JP2002185830A - Digital still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital still camera, having a structure that can surely protect a lens and a viewfinder, without losing operability with superior portability and design performance. SOLUTION: In the digital still camera 1 of this invention, a 1st structure 2 having a lens at its front side and a 2nd structure 3 provided with a liquid crystal viewfinder at its rear side are placed facing each other, and they are combined laterally in a relatively movable state, while the 1st structure 2 is directed in a direction of exposing or containing the liquid crystal viewfinder and the 2nd structure 3 is directed to expose or contain the lens.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital still camera, and more particularly to a digital still camera excellent in portability and design.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a silver halide camera (a conventional general camera using a silver halide film) has been used for taking a picture, but in recent years, a digital still camera (hereinafter simply referred to as a "digital camera") has been used. Are in fashion. Images taken with a digital camera can be easily imported to a personal computer directly or via a storage medium, which satisfies the demands of printing out photos with a home printer, creating documents and emails combining photos, etc. can do. If anything, a silver halide camera,
In particular, while high-end silver-salt cameras such as single-lens reflex cameras are used by photography enthusiasts and photographers, digital cameras, combined with the spread of personal computers to ordinary households, have been widely used by ordinary users as cameras that can be easily carried around. Has also penetrated.

A typical digital camera is provided with a lens and a strobe on the front side (subject side) of the camera body, various operation switches and buttons on the back side (photographer side), and a top side. It has a shutter button and so on. As a characteristic of the digital camera, a liquid crystal viewfinder for monitoring a captured image is usually provided on the back side of the camera body.

[0004]

The number of pixels of a digital camera has been steadily improved to achieve a high image quality comparable to that of a silver halide camera. On the other hand, in the case of a digital camera, factors such as good portability tend to be required from the background described above. Therefore, such a digital camera is designed to be small, light, and compact, and in the future, it is expected that the digital camera will be designed so as not to hinder the user from carrying it in a handbag or walking with the user hanging on his neck.

By the way, in a digital camera, the lens portion is vulnerable to scratches, and it is necessary to protect the lens so as not to hit an object. Therefore, a digital camera provided with a lens cap that can be manually attached and removed by a user, or a lens cover that can be automatically opened and closed on the front surface of a lens is provided. Further, in the case of a digital camera, a liquid crystal viewfinder is disposed on the rear side, and it is necessary to protect a liquid crystal viewfinder that is similarly vulnerable to scratches. However, some liquid crystal viewfinders have a relatively large area, do not have any cover, and have an exposed screen. Some of them have a cover, and others have a liquid crystal viewfinder that can be folded to protect the screen, as is often the case with digital video cameras.

However, in a digital camera provided with a removable cover for protecting the lens and the liquid crystal viewfinder, the cover may be detached while being put in a bag or while being carried, and there is always anxiety about scratches. Remains. In addition, it is troublesome in terms of operability that a cover must be removed every time a picture is taken and the cover must be attached after the picture is taken. The one provided with the foldable liquid crystal viewfinder has the same problem that the liquid crystal viewfinder must be folded each time.

Further, in the case of a conventional digital camera having various irregularities in its external shape, for example, there is a problem of storing the digital camera in a limited space in a bag, a problem of design of an external appearance when carrying, and the like. There are difficulties.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a structure capable of reliably protecting a lens and a liquid crystal viewfinder without impairing operability, as well as portability and design. It aims to provide an excellent digital camera.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a digital camera according to the present invention comprises a first structure having a lens on one side and a second structure having a viewfinder on one side. A first structure is disposed in a direction in which the viewfinder is exposed or stored, and a second structure is disposed in a direction in which the lens is exposed or stored. It is characterized by being movably combined.

The inventor of the present invention decided to provide a digital camera with two structures instead of separately providing a cover for covering the lens and viewfinder only for the purpose of protecting the lens and the viewfinder. I came up with a configuration in which each structure covers the lens and viewfinder installed in the camera. That is, in the digital camera of the present invention, the first structure provided with the lens covers the viewfinder, and the second structure provided with the viewfinder covers the lens. When the first structure and the second structure are combined so as to be relatively movable, the first structure and the second structure can be relatively moved in a direction of contracting or extending the entire camera. The lens and viewfinder can be opened and closed freely.

With this configuration, the conventional cover is not required, so that there is no fear that the cover will be detached even if it is put in a bag or carried around, and the lens and the viewfinder can be reliably protected. In addition, there is no need to attach or remove the cover, which improves operability.

In particular, when the entire camera is contracted, the entire surface of the viewfinder is covered with the first structure, and at the same time, the entire surface of the lens is covered with the second structure. It is desirable that the entire surface of the lens is exposed from the second structure at the same time that the entire surface is exposed from the first structure.

According to this configuration, the lens and the viewfinder can be simultaneously exposed or stored by a single operation of contracting or extending the entirety of the first structure and the second structure. As a result, the operability is significantly improved.

Further, a contact of a power switch is provided on each of the first structure and the second structure, and the power switch is turned off when the entire camera is contracted, and the power switch is turned off when the entire camera is extended. It is preferable that the transistor be turned on.

According to this configuration, the power switch is automatically turned on when the user extends the entire camera at the time of photographing and exposes the lens and the viewfinder. The power switch is automatically turned off when the viewfinder is retracted. In other words, the exposure and storage of the lens and viewfinder, and the power switch are linked, eliminating the need to operate the power switch, further improving operability. I do.
Further, since the power switch is turned on only when the user extends the entire camera, and the power switch is turned off only when the entire camera is contracted, unnecessary malfunction of the power switch can be prevented.

It is more preferable to adopt a configuration having an overall shape surrounded by a plane or a curved surface in a state where the entire camera is contracted.

In this configuration, since the entire camera has no irregularities in an unused state, it is not bulky when a digital camera is to be stored in a small gap in a bag, for example. Becomes extremely good. In addition, since the external shape of the camera is extremely simple, the texture of the material of the camera body, the beauty of marks and characters drawn on the surface are outstanding, and the design is excellent.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is a perspective view of the digital camera of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a front view at the time of shooting, FIG. 3 is the same, rear view, FIG. 4 is the same, top view, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view (at the time of non-photographing) along the line AA in FIG.
8 is a cross-sectional view (at the time of photographing) along the line AA in FIG. 3, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

The digital camera 1 according to the present embodiment comprises a first structure 2 forming the back side of the camera and a second structure 3 forming the front side of the camera. As shown in FIG. When the whole is contracted at the time of photographing, it has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape surrounded by six planes. The case forming the first structure 2 and the second structure 3 is made of metal such as aluminum, plastic, or the like.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, the first structural body 2 has a thick central portion of the case and a thin portion along the upper side and the lower side. The lens 4 is incorporated at the center at the right end when viewed from the side, and the strobe 5 is incorporated above the lens 4.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the second structure 3 is provided with a convex portion 3a along a vertical side at the right end when viewed from the back side (photographer side). Has a liquid crystal viewfinder 6 incorporated therein. A jog switch 7 used for performing an operation such as switching of a photographing mode, for example, is provided at the upper center of the convex portion 3a.
Various operation buttons 8 are provided above. Further, a shutter button 9 is provided on the upper surface of the second structure 3.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, terminals for connecting a cable, for example, are provided on the end face of the first structure 2, and the terminals are covered with a terminal cover 10.

A first structure 2 having a lens 4 on the front side
And a second structure 3 having a liquid crystal viewfinder 6 on the back side are arranged so that the front surface of the first structure 2 and the back surface of the second structure 3 face each other, and are relatively movable. Have been. When the camera is not photographed, the entire camera is
The lens 4 is covered with the second structure 3, and the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 is covered with the first structure 2. At the time of shooting, by sliding the first structure 2 and the second structure 3 in a direction in which the entire camera is extended, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lens 4 is exposed from the second structure 3, The liquid crystal viewfinder 6 is exposed from the first structure 2. In this state, a power switch to be described later is turned on, and photographing is possible.

As shown in FIG. 3, the mechanism for sliding the first structure 2 and the second structure 3 is used to slide the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 up and down on the back of the second structure 3. A rail 11 is provided. 6 to 8
As shown in FIG. 2, the claws 12 projecting forward from the front side of the first structure 2 are fitted into the slide rails 11 respectively.
The structure 2 and the second structure 3 are configured to slide.

Further, in the case of the present embodiment, the slide rail 11 of the second structure 3 constituting the slide mechanism is provided.
(The right end of the slide rail 11 in FIG. 6) and the end of the claw 12 of the first structure 2 (the claw 1 in FIG. 6).
2 at the right end) of the power switch 13.
3b is installed. As shown in FIG. 6, the power switch 13 having these two contacts is provided with the contacts 13a and 13a when the lens 4 and the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 are stored.
13b are separated and the power is turned off. However, as shown in FIG. 7, the first structure 2 and the second structure 3
When the lens 4 and the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 are exposed, the contacts 13a and 13b are in contact with each other, and the power is turned on. That is, the power switch 13 is automatically turned on and off in conjunction with the operation of exposing and storing the lens 4 and the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 by the user.

According to the digital camera 1 of the present embodiment, the first structure 2 provided with the lens 4 functions as a cover of the liquid crystal viewfinder 6, and the second structure 3 provided with the liquid crystal viewfinder 6. Functions as a cover for the lens 4. This configuration eliminates the need for a conventional lens cover, LCD viewfinder cover, etc.
Even if the digital camera 1 is put in a bag or carried around as it is, there is no need to worry about the cover being detached, and the lens 4 and the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 can be reliably protected.

In addition, there is no need to attach or remove the cover, and the operability is improved. In particular, the entire camera composed of the first structure 2 and the second structure 3 is contracted,
Since the lens 4 and the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 can be simultaneously exposed and stored by only one operation of extending, the operability is extremely high. In addition, the power switch 13 is not required to be operated by linking the exposure and storage of the lens 4 and the liquid crystal viewfinder 6 with the power switch 13, thereby improving operability and preventing unnecessary malfunction of the power switch. it can.

In the case of the present embodiment, the entire camera has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape having no irregularities in its outer shape especially in an unused state. Therefore, for example, the digital camera is inserted into a slight gap in the bag. It doesn't get bulky when you want to get rid of it, and it's compact and has excellent storage. In addition, since the external shape of the camera is extremely simple, the texture of the material of the camera body, the beauty of marks and characters drawn on the surface are outstanding, and the design is excellent.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the specific shapes of the first structure and the second structure in the present embodiment, the installation positions of lenses, a liquid crystal viewfinder, other operation switches, buttons, and the like are not limited to this embodiment. The design can be changed as appropriate.

[0030]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a lens cover, a viewfinder cover and the like in a conventional camera are not required, so that operability at the time of use is not impaired. The viewfinder can be reliably protected. Further, a digital camera which is excellent in design in addition to having good portability and storage property can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a front view of the digital camera at the time of shooting.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the same.

FIG. 5 is a right side view of the same.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view (at the time of non-photographing) along the line AA in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view (at the time of photographing) along the line AA in FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital camera 2 1st structure 3 2nd structure 4 Lens 6 Liquid crystal viewfinder 11 Slide rail 12 Claw part 13 Power switch 13a, 13b Contact

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first structure having a lens on one surface side and a second structure having a viewfinder on one surface are arranged in a direction in which the one surface faces each other, and
Wherein the second structure is relatively movable in a direction in which the viewfinder is exposed or stored and the second structure is relatively moved in a direction in which the lens is exposed or stored. . 2. In a state where the entire surface of the viewfinder is covered with the first structure while the entire camera is contracted and the entire surface of the lens is covered with the second structure, the entire camera is extended. 2. The digital still camera according to claim 1, wherein an entire surface of the viewfinder is exposed from the first structure, and an entire surface of the lens is exposed from the second structure. 3. 3. A power switch contact point is provided on each of the first structure and the second structure, and the power switch is turned off when the entire camera is contracted, and when the entire camera is extended. 3. The digital still camera according to claim 1, wherein the power switch is turned on. 4. The digital still camera according to claim 1, wherein the digital still camera has an overall shape surrounded by a plane or a curved surface when the entire camera is contracted.