JP2008145772A - Camera and auxiliary light dimming method of camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera on which an auxiliary light emitting device which is capable of setting an appropriate quantity of light even when being mounted on a camera capable of switching sensitivity in a wide range and is free from over-exposure in strobe photographing, especially, at close range is mounted. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of main capacitors are provided and are connected in parallel with each other. Switches are connected to one ends of these main capacitors and are turned on/off by a switch selection circuit. The switch selection circuit selects a switch to be turned on among the plurality of switches in accordance with set ISO sensitivity information to most suitably control the quantity of light emitted from a strobe. ISO sensitivity information is automatically selected in accordance with a photometric result of external light on the basis of a preliminarily set AE algorithm and is indicated to a strobe device. When acquired ISO sensitivity information indicates a high sensitivity, main capacitors for use are selected by the switch selection circuit to reduce the quantity of strobe light. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly to a camera having a light emitting unit that emits auxiliary light at the time of shooting and a sensitivity setting unit that sets sensitivity at the time of shooting, and an auxiliary light dimming method for the camera.

  In digital cameras and silver halide photography cameras, built-in strobes have been installed with relatively low light emission due to the size limitations. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the size of the light emitting unit, and there is a limitation that the main capacitor cannot be mounted with a large capacity due to the limitation of the camera size. For this reason, conventionally, many proposals have been made on how to realize a large capacity (a large amount of light).

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a main capacitor is detachable, and a large-capacity capacitor can be mounted as necessary. In Patent Document 2, a main capacitor can be additionally mounted as an accessory to realize a large capacity. In Patent Document 3, a plurality of capacitors having different capacities are provided, and by adding current, the discharge characteristics are made gentle with little dimming error, and the charging voltage is set from subject distance information to continuously emit light from the capacitor having a large capacity. It is configured to make it.

Further, in Patent Document 4, continuous flash photography is possible by providing a plurality of capacitors and sequentially discharging the charge stored in the capacitor in accordance with continuous photography. In Patent Document 5, the amount of flash emission is controlled by changing the charging voltage to the capacitor in accordance with the shooting distance and subject.
JP-A-7-287277 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-289149 JP-A-8-036208 JP 2006-072048 A JP 2006-072049 A

  A large-capacitance capacitor that can be externally attached has the hassle of carrying around the accessory, and a built-in large-capacity capacitor that controls the charging voltage to change the amount of light emission can emit light. Sufficient control cannot be performed because the allowable range of the charging voltage is narrow. In particular, in the case of a camera whose sensitivity can be set in a wide range from low sensitivity to high sensitivity, there is a problem that strobe light reaches an unnecessarily long distance or overexposure occurs at short distance shooting when the high sensitivity is set.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention can set an appropriate light amount even when mounted on a camera capable of switching sensitivity in a wide range from ISO 64 to ISO 1600, for example. Provided is a camera equipped with an auxiliary light-emitting device that does not generate.

  The present invention relates to a camera having a light emitting unit that emits auxiliary light at the time of shooting and a sensitivity setting unit that sets sensitivity at the time of shooting. The light-emitting capacitor unit and the light-emitting unit emit light by the charge accumulated in the light-emitting capacitor unit by changing the capacitance of the light-emitting capacitor unit based on the sensitivity set in the sensitivity setting unit that sets the sensitivity at the time of shooting A light emission control unit. The light emitting capacitor unit includes a plurality of capacitors and a capacitor selection unit that selects the plurality of capacitors.

  The plurality of capacitors are connected in parallel, and the capacitor selection unit selects a switch that is connected to one end of each of the plurality of capacitors and turns on / off the capacitor, and a switch that is turned on from the switches. A switch selection unit. The light emission amount of the light emitting unit is changed by changing the number of switches turned on by the switch selection unit. In addition, one or more switches to be turned on by the switch selection unit are selected to change the light emission amount of the light emitting unit. The plurality of capacitors all have the same capacity. Alternatively, a different capacity is used. Alternatively, the capacity is increased by 2 to the power of n.

  The sensitivity setting unit automatically selects the sensitivity based on the value of the photometric result of external light based on a preset AE algorithm. Alternatively, it is set by manual input.

  A charging circuit for charging the plurality of capacitors is provided, and the capacitor selected by the capacitor selection unit based on the sensitivity set by the sensitivity setting unit is charged by the charging circuit. When the sensitivity setting unit is set to low sensitivity, the capacitor selection unit selects all capacitors. The light emitting part is preferably a strobe discharge tube.

  The light emission control unit is a dimming function for stopping light emission of the strobe discharge tube by blocking a discharge current of a capacitor flowing through the strobe discharge tube when an integrated value of a light reception amount of the measured subject brightness reaches a certain level. Have Alternatively, it has a control function of varying the light emission amount so that the light emission amount is determined by the light emission time.

  According to the present invention, even if the camera can be switched over a wide range from low sensitivity to high sensitivity, for example, from ISO 64 to ISO 1600, the capacity of the main capacitor that discharges is optimized according to the set sensitivity. By controlling to, overexposure in short-distance shooting can be prevented. In addition, in the case of a strobe device having the light control function (hereinafter referred to as an auto strobe device), this eliminates the occurrence of a light control failure at a close range at the time of high sensitivity setting, and good strobe shooting for all setting sensitivity. Images can be provided.

  Hereinafter, a digital camera including an auto strobe device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. A digital camera 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has an auto strobe device including a plurality of main capacitors according to the present invention. A lens barrel 13 having an imaging lens 12, a strobe light emitting unit 14, and a finder objective window 15 are provided on the front surface of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped camera body 11. A power button 16 and a shutter release are disposed on the upper surface of the camera body 11. A button 17 is provided.

  An LCD panel 18 as display means for displaying an image is provided on the back surface of the camera body 11, and the surface of the LCD panel 18 is a touch panel. An operation icon displayed on the LCD panel 18 can be operated by touching the touch panel using a user's finger or an attached operation pen (not shown). In addition, a finder eyepiece window 19, a mode selection button 20 for switching between a photographing mode and a reproduction mode, a zoom operation button 21 that can be zoomed by swinging up and down, an ISO sensitivity setting button 22, and the like are provided.

  A slot (not shown) in which a memory card 27 in which image data is stored is detachably loaded is provided on the bottom surface of the camera body 11, and the captured image data is written and stored in the memory card 27. Is done. The ISO sensitivity setting button 22 can select manually set ISO sensitivity and AUTO, and this information is sent to an AF (automatic distance adjustment) / AE (automatic exposure adjustment) / AWB (automatic white balance adjustment) processing circuit 43 described later. It is done.

  In FIG. 3 showing the electrical configuration of the digital camera 10, the digital camera 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 30, a charge coupled device (CCD) 31, a correlated double sampling circuit (CDS) 32, and an amplifier circuit (AMP). 33, A / D conversion circuit 34, image input controller 35, image signal processing circuit 36, compression processing circuit 37, LCD driver 38, timing generator 40, motor driver 41, iris driver 42, AF / AE / AWB processing circuit 43, A system memory 44, a media controller 45, a data bus 46, and the like are provided, and these are mounted on a circuit board (not shown). Further, the strobe control circuit 60 including the automatic dimming circuit 63 (see FIG. 5), the strobe circuit 50, and the switch selection circuit 65 are mounted on another substrate.

  The CPU 30 transmits a control signal to each unit via the data bus 46 and receives a response signal from each unit, and comprehensively controls the operation of each unit. The CPU 30 is electrically connected to the operation unit 48 such as the release button 17, receives an operation input signal from the release button 17, and causes each unit to execute processing associated with half-pressing or full-pressing the release button 17. . Further, each unit is operated in accordance with an operation input signal input from the operation unit 48, and various types of information are read from the system memory 44 to the built-in RAM to execute processing.

  The AF / AE / AWB processing circuit 43 performs exposure calculation, focal position calculation, and white balance amount calculation based on the image data. When automatic focus position detection is performed, for example, only a high frequency component of a luminance level is detected from an imaging signal and integrated, and the integrated value is output to the CPU 30 as a focus evaluation value. Further, the white balance amount is detected from the image data and output to the CPU 30, and based on the detection result, the operations of the motor driver 41 and the timing generator 40 are controlled to adjust the aperture value, the white balance amount, etc. to the optimum values.

  The AF / AE / AWB detection circuit 43 includes a preset AE algorithm and a sensitivity setting circuit. The sensitivity setting circuit determines the AE according to the result of the exposure calculation when the ISO sensitivity setting button 22 is set to AUTO. The ISO sensitivity is obtained from the algorithm. For example, when the external light level is EV12 based on ISO200 as a result of the exposure calculation, ISO100 is selected and set.

  In FIG. 4, which is an exposure program diagram showing the AE algorithm for obtaining the ISO sensitivity, ISO 200 is selected when EV is 9 or more and less than 12, ISO 400 is selected when EV is 9 or more and less than 9, and ISO 800 is EV 2 when EV is 7 or more and less than 8. When the value is less than 7, ISO 1600 is selected.

  The AF / AE / AWB processing circuit 43 operates in a predetermined cycle while displaying a through image. During display of the through image, the lens 12 is driven by the motor driver 41 and the aperture 25 is controlled by the iris driver 42 according to the value determined by the AF / AE / AWB processing circuit 43. When an appropriate exposure amount cannot be obtained only by the aperture diameter, the charge accumulation time of the CCD 31 is controlled.

  The imaging lens 12 includes a zoom lens, a focus lens, and the like, and these movements are performed by driving a lens motor. The lens motor is connected to the motor driver 41, and the motor driver 41 is connected to the CPU 30. The CPU 30 drives the lens motor by controlling the motor driver 41. An iris driver 42 that controls the diaphragm 25 that adjusts the brightness of the imaging lens 12 is connected to the CPU 30.

  A CCD 31 is disposed behind the imaging lens 12, and the imaging lens 12 forms a subject image on the light receiving surface of the CCD 31. The CCD 31 photoelectrically converts the subject image formed on the light receiving surface by the imaging lens 12 and outputs an imaging signal. The CCD 31 is connected to the timing generator 40, and the timing generator 40 is connected to the CPU 30. Then, the CPU 30 controls the timing generator 40 to generate a timing signal (clock pulse). The CCD 31 is driven by a timing signal input from the timing generator 40.

  The imaging signal output from the CCD 31 is input to the CDS 32 and output as R, G, and B image data that accurately corresponds to the amount of charge accumulated in each cell of the CCD 31. The image data output from the CDS 32 is amplified by the amplifier circuit 33 and converted into digital image data by the A / D conversion circuit 34.

  The image input controller 35 is connected to the CPU 30 via the data bus 46, and controls the CCD 31, the CDS 32, and the A / D conversion circuit 34 in accordance with a control command from the CPU 30. The image data output from the A / D conversion circuit 34 is temporarily recorded in the system memory 44. The system memory 44 includes a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and stores various programs for controlling the digital camera 10, setting information, and the like, and temporarily stores programs read by the CPU 30, each acquired image data, and the like. It functions as a buffer.

  The image signal processing circuit 36 reads the image data from the system memory 44, performs various image processing such as gradation conversion and γ correction processing, and records the image data in the system memory 44 again. The image data temporarily stored in the system memory 44 is converted into an analog composite signal by the LCD driver 38 and displayed on the LCD panel 18 as a through image.

  The compression processing circuit 37 performs image compression on the image data subjected to the image processing by the image signal processing circuit 36 in a predetermined compression format (for example, JPEG format). The compressed image data is stored in the memory card 27 via the media controller 45.

  The auto strobe device includes a strobe circuit 50, a strobe control circuit 60, a switch selection circuit 65, and a light emitting unit 14, and includes three main capacitors and three switches SW1, SW2, and SW3 connected in series to the main capacitors. , And a switch selection circuit 62 for turning on / off the switch according to the sensitivity information.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the strobe circuit 50 includes a battery 52 loaded in the camera, a storage circuit 55 in which three main capacitors C1, C2, and C3 for storing electric energy are connected in parallel, and a voltage of 300 volts by a step-up transformer. A charging circuit 53 for boosting back and forth to charge the main capacitor, a detection circuit 54 for detecting the charging voltage of the main capacitor, switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 connected in series to the three main capacitors, and the electricity stored in the main capacitor It comprises a light emitting circuit 56 that discharges energy and causes the strobe discharge tube 57 to emit light.

  The strobe control circuit 60 that controls the light emission of the light emitting unit 14 acquires sensitivity information from the AE algorithm set in the AF / AE / AWB processing circuit 43 via the CPU 30, and based on the acquired sensitivity information, the three switches SW1. , SW2 and SW3 are instructed to the switch selection circuit 65 which is switch selection means to determine the switch to be turned on. In addition, the reflected light from the subject is measured, and when the integrated value of the light quantity reaches a predetermined level, the switching element 58 is operated to block the main capacitor discharge current flowing through the strobe discharge tube 57 to prevent the strobe discharge tube 57 from being discharged. A light control circuit 63 for stopping light emission is provided. Since the control of the light emission amount is varied depending on the light emission time, the switching element 58 is operated so that the discharge current of the main capacitor flowing in the strobe discharge tube 57 is blocked so that the determined light emission time is reached, thereby preventing the strobe discharge tube 57. The light emission may be stopped.

  Next, the operation of the auto strobe device will be described. The release button 17 has a two-stage push switch. When the release button 17 is lightly pressed (half-pressed) after framing of the subject by the finder or the LCD panel 18, various shooting preparation processes such as determination of exposure conditions (AE) and automatic focus adjustment (AF) are performed. In this state, when the release button 17 is pressed more fully (fully pressed), one shooting is performed under the determined exposure condition.

  The AF / AE / AWB processing circuit 43 detects the brightness of the subject and the distance to the subject when the release button 17 is half-pressed, and ISO sensitivity, exposure amount, focus position, and white balance correction amount from the detection result. To decide. In the calculation of the exposure amount, for example, the luminance level of the image data output from the A / D conversion circuit 34 is integrated for one screen, and this integrated value is output to the CPU 30 via the data bus 46 as exposure information. When AUTO is selected by the ISO sensitivity setting button 22, as shown in FIG. 4, the most suitable value at that time is selected as the ISO sensitivity at that time from preset AE algorithms, and this information is stored in the CPU. To the AMP as an amplification factor.

  The strobe control circuit 60 activates the booster circuit 53 of the strobe circuit 50 according to a command from the CPU 30 and charges the main capacitors C1, C2, and C3. When the release button 17 is fully pressed, a trigger signal is issued from the strobe control circuit 60 and the light emitting circuit 56 is activated. The electric energy accumulated in the charged main capacitor flows into the strobe discharge tube 57 and the strobe discharge tube 57 emits light. . The emitted light naturally illuminates the subject. The flash emission amount is determined according to the shooting distance, shooting sensitivity, and aperture value so that the exposure amount of the subject by the flash light is appropriate, and is optimized by the dimming function.

  Simultaneously with the light emission, the AF / AE / AWB detection circuit 43 starts an exposure calculation, and when the integrated value of the exposure amount reaches a predetermined level, the switching element 58 is activated to discharge the discharge current of the main capacitor flowing through the strobe discharge tube 57. The light emission from the strobe discharge tube 57 is stopped by blocking. Under normal mode (low brightness automatic light emission mode), strobe light is emitted when the subject brightness is lower than a predetermined level, and no strobe light is emitted when the subject brightness is higher than the predetermined level.

  In FIG. 6 showing the flow of strobe light emission at this time, the strobe control circuit 60 is in a strobe mode such as automatic light emission or forced light emission, and that the three main capacitors are charged. Acquires the control conditions for light emission preparation. Subsequently, an imaging sensitivity setting condition is acquired from the AE algorithm. The acquired ISO sensitivity is determined, and a switch to be turned on is turned on. A trigger is input to the light emitting circuit 56 in response to a release command from the CPU. When the strobe arc tube 57 emits light and the integral value of the exposure amount reaches a predetermined level, the switching element 58 is stopped to control the emission amount. When the light emission amount is controlled by the light emission time, the switching element 58 is stopped and the light emission amount is controlled when the predetermined light emission time is reached.

  Next, optimization of light control based on the acquired sensitivity will be described. The strobe light has a waveform as shown in FIG. In short-distance shooting with a high sensitivity setting, the amount of light applied to the subject reaches an appropriate amount immediately after light emission, so the time until light emission stops is very short, and a response may be delayed. If the light emission stop is delayed, overexposure occurs, so the photographing distance that can be adjusted is determined by the capacitance of the capacitor and the set sensitivity. Alternatively, the shortest shooting distance that can be adjusted is determined from the minimum light emission amount determined from the shortest light emission time.

  As shown in FIG. 9, when the brightness of the taking lens of the camera is F2.8, the strobe guide number is sensitivity ISO100, and the auto strobe is capable of dimming in the range of GN = 1.68 to 5.6. The possible range is 0.6 m to 2.0 m, but if the capacity of the main capacitor cannot be switched, 1.2 m to 4.0 m for sensitivity ISO 400 and 2.4 m to 8.0 m for sensitivity ISO 1600 will be around 1 m. In short distance shooting, overexposure will result.

  Here, switches SW1, SW2, and SW3 are connected in series to three main capacitors, and the switch selection circuit 62 in the strobe control circuit 60 turns on / off the three switches according to the ISO sensitivity obtained from the AE algorithm. Off is selected. When the combination shown in FIG. 11 is selected as the light emitting capacitor, SW1 and ISO400 are set when the capacities of the three main capacitors are set to C1 = large, C2 = medium, and C3 = small, and the sensitivity is lower than ISO200. SW2 is turned on when set to .about.ISO800, and SW3 is turned on when set to ISO1600 or higher, and one of the three main capacitors is selected and discharged, and the strobe discharge tube 57 emits light.

  When ISO 100, SW1 is turned on, and the main capacitor having a large capacity is discharged. The discharge current has an impulse waveform as shown in FIG. When ISO 1600 is set due to a change in the shooting environment, SW3 is turned on, and the main capacitor having a small capacity is discharged. The discharge current has a discharge characteristic as shown by (A) having a lower peak value than (A).

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the capacitance of the capacitor is reduced, the amount of light emission is naturally smaller (see (A)) than when the capacitance of the light emitting capacitor is larger (see (A)), but the required light quantity Are the same, the light emission time is longer when the capacitance of the light emitting capacitor is reduced (t2) than the light emission time (t1) when the capacitance of the capacitor is large. When the light emission time is short, even if the response of light control is delayed and overexposure occurs, if the capacitance of the light emitting capacitor is reduced, the light emission time becomes longer, so that the light can be adjusted correctly.

  As shown in FIG. 10, by setting the capacities of the main capacitors C2 and C3 to be 1/3 of C1 and C3 to 1/10 of C1, C1 (SW1) is selected at ISO 100, Even if the photographing range is 0.6 m to 2.0 m, C2 (SW2) is selected in the sensitivity ISO 400, and the flash dimmable range is GN = 2.24 to 7.46, and the photographing range is 0.00. It becomes 8m-2.7m. With sensitivity ISO1600, C3 (SW3) is selected, the flash dimmable range is GN = 2.69 to 8.96, and the shootable range is 1.0 m to 3.2 m. It is not over.

  In the above embodiment, the capacities of the three main capacitors are the combinations shown in FIG. 11, but the capacities of the three main capacitors may all be the same. As shown in FIG. 12, SW1 to SW3 are all turned on when the sensitivity is set lower than ISO200, SW2 and SW3 are turned on when set to ISO400 to ISO800, and only SW3 is turned on when set to ISO1600 or higher. To. In this case, since SW3 is always on, it is removed from the circuit and the capacitor C3 is always connected. FIG. 15 shows a flow of strobe light emission at this time.

  Alternatively, when at least one of the main capacitors, for example, C1 has a capacitance different from C2 and C3 and is set to a lower sensitivity than ISO 200 as shown in FIG. 13, only SW1 is set to ISO 400 to ISO 800. When SW2 and SW3 are set to ISO 1600 or higher, only SW2 is turned on. FIG. 16 shows a flow of strobe light emission at this time.

  Further, the capacity of the plurality of main capacitors is set to an array of 2 to the nth power, such as 1: 2: 4:.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 14, the sensitivity setting is selected from the high sensitivity mode and the low sensitivity mode, and in the high sensitivity mode, the switch to be turned on by the AE algorithm is selected from the light measurement result of the external light. In the low sensitivity mode, all the switches are turned on and set to ISO 64, for example.

  When all the main capacitors are collectively charged, the main capacitors may be collectively charged after the power is turned on, and for example, the part that is spontaneously discharged when the release switch is half-pressed may be additionally charged. If the shooting timing is not important, charging may be started by half-pressing the release switch, and shooting may be performed by fully pressing the release switch after charging is completed.

  In consideration of energy saving, only the main capacitor necessary for discharging is charged. FIG. 17 shows a flow of strobe light emission in this case. The strobe control circuit 60 acquires control conditions for strobe light emission preparation such as a mode for emitting strobe light such as automatic light emission or forced light emission, but does not instruct charging of the main capacitor. After acquiring the setting conditions of the imaging sensitivity, determining the ISO sensitivity, turning on the switch to be turned on, immediately instructing the main capacitor to be charged. Thereafter, a trigger is input to the light emitting circuit to cause the strobe arc tube to emit light, and then the light emission is controlled. This method is particularly effective when manually setting the sensitivity.

  In addition, although the said embodiment demonstrated embodiment using a xenon discharge tube, you may implement this invention when using semiconductor illuminators, such as LED, as a light emission part other than this. Also in this case, by controlling the light emission amount in accordance with the acquired ISO sensitivity information, it is possible to improve the exposure conditions in short-distance shooting at the time of setting high sensitivity.

  In the above-described embodiment, an embodiment using a strobe device having a light control function that is particularly effective is described. However, the present invention can also be applied to the case of using a normal strobe device that does not have a light control function.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated embodiment used for the digital camera, you may implement this invention for the camera which uses a silver salt photographic film.

It is the perspective view which looked at the digital camera which is an embodiment of the present invention from the front. It is the perspective view which looked at the digital camera which is an embodiment of the present invention from the back. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of a digital camera. It is an exposure program diagram which shows the AE algorithm for calculating | requiring ISO sensitivity. It is a circuit diagram of a strobe. It is a flowchart of strobe light emission. It is a graph which shows strobe light emission amount by the relationship with light emission time. It is a graph which shows the amount of strobe light emission when the capacity | capacitance of a capacitor | condenser is made small. It is explanatory drawing which shows the light control range of an auto strobe. It is explanatory drawing which shows the light control range when the capacity | capacitance of a main capacitor is made small. It is a combination table | surface which shows an example of the combination of the switch which turns on corresponding to this with ISO sensitivity. It is a combination table | surface which shows an example of the combination of the switch which turns on corresponding to the ISO sensitivity in other embodiment. It is a combination table | surface which shows an example of the combination of the switch which turns on corresponding to the ISO sensitivity in other embodiment. It is a combination table | surface which shows an example of the switch turned on when there exists mode selection. It is a flowchart of strobe light emission in another embodiment. It is a flowchart of strobe light emission in another embodiment. It is a flowchart of strobe light emission when charging only the main capacitor whose switch is turned on in another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 Digital Camera 14 Flash Unit 22 ISO Sensitivity Setting Button 30 CPU
43 AF / AE / AWB processing circuit 50 Strobe circuit 55 Storage circuit 57 Strobe discharge tube 60 Strobe control circuit 63 Dimming circuit 65 Switch selection circuit

Claims (17)

In a camera having a light emitting unit that emits auxiliary light during shooting and a sensitivity setting unit that sets sensitivity during shooting,
Charges that cause the light emitting unit to emit light are accumulated, and a capacitor unit for light emission that can change the capacity of the accumulated charges,
A camera comprising: a light emission control unit configured to change a capacitance of the light emitting capacitor unit based on a set sensitivity in the sensitivity setting unit and to cause the light emitting unit to emit light by electric charge accumulated in the light emitting capacitor.   The camera according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting capacitor unit includes a plurality of capacitors and a capacitor selection unit that selects the plurality of capacitors.   The plurality of capacitors are connected in parallel, and the capacitor selection unit includes a switch connected to one end of each of the plurality of capacitors to turn on and off the capacitors, and a switch to turn on from among the switches. The camera according to claim 2, further comprising a switch selection unit for selecting.   The camera according to claim 3, wherein the light emission amount of the light emitting unit is changed by changing the number of switches turned on by the switch selection unit.   4. The camera according to claim 3, wherein one or more switches to be turned on by the switch selection unit are selected to change the light emission amount of the light emitting unit.   6. The camera according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of capacitors have the same capacitance.   6. The camera according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of capacitors have different capacities.   8. The camera according to claim 7, wherein the capacitance of the plurality of capacitors increases by 2 to the nth power.   The camera according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the sensitivity setting unit automatically selects a sensitivity based on a value of a photometric result of external light based on a preset AE algorithm.   The camera according to claim 1, wherein the sensitivity setting unit uses sensitivity set by manual input. A charging circuit for charging the plurality of capacitors;
11. The camera according to claim 3, wherein the capacitor selected by the capacitor selection unit is charged by the charging circuit based on a setting sensitivity in the sensitivity setting unit.   12. The camera according to claim 1, wherein when the sensitivity setting unit is set to low sensitivity, the capacitor selection unit selects all capacitors.   The camera according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit is a strobe discharge tube.   The light emission control unit is a dimming function for stopping light emission of the strobe discharge tube by blocking a discharge current of a capacitor flowing through the strobe discharge tube when an integrated value of a light reception amount of the measured subject brightness reaches a certain level. 14. The camera according to claim 13, further comprising: In an auxiliary light dimming method for a camera having a light emitting unit that emits auxiliary light during shooting and a sensitivity setting unit that sets sensitivity during shooting,
Using a light emitting capacitor unit in which charges for causing the light emitting unit to emit light are accumulated and the capacity of the accumulated charges can be changed, and a light emission control unit for causing the light emitting unit to emit light by the charges accumulated in the light emitting capacitor. ,
An auxiliary light dimming method for a camera, wherein the light emission amount of the light emitting unit is adjusted by changing a capacitance of the light emitting capacitor unit based on a set sensitivity in the sensitivity setting unit.   The light emitting capacitor unit includes a plurality of capacitors and a capacitor selection unit that selects the plurality of capacitors, and the light emission amount is adjusted by selecting the plurality of capacitors. Item 16. Auxiliary light dimming method for a camera according to Item 15. The plurality of capacitors are connected in parallel, and the capacitor selection unit includes a switch connected to one end of each of the plurality of capacitors to turn on and off the capacitors, and a switch to turn on from among the switches. 17. The auxiliary light dimming method for a camera according to claim 16, further comprising a switch selection unit for selecting, and adjusting the light emission amount by selecting a switch to be turned on by the switch selection unit.

Images