JP2002341253A - Binoculars system and adapter device for stereoscopic observation - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a binocular system for stereoscopic observation which makes it easy to photograph a parallax image and also reproduce and stereoscopically observe it by using general binoculars, a photographing means such as an electronic camera, and a display means and an adapter device which is used for the system. SOLUTION: The binocular system for stereoscopic observation is composed of binoculars 2 fixed to a base 1, an adapter main body 4 which is equipped with reflecting member units 23A and 23B for optical axis adjustment and collimator lenses 24A and 24B and is so arranged in a retractably state in front of the binoculars, and two electronic cameras 8A and 8B which have photographic lens units 1 on their front sides and LCD display units 13 on their rear sides and can have the photographic lens units arranged opposite the ocular lenses of the binoculars in photography and the LCD display units arranged opposite the reflecting member units of the adapter main body in image reproduction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stereoscopic binoculars system capable of stereoscopically observing parallax images such as images captured by two electronic cameras, and an adapter device for stereoscopic observation used in the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in order to stereoscopically observe a set of parallax images having stereoscopically captured parallax, a dedicated viewer for stereoscopic observation is required. On the other hand, as for binoculars, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-49456 proposes binoculars having a built-in electronic camera function. In the proposed binoculars with electronic camera function, CCD
And the like, and a photographed image reproducing function by an image display means such as an LCD. And according to the binoculars which is a single dedicated device incorporating a photographing function and a photographed image reproducing function as described above,
Images taken with binoculars can be stereoscopically viewed with the same binoculars.

[0003]

However, the binoculars having a built-in photographing function and a photographed image reproducing function are a single dedicated device, and have built-in image pickup devices such as CCDs and display means such as LCDs. Therefore, naturally, the size becomes larger than ordinary general-purpose binoculars that do not have those functions, and when used as ordinary binoculars,
On the contrary, it becomes inconvenient. Further, the price is considerably high because the device is a dedicated device. Therefore, with binoculars incorporating such functions, those who want to use it as a general-purpose binocular alone, or who already have general-purpose binoculars and have a desire to enjoy binocular stereoscopic photography or stereoscopic observation with ease For them, they are not satisfied.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can easily perform stereoscopic observation of a parallax image by using photographing means and display means such as general-purpose binoculars and electronic cameras.
An object of the present invention is to provide a stereoscopic binocular system capable of stereoscopic imaging and reproduction thereof, and an adapter device for stereoscopic observation used in the system.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 comprises a display device for displaying a pair of parallax images each having a parallax, and the displayed pair of parallax images. An adapter device having a collimator optical system that emits each as a parallax image of the afocal light beam,
A binocular system for stereoscopic observation includes a pair of objective optical systems and an eyepiece optical system and is capable of observing a parallax image emitted from the adapter device as a stereoscopic image.

With such a configuration, it is possible to easily realize a system in which ordinary general-purpose binoculars can be used as a viewer for stereoscopic observation. Here, as a display device for displaying a set of parallax images, not only an LCD display unit for displaying a captured image of an electronic camera but also an LCD monitor alone without a camera unit can be used. Further, the display device that displays a set of parallax images may be configured not only by two display units but also by a single display unit that displays two screens. Further, the adapter device having the above configuration has a close-up lens function and can be used as a close-up lens.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a pair of parallax images having parallax displayed on a display device are incident, and each of the pair of parallax images is output to a pair of objective portions of binoculars as light beams of parallax images of afocal light beams. And a stereoscopic observation adapter device configured to enable stereoscopic image observation of the set of parallax images with the binoculars. With this configuration, it is possible to provide an adapter device that can easily observe a stereoscopic image with general-purpose binoculars with a simple configuration.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to the second aspect, further, there are provided reflection means for reflecting the incident luminous flux of the set of parallax images an even number of times. Is what you do. By providing such a reflection means, the optical path length can be increased inside the adapter, and the adapter device can be made compact. Here, a prism other than a mirror can be used as the reflection means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to the third aspect, an interval between a pair of incident portions for taking in a pair of parallax images from the display device is set to the pair of parallax images. It is characterized in that the distance between the pair of emission portions for emitting to the binoculars is shorter than the interval. In general, the distance between the objectives at which images are incident on the binoculars is wider than a space in which two electronic cameras or the like used as a display device are arranged. Therefore, if the display device is mounted at the objective interval of the binoculars, the entire system becomes large. Therefore, by configuring the adapter device as described above, a display device for displaying a parallax image can be attached at a reduced interval, and the system can be made compact.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to the third or fourth aspect, there is provided an adjusting means for aligning the optical axis of the incident portion with the optical axis of the light incident on the incident portion. It is assumed that. By providing such an adjusting means, even if there is a variation in the vertical position of the attached display device, the optical axis of the incident part of the adapter device is adjusted, and the upper and lower portions of the parallax image displayed on the display device are missing. Can be prevented. Further, by providing the adjusting means, it is not necessary to increase the size of the reflecting means and to prevent the projection of the incident parallax image.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to the fifth aspect, the adjusting means includes a first reflecting surface for reflecting a light beam incident on an incident portion of the reflecting means and a second reflecting surface. A second reflecting surface provided subsequent to the first reflecting surface; and a rotating means for rotating the second reflecting surface around an emission optical axis of the second reflecting surface. According to a seventh aspect, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to the sixth aspect, the adjustment means further moves the first reflection surface along the optical axis between the first and second reflection surfaces. It is characterized by having means. As described above, the rotation unit that rotates around the emission optical axis of the second reflection surface is provided, and further, the first reflection surface is moved along the optical axis between the first and second reflection surfaces. By providing the adjusting means by providing the moving means, it is possible to easily adjust the optical axis position of the incident part with a simple configuration.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to any one of the third to seventh aspects, the adapter device comprises: a main body section containing the collimator optical system and the reflecting means; Main body holding means for holding the main body portion at a predetermined position, display device holding means for holding the display device at a predetermined position with respect to the main body portion, and binoculars for holding the binoculars at a predetermined position with respect to the main body portion And a holding means. With this configuration, the display device and the binoculars can be easily held at predetermined positions with respect to the main body of the adapter device.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to the eighth aspect, the main body holding means comprises:
The main body is held at a position selected from among a position where stereoscopic observation is possible with binoculars and a position where the main body is moved out of the field of view of the binoculars. With this configuration, the stereoscopic observation of the parallax image of the display device with the general-purpose binoculars and the normal observation with the binoculars or the shooting of a set of parallax images with the electronic camera or the like can be easily switched and performed. It becomes possible.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to the eighth or ninth aspect, the display device is two electronic cameras, and the display device holding means is the two electronic cameras. An electronic camera is attached to an eyepiece of the binoculars and held in such a positional relationship as to enable photographing. In this way, by setting the interval between the two electronic cameras used as the display device to be an interval maintaining the positional relationship such that the electronic camera can be mounted on the eyepiece of the binoculars and photographed, the two cameras at the time of photographing can be obtained. It is possible to use the electronic camera combination mode at the time of display for stereoscopic observation as it is.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stereoscopic imaging apparatus in which two electronic cameras are attached to the binoculars so that parallax images emitted from a pair of eyepieces of the binoculars are photographed by an electronic camera photographing system. It constitutes. With this configuration, the stereoscopic imaging device can be easily configured using ordinary general-purpose binoculars.

[0016]

Next, an embodiment will be described. FIGS. 1A and 1B are views showing an image reproduction mode of an embodiment of a stereoscopic observation binoculars system and a stereoscopic observation adapter device used in the stereoscopic observation binocular system according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic top view partially omitted and shown in a cross section, and FIG. 1B is a schematic side view similarly shown in a cross section. 1A and 1B, reference numeral 1 denotes a base, on which a binocular arm 3 for attaching general-purpose binoculars 2 is fixedly arranged. Further, first and second adapter shafts 5 and 6 for attaching the adapter body 4 are fixed to the base 1, and the adapter shafts 5 and 6 sandwich the adapter body 4 back and forth.
Is held so that it can slide up and down. Reference numeral 7 denotes a first camera base on which two electronic cameras 8A and 8B are fixed in the same manner as a tripod screw, and the first camera base 7 is a base 1 With respect to the second camera base 9 fixed to
It is attached so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction and detachable.

The mounting manner of each system component to the base 1 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B shows the case of reproducing an image (stereoscopic image observation). When the parallax image of FIG.
They are arranged in a manner as shown in FIG. That is, first, the adapter body 4 becomes unnecessary at the time of photographing, so that the adapter body 4 is slid downward to withdraw out of the field of view of the binoculars 2 and held while being placed on the base 1. Also,
The electronic cameras 8A and 8B are detached from the second camera base 9 with the electronic cameras 8A and 8B attached to the first camera base 7 so that the respective photographing lenses face the eyepieces of the binoculars 2 respectively. The base 9 is slidably attached to the base 1.

Next, the internal configuration of each component of the system will be described. Each of the electronic cameras 8A and 8B includes a photographing lens unit 11, a CCD image pickup device unit 12, and an LCD display unit 13 provided on the rear surface, respectively. The electronic camera 8A, 8
B, a relatively small first mirror 21 for reflecting incident light based on a set of parallax images from each LCD display unit 13 at 45 ° with respect to the optical axis, and a first mirror 21 from the first mirror 21. Reflecting member units 23A and 23B each including a second mirror 22 for reflecting the reflected light again by 90 °, and the reflected light from the second mirror 22 of the reflecting member units 23A and 23B as a parallel beam of the binoculars 2 Collimator lenses 24A and 24B for emitting light to the object side are provided. Each of the mirrors constituting the reflection member units 23A and 23B is disposed, for example, in a box-shaped frame (not shown) and is integrally held. Further, the reflection member units 23A and 23B have a second mirror. Adjustment knobs 25A and 25B for rotating around the outgoing optical axis of 22 are provided.

On the top and bottom surfaces of the frame members of the reflecting member units 23A and 23B, rail portions 26A and 26B are provided in a direction parallel to the optical axis between the first mirror 21 and the second mirror 22. By engaging engagement pins 27A and 27B provided on a part of the frame of the first mirror 21 itself with the rail portions 26A and 26B, the first mirror 21 is moved to the reflection member unit 23.
It is configured to be movable in the optical axis direction between the first and second mirrors in the frames A and 23B. Further, a gear portion (not shown) is provided on the first mirror 21, and the gear portion is rotated to move the first mirror 21 in the direction of the arrow and hold the first mirror 21 at a desired position. And a transmission member (not shown) for coupling the gear portion and the second adjustment knobs 28A and 28B. The reflecting member unit
23A and 23B each use two mirrors to generate two light beams.
Although the light is reflected twice, it can be used in the same manner if the light flux is reflected an even number of times without image rotation.

The binoculars 2 include objective lenses 31A and 31B for receiving the light emitted from the adapter body 4, and the objective lenses 31A and 31B.
Erect prisms 32A and 32B, which are two prisms for converting the light emitted from A and 31B into an erect image, and an eyepiece lens for receiving the light emitted from the erect prisms 32A and 32B and observing a stereoscopic image. 33A and 33B.

At the time of image reproduction as described above, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, two electronic cameras 8 are used.
A and 8B are arranged in front of the adapter main body 4 so that a pair of parallax images displayed on the respective LCD display units 13 are emitted to the adapter main body 4. On the other hand, at the time of photographing, FIG. As shown in (A) and (B), the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B are arranged at the subsequent stage of the binoculars 2 and are configured to photograph parallax images obtained by the binoculars 2 respectively. Two electronic cameras 8A and 8B
Is set such that the distance between the photographing lens units 11 of the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B is equal to the distance between the eyepieces 33A and 33B of the binoculars 2 with respect to the first camera base 7. The positions of the photographing lens units 11 of the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B are maintained at the same standard horizontal position.

As described above, when the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B are attached to the first camera base 7 and they are arranged in front of the adapter body 4 during image reproduction, the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B , Shooting lens unit
When the optical axis of the LCD 11 matches the center of the LCD display unit 13, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the optical axis of the photographing lens unit 11 of the electronic cameras 8A and 8B is connected to an adapter. If the optical axis of the incident part of the main body 4 is matched, a stereoscopic image can be observed without causing a chipped or the like in the reproduced image. However, when the optical axis of the photographing lens unit 11 does not coincide with the center of the LCD display unit 13 in the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B, FIG.
In the case where the arrangement is performed as shown in FIG. 3B, an image may be missing in the stereoscopic observation image, so that it is necessary to correct the stereoscopic observation image.

The correction mode will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the LCD display unit 13 in the electronic camera 8A is arranged to be shifted upward with respect to the optical axis of the photographing lens unit 11, while the LCD display unit 13 in the electronic camera 8B is arranged. Shows a correction mode in a case where is displaced downward. In this case, the reflecting member unit 23A of the adapter body 4 corresponding to the electronic camera 8A is rotated clockwise by the adjusting knob 25A, and the horizontal position of the first mirror 21 is adjusted by the second adjusting knob 28A as necessary. Adjustment is performed so that the center of the LCD display unit 13 and the optical axis incident on the first mirror 21 coincide with each other. On the other hand, the reflection member unit 23B of the adapter body 4 corresponding to the electronic camera 8B is adjusted by the adjustment knob 25.
B to the right and, if necessary, the second adjustment knob 28B
To adjust the position of the first mirror 21 in the left-right direction.
The center of the display unit 13 is made to coincide with the optical axis incident on the first mirror 21. Such a reflection member unit
By adjusting 23A and 23B, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of image loss or the like of the stereoscopic observation image. In FIG. 3A, the hatched portions of the mirrors constituting the reflection member units 23A and 23B indicate the reflection surface side.

Next, the operation of the stereoscopic observation binocular system and the stereoscopic observation adapter device configured as described above will be described. When capturing a pair of parallax images having parallax, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the adapter body 4 is first slid downward to retract from the field of view of the binoculars 2. And two electronic cameras 8A, 8B
Is mounted on the base 1 so as to be slidable, so that the first camera base 7 faces the eyepieces 33A and 33B of the binoculars 2 and the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B.
B can be arranged at an appropriate position, so that a set of parallax images having parallax can be captured by each of the electronic cameras 8A and 8B via the binoculars 2.

Next, the two electronic cameras 8 are
When a set of parallax images captured by A and 8B is reproduced for stereoscopic observation, the first camera base 7 on which the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B are mounted is detached from the base 1, and the first camera base is mounted. 7 is slidably mounted on the second camera base 9. As a result, the LCD display units 13 of the two electronic cameras 8A and 8B can be arranged at appropriate positions corresponding to the reflection member units 23A and 23B of the adapter body 4, and are displayed on the LCD display unit 13. A pair of parallax images having parallax is emitted toward the objective lenses 31A and 31B of the binoculars 2 via the reflecting member units 23A and 23B of the adapter body 4 and the collimator lenses 24A and 24B. Then, a stereoscopic image can be observed through the erecting prisms 32A and 32B and the eyepieces 33A and 33B in the binoculars 2.

When an electronic camera in which the optical axis of the taking lens unit does not match the center of the LCD display unit is used, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the LCD display unit of the electronic camera is used. By adjusting the rotation of the reflecting member units 23A and 23B with the adjusting knobs 25A and 25B so that the center of the lens unit and the incident optical axis of the reflecting member units 23A and 23B of the adapter body 4 coincide with each other, a stereoscopic image without image loss is observed. can do. The adjustment of the reflection member units 23A and 23B in the adapter body 4 is performed only once when the electronic camera to be used is determined, and need not be adjusted each time the next observation is performed.

The distance between the two objective lenses of the binoculars is generally larger than the distance between the eyepieces. Therefore, the distance between the photographing lens units of the two electronic cameras is adjusted to the distance between the eyepieces of the binoculars. With this arrangement, a set of parallax images of the LCD display unit of the electronic camera cannot be directly emitted to the binoculars. However, in the present embodiment, a reflecting member for adjusting the optical axis and a collimator lens are provided. By interposing the adapter body, a set of parallax images can be easily incident on the binoculars while maintaining a compact configuration, and a stereoscopic image can be observed. Of course,
By removing the binoculars from the binocular arm, the binoculars can be used as ordinary binoculars.

[0028]

As described above with reference to the embodiments, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily realize a stereoscopic binocular system capable of using ordinary binoculars as a stereoscopic viewer. it can. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to realize a stereoscopic observation adapter device capable of easily observing a stereoscopic image with general-purpose binoculars with a simple configuration. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the optical path length inside the adapter can be increased, and the adapter device can be made compact. Further, according to the invention according to claim 4, it is possible to arrange the display devices for displaying the parallax images with a reduced interval, and it is possible to achieve a compact stereoscopic observation system. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the displayed parallax image from being vertically lost even if the display device is misaligned. According to the sixth and seventh aspects, the optical axis of the adapter device can be easily adjusted with a simple configuration. According to the invention of claim 8, the display device and the binoculars can be easily held at predetermined positions with respect to the main body of the adapter device. According to the ninth aspect, it is possible to easily switch between stereoscopic observation of a parallax image of a display device using general-purpose binoculars and photographing of a parallax image using a normal binocular observation or an electronic camera. According to the tenth aspect, the combination mode of the two electronic cameras at the time of shooting can be used as it is for display for stereoscopic observation. Further, according to the invention of claim 11, a stereoscopic photographing apparatus can be easily configured using ordinary binoculars.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a mode at the time of parallax image reproduction in an embodiment of a stereoscopic binocular system and a stereoscopic observation adapter device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a mode at the time of capturing a parallax image in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an adjustment mode when the optical axis of the photographing lens unit of the electronic camera does not coincide with the center of the LCD display unit when the parallax image shown in FIG. 1 is reproduced.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 base 2 binoculars 3 binocular arm 4 adapter body 5, 6 adapter shaft 7 first camera base 8A, 8B electronic camera 9 second camera base 11 photographing lens unit 12 CCD image pickup device unit 13 LCD display unit 21 first mirror 22 Second mirror 23A, 23B Reflective member unit 24A, 24B Collimator lens 25A, 25B Adjustment knob 26A, 26B Rail 27A, 27B Engagement pin 28A, 28B Second adjustment knob 31A, 31B Objective lens 32A, 32B Upright Prism 33A, 33B Eyepiece

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G03B 15/00 G03B 15/00 U 17/56 17/56 Z 35/20 35/20 F-term (reference) 2H039 AA05 AA06 AA10 AB22 AB41 AC04 AC08 2H059 AA24 AA35 AA38 2H087 KA02 KA03 KA16 LA01 LA12 LA25 RA41 RA44 RA45 2H105 EE32

Claims (11)

[Claims] A display device for displaying a pair of parallax images having parallax, an adapter device having a collimator optical system for emitting the displayed pair of parallax images as parallax images of afocal light beams, respectively. A binocular system for stereoscopic observation, comprising: a pair of objective optical systems and an eyepiece optical system, and binoculars capable of observing a parallax image emitted from the adapter device as a stereoscopic image. 2. A pair of collimator optical systems which receive a pair of parallax images having parallax displayed on a display device and output the pair of collimator images to a pair of objective units of binoculars as light beams of parallax images of afocal light beams. An adapter device for stereoscopic observation, wherein stereoscopic image observation of the set of parallax images is enabled with the binoculars. 3. The adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to claim 2, further comprising a reflection means for reflecting a light flux of a set of parallax images incident thereon an even number of times. 4. The adapter device according to claim 3, wherein a distance between a pair of incident portions that captures a pair of parallax images from the display device is a pair of emission portions that emits the pair of parallax images to the binoculars. An adapter device for stereoscopic observation, wherein the adapter device is shorter than the distance between the two. 5. The adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to claim 3, further comprising adjusting means for aligning an optical axis of the incident portion with an optical axis of the light incident on the incident portion. 6. The adjusting unit includes: a first reflecting surface that reflects a light beam incident on an incident part of the reflecting unit; and a second reflecting surface provided subsequent to the first reflecting surface. 6. The adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to claim 5, further comprising a rotation unit configured to rotate around an emission optical axis of the second reflection surface. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said adjusting means further includes a moving means for moving said first reflecting surface along an optical axis between said first and second reflecting surfaces. Adapter device for stereoscopic observation. 8. The adapter device according to claim 3, wherein the main body includes the collimator optical system and the reflection unit, and the main body holding unit holds the main body at a predetermined position. A display device holding means for holding the display device at a predetermined position with respect to the main body; and a binoculars holding means for holding the binoculars at a predetermined position with respect to the main body. Observation adapter device. 9. The main body holding means holds the main body at a position selected from among a position where stereoscopic observation is possible with binoculars and a position where the main body is moved out of the field of view of the binoculars. The stereoscopic observation adapter device according to claim 8, wherein: 10. The display device is two electronic cameras, and the display device holding means has a positional relationship such that the two electronic cameras can be attached to an eyepiece of the binoculars and photographed. The adapter device for stereoscopic observation according to claim 8, wherein the adapter device is held. 11. A stereoscopic photographing apparatus, wherein two electronic cameras are attached to binoculars so that parallax images emitted from a pair of eyepieces of the binoculars are photographed by a photographing system of the electronic cameras.