JP2008309979A - Camera case - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a slave stroboscope emit light in response to light emission by a master stroboscope without being affected by photographing environment. <P>SOLUTION: The case for a camera 1 in which the camera 2 with the built-in master stroboscope 21 and the slave stroboscope 3 are housed is provided with a light guiding part 4 whose one end is positioned in an irradiation area by the master stroboscope 21 and also whose other end is positioned in a light receiving detection area of the slave stroboscope 21 and which guides the light emitted from the master stroboscope 21 of the camera 2 to the light receiving sensor 32 of the slave stroboscope 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a case that houses a camera and a slave strobe, and more particularly to a camera case that guides light emitted from a master strobe of a camera to a light receiving portion of the slave strobe.

A slave strobe that detects the flash of a master flash built in the camera and emits a large amount of flash in synchronization with the flash of the master flash is used.

  In recent years, with the miniaturization of the camera, the light quantity of the master strobe built in the camera body tends to decrease. If the master flash unit is low, the slave flash unit cannot detect the master flash unit, and the slave unit unit does not emit the master flash unit. In particular, when photographing a small subject outdoors, there is a problem that the reflected light from the subject cannot be obtained sufficiently and the slave flash does not emit light synchronously.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and provides a camera case that emits a slave strobe in synchronization with the light emission of a master strobe, regardless of the shooting environment. With the goal.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a camera case including a light guide that guides light emitted from a master strobe of a camera to a light receiving unit of a slave strobe.

  In the camera case of the present invention, the light guide unit guides the light emitted from the master strobe on the camera side to the light receiving unit of the slave strobe housed in the camera case together with the camera. The master flash can be detected accurately, and the flash can be emitted in synchronization with the master flash.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of usage of the camera case 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the camera case 1 as seen from the XX cross section shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the camera case 1 of this embodiment houses a camera 2 and a slave strobe 3 and maintains a relative positional relationship between the camera 2 and the slave strobe 3. The camera case 1 can be obtained from a thermoplastic elastomer by melt molding such as injection molding or drawing, but the material and manufacturing method are not particularly limited. The shape of the camera case 1 can be appropriately designed according to the arrangement of the camera 2 and slave strobe 3 to be housed and the shape of each outer surface. A camera case 1 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 accommodates a camera 2 and a slave strobe 3 side by side, and includes an opening for inserting and removing the camera 2 and the slave strobe 3 although not shown. This opening / closing opening is preferably provided on the upper surface side or the side surface side of the camera 2 and the slave strobe 3. Further, the camera case 1 of the present embodiment includes a light emission window 21, a finder window 22, a photometry window 23, a release button 25, a lens barrel 27, a lens 26, a light emission window 31 of a slave strobe, etc. It has one or more open windows 12 cut out for exposure to the outside. The opening window 12 is formed according to the shape of these exposed portions.

  The camera 2 housed in the camera case 1 includes a master strobe 21 and a photometric sensor 23, and a master strobe controller (not shown) performs predetermined control according to the amount of light reflected from the subject detected by the photometric sensor 23. Below, the master flash 21 is caused to emit light. The slave strobe 3 housed in the camera case 1 together with the camera 1 has a light emitting window 31 and a light receiving sensor 32. When the light receiving sensor 32 detects strobe light emitted from the master strobe 21 of the camera 2, for example, When a predetermined amount or more of light corresponding to strobe light is received, strobe light is emitted to a light emitter such as a xenon discharge tube inside the light emission window 31. The light emitting means and method of the master strobe 21 of the camera 2 and the light emitting means and method of the slave strobe 3 are not particularly limited, and known ones can be used. The slave strobe 3 may be provided with a general-purpose sensor 33 for detecting reflected light from the subject in addition to the light receiving sensor 32 for detecting the strobe light of the master strobe 21.

  The camera case 1 of the present embodiment includes a light guide 4 that guides light emitted from the master strobe 21 of the camera 2 to the light receiving sensor 32 of the slave strobe 3. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in this embodiment, a cylindrical light guide 4 having a circular cross section is provided on the inner wall side of the camera case 1. The light guide 4 is preferably made of a material having light diffusibility, and more preferably a material having a low light attenuation rate.

  Although not particularly limited, the light guide unit 4 of the present embodiment has a double structure of a core having a relatively high refractive index and a clad that covers the core and has a relatively low refractive index with respect to the core. The clad is made of a fluoropolymer with a relatively low refractive index, and the core is made of a material having a high refractive index, light transmittance and strength higher than a predetermined value, such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate, polystyrene, Hydrogenated polymer, glass or the like is used. Furthermore, you may coat | cover the surface of the light guide part 4 with a silicone resin and a nylon fiber.

  In addition, the structure of the light guide part 4 is not specifically limited, It is good also as a cylindrical body and a prismatic body which do not take the above double structure of a core and a clad. In this case, it is preferable to use a material having light diffusibility, and it is particularly preferable to use polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or polycarbonate having a low light attenuation factor and excellent optical characteristics.

  One end (light input end) of the light guide unit 4 of the present embodiment is located in an irradiation region where light is irradiated by the master strobe 21, and light emitted from the master strobe 21 is input. The strobe light of the master strobe 21 input from one end of the light guide 4 is guided to the other end (light output end) of the light guide 4 without being attenuated while reflecting inside the light guide 4. Since the other end of the light guide 4 is located in the light reception detection region of the light reception sensor 32 of the slave strobe 3, the light reception sensor 32 detects the strobe light of the master strobe 21 guided by the light guide 4.

  In order to form the light guide 4 in the camera case 1, a light guide 4 having a predetermined length is prepared. One end of the light guide 4 is positioned in an irradiation region by the master strobe 21 and the other end is a slave strobe. The light guide 4 is fixed to the inner wall surface of the camera case so as to be positioned in the light receiving detection region 3.

It may be integrally formed when the camera case 1 is formed, or may be bonded with an adhesive after the camera case is formed.

  The camera case 1 of the present embodiment includes the light guide 4 that guides the light emitted from the master strobe 21 to the light receiving sensor 32 of the slave strobe 3. Therefore, when the light emission amount of the master strobe 21 is small or the subject is small outdoors. Even when the photographing environment is not appropriate, such as when the reflected light that can be received is not sufficient, the slave strobe 3 can emit light in synchronization with the emission of the master strobe 21. In particular, since one end of the light guide 4 is located in the irradiation area of the master strobe 21 and the other end of the light guide 4 is located in the light receiving detection area of the slave strobe 3, the light emission of the master strobe 21 is not affected by the shooting environment. The slave strobe 3 can be made to emit light in synchronization with the above.

  Since the camera case 1 of this embodiment houses and integrates the camera 2 and the slave strobe 3, a bracket (fixing tool) that has been conventionally used is unnecessary, and the camera 2 and the slave strobe 3 are integrated in a compact manner. Can be It can also be used for a camera that does not have a tripod hole for mounting a bracket.

The embodiment described above is described for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and is not described for limiting the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.

For example, the entire camera case 11 that houses the camera 2 and the slave strobe 3 may be made of a light guide material, for example, silicone (silicone resin). In this case, the light guide material only needs to have light diffusibility, and is not limited to a material having a low light attenuation rate or a material having excellent optical characteristics.

By using the entire camera case 11 that covers the light receiving sensor 32 of the master strobe 21 and the slave strobe 3 as a light guide material, the light emitted from the master strobe 21 can be guided to the light receiving sensor 32 of the slave strobe 3. The same effect as that of the camera case 1 having the light guide 4 can be obtained.

In this case, a light guide 41 having a convex shape toward the camera 2 is formed on the inner surface of the camera case 11 (the surface facing or in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the camera 2) that is entirely composed of a light guide material. Is preferred. An example of the camera case 11 in which the convex light guide 41 is formed is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross section of a plane cut at a position and a direction corresponding to the line XX shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the light guide 41 having a convex shape facing the camera 2 is formed on the inner side surface (the surface in contact with the camera 2) of the camera case 11, so that the light emitted from the master strobe 21 is the master light. The light enters from one end of the light guide unit 41 closest to the strobe 21 and is guided to the light receiving sensor 32 of the slave strobe 3. In this case, it is preferable that the convex light guide 41 is formed such that one end thereof is positioned in the irradiation region of the master strobe 21 and the other end thereof is positioned in the light receiving detection region of the slave strobe 3. In this way, the light emitted from the master strobe 21 can be reliably guided to the light receiving sensor 32 of the slave strobe 3 via the light guide 41.

It is a figure which shows the use condition of the case for cameras of this embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the case for cameras seen from the XX cross section shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the other example of the case for cameras seen from the XX cross section shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,11 ... Camera case 2 ... Camera 21 ... Master strobe 3 ... Slave strobe 31 ... Light emission window 32 ... Light receiving sensor 4, 41 ... Light guide part

Claims (3)

A camera case comprising a light guide that houses a camera and a slave strobe and guides light emitted from a master strobe of the camera to a light receiving sensor of the slave strobe. 2. The camera case according to claim 1, wherein one end of the light guide is located in an irradiation area of the master strobe and the other end is located in a light reception detection area of the slave strobe. The camera case according to claim 1, wherein the entire case is made of a light guide material.

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