JP2003005266A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera equipped with a posture adjusting function for stably holding a camera even at a large tilt angle by simple structure. SOLUTION: A stand 28 for standing by which the installation posture of the camera 10 can be adjusted is provided on the back surface of the camera 10. The stand 28 can adjust an angle by a free stop mechanism or a click stop mechanism by proper friction, and the tilt angle suitable for photography in a state where the camera is installed on a desk can be set to >=30 deg.. The stand 28 is housed in the periphery of a liquid crystal monitor 26 by utilizing the level difference of the side surface of the monitor 26. It is conceivable to use a member being the stand also as a grip member.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly to the structure of a camera having a posture adjusting function for adjusting the angle of a photographing optical axis.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a camera has been proposed in which a bottom or side surface of a camera body is provided with an attitude adjusting member (stand) capable of adjusting the direction (angle) of the optical axis of the camera (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-43455). Jitsufairai 3-10501, Jitsufairi 3-48571, and Jitsufairi 4-23231).

[0003]

However, when the camera is used as a self-portrait for photographing oneself on a table, it is necessary to make the inclination angle large (30 ° or more). When a stand is provided on the bottom surface of the main body as in the conventional camera described above, if the tilt angle is set too large, the camera falls over. In addition, in order to increase the tilt angle in the structure in which the stand is provided on the side of the camera, it is necessary to provide the stand on both side surfaces of the main body for balancing, which is costly and structurally large. Become.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a camera having a simple structure capable of achieving a posture adjusting function capable of stably holding the camera even at a large tilt angle. .

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the camera according to the present invention is characterized in that a stand on which the installation posture of the camera can be adjusted is provided on the back surface of the camera body.

According to the present invention, when the camera is installed on a desk or the like, the stand on the back can be used to lean the camera and support the camera in a tilted posture. Since the tilt angle of the camera can be changed by adjusting the angle of the stand, the angle of the optical axis (shooting optical axis) of the taking lens arranged in front of the camera can be adjusted appropriately. The stand provided on the rear surface of the camera has a simple structure and can have a large inclination angle as compared with the conventional stand provided on the bottom surface or the side surface.

According to an aspect of the present invention, an image display unit is provided on the back surface of the camera body, and the stand has a structure capable of being housed around the image display unit. I am trying. When the image display unit such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) is provided on the back surface of the camera in a raised state, it is preferable that the step is used to store the stand around the image display unit. As a result, when the stand is not used, the stand does not get in the way and a beautiful contour with less unevenness can be realized in terms of design.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the stand is also used as a grip member. When installing the camera on a desk or the like, the stand can be taken out and the angle of the camera can be adjusted, while when the camera is held by hand, the stand is folded and used as a grip member. The stand, which is also used as the grip member, is designed to have an appropriate size and shape for the purpose of improving the feeling of holding when holding the camera.
In this way, since the member functioning as a stand is also used as the grip member, the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of a camera according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1
2 is a perspective view of the camera of the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the back side. The camera 10 is a taking lens 1
It is a digital camera capable of converting an optical image of a subject incident via 2 into an electric signal by an image pickup device such as a CCD and recording the obtained electronic image data in a recording medium such as a memory card. The recording medium is smart media (Solid-St
ate Floppy Disk Card), PC card, Compact Flash (registered trademark), magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, memory stick, and various other media can be used. The signal processing means and interface according to the medium used are applied. The recording medium is not limited to the removable medium, and may be a recording medium (internal memory) built in the camera 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, the camera 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and in addition to a retractable taking lens 12, a viewfinder window 13, a self-timer lamp 14 and a stroboscopic light emitting section are provided on the front surface of a housing 11. 15 are provided. A shutter button 16 and a mode dial 17 are provided on the top surface of the camera, and a slot cover 18 is provided on the side surface of the camera. The mode dial 17 is a means for changing the function (mode) of the camera. By operating the mode dial 17, a shooting mode for performing still shooting, a playback mode for playing back shot images, a setup mode for performing various settings, It can be set to continuous shooting mode.

The slot cover 18 is a door for protecting an insertion opening (media slot) of a memory card (not shown), and is provided so as to be opened and closed by a hinge mechanism (not shown). The slot cover 18 is locked in a closed state by a lock mechanism (not shown), and by operating the unlock knob 19 downward in FIG.
The lock mechanism (not shown) 8 is unlocked to open the slot cover 18. Further, an audio / video output terminal (A / V OUT terminal) 20, a digital (USB) terminal 21, and a power input terminal 22 are provided on the side surface of the camera.

By connecting the camera 10 to a personal computer or other external device (not shown in FIG. 1) via the USB terminal 21, bidirectional communication is possible between the camera 10 and the external device. The communication operation mode of the camera 10 at the time of USB connection includes a function (storage mode) as a card reader capable of reading and writing the recording medium of the camera 10 from a personal computer (external device), and shooting with the camera 10 connected to the personal computer. , A function as an image input device (PC camera mode) for sending the captured video to the personal computer side, and the camera 10 is configured so that the operation mode at the time of USB connection can be selectively switched by a menu screen or the like. ing.

As shown in FIG. 2, a finder 24, a liquid crystal monitor 26, a stand 28, a cross button 30, a menu / OK button 31, and a BACK button 3 are provided on the rear surface of the camera.
Two are provided. The cross-shaped buttons 30 are left, right, up,
It is a multi-functional operation unit that can input instructions in the four directions below. The left and right keys function as the 1-frame reverse and 1-frame forward buttons in playback mode, and the up and down keys play It is used as a zoom key for adjusting the magnification in the zoom function and the electronic zoom function during shooting.

The cross button 30 is used for menu / OK.
It functions as an operation button for selecting a menu item from the menu screen displayed by pressing the button 31 and for instructing selection of various setting items in each menu. The menu / OK button 31 is used to transition from the normal screen of each mode to the menu screen, or to confirm the selected content.
It is used when instructing execution (confirmation) of processing. The BACK button 32 is used to cancel (cancel) the item selected from the menu or to return to the previous operation state.

The liquid crystal monitor 26 can be used as an electronic viewfinder for confirming the angle of view at the time of photographing, and can display a preview image of the photographed image, a reproduced image read from a memory card loaded in the camera 10, and the like. In addition, selection of menus using the cross button 30 and setting of various setting items in each menu are also performed on the liquid crystal monitor 2.
The display screen 6 is used. Furthermore, the LCD monitor 26
Indicates the number of frames that can be shot
Information such as the display of the playback frame number, the presence or absence of strobe emission, the macro mode display, the recording image quality (quality) display, and the pixel number display is also displayed.

The liquid crystal monitor 26 is a housing 11 of the camera 10.
It is provided so as to project from the reference flat surface 11A on the back surface of the liquid crystal monitor 26.
A stand 28 having a U shape (a U shape having an open upper side) is attached.

The angle of the stand 28 can be adjusted by a free stop mechanism or a click stop mechanism with an appropriate friction. By properly setting the angle of the stand 28, the posture of the camera 10 (the photographing optical axis L when the camera is installed) can be adjusted. Direction) can be adjusted freely. When the stand 28 is not used, as shown in FIG.
Can be stored in the outer peripheral portion of the liquid crystal monitor 26.

According to the camera 10 configured as described above, when the self-timer photographing or the self-photographing in the PC camera mode is performed, the stand 28 is taken out and the camera 10 is set at a desired inclination angle and the camera 10 is mounted on the desk. It can be installed in Since the back surface of the tilted camera 10 is supported by the stand 28, the tilt angle of the camera 10 (the tilt angle with respect to the vertical direction of the upright posture) can be set to a large value, and the tilt angle of 30 ° is suitable for shooting on a desk.
It is easy to set the above.

When the stand 28 is not used,
As described in FIG. 3, the stand 28 can be stored around the liquid crystal monitor 26. Stand 28 in the stored state
Does not protrude beyond the height of the liquid crystal monitor 26.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a camera 40 according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a rear view thereof. In these drawings, the same or similar parts to those of the camera 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The camera 40 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is provided with a stand 42 on one side surface of the liquid crystal monitor 26. The stand 42 is rotatable via a shaft 43,
The angle can be adjusted by a free stop mechanism or a click stop mechanism with an appropriate friction.

According to the camera 10 having such a structure, during self-timer photographing or self-photographing in the PC camera mode, the stand 42 is taken out to set the camera 10 at a desired inclination angle, and the camera 10 is placed on a desk or the like. Can be installed in When the stand 28 is not used, the stand 42 can be stored beside the liquid crystal monitor 26 (on the right side in FIG. 5), as shown in FIG. Stand 42 in the stored state
Does not protrude beyond the height (projection height) of the liquid crystal monitor 26.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a camera 60 according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a rear view thereof. In these drawings, the same or similar parts to those of the camera 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the camera 60 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a stand 62, which also serves as a grip member, is rotatably provided on the rear surface of the camera via a hinge mechanism 63. The hinge mechanism 63 allows the stand 62 to operate with an appropriate friction.
Can be stopped at any angle. Also, the stand 62 has an appropriate shape and size so that it can function as a grip member.

According to the camera 60 having such a structure, during self-timer photographing or self-photographing in the PC camera mode, the stand 62 is taken out to set the camera 60 at a desired inclination angle, and the camera 10 is placed on a desk or the like. Can be installed in Further, when holding the camera 60 in the hand and taking a picture, the stand 62 is folded and the part of the stand 62 is gripped. The raised shape of the stand 62 makes it easier to hold the camera 60 and provides a good hold feeling.

The scope of application of the present invention is not limited to a digital camera, and the present invention can be applied to a silver salt camera for recording an image on a photographic film, a camera using a self-developing film, and the like. Further, the specific structure of the stand is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various forms are possible.

[0027]

As described above, according to the camera of the present invention, since the stand for holding the tilt is provided on the rear surface of the camera, the stand or the like is used to tilt the camera body on a desk or the like. Can be installed in Since the tilt angle of the camera can be changed by adjusting the angle of the stand, the angle of the photographing optical axis can be adjusted appropriately. The stand provided on the back of the camera has a simple structure and can have a large inclination angle compared to the conventional stand provided on the bottom surface or the side surface, and can be set to an inclination angle of 30 ° or more suitable for shooting on a desk. It's easy.

Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, since the stand is housed around the image display section by utilizing the convex portion of the image display section, the stand does not become an obstacle when the stand is not used. , It is possible to achieve a beautiful contour with little unevenness in terms of design.

According to another aspect of the present invention, since the member of the stand is also used as the grip member, the number of parts and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the camera shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing a state where the camera shown in FIG. 1 is stored in a stand.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a rear view showing a state where the camera shown in FIG. 4 is stored in a stand.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a camera according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a rear view showing a state where the camera shown in FIG. 6 is stored in a stand.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 40, 60 ... Camera, 12 ... Photographic lens, 14 ...
Self-timer lamp, 16 ... Shutter button, 17
... Mode dial, 18 ... Slot cover, 24 ... Finder, 26 ... LCD monitor, 28,42,62 ... Stand

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A camera, characterized in that a stand is provided on the back surface of the camera body so that the installation posture of the camera can be adjusted. 2. The image display unit is provided on the back surface of the camera body in a protruding manner, and the stand has a structure capable of being stored around the image display unit. Camera. 3. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the stand is also used as a grip member.