JP2002156694A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the use convenience of a camera by realizing a simple and easy zoom operation. SOLUTION: In this camera, a wide-angle zoom driving 1st button 14 for a zoom lens barrel 11 is provided on the front surface of a camera case 10, and a telephoto zoom driving 2nd button 15 for the lens barrel 11 is provided on the rear surface of the case 10 separately.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera provided with a zoom lens for photographing various objects, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a camera having a drivable zoom lens which can easily photograph a subject approaching from a distance.

In such a camera, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a zoom lens barrel 1 as a zoom lens can be driven on a first surface, for example, a front surface of a camera exterior body 2 via a drive system (not shown). A zoom button 3 for zoom driving is provided, for example, on the upper surface of the camera exterior body 2 where the release button 4 is provided so as to be operable in the directions of arrows C and D. The zoom lens barrel 1 is configured to selectively move the zoom button 3 in the left and right directions indicated by arrows C and D while looking through a second surface of the camera exterior body 1, for example, a finder window (not shown) provided on the rear surface. In this case, zooming (wide-angle zoom driving or telephoto zoom driving) is performed via the above-described drive system, so that a subject can be photographed at a desired angle of view.

However, in the above-mentioned camera, when the zoom lens barrel 1 is driven by wide-angle zoom or telephoto zoom, the zoom button 3 is selectively pressed by an arrow C, while the user looks into the finder window. It must be operated in the D direction. According to this, only when the zoom button 3 is operated,
It is known whether the lens has been zoomed to the wide side or the telephoto side, and there is a risk that the zooming will be performed in the direction opposite to the desired zooming and a photo opportunity will be missed.

[0005]

As described above, in a camera having a conventional zoom lens, the operation for wide-angle zoom drive or telephoto zoom drive of the zoom lens is unclear.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a camera which has a simple structure and which can realize a simple and error-free zoom operation to improve convenience. The purpose is to:

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a camera provided with a drivable zoom lens, wherein a first button provided on a first surface of a camera exterior body for zooming the zoom lens. And a second button provided on a second surface of the camera exterior body for performing zooming of the zoom lens.

According to the above arrangement, the zoom lens is driven to either the wide-angle side or the telephoto side by selectively operating one of the first and second buttons, and zooms to a desired state. You. Accordingly, erroneous operation during the zoom operation can be prevented, and the convenience of the zoom operation can be improved.

According to the present invention, in a camera having a drivable zoom lens, a first wide-angle driving operation provided on a first surface of a camera exterior body for zooming the zoom lens. A button and a second button for telephoto drive operation provided on a second surface of the camera exterior body for performing zooming of the zoom lens.

According to the above configuration, the zoom lens is driven to the wide-angle side by operating the first button, and is driven to the telephoto side by operating the second button to zoom to a desired state. Accordingly, erroneous operation during the zoom operation can be prevented, and the convenience of the zoom operation can be improved.

Further, the present invention is configured such that the first button is disposed on a front surface of the camera exterior body, and the second button is disposed on a rear surface of the camera exterior body.

[0012] According to the above configuration, it is easy to look through the finder of the camera exterior body, thereby enabling a quick zooming operation.

[0013]

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

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an external configuration viewed from the front side, and FIG. The appearance configuration seen is shown.

That is, the camera exterior body 10 is formed in, for example, a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape, and a zoom lens barrel 11 as a zoom lens is provided on a first surface, for example, a front surface thereof with an arrow A,
It is arranged so as to be drivable in the direction B, that is, in the front-back direction of the camera, in other words, in the optical axis direction of the zoom lens barrel 11. The direction of arrow A indicates movement to the wide-angle side where the zoom lens is retracted toward the camera, and the direction of arrow B indicates the direction of movement to the telephoto side where the zoom lens is extended forward of the camera. A viewfinder 12, a strobe 13, and a first button 14 for wide-angle zoom drive are provided on the front surface of the camera exterior body 10 so as to be operable in the optical axis direction. The finder 12 has a finder window 121 provided on a second surface, for example, a rear surface of the camera exterior body, and allows a subject (not shown) to be observed through the finder window 121.

A second button 15 for driving a telephoto zoom is operably provided on the rear surface of the camera exterior body 10.
The second button 15 is set, for example, in a direction opposite to the operation direction of the first button 14. A release button 16, a display unit 17, a main button 18, and the like are provided on the upper surface of the camera exterior body 10.

FIG. 3 schematically shows an electric circuit of the camera. The CPU 22 controls the camera. This CP
A battery 24 is connected to U22, and a driver circuit 25 for driving a motor 23 for zoom driving is also connected to U22. The CPU 22 has a main switch 21 as a power switch of the camera and a first switch 1 as a drive switch for driving the zoom lens to the wide angle side.
9. A second switch 20 is connected as a drive switch to the telephoto side of the zoom lens. Circuits for camera operation other than those described above are omitted.

The first button 14, the second button 15 and the main button 18 press the first switch 19, the second switch 20 and the main switch 21 which constitute a zoom drive system shown in FIG. 3, for example. . In conjunction with the operation of the first button 14, the second button 15, and the main button 16, the wide-angle operation signal, the telephoto operation signal, and the main switch signal are transmitted to the first switch 19, the second switch 20, and the main switch 21.
Is input to the CPU 22.

After the main button 18 is operated and the main switch 21 is turned on, the CPU 22 executes the first button 14
Alternatively, when one of the second buttons 15 is operated, a wide-angle or telephoto operation signal is input. Then, the CPU 22
Generates a wide-angle or telephoto drive signal based on the wide-angle or telephoto operation signal, and outputs it to the driver circuit 25.

In response to the wide-angle or telephoto drive signal, the driver circuit 25 drives the zoom motor 23 to rotate forward or reverse to drive the zoom motor 23 in the direction indicated by the arrow A of the zoom lens barrel 11.
The wide-angle zoom drive in the direction or the telephoto zoom drive in the arrow B direction is executed.

In the above configuration, the zoom lens barrel 11
When performing the zooming, the main button 18 is first operated. Then, the main button 18 presses the main switch 21. As a result, the main switch 21 is turned on, and the CPU 22 is set to a photographable state.

Next, the user selectively operates one of the first button 14 and the second button 15 while looking through the finder window 121 of the camera exterior body 10. The first button 14 turns on the first switch 19 in conjunction with the operation, and outputs a wide-angle operation signal to the CPU 22. On the other hand,
The second button 15 turns on the second switch 20 in conjunction with the operation, and outputs a telephoto operation signal to the CPU.

Here, the CPU 22 operates as the first switch 1
A wide-angle drive signal is generated based on the wide-angle operation signal from the driver 9 and output to the driver circuit 25. The driver circuit 25
The zoom motor 23 is driven and controlled based on the input wide-angle drive signal to drive the zoom lens barrel 11 in the direction of arrow A for wide-angle zoom.

The CPU 22 is connected to the second switch 20
A telephoto drive signal is generated based on the telephoto operation signal from the camera and output to the driver circuit 25. The driver circuit 25 drives and controls the zoom motor 23 based on the input telephoto drive signal to drive the zoom lens barrel 11 in the direction of arrow B for telephoto zoom.

Thereafter, the user operates the release button 16 at a desired timing to photograph the subject.

As described above, in the camera, the first button 14 for wide-angle zoom driving of the zoom lens barrel 11 is provided on the front surface of the camera exterior body 10 and the telephoto zoom driving of the zoom lens barrel 11 is provided. The second button 15 is configured to be separately disposed on the rear surface of the camera exterior body 10.

According to this, the zoom lens barrel 11 is
The operation of the first button 14 drives the lens to the wide-angle side, and the operation of the second button 15 drives the lens to the telephoto side to zoom to a desired state. By doing so, pressing the front of the camera, that is, pressing the first button 14 causes a pseudo sensation that the zoom lens is retracted behind the camera and driven to the wide angle side, and the rear of the camera is also moved. Pressing, that is, pressing the second button 15 can cause a pseudo sensation that the zoom lens is extended to the front of the camera and driven to the telephoto side. Further, erroneous operation during the zoom operation can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the first button 14 for wide-angle zoom drive is provided on the front of the camera exterior body 10, and the second button 15 for telephoto zoom drive is provided on the camera exterior body 1.
0 is described as being arranged on the rear surface,
The present invention is not limited to this. For example, the second button 15 for driving a telephoto zoom is provided on the front surface of the camera exterior body 10, and the first button 14 for driving a wide-angle zoom is provided on the rear surface. May be.

In each of the above embodiments, the first button 1
The case where the fourth and the second button 15 are arranged separately on the front and rear surfaces of the camera exterior body 10 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which it is separately provided on another surface of the exterior body 10 (a surface at an intermediate portion between the front surface and the rear surface).

Then, the first button 14 and the second button 1
As the fifth embodiment, in the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which the camera exterior body 10 is directly disposed at a predetermined portion on the front surface and the rear surface, and other surfaces. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it may be configured to be disposed at a portion projecting from the front and rear surfaces of the camera exterior body 10, other surfaces, a portion formed in a concave shape, or the like.

In the above embodiment, the first button 14
And the case where the second button 15 is set to be in the opposite operation direction to the optical axis of the zoom lens barrel 11 is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other operation structures can be configured. It is.

Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made in the implementation stage without departing from the scope of the invention.
Furthermore, 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 components are deleted from all the components shown in each embodiment, the problem described in the section of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved and the effects of the invention are described. When an effect is obtained, a configuration from which this configuration requirement is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

Based on the above-described embodiment, (1) In a camera provided with a drivable zoom lens, a first lens provided on a first surface of a camera exterior body for zooming the zoom lens. A camera can be provided, comprising: a button; and a second button provided on a second surface of the camera exterior body for performing zooming of the zoom lens. .

(2) In a camera equipped with a drivable zoom lens, a first button for wide-angle driving operation provided on a first surface of the camera exterior body for zooming the zoom lens; In order to perform zooming of the zoom lens, it is possible to provide a camera characterized by comprising a second button for telephoto drive operation provided on a second surface of the camera exterior body.

(3) The first surface described in the above (1) and (2) is a front surface of the camera exterior body, and the second surface is a rear surface of the camera exterior body. Camera can be provided.

(4) A camera characterized in that the first surface and the second surface described in the above (1) and (2) are surfaces facing each other.

(5) In a camera provided with a drivable zoom lens, a first button provided on a first portion of a camera exterior body for zooming the zoom lens, and a zoom of the zoom lens And a second button provided at a second portion different from the first portion of the camera exterior body.

[0039]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a camera which can realize a zoom operation without error with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state of a camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state of the camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the rear side.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing the zoom drive system of FIG. 1 taken out therefrom.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view shown to explain a problem of a conventional camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Camera exterior body. 11 A zoom lens barrel. 12 ... Finder. 121 ... Finder window. 13 ... Strobe. 14 The first button. 15 Second button. 16 Release button. 17 Display part. 18 Main button. 19 ... First switch. 20 The second switch. 21… Main switch. 22 ... CPU. 23 ... zoom motor. 24 ... battery. 25 ... Driver circuit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A camera provided with a drivable zoom lens, comprising: a first button provided on a first surface of a camera exterior body for zooming the zoom lens; And a second button provided on a second surface of the camera exterior body to perform the operation. 2. A camera provided with a drivable zoom lens, comprising: a first button for a wide-angle driving operation provided on a first surface of a camera exterior body for performing zooming of the zoom lens; A camera, comprising: a second button for telephoto driving operation provided on a second surface of the camera exterior body for performing zooming of a zoom lens. 3. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the first surface is a front surface of the camera housing, and the second surface is a rear surface of the camera housing.