JP2009118164A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform photography that corresponds to the movement of a subject, even when performing continuous shooting, while moving a camera, in matching with the movement of the subject. <P>SOLUTION: A camera 1 includes an imaging device 7 which photographs the image of the subject at time intervals and is provided to the camera 1; a speed detection part 15 which calculates the moving speed of the camera during continuous shooting; and an overall controller 17 which increases the frame rate of photographing by the imaging device 7, when the moving speed of the camera 1 calculated by the speed detecting part 15 is increased. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera.

  Conventionally, digital cameras that capture images at a continuous shooting speed of 8 to 9 frames / second are known. However, image sensors capable of high-speed shooting are being developed, and depending on cameras equipped with such sensors. For example, it is possible to shoot at a continuous shooting speed of 30 to 60 frames / second or more. When shooting a high-speed moving object without missing a photo opportunity with such a camera, shooting starts at a low speed before the high-speed moving object enters the shooting frame, and the high-speed moving object enters the shooting frame. Then, shooting is performed at a high speed by changing the frame rate (see Patent Document 1).

According to the camera of Patent Document 1, the timing at which the motion of the subject is detected by processing the acquired image, for example, the timing when the subject moves in the direction intersecting the optical axis is taken as a trigger, and the trigger is When this occurs, the shooting conditions such as the shooting interval are changed during shooting.
JP 2004-015612 A

  However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, in the case of so-called panning shooting, in which shooting is performed while moving the camera in accordance with the movement of the subject, the subject remains at substantially the same position on the imaging surface. It may be difficult to detect the motion of the subject by image processing, and the frame rate may not increase. Therefore, even when the moving speed of the subject increases, there is a problem in that there is a possibility that a photo opportunity will be missed due to the shooting time interval.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and even when continuous shooting is performed while moving the camera in accordance with the movement of the subject, shooting according to the movement of the subject is possible. The purpose is to provide a camera.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means.
The present invention relates to an image sensor that captures an image of a subject with a time interval, a camera body that includes the image sensor, a speed detector that detects a moving speed of the camera body during continuous shooting, and the speed There is provided a camera including an imaging interval adjustment unit that increases a frame rate of imaging by the imaging device when the moving speed of the camera body detected by the detection unit increases.

  If the camera body is moving during continuous shooting, it is estimated that the camera body is moved following the moving subject. It can be determined that the faster the moving speed of the camera body is, the faster the subject is moving.

  According to the present invention, when the moving speed of the camera body detected by the speed detection unit during continuous shooting increases, the time interval for continuous shooting of the image sensor is shortened by the shooting interval adjustment unit. As a result, even during so-called panning shooting, it is possible to acquire a large number of images at short shooting time intervals while capturing an object that moves at high speed at the same position on the imaging surface of the camera, for example, approximately the center position. Therefore, it is possible to continuously capture a change in the fast and fine movement of the subject without missing a photo opportunity.

  In the above invention, the shooting interval adjustment unit may reduce the frame rate of shooting by the imaging device when the moving speed of the camera body detected by the speed detection unit is reduced.

  With this configuration, when the movement speed of the camera body detected by the speed detection unit decreases, for example, when the subject changes to a slow movement in accordance with the movement speed of the subject changing to a low speed. In this case, the time interval of continuous shooting of the image sensor is changed longer by the shooting interval adjustment unit. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a large amount of the same scene from being photographed with a small change in the movement of the subject.

  In the above invention, the speed detector detects an acceleration of the camera body, and calculates a moving speed of the camera body based on the acceleration of the camera body detected by the acceleration sensor. It is good also as providing a calculation part.

  With this configuration, the moving speed of the camera body can be easily calculated by the speed calculator based on the acceleration of the camera body detected by the acceleration sensor.

  According to the present invention, even when continuous shooting is performed while moving the camera in accordance with the movement of the subject, it is possible to perform shooting according to the movement of the subject.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the camera 1 according to the present embodiment includes a shutter operation unit 3 that performs a shutter operation for acquiring an image, a lens unit 5 that collects light from outside and forms an image of a subject, An image sensor 7 such as a CCD that captures an image of a subject formed by the lens unit 5, and analog image data acquired by the image sensor 7 is amplified by an analog gain amplifier (not shown) and converted into digital image data. An analog front end (hereinafter simply referred to as “AFE”) 9 for conversion, an overall control unit 11 for controlling the entire camera 1 by the shutter operation of the shutter operation unit 3, and digital image data converted by the AFE 9 are stored. And a memory unit 13. The camera 1 includes a shooting mode switching unit (not shown) and can switch between a single shooting mode and a continuous shooting mode.

  The shutter operation unit 3 is, for example, a push button type shutter button that can be pushed in a vertical direction with respect to an upper end surface of a camera body (not shown) formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The shutter operation unit 3 is configured to output a shutter signal for closing the shutter to the overall control unit 11 when the user presses a predetermined amount. In the continuous shooting mode, the shutter operation unit 3 continues to output a shutter signal while being pressed.

  The overall control unit 11 includes a speed detection unit 15 that detects the moving speed of the camera 1, an overall controller (shooting interval adjusting unit) 17 that receives the shutter signal from the shutter operation unit 3 and controls the entire camera 1, and a lens unit. 5, a timing control unit 21 that controls the image sensor 7 and the AFE 9, a gain control unit 23 that controls the AFE 9, and image processing such as color correction of digital image data and JPEG compression. And an image processing unit 25.

  The speed detection unit 15 integrates and moves the acceleration sensor 27 that detects the acceleration of the camera 1 with the shooting mode switching unit set to the continuous shooting mode, and the acceleration of the camera 1 detected by the acceleration sensor 27. A moving speed calculating unit (speed calculating unit) 29 for calculating the speed is provided.

  The acceleration sensor 27 detects the acceleration of the camera 1 from the vibration applied to the camera body when the camera 1 is moved, and outputs it to the movement speed calculation unit 29. The direction of acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 27 may be a vibration in either a one-dimensional direction or a two-dimensional direction as long as it is a vibration applied to the camera body when the camera 1 is moved.

  The movement speed calculation unit 29 holds the calculated movement speed of the camera 1 as movement speed information, and updates the movement speed information when the movement speed of the camera 1 is newly calculated. The moving speed information held by the moving speed calculation unit 29 is reset when the continuous shooting mode setting is canceled.

  The overall controller 17 calculates the position information of the position of the focus lens (not shown) of the lens unit 5 and the aperture amount of the aperture (not shown) and outputs the calculated information to the lens unit controller 19 and the exposure of the image sensor 7. The shutter speed for controlling the time and the frame rate value for controlling the frame rate are calculated and output to the timing control unit 21.

Further, the overall controller 17 calculates an ISO sensitivity value for controlling the gain amplification factor of the AFE 9 and outputs the ISO sensitivity value to the gain control unit 23. The data is output to the processing unit 25.
As a result, the overall controller 17 acquires digital image data via the lens unit 5, the image sensor 7, the AFE 9, and the image processing unit 25, and outputs the digital image data to the memory unit 13.

  Here, in the continuous shooting mode, the overall controller 17 reads the moving speed information updated by the speed detector 15 and changes the frame rate of the image sensor 7. For example, when the moving speed of the camera 1 increases, the frame rate value is increased according to the moving speed. On the other hand, when the moving speed of the camera 1 decreases, the frame rate value is decreased according to the moving speed. It has become.

  The lens unit control unit 19 drives a focus lens (not shown) in the lens unit 5 based on the position information and the aperture amount input from the overall controller 17 to perform autofocus processing. Specifically, the lens unit control unit 19 adjusts the focusing position so that the light beam incident on the imaging element 7 is focused on the imaging surface.

  The timing controller 21 sets the drive timing of the image sensor 7 based on the input shutter speed and frame rate. The timing control unit 21 sets the drive frequency of an AD converter (not shown) in the AFE 9 with the drive timing of the image sensor 7 as a sampling timing.

  The gain control unit 23 sets the input ISO sensitivity value as the gain value of the analog gain amplifier in the AFE 9. Thereby, in the AFE 9, the gain of the analog image data is amplified in accordance with the exposure time of the image sensor 7, and is converted into digital image data with appropriate brightness.

  The memory unit 13 temporarily displays digital image data sent from the overall controller 17, and displays a shooting range via the lens unit 5, and displays digital image data stored in the buffer memory 31. A liquid crystal display (hereinafter simply referred to as “LCD”) 33 and a card interface 35 for storing digital image data stored in the buffer memory 31 are provided.

The operation of the camera 1 according to this embodiment configured as described above will be described.
When the camera 1 according to this embodiment is activated, first, the overall controller 17 determines whether the shooting mode switching unit is set to the single shooting mode or the continuous shooting mode (see step SA1 in FIG. 2). ).

  When it is determined that the mode is the single shooting mode (see step SA1 “NO” in the figure), the image of the subject formed through the lens unit 5 is shot by the image sensor 7 and is sent to the AFE 9 as analog image data. Is output. Digital image data converted from analog image data in the AFE 9 is sent to the image processing unit 25 for image processing, and sent to the LCD 33 via the overall controller 17 for display.

  In this situation, when the shutter operation unit 3 is pushed in a predetermined amount, the position information of the focus lens of the lens unit 5 and the aperture amount of the aperture calculated by the overall controller 17 are sent to the lens unit control unit 19. In the lens unit controller 19, the focus lens is driven based on the input position information and the aperture amount, and autofocus processing is performed.

  In addition, the shutter speed of the image sensor 7 calculated by the general controller 17 is set via the timing control unit 21, and the ISO sensitivity value of the AFE 9 calculated by the general controller 17 is determined by the timing control unit 21 and the gain control unit 23. Is set via Further, the overall controller 17 outputs a noise adjustment signal or the like for noise reduction processing according to the ISO sensitivity value to the image processing unit 25.

  As a result, the lens unit 5, the image sensor 7 and the AFE 9 are controlled to obtain digital image data of proper exposure. Then, after the digital image data is sent to the image processing unit 25 and subjected to image processing such as color correction and JPEG compression and noise reduction processing, it is sent to the buffer memory 31 via the overall controller 17 and temporarily stored. Is done. The photographed image data stored in the buffer memory 31 is sent to the LCD 33 via the overall controller 17 and displayed as a still image or sent to the card interface 35 and saved by the user's operation.

Next, the operation of the camera 1 according to this embodiment during continuous shooting will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the overall controller 17 determines that the shooting mode switching means is set to the continuous shooting mode (step SA <b> 1 “YES”), first, in the speed detection unit 15, the acceleration sensor 27 detects the camera. 1 is detected (step SA2).

  Thus, in the state where the continuous shooting mode is set, when the camera 1 is moved and vibration is applied to the camera body, the acceleration sensor 27 always detects the acceleration of the camera 1 and outputs it to the movement speed calculation unit 29. Is done. Further, in the moving speed calculation unit 29, the moving speed of the camera 1 is calculated by integrating the acceleration of the camera 1 sent from the acceleration sensor 27 (step SA3). Then, every time the moving speed of the camera 1 is calculated, the moving speed calculating unit 29 updates the moving speed information (step SA4).

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, in the overall controller 17, it is determined whether or not the shutter operation unit 3 has been depressed (step SB1), and in step SB1 until depression of the shutter operation unit 3 is confirmed. The operation is repeated (step SB1 “NO”).

  If it is determined that the shutter operation unit 3 has been pressed (“YES” in step SB1), the overall controller 17 determines the position information of the focus lens of the lens unit 5 in the same manner as when the single shooting mode is set. The aperture amount of the aperture is calculated and output to the lens unit control unit 19. Further, the lens unit control unit 19 performs autofocus processing based on the input position information and aperture amount (step SB2).

  Further, the image pickup device 7 is controlled by the overall controller 17 via the timing control unit 21, the AFE 9 is controlled via the timing control unit 21 and the gain control unit 23, and a noise processing signal or the like is transmitted to the image processing unit 25. Entered. Thereby, digital image data of appropriate exposure is sequentially acquired by the lens unit 5, the image sensor 7 and the AFE 9, and each time it is acquired, it is sent to the overall controller 17 via the image processing unit 25 (step SB3).

  In this case, if the overall controller 17 determines that the shutter operation unit 3 is depressed (step SB4 “YES”), the updated moving speed information is read by the speed detection unit 15 (step SB5a). ). Then, the overall controller 17 calculates the frame rate of the image sensor 7 according to the read movement speed information (step SB6).

  Specifically, when the moving speed of the camera 1 increases, that is, when shooting is performed while the camera 1 is moved at a high speed in accordance with the movement of the subject at a high speed, the image pickup device 7 in the overall controller 17 is used. Is increased in correspondence with the moving speed of the camera 1. As a result, the imaging time interval of the image sensor 7 is adjusted to be shortened via the timing control unit 21. Therefore, a large number of continuous digital image data can be acquired in accordance with a change in the fast and fine movement of the subject.

  On the other hand, when the moving speed of the camera 1 decreases, that is, the moving speed of the subject changes and becomes slow, and when the camera 1 changes to a slow movement accordingly, the frame rate of the image sensor 7 is changed in the overall controller 17. The value is decreased corresponding to the moving speed of the camera 1. As a result, the imaging time interval of the image sensor 7 is adjusted to be longer via the timing control unit 21. Therefore, digital image data can be acquired at intervals in accordance with the movement of the subject with a small change. (Step SB7).

While the continuous shooting mode is set, the operations in steps SB2 to SB7 are repeated.
On the other hand, when the overall controller 17 determines in step SB4 that the shutter operation unit 3 has been released (step SB4 “NO”), the continuous shooting mode ends (step SB5b).

  As described above, according to the camera 1 according to the present embodiment, when the camera 1 is moved at a high speed during continuous shooting, the time interval of continuous shooting is shortened. Even in shooting, a large number of images can be acquired at short shooting time intervals while capturing a subject moving at high speed at the same position on the imaging surface of the camera, for example, at a substantially central position. Therefore, it is possible to continuously capture a change in the fast and fine movement of the subject without missing a photo opportunity. Further, when the camera 1 is moved slowly, the continuous shooting time interval is changed to be long, so that the change in the movement of the subject is small and it is possible to prevent a large amount of similar scenes from being shot. it can.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the continuous shooting of the camera of FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows the detection of the moving speed at the time of the continuous shooting photography mode setting of the camera of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Camera 7 Image Sensor 15 Speed Detection Unit 17 Overall Controller (Shooting Interval Adjustment Unit)

Claims (3)

An image sensor that captures an image of a subject with a time interval;
A camera body provided with the image sensor;
A speed detector for detecting the moving speed of the camera body during continuous shooting;
A camera comprising: a shooting interval adjustment unit that increases a frame rate of shooting by the imaging device when the moving speed of the camera body detected by the speed detection unit increases.   The camera according to claim 1, wherein when the moving speed of the camera body detected by the speed detection unit decreases, the shooting interval adjustment unit decreases a frame rate of shooting by the image sensor.   The speed detector includes an acceleration sensor that detects an acceleration of the camera body, and a speed calculator that calculates a moving speed of the camera body based on the acceleration of the camera body detected by the acceleration sensor. The camera according to claim 1 or claim 2.

Images