JP2006145821A - Shutter button - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability of the shutter button of a camera provided with an autofocus function. <P>SOLUTION: The shutter button 13 has a 1st button 14 and a 2nd button 15. The 1st button 14 which is cylindrical is arranged to project from the upper surface 1U of a camera housing. The 2nd button 15 which is columnar is arranged coaxially with the 1st button 14 inside the 1st button 14. The 2nd button 15 is arranged to project from the upper surface 1U. The projecting amount of the 2nd button 15 is larger than that of the 1st button 14. The 1st and the 2nd buttons 14 and 15 are always energized upward by corresponding energizing members respectively. When only the 2nd button 15 is pressed, autofocus is performed, and when the 1st and the 2nd buttons 14 and 15 are pressed simultaneously, a subject image is acquired. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a shutter button of a camera.

  Conventionally, some cameras have an autofocus function. The shutter button of such a camera consists of a single operating member and is configured to be pushed in two steps. When the shutter button is pressed halfway, the photometry process and the distance measurement process are executed, and the focusing operation of the photographing optical system is executed based on the result of the distance measurement process. When the photographer visually recognizes the state of the subject displayed on the viewfinder or the rear display and confirms that the focus has been adjusted, the subject image is acquired when the shutter button is fully pressed.

Such half-pressing and full-pressing of the shutter button is an extremely sensory operation, and in particular, a subtle amount of force is required for half-pressing. For example, if too much force is applied to the fingertip in the half-pressed state, the image acquisition process is executed before the focus adjustment is confirmed, and the captured image becomes out of focus. Also, if the force applied in the half-pressed state is weak, the autofocus function is canceled and the shutter button must be half-pressed again. In order to solve such a problem, there is one in which an autofocus button and a shutter button are arranged as different members and are arranged at different positions on the outer peripheral surface of the camera housing (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2001-228523 A

  However, it is complicated to perform continuous operations such as autofocus and shutter release with two fingers of one hand while holding the camera casing. Further, in order to be able to operate the autofocus button and the shutter button with different fingers, these buttons must be provided at positions separated by a predetermined amount. As a result, the circuit configuration including the switch corresponding to each button becomes complicated, and the manufacturing cost of the camera increases.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a shutter button that is easy to operate and has a simple configuration.

  The shutter button according to the present invention includes a cylindrical first operating member arranged to protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the camera casing, and a first operating member coaxial with the first operating member inside the first operating member. And a cylindrical second operation member provided so as to protrude from the outer peripheral surface with a protrusion amount different from the protrusion amount of the first operation member from the outer peripheral surface of the camera housing. When one of the second operation member and the second operation member is pressed, the autofocus function of the camera is executed, and when the first and second operation members are pressed, photographing is executed by the camera.

  Preferably, when one of the first and second operation members having a larger protrusion amount from the outer peripheral surface of the camera casing is pressed, the autofocus function of the camera is executed, and the first and second operation members are subsequently continued. When the operating members are simultaneously pressed, the camera performs shooting.

  For example, the protrusion amount of the second operation member may be larger than the protrusion amount of the first operation member, and the protrusion amount of the first operation member is the protrusion amount of the second operation member. It may be larger.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the shutter button is configured by two operation members provided coaxially, and the protruding amounts of both operation members from the outer peripheral surface of the camera housing are different from each other. Therefore, when operating the shutter button, the user can easily identify the state of each operation member with the sense of touch of the fingertip. That is, it is possible to easily identify whether the operation member with the larger protruding amount is not pressed, or whether the operation member is pressed and can be pressed simultaneously with the other operation member. it can.

  In addition, when one of the operation members is pressed, the autofocus function is executed, and when both of the operation members are pressed, shooting is performed, so that the user can execute the autofocusing and shooting in order. Can do.

  Further, since the protruding amounts of the two operation members are different, it is clear from the eye which operation member is the operation member for executing the autofocus. Therefore, even a user who is unfamiliar with the camera operation can easily perform the focusing operation without being confused.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the appearance of a camera 1 to which the first embodiment of the present invention is applied. The lens barrel 12 is disposed on the front surface of the camera 1. On the front surface, the lens barrel 12 is arranged from the center of the camera 1 from the end portion on the side held by the left hand. The shutter button 13 is disposed on the upper surface 1U of the camera 1 casing. On the top surface 1U, the shutter button 13 is disposed in the vicinity of the end portion on the side held by the right hand. The shutter button 13 has a first button 14 and a second button 15.

  FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the shutter button 13 and shows a state in which no external force is applied to the shutter button 13. The first button 14 has a cylindrical shape and is disposed so as to protrude from the upper surface 1U. The second button 15 has a cylindrical shape, and is arranged coaxially with the first button 14 inside the first button 14. The second button 15 is disposed so as to protrude from the upper surface 1U. The protruding amount of the second button 15 from the upper surface 1U is larger than the protruding amount of the first button 14 from the upper surface 1U. The first button 14 and the second button 15 are always urged upward in FIG. 2 by corresponding urging members (not shown).

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the camera 1. The CPU 100 is, for example, a microcomputer that controls the camera 1 as a whole. The power switch 101 is controlled to be turned on and off in accordance with an operation of a power button (not shown) provided on the camera 1.

  In the state shown in FIG. 2, when only the second button 15 is pushed downward against the urging force of the urging member, the switch SWS is turned on. As shown in FIG. 3, the second button 15 is pushed down to a position where the upper surface of the second button 15 forms substantially the same surface as the upper surface of the first button 14. When the first button 14 and the second button 15 are simultaneously pressed downward, the switch SWR is turned on. When the first and second buttons 14 and 15 are released from the downward pressing force, the first and second buttons 14 and 15 return to the positions shown in FIG. 2 by the urging force of the urging member. Further, the switches SWS and SWR are turned off in response to the return of each button.

  When an ON signal from the switch SWS is input to the CPU 100, command signals for driving a photometry sensor and a distance measurement sensor (not shown) are output to the photometry circuit 102 and the distance measurement circuit 103, respectively. Detection results by the photometry sensor and the distance measurement sensor are input to the CPU 100 via the photometry circuit 102 and the distance measurement circuit 103, respectively. Based on the input signal from the distance measuring circuit 103, the CPU 100 instructs the focus driving circuit 104 to drive a focusing optical system (not shown) constituting the photographing optical system in the lens barrel 12 (see FIG. 1). A control signal is output. That is, when the second button 15 is pressed, the photographing optical system is focused through the focus driving circuit 104 in accordance with the distance to the subject.

  When an ON signal of the switch SWR is input to the CPU 100, the diaphragm and shutter (not shown) are driven, and a control signal for instructing the CCD drive circuit 105 to drive the CCD 106 is output. As a result, a subject image is acquired. That is, when both the first button 14 and the second button 15 are pressed in the state shown in FIG. 3, the photographing sequence of the subject is executed.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the shutter button 13 includes the first button 14 and the second button 15 that are arranged coaxially and have different amounts of protrusion from the upper surface 1U of the camera 1. When only the second button 15 having a large protruding amount (in other words, a high height) is pressed, autofocus is executed. Therefore, the user can be surely aware of the execution of autofocus through the tactile sense of the fingertip. Further, due to the difference in the protrusion amount, the operator can easily identify that the second button 15 is an operation member that performs autofocus by visual sense and a tactile sense of the fingertip.

  In addition, when the first button 14 and 15 are simultaneously pressed after the second button 15 is pressed, shooting is performed. In other words, the shooting sequence is not started until after the second button 15 is pressed to perform autofocus. Therefore, even a user unfamiliar with camera operation is prevented from taking a blurred image.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically showing the appearance of the camera 2 to which the second embodiment according to the present invention is applied. Similarly to the camera 1, the camera 2 is provided with a lens barrel 22 on the front surface and a shutter button 23 on the upper surface 2U. On the upper surface 2U, the shutter button 23 is disposed in the vicinity of the end portion on the side held by the right hand. The shutter button 23 has a first button 24 and a second button 25.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the shutter button 23 and shows a state where no external force is applied to the shutter button 23. The first button 24 has a cylindrical shape, the second button 25 has a cylindrical shape, and the configuration arranged coaxially with the first button 24 inside the first button 24 is the same as in the first embodiment. The shutter button 23 is configured such that the protruding amount of the first button 24 from the upper surface 2U is larger than the protruding amount of the second button 25 from the upper surface 2U. Similarly to the shutter button 13, the first button 24 and the second button 25 are always urged upward in FIG. 6 by an urging member (not shown).

  When only the first button 24 is pressed against the urging force of the urging member in the state shown in FIG. 6, the autofocus function (focusing operation of the photographing optical system in the lens barrel 22) is executed in the camera 2. . Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the first button 24 is pushed down to a position where the upper surface of the first button 24 and the upper surface of the second button 25 form substantially the same surface. When the first and second buttons 24 and 25 are pressed simultaneously against the urging force, the camera 2 performs shooting. The circuit configuration of the camera 2 is the same as the block diagram of the camera 1 shown in FIG. With the above configuration, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained by the second embodiment.

  The first and second embodiments have been described by taking a digital camera as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a silver salt camera.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing an appearance of a camera to which a first embodiment according to the present invention is applied. It is sectional drawing of the shutter button of 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the shutter button which shows the state by which only the 2nd button was pushed in 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram of a camera. It is a perspective view which shows roughly the external appearance of the camera with which 2nd Embodiment which concerns on this invention is applied. It is sectional drawing of the shutter button of 2nd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the shutter button which shows the state by which only the 1st button was pushed in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1, 2 Camera 13, 23 Shutter button 14, 24 First button 15, 25 Second button

Claims (4)

A cylindrical first operating member arranged to protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the outer casing of the camera;
The first operating member is disposed coaxially with the first operating member, and is provided so as to protrude from the outer peripheral surface with a protruding amount different from the protruding amount of the first operating member from the outer peripheral surface. A cylindrical second operating member,
When one of the first and second operation members is pressed, the autofocus function of the camera is executed,
When the first and second operation members are pressed, shooting is performed in the camera.   When one of the first and second operation members that has a larger protrusion from the outer peripheral surface is pressed, the autofocus function of the camera is executed, and the first and second operation members are continuously moved simultaneously. The shutter button according to claim 1, wherein when the button is pressed, shooting is performed in the camera.   The shutter button according to claim 2, wherein an amount of protrusion of the second operation member from the outer peripheral surface is larger than an amount of protrusion of the first operation member from the outer peripheral surface. The shutter button according to claim 2, wherein a protruding amount of the first operating member from the outer peripheral surface is larger than a protruding amount of the second operating member from the outer peripheral surface.

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