbitrary image is selected, the main dial 41 or the sub dial 34 is set to "CC".
When the operation is performed in the "W" direction (the direction in which the finger is moved closer), the state shifts to the state in which the histogram 95 shown in FIG. 5D is displayed again based on the selected image.

When the main dial 41 or the sub dial 34 is operated in the "CCW" direction (the direction of approaching a finger) from the display state of the histogram 95 shown in FIG. 5D, as shown in FIG. Histogram 95
Is displayed, the image selected at that time is sequentially enlarged and displayed with reference to the center position.

At this time, it is assumed that the image is enlarged and displayed by displaying an outwardly facing triangle at the center of each of the upper, lower, left and right sides of the screen as shown in the figure.

When the main dial 41 or the sub dial 34 is operated in the "CW" direction (in a direction in which the finger is moved away) from such an enlarged display state, the histogram 95 is gradually displayed while the histogram 95 is being displayed. It is assumed that the selected image is displayed with the enlargement ratio reduced based on the center position.

When the image becomes the original size, the operation of the main dial 41 or the sub dial 34 in the "CW" direction (direction of moving the finger away) is invalidated, and the operation is shown in FIG. 5D. Return to the display state.

As described above, in the reproduction mode, the user can arbitrarily display the histogram 95 as required by a simple operation such as the INFO button 50. While the contents can be confirmed, if the histogram 95 occupying a large area on the screen of the liquid crystal monitor 39 is unnecessary, the display can be switched immediately so that the histogram 95 is not displayed.

In the above-described embodiment, the histogram is displayed on the image by operating the INFO button 50 in the layer having the smallest amount of image information among the three layers. Alternatively, a hierarchy in which no image information is displayed may be set, and a histogram may be displayed by performing a specific operation from the display state in that hierarchy.

As described above, in particular, since it is possible to switch between displaying and not displaying a histogram during the display of a hierarchy in which the number of other pieces of image information is the least or not at all, the other image information can be changed. It is possible to grasp the contents more clearly without becoming difficult to see in the information.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiments, at least one of the problems described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved and the effects described in the column of the effect of the invention can be solved. In a case where at least one of the effects described above is obtained, a configuration in which this component is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

[0072]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the user can change whether or not to arbitrarily display the histogram as needed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, in particular, it is determined whether or not to display the histogram during the display of the hierarchy having the smallest number of other image information. Since the switching can be changed, the histogram does not become difficult to see in other image information, and the content can be grasped more clearly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view and a side view showing an external configuration of a digital still camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view and a front view showing an external configuration of the digital still camera according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic circuit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing display contents on a liquid crystal monitor according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view showing a display transition state of image information on the liquid crystal monitor screen according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera body 2 ... Zoom lens 13 ... Built-in flash 15 ... "+/-" button 23 ... LCD monitor lock release button 27 ... Guide panel 28 ... SM / CF button 29 ... Backlight button 30 ... Mode selection dial 31 ... Power supply Lever 33 WB mode set button 34 Sub dial 35 Release button 36 Image quality mode setting button 37 Flash switch button 38 Optical finder 39 LCD monitor 41 Main dial 42 LCD monitor ON / OFF button 43 Menu button 44 cross button 45 OK button 49 card LED 50 INFO button 51 protect button 52 single-frame erase button 55 WB (one push auto) input button 61 imaging lens 62 imaging element 63 system control L 64 Digital process circuit 65 Frame memory 66 Compression / expansion circuit 67 Selector 68 First card interface 69 Second card interface 70 First slot 71 First memory card 72 Slot detection Means 73 Second slot 74 Second memory card 75 Slot mounting detecting means 77 Memory controller 78 EEPROM 79 Calendar circuit 80 LCD in finder 81 Card display 82 Battery level mark 83 Protect mark 84 print reservation mark 85 copy reservation mark 86 image quality mode information 87 shooting information 88 WB setting information 89 ISO information 90 flash exposure correction information 91 folder / file name information 92 DCF file information 93 date / time 94 ... Frame number 95 ... Histogram

Claims (2)

[Claims] A digital camera capable of displaying a photographed image on a monitor display unit provided in a camera body and displaying a plurality of pieces of image information related to the image so as to be superimposed on the photographed image. A digital camera, comprising: display change means for switching between a state in which a histogram of the image as one of image information related to the image is displayed and a state in which the histogram is not displayed. 2. A variable setting means for setting one of a plurality of layers for each of a plurality of pieces of image information related to the image so as to variably set the number of pieces of image information to be displayed in accordance with the layers. 2. The display changing device according to claim 1, wherein the display change unit switches between a state in which the histogram is displayed and a state in which the histogram is not displayed during the display of the layer having the smallest number of image information to be displayed in the plurality of layers. Digital camera.