JP2005164933A - Camera with built-in flash unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain the enlargement of a component arrangement space in a camera body by installing a position detection switch for a built-in flash unit on the side of the the flash unit. <P>SOLUTION: A camera with the built-in flash unit is provided with an arm part 32B supported in a turnable manner by the camera body via a hinge 11B, a flash light emitting part supported by the arm part 32B and moving between a storage position and an operating position in accordance with the turning of the arm part 32B, and the position detection switch SW which is arranged in the arm part 32B and which is turned on/off when the flash light emitting part is located in the storage position/the operating position. The position detection switch SW is constituted of a pair of switch sections 41 and 42 arranged in the arm part 32B, and the on/off state is switched by elastically deforming one switch section 42 linked with the turning of the arm part 32B. A switch operating part 11c for elastically deforming the section 42 is integrally arranged on the hinge 11B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera incorporating a flash device in which a flash light emitting unit is movable between a storage position and a use position.

  An example of this type of flash device built-in camera is disclosed in Patent Document 1. The light emitting unit of the flash device is connected to the camera body via an arm unit, and is movable between a storage position and a use position by the rotation of the arm unit. Since it is necessary for the camera side to recognize whether the light emitting unit is in the storage position or the use position, a position detection switch is provided in the camera body (penta unit).

JP 2001-305626 A

  Patent Document 1 describes several structures of the position detection switch. However, since the switch parts are arranged in the camera body, the space in the camera body is reduced by the arrangement space. There is a drawback that the degree of freedom of arrangement of other parts is reduced.

The flash device built-in camera according to the present invention is supported by the camera body via a hinge so as to be rotatable, and is supported by the arm part, and is moved between the storage position and the use position by the rotation of the arm part. And a position detection switch that is provided in the arm and switches between an on / off state when the flash light emitting unit is in the storage position and when in the use position.
In the invention of claim 2, the position detection switch is composed of a pair of switch pieces arranged in the arm portion, and one switch piece is elastically deformed in conjunction with the rotation of the arm portion, so that the on / off state is achieved. It is configured to be switched.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a switch operating portion for elastically deforming one of the pieces is provided integrally with the hinge.

  According to the present invention, the arm portion is provided with the position detection switch that switches between the on / off state when the flash light emitting unit is in the storage position and when in the use position. The degree of freedom of arrangement of other parts in the main body can be increased.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing an upper portion of a single-lens reflex camera in the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view seen from the back side. On the upper surface of the camera body 10, a bulging part (so-called penta part) 11 for accommodating a part of the finder optical system is provided. The finder optical system includes a focusing screen 21, a pentaprism 22, and an eyepiece lens 23a held by an eyepiece lens block 23. An AE lens 24 and an AE unit 25 are provided above the eyepiece lens block 23. Yes. The light beam incident on the finder is observed by the eyepiece lens 23 via the screen 21 and the pentaprism 22, and part of the light is guided to the AE unit 25 via the AE lens 24 for photometry of the object scene. Contribute. Reference numeral 12 denotes a camera upper cover.

  The built-in flash device 30 constitutes a flash light emitting section (hereinafter simply referred to as a light emitting section) 31 composed of a xenon tube 31a or a reflector 31b as a light emitting tube, a housing space for the light emitting section 31, and a pair of arms 32A and 32B. It has upper and lower cases 33 and 34 and has a substantially U-shape as a whole. The pair of arm portions 32A and 32B are rotatably supported by hinges 11A and 11B fixed to both side surfaces of the pentagon portion 11, and the light emitting portion 31 is used in the retracted position and used by the rotation of the arm portions 32A and 32B. Move between positions. The light emitting unit 31 in the retracted position maintains a posture along the front portion of the pentagonal part 11 as shown in FIG. A hot shoe 13 for mounting an external flash device is provided on the upper surface of the penta part 11.

A torsion spring 35 is extrapolated to the hinge 11A supporting the left arm portion 32A in FIG. 2, and the urging force of the spring 35 always biases the flash device 30 upward, that is, in a direction to bring the light emitting portion 31 to the use position. Is done. The flash device 30 is locked to the camera body 10 at the retracted position. When the locking is released, the light emitting unit 31 is automatically popped up to the use position by the urging force of the torsion spring 35.
Here, in order to prevent vignetting of the illumination light from the light emitting unit 31, it is necessary to cause the light emitting unit 31 to emit light at as high a position as possible. To bring the light emitting unit 31 to a high position, the arms 32A and 32B are rotated. It is necessary to increase the corner.

Next, the position detection switch of the built-in flash device 30 will be described.
The position detection switch SW is composed of two leaf spring-like switch pieces 41 and 42 incorporated in the right arm 32B of FIG. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pair of pieces 41 and 42 are arranged vertically so that their proximal ends are parallel to each other, and a contact portion 41 a is provided at the tip of the upper piece 41. The tip of the lower section 42 is raised up upward, and a bent portion 42a is provided at the tip.

  On the other hand, on the hinge 11B that supports the arm portion 32B, a switch operation pin 11c for deforming the lower section 42 is projected. The hinge 11B is hollow, and the lead wire can be routed through the inside. Although not shown, lead wires are connected to the pair of pieces 41 and 42, respectively, and these lead wires are connected to the circuit of the camera body 10 through the hinge 11B. Thereby, the microcomputer on the camera body side can recognize the presence / absence of contact of the segments 41 and 42, that is, the on / off state of the position detection switch SW. Note that a flashlight lead wire and a light emission amount detection lead wire (both not shown) also electrically connect the light emitting unit 31 and the camera body 10 through the hinge 11B.

  FIG. 4 shows a state where the light emitting unit 31 is in the storage position. The switch piece 42 is not in contact with the pin 11c, and the pieces 41 and 42 are also kept in a non-contact state (off state). When the locking of the flash device 30 to the camera body 10 is released in this state, the arm portions 32A and 32B are rotated counterclockwise by the urging force of the torsion spring 35, and the light emitting portion 31 moves toward the use position. Begin to. Since the hinges 11A and 11B are fixed to the camera body 10, the pin 11c integrated with the hinge 11B does not move even when the arm portion 32B rotates, and the switch pieces 41 and 42 move relative to the pin 11c. Will do.

  FIG. 5 shows the moment when the arm portion 32B rotates to some extent and the tip of the bent portion 42a of the section 42 comes into contact with the pin 11c. Thereafter, when the pin 11c elastically deforms the section 42 toward the section 41 in accordance with the rotation of the arm portion 32B and rotates to the position of FIG. 6, the elastically deformed section 42 comes into contact with the contact portion 41a of the section 41. The switch SW is turned on. FIG. 7 shows a state when the light emitting unit 31 reaches the use position, and the switch SW is kept in the on state. In this state, the section 41 is also pushed and deformed by the section 42, and the contact pressure of both the sections 41 and 42 is large. Therefore, there is no fear that the switch SW is turned off undesirably due to an impact applied to the camera.

  When the light emitting unit 31 is moved from the use position to the storage position, the operation is reverse to that described above. That is, as the pin 11c moves relatively away from the section 42 from the state of FIG. 7 toward the state of FIG. 6, the section 42 follows the pin 11c by the elastic force, and the state of FIG. If it passes, it will switch off by evacuating from the intercept 41. The section 42 follows the pin 11c until the state shown in FIG. 5 and thereafter leaves the pin 11c and reaches the state shown in FIG.

  Thus, in this embodiment, since the position detection switch SW is provided not on the penta part 11 but on one arm part 23B of the flash device 30, the space in the penta part can be widened. The AE unit 25 can be arranged without hindrance without increasing the size. On the other hand, the vicinity of the hinge in the arm portion 23B is a space where nothing is normally arranged, and the switch SW is composed of only two leaf spring-like pieces 41 and 42, so the switch SW is arranged in the space. There is no need to increase the size of the arm portion 23B. Further, since the section 42 is deformed by the pin 11c provided on the hinge 11B, an operation mechanism for turning on / off the switch SW can be minimized.

  Incidentally, when the components of the position detection switch SW are arranged in the penta part 11, it is necessary to enlarge the penta part 11 when the AE unit 25 is arranged. Alternatively, only a small AE unit can be arranged, and in this case, desired photometric performance cannot be obtained.

  Furthermore, according to the structure of the present embodiment, it is possible to flexibly cope with a change in the rotation angle of the arm portion 23B, in other words, a change in the usage height position of the light emitting unit 31, by simply shifting the position of the pin 11c. For example, when the use position of the light emitting unit 31 is made higher than that of the embodiment (increasing the rotation angle) in order to enhance the vignetting prevention effect of the illumination light, the on-timing of the switch SW may be delayed, so the pin 11c. May be provided at a position shifted counterclockwise with respect to the rotation center of the arm portion 23B. On the other hand, when the rotation angle is decreased, the on-timing of the switch SW may be advanced, so that the pin 11c may be provided at a position shifted clockwise. In either case, only the hinge 11B needs to be replaced.

  In the above description, the built-in flash device provided in the penta portion has been described. However, the flash device may be disposed in another position, or the light emitting portion may be supported by one arm portion. Furthermore, although the position detection switch is composed of two leaf spring-like pieces, other structures (for example, brush-like ones) may be used. The switch operating mechanism is not limited to the pin provided on the hinge. The switch may be turned on at the storage position and turned off at the use position.

1 is a side sectional view showing an upper configuration of a single-lens reflex camera according to an embodiment. Sectional drawing which looked at the structure of FIG. 1 from the camera back side. The perspective view explaining the structure of the position detection switch of a built-in flash device. It is side surface sectional drawing which shows the structure of a position detection switch, and shows the state which has a light emission part in a storing position. FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 and shows a state when the device is rotated to some extent from the storage position. It is the same figure as FIG. 4, and shows the state when it further rotates. FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 and shows a state in which the light emitting unit is in the use position.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Camera body 11 Penta part 11A, 11b Hinge 11c Pin for switch operation 24 AE lens 25 AE unit 30 Built-in flash device 31 Flash light emission part 32A, 32B Arm part 33 Upper case 34 Lower case 41 Upper switch section 42 Lower switch section SW position detection switch

Claims (3)

An arm part rotatably supported by a camera body via a hinge;
A flash light-emitting part supported by the arm part and moving between a storage position and a use position by rotation of the arm part;
A flash device built-in camera, comprising: a position detection switch provided in the arm portion, wherein the position detection switch is switched between an on / off state when the flash light emitting unit is in a storage position and when in a use position. The position detection switch is composed of a pair of switch pieces arranged in the arm portion, and one switch piece is elastically deformed in conjunction with the rotation of the arm portion so that the on / off state is switched. The flash device built-in camera according to claim 1, wherein the camera has a built-in flash device. 3. The flash device built-in camera according to claim 1, wherein the hinge is integrally provided with a switch operation unit that elastically deforms the one piece.

Images