JP2005037790A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate confirmation of an actual light emission state of a strobe, when an object to be imaged is photographed. <P>SOLUTION: When the strobe 16 actually emits a light upon the instruction for photographing the object to be imaged by an operational part 20, a notification sound indicating the emission of light from the strobe 16 is outputted from a loudspeaker 26 under the control of a CPU 30. The notification sound, when the CPU 30 determines that the light from the strobe 16 reaches the object to be imaged, is outputted differently from that when it is determined that the light does not reach the object to be imaged. Accordingly, the person who is photographing can easily confirm the actual light emission state of the strobe 16, when the object to be imaged is photographed by the notification sound. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly to a camera that causes a strobe to emit light.

  Conventionally, a photographer has been proposed to inform the photographer of charging completion, charging completion and battery check results with the lamp in the finder so that the photographer can check whether the flash can be emitted before shooting. (See Patent Document 1).

  There has also been proposed a technique in which when a predetermined switch for pre-light emission is operated before main light emission, the photographer is notified by lighting an icon that pre-light emission is performed (see Patent Document 2).

  There has also been proposed an apparatus in which a strobe charge OK or the like is notified to a photographer with a lamp (or buzzer) (see Patent Document 3).

It has also been proposed that a proper exposure is determined when a light emission stop signal from the camera to the strobe is detected, and the photographer is notified of the proper exposure with a lamp (or buzzer) (Patent Document). 4).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-43537 JP 9-43684 A JP 2000-56378 A JP 2000-206600 A

  With conventional cameras, there is a problem that the photographer may not be aware of whether or not the strobe has actually emitted light. When strobe light is emitted in a dark place, the photographer may be able to visually know the strobe light emission even in a state of gazing inside the viewfinder. However, when shooting with a bright background, such as strobe shooting in a daylight-backlit scene (so-called daytime synchro shooting), or when the flash is emitted at a low light output, shooting in a state of gazing inside the viewfinder The person hardly knows whether or not the strobe has fired.

  In the prior art described in Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3 described above, when the lamp is turned on, the photographer cannot confirm the point of view in the viewfinder without moving to the lamp, and the oversight is missed. It is inconvenient. When the amount of light emission is small, the charging time is also short, so it is often impossible to confirm. In addition, simply lighting the lamp (or icon) indicating that the flash has been charged only gives an indication of the possibility of flash firing, based on the lighting of the lamp, and the photographer can check whether or not the flash has actually fired. I can't confirm.

  The conventional device described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 4 determines that the exposure is appropriate by detecting the light emission stop signal from the camera to the strobe, and notifies the user that the exposure is appropriate. Cannot check whether the strobe actually fired.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a camera capable of easily confirming an actual light emission state of a strobe when photographing a subject.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographing instruction means for instructing photographing of a subject, a strobe that emits light when the subject is photographed, and a sound indicating that the strobe has emitted. It is characterized by comprising notifying means for notifying and control means for notifying the notifying means that the strobe light has been emitted when the strobe light has been emitted.

  According to the present invention, it is notified by sound that the strobe has actually emitted light at the time of photographing the subject, so that the photographer can easily confirm the actual light emission state of the strobe at the time of photographing the subject. In particular, even when the strobe light should be emitted, such as under room lighting or in a backlight scene during the daytime, even if it is difficult for the photographer to experience the actual strobe light, the strobe light actually emitted. Whether or not the photographer can easily experience by hearing.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the notification means outputs a predetermined notification sound when a shooting instruction is given by the shooting instruction means. It is configured to output different sounds when the strobe emits light and when the strobe does not emit light.

  For example, a notification sound of “click” corresponding to the shooting instruction is output, and a notification sound of “click” is output only when strobe light is emitted. Therefore, the photographer can not only easily experience whether or not a shooting instruction has been accepted by sound, but also can clearly feel whether or not strobe light has actually been emitted.

  The invention described in claim 3 further comprises means for determining whether or not the light of the strobe reaches the subject in the invention of claim 1 or 2, wherein the notification means includes the strobe. The light is output with different sound when it is determined that the light reaches the subject and when it is determined that the light does not reach the subject.

  With this configuration, since a different sound is output depending on whether the strobe light has reached the subject or not, the photographer can check whether the strobe light has reached the subject. You can feel the distinction by sound. For example, it is possible to recognize the possibility that the subject is far away and the strobe emits light at the limit of the light emission amount, and the main subject is photographed dark.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the notification means is different between when the strobe emits full light and when the strobe emits predetermined light that is not full. It is configured to output sound.

  With this configuration, different sounds are output for full light emission and predetermined light emission that is not full light emission (so-called normal light emission), so the photographer can easily experience that the subject condition is the limit of the light emission capability. it can.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the structure according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, further comprising setting means for setting whether to output a notification sound for notifying the flash emission. ing.

  With this configuration, the photographer can freely set the presence / absence of notification according to the necessity of notification and the shooting situation.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily confirm the actual light emission state of the strobe at the time of shooting an object. In particular, even if it is necessary to emit strobe light, such as under indoor lighting or in a backlight scene during the day, and even if it is difficult for the photographer to visually sense the actual strobe light emission, the actual light emission state of the strobe light It can be easily experienced by sound.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a camera according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a principal block diagram showing an internal configuration of a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an image sensor 12 includes a plurality of photodiodes (light receiving elements) arranged two-dimensionally and images a subject. It also has an electronic shutter function that controls the charge accumulation time (shutter speed) of each photodiode. The image sensor 12 is controlled by a CPU 30 described later via the image sensor control unit 14. An image obtained by imaging with the image sensor 12 is temporarily stored in the image memory 22.

  The strobe 16 has a charging unit that charges an electric charge. When the subject is photographed by the image pickup device 12, the strobe 16 discharges the electric charge according to a light emission start signal from the CPU 30 (to be described later) to emit light, and irradiates the subject with light. Further, when a light emission stop signal is output from the CPU 30, light emission is stopped. Normally, light is emitted until a light emission stop signal is input from the CPU 30, and when the light emission stop signal is not output from the CPU 30, the electric charge is fully discharged to emit light (full light emission).

  The light control sensor 18 is disposed on the front surface of the camera body, receives the reflected light reflected by the stroboscopic light from the subject, and detects the amount of the reflected light.

  The operation unit 20 includes a release button for issuing a shooting preparation instruction and a shooting instruction, and setting switches for performing various settings.

  The release button is composed of a two-stroke switch having an S1 switch that is turned on when the shutter button is half-pressed and an S2 switch that is turned on when the shutter button is fully pressed. In the case of a shooting instruction, the S2 switch is turned on by being fully pressed.

  The setting switch can be set to prohibit the strobe and to force the strobe. In the present embodiment, when neither strobe prohibition nor strobe forced light emission is used, an auto strobe that emits light according to the subject brightness is set. Further, the setting switch can set whether or not to output the notification sound. The setting contents are stored in the flash memory 24.

  The speaker 26 converts an audio signal generated by a CPU 30 described later into sound and outputs the sound. Specifically, when a shooting instruction is issued by fully pressing the release button (ie, S1 is on), a notification sound indicating the start of shooting (hereinafter referred to as “shutter sound”) is output. When the strobe 16 emits light, a notification sound indicating that the strobe 16 has emitted (hereinafter referred to as “strobe emission sound”) is output. When outputting the strobe light emission sound, a strobe light emission sound (hereinafter referred to as “normal light emission sound”) indicating that the strobe 16 has normally emitted light and a strobe light emission sound (hereinafter referred to as “normal light emission sound”) indicating that the strobe 16 has fully emitted light. Any one of “full emission sound”.

  The recording unit 28 records an image obtained by imaging with the imaging element 12 on a predetermined recording medium such as a memory card.

  The CPU 30 functions as a control unit that controls each part of the camera according to a predetermined program, and performs various processes such as automatic focus adjustment (AF process), photometry process, and image process.

  The flow of processing in the CPU 30 is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  In FIG. 2, the process waits until the release button is pressed halfway and the S1 switch is turned on (S2). When a shooting preparation instruction is issued by pressing the release button halfway, preparation for shooting including AF processing and photometry processing is performed (S4). ). In the AF process, focusing of a photographing lens (not shown) is performed. In the photometric process, the subject brightness is detected from the image obtained by the image sensor 12, and an exposure value (EV value) suitable for photographing is calculated. Then, an aperture value and a shutter speed are determined from the obtained exposure value and a predetermined program diagram.

  Further, it is determined whether or not strobe prohibition is set (S6) and whether or not strobe forced light emission is set (S8).

  If the flash is prohibited, the camera waits until the release button is fully pressed and the S2 switch is turned on (S12). When a shooting instruction is issued by pressing the release button fully, the shooting process is performed without flash emission (S16). . Then, a shutter sound (a sound of “click”) is generated and output from the speaker 26 (S18). In addition, since the strobe light is not emitted, a strobe light emission sound (a sound such as “click” or “click”) is not output.

  In the case of forced flash emission, the completion of charging of the flash 16 is confirmed (S20), and the process waits until the release button is fully pressed and the S2 switch is turned on (S22). When a shooting instruction is issued by fully pressing the release button, it is determined whether or not strobe light reaches the subject (S24), and shooting is performed with strobe light emission (S26 or S36).

  As a method for determining whether or not the strobe light reaches the subject, (a) it is determined whether or not the strobe light actually reaches the subject based on the amount of reflected light from the subject detected by the light control sensor 18. (B) The strobe light is logically based on the strobe light irradiation distance (generally determined based on the guide number corresponding to the strobe light amount and the F number indicating the aperture value) and the actual subject distance. And (c) a method of determining whether or not the strobe light has actually reached the subject by split photometry based on the image captured by the image sensor 16.

  When it is determined that the strobe light has reached the subject, shooting is performed with a predetermined strobe light emission (S26), and a normal light emission sound (a “click” sound) is generated to notify that the normal light emission has occurred. Output (S28). On the other hand, if it is determined that the strobe light does not reach the subject, shooting is performed with the strobe 16 being fully lit (S36), and a full flashing sound (sound “click”) is sent to notify that the flash is fully lit. And output from the speaker 26 (S38).

  In the case where the flash is not prohibited and the flash is not forced flash (in the case of auto flash), it is determined whether or not the flash is necessary based on the divided photometry result of the image obtained by imaging with the image sensor 12 (S10). ). Here, if an overall light quantity shortage or backlighting is detected, it is determined that strobe light emission is necessary.

  In a backlight scene during the day, the main subject becomes darker than the brightness of the background. Accordingly, it is determined by split metering whether or not strobe light emission is necessary for the main subject (that is, whether or not daytime synchro photography is performed). For example, when the luminance value is detected at each of the central portion and the peripheral portion of the image obtained by the image sensor 12, and the difference in luminance value between the central portion and the peripheral portion exceeds a predetermined threshold, the main subject It is determined that a strobe flashing is necessary.

  When it is determined that the strobe light emission is necessary, the completion of charging of the strobe 16 is confirmed (S20), and it waits until the release button is fully pressed and the S2 switch is turned on (S22). When shooting is instructed, it is determined whether or not strobe light reaches the subject (S24), and shooting is performed with strobe light emission (S26 or S36).

  In the case of daytime synchro photography, it is difficult to determine whether or not strobe light has reached the subject with only the amount of light reflected from the subject alone. Therefore, in the above-described (a) method for determining the arrival of the strobe light based on the amount of light detected by the light control sensor 18, it is determined whether or not the strobe light has reached the subject in consideration of shooting conditions such as the shutter speed. To do.

  If it is determined that the strobe light reaches the subject, shooting is performed with a predetermined strobe light emission (S26), and a normal light emission sound (a “click” sound) is generated to notify the normal light emission and output from the speaker 26. (S28). On the other hand, if it is determined that the strobe light does not reach the subject, shooting is performed with the strobe 16 being fully lit (S36), and a full flashing sound (sound “click”) is sent to notify that the flash is fully lit. And output from the speaker 26 (S38).

  If it is determined that the flash is not required, the camera waits until the release button is fully pressed and the S2 switch is turned on (S12). When a shooting instruction is issued by pressing the release button fully, shooting is performed without the flash. Processing is performed (S16). Here, a shutter sound (a sound of “click”) is output from the speaker 26 (S18). In addition, since the strobe light is not emitted, a strobe light emission sound (a sound such as “click” or “click”) is not output.

  The image of the subject temporarily stored in the image memory 22 is recorded on a predetermined recording medium by the recording unit 28 (S40).

  FIG. 2 shows an example in which the shutter sound is “click”, the normal light emission sound is “click”, and the full light emission sound is “click”, that is, a pseudo sound is output. Indicated. As described above, the shutter sound is preferably generated by the CPU 30 and output with a pseudo sound of a mechanical opening / closing sound (a sound of “crispy”), which is preferable because it is easy for the photographer to feel that shooting has started. Further, the strobe light emission sound is preferably generated by the CPU 30 with a pseudo sound of a sound due to discharge (a “click” sound) and output, so that the photographer can easily feel that the strobe light has been emitted. Even in the case where such a pseudo sound is not output, the shutter sound, the normal light emission sound, and the full light emission sound may be output in different timbres.

  Further, when strobe light is emitted, it is more preferable to output both shutter sound and strobe light emission sound. For example, in the case of normal light emission, “click” is output after “click”, and in the case of full light output, “click” is output after “click”.

  As described above, according to the camera to which the present invention is applied, whether or not the strobe 16 actually emits light when the subject is photographed is notified by sound, so that the photographer can actually emit the strobe 16 when photographing the subject. The state can be easily confirmed. For example, whether or not the strobe 16 has actually fired even when the strobe light is to be emitted, such as in a backlight scene during the day, and when it is difficult for the photographer to experience the actual strobe light emission visually. The photographer can easily experience by hearing.

  In addition, although the case where the notification means for notifying the strobe emission is the speaker 26 has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to such a case. For example, an aspect in which notification is given by an electronic buzzer instead of the speaker 26 is also possible. is there. For example, the shutter sound is output as “beep”, the normal light emission sound as “peep”, and the full light emission sound as “peep”.

  Furthermore, the example of notifying whether or not the strobe light has been emitted and whether or not the strobe light has reached the subject (or whether the light emission is normal or full) has been described. Notification of whether or not the strobe is out of order may also be performed.

  Needless to say, the camera of the present invention includes not only a digital camera but also a camera device such as a silver salt camera or a camera-equipped mobile phone.

1 is a principal block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a camera to which the present invention is applied. Flow chart for explaining strobe flash notification

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Image sensor, 14 ... Image sensor control part, 16 ... Strobe, 18 ... Light control sensor, 20 ... Operation part (shooting instruction means, setting means), 22 ... Image memory, 24 ... Flash memory, 26 ... Speaker (notification) Means), 28... Recording section, 30... CPU (control means)

Claims (5)

Photographing instruction means for instructing photographing of a subject;
A flash that fires when the subject is photographed;
An informing means for informing by sound that the strobe light has emitted;
Control means for notifying the notifying means that the strobe light is emitted when the strobe light is emitted;
A camera characterized by comprising   The notification means outputs a predetermined notification sound when a shooting instruction is given by the shooting instruction means, and the sound differs depending on whether the strobe emits light or when the strobe does not emit light. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the camera is output. Means for determining whether or not the strobe light reaches the subject;
The said alerting | reporting means outputs with a different sound, when it determines with the light of the said strobe reaching | attaining the said object, and when it determines with not reaching the said object. camera.   3. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit outputs a sound different when the strobe emits full light and when the strobe emits predetermined light that is not full light emission. 4.   5. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising setting means for setting presence / absence of an output of a notification sound notifying the flash emission.

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