JP2011139502A - Digital camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera allowing a photographer to easily image himself or herself. <P>SOLUTION: A digital camera device is provided, in a digital camera body, with a monitor for displaying a shot image, and includes: an image transmitting means to transmit the shot image to the monitor; a monitor position detecting means to detect the position of the monitor; and a monitoring image control means to control the image to be displayed on the monitor. The monitor is detachably mounted to the digital camera body. When the position of the monitor detected by the monitor position detecting means is located in an imaging direction relative to the digital camera body, the monitoring image control means horizontally flips the shot image to be displayed on the monitor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital camera that can monitor a captured image, and more particularly to a digital camera having a monitor that can be separated from a digital camera body.

  Conventionally, a camera with a remote control device that can remotely control the camera has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1). The camera with a remote control device of Patent Document 1 enables remote control of the shutter, strobe, zoom, and the like of the camera by communicating the camera body and the remote control device with infrared rays. By remotely controlling the camera using this remote control device, the degree of freedom of operation of the camera is increased, and photographing becomes more convenient. For example, when the camera is fixed to a tripod and the photographer is photographed, it is convenient because the photographer does not have to go to the camera and operate it.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a video camera that includes a liquid crystal monitor that can be attached to and detached from the video camera body, and can monitor a captured image and a reproduced image even when the liquid crystal monitor is detached from the video camera body. In this video camera, an image is transmitted from the video camera main body using an infrared signal so that a photographed image and a reproduced image can be viewed even when the liquid crystal monitor is detached from the video camera main body.

JP 7-244330 A JP-A-9-46564

  However, the camera with a remote control device of Patent Document 1 must be viewed at the camera in order to confirm the captured image captured by the camera. In particular, when a photographer photographs himself / herself, there is a problem that it is difficult for the photographer reflected in the photographed image to adjust the composition of the photographed image such as the position adjustment.

  In addition, when the photographer shoots himself / herself with the video camera of Patent Document 2, since the photographer and the video camera face each other, the left and right of the captured image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor are reversed from the actual left and right. End up. Therefore, the direction in the captured image is reversed from the actual direction, and it is difficult to adjust the composition such as the arrangement in the captured image while looking at the liquid crystal monitor.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a camera in which a photographer can easily photograph himself / herself.

  In order to solve the above problems, a digital camera device according to the present invention is basically a digital camera device provided with a monitor for displaying captured images in the digital camera body, and an image for transmitting the captured images to the monitor. Transmission means, monitor position detection means for detecting the position of the monitor, and monitor image control means for controlling an image displayed on the monitor, wherein the monitor is detachably attached to the digital camera body, The monitor image control means reverses the captured image displayed on the monitor horizontally when the position of the monitor detected by the monitor position detection means is in a direction of capturing from the digital camera body. Is the gist.

  According to the digital camera device of the present invention, the monitor image control means detects when the monitor position detection means detects that the monitor is removed from the digital camera body and the digital camera body is positioned in the shooting direction. The captured image to be transmitted to the monitor and displayed on the monitor by the image transmitting means is reversed left and right. In this way, if the photographer faces the digital camera body and takes a picture while looking at the monitor, that is, if the monitor is removed from the digital camera body and is in the shooting direction than the digital camera body, The captured image displayed on the monitor is displayed horizontally reversed. Therefore, since the left and right of the captured video displayed on the monitor coincide with the actual left and right, it is possible to easily adjust the composition such as the position of the photographer in the captured image.

  In the above-described digital camera device according to the present invention, the monitor includes a remote control device for remotely operating the digital camera body.

  In this way, when the photographer takes a picture of himself / herself, the digital camera body can be operated by the remote control device, so that photographing becomes easier.

  In the digital camera device according to the present invention described above, the monitor includes an exposure meter that measures exposure, the exposure meter transmits the measured exposure information to the digital camera body, and the digital camera body The exposure information is used when the position of the monitor detected by the monitor position detection means is in the direction of shooting from the digital camera body.

  In this way, the digital camera body can use the exposure information measured by the monitor when the monitor is in the direction of shooting from the digital camera body, that is, when the monitor is at a position close to the subject to be photographed.

  In the digital camera device according to the present invention described above, when the monitor image control means is in a direction in which the position of the monitor detected by the monitor position detection means is photographing from the digital camera body, A scale image indicating a scale based on a predetermined unit in the captured image is added to the captured image displayed on the monitor.

  In this way, the composition in the captured image can be adjusted by looking at the scale displayed on the monitor.

  In the digital camera device according to the present invention described above, the monitor image control means adds the scale image indicating the scale in units of the number of pixels in the captured image displayed on the monitor to the captured image. .

  In this way, the monitor image control means can add a scale based only on the number of pixels of the photographed image, so that the processing becomes simple.

  In the above-described digital camera device according to the present invention, the monitor image control means includes a distance from the digital camera body to a subject in the captured image, an actual size of the subject, and a size in the image data. The scale image indicating the scale in units of actual distance is added to the image data using a magnification representing the ratio.

  In this way, a scale based on the actual distance is added to the captured image displayed on the monitor. For this reason, when the composition is adjusted by moving the object being photographed in the photographed image, the amount of movement at the actual distance can be known.

  The digital camera device according to the present invention described above further includes shooting direction changing means for changing the shooting direction of the digital camera body, and the remote control device remotely operates the shooting direction changing means.

  In this way, it is possible to change the shooting direction of the digital camera body while looking at the scale of the shot image displayed on the monitor.

  The digital camera device according to the present invention described above further includes shooting direction changing means for changing the shooting direction of the digital camera body, and the remote control device is based on the scale displayed on the monitor. By instructing a change amount of the shooting direction with respect to the shooting direction changing unit, the shooting direction changing unit is remotely operated.

  In this way, since the necessary moving amount can be instructed to the photographing direction changing means by looking at the scale of the photographed image displayed on the monitor, the photographing direction can be accurately changed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a digital camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline of the other side of the surface with a lens of a digital camera main body. The perspective view of the monitor seen from the side hidden when attached to the digital camera main body. Explanatory drawing for demonstrating the external view of the lens side of a digital camera main body. The flowchart for demonstrating the process sequence of a digital camera main body in case a monitor exists in a photographing direction rather than a digital camera main body. Explanatory drawing for demonstrating the image data displayed on a monitor. Explanatory drawing for demonstrating the image data displayed on a monitor when instruct | indicating to change an imaging | photography direction. Explanatory drawing for demonstrating the image data displayed on the monitor of the modification 1. FIG.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the structure of a digital camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The digital camera device includes a digital camera body 100 and a monitor 200 that is detachably attached to the digital camera body 100.

  The digital camera main body 100 has an optical system including a lens 1, an aperture mechanism 2, a shutter 3, and the like, and includes a CCD 4 that receives imaging light from a subject to be photographed and converts it into an electrical signal via the optical system. In addition, the digital camera body 100 processes the signal from the CCD 4 and outputs a captured image that is multi-value (R, G, B) image data, and the image created by the image data creation unit 5. A frame memory 6 that temporarily stores data, and an image data output unit 7 that outputs image data on the frame memory 6 to the I / F 10 or the recording medium control unit 8 are provided.

  The image data output by the image data output unit 7 is stored in the recording medium 9 via the recording medium control unit 8 and output to the outside via the I / F 10 as necessary. Further, the digital camera body 100 includes an optical system control unit 11 that controls the optical system, a monitor image control unit 20, an image transmission unit 22, a photographing direction change unit 24, and a monitor position detection unit 26.

  The monitor 200 includes an LCD 32 that displays image data sent from the digital camera body 100. Further, the monitor 200 includes a remote control device 28 for remotely operating the digital camera body 100 and an exposure meter 30.

  The digital camera body 100 and the monitor 200 communicate with each other using infrared signals to exchange information. The image transmission means 22 transmits the image data created by the image data creation unit 5 to the monitor 200 via an infrared signal. The image data received by the monitor 200 is displayed on the LCD 32. An operation instruction to the digital camera body 100 by the remote control device 28 and a measured value by the exposure meter 30 are transmitted from the monitor 200 to the digital camera body 100 via an infrared signal.

  The image data output unit 7 performs JPEG compression from the image data created by the image data creation unit 5 and stored in the frame memory 6 when the shutter button 120 (see FIG. 2) included in the remote control device 28 is pressed. JPEG image data and a thumbnail image obtained by reducing the image are created and output to the I / F 10 or the recording medium control unit 8.

  The recording medium control unit 8 performs a process of recording the JPEG image data and thumbnail image output from the image data output unit 7 at a predetermined position on the recording medium 9 and a process of reading the recorded JPEG image data. The I / F 10 is used to exchange data with an external device in a serial or parallel manner. The JPEG image data stored in the recording medium 9 is transferred to the external device such as a personal computer via the I / F 10. Output to computer devices, modems, printers, etc. The recording medium 9 is an extended recording medium such as a flash memory fixed in the digital camera body 100 and / or a removable memory card.

  The monitor position detection means 26 detects whether the monitor 200 is detached from the digital camera body 100 and is in the shooting direction, that is, whether the lens 1 of the digital camera body 100 is facing.

  When the monitor position detection unit 26 detects that the monitor 200 is removed from the digital camera body 100 and is in the shooting direction of the digital camera body 100, the optical system control unit 11 outputs the measurement value of the exposure meter 30 from the monitor 200 as an infrared signal. To get through. Then, using the acquired measurement value of the exposure meter 30, the diaphragm mechanism 2, the shutter 3 and the like are controlled, and the accumulation time of the CCD 4 is controlled to appropriately control the exposure. Further, when the measurement value of the exposure meter 30 is not acquired, for example, when the monitor 200 remains attached to the digital camera body 100, the brightness is calculated from the entire image data, and this brightness is used. The exposure is properly controlled by controlling the accumulation time of the diaphragm mechanism 2, the shutter 3, and the CCD 4 and the like.

  The monitor image control means 20 determines the left and right of the image data transmitted by the image transmission means 22 when the monitor position detection means 26 detects that the monitor 200 is detached from the digital camera body 100 and is in the shooting direction of the digital camera body 100. Invert. Further, the monitor image control unit 20 adds the scale image to the image data transmitted by the image transmission unit 22.

  The photographing direction changing unit 24 changes the photographing direction of the digital camera body 100 to the direction instructed by the remote control device 28.

  The control unit 15 includes a CPU 16, a ROM 17, a RAM 18, and the like, and includes an image data creation unit 5, an image data output unit 7, a recording medium control unit 8, an optical system control unit 11, a monitor image control unit 20, an image transmission unit 22, It controls the operation control of the photographing direction changing means 24 and the monitor position detecting means 26, and the execution of image processing and image compression / decompression processing. The ROM 17 stores a group of programs necessary for internal data processing such as operation control of the digital camera body 100 and data compression / decompression processing.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an overview of the opposite side of the surface on which the lens 1 of the digital camera body 100 according to the first embodiment is located. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the monitor 200 is attached to the digital camera body 100. The monitor 200 includes a LCD 32 for displaying image data and a plurality of buttons for operating the digital camera body 100 such as a shutter button 120, a zoom button 110, a cursor key 130, and a shooting direction change button 132 as operation switches of the remote control device 28. Has a switch. The removal button 140 is a button for removing the monitor 200 from the digital camera body 100. The monitor 200 can be detached from the digital camera body 100 by pulling out the monitor 200 while pushing the removal button 140 and putting a finger on the recess 150. Further, the digital camera body 100 includes a pan / tilt mechanism 134 as a drive unit of the photographing direction changing unit 24. The shooting direction changing unit 24 controls the motor of the pan / tilt mechanism 134 to change the shooting direction of the digital camera body vertically and horizontally.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the shape of the back surface of the monitor 200. The attachment hook 190 is a hook for fixing the monitor 200 to the digital camera body 100. The infrared transmission / reception window 210 includes an infrared light projecting unit and a light receiving unit, and transmits and receives infrared signals. The exposure meter 30 measures the exposure and transmits the measured value to the digital camera body 100 using infrared rays.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the shape of the surface on the lens 1 side of the digital camera body 100 according to the first embodiment. The infrared transmission / reception window 180 includes an infrared light projecting unit and a light receiving unit, and transmits and receives infrared signals. The strobe light emitting unit 170 emits a strobe when shooting at night. The digital camera body 100 and the monitor 200 communicate with each other using infrared signals transmitted and received through the infrared transmission / reception window 210 and the infrared transmission / reception window 180.

  When the digital camera body 100 and the monitor 200 can communicate with each other by infrared rays, the monitor position detection unit 26 can receive infrared rays projected from the infrared transmission / reception window 180 of the digital camera body 100, that is, the lens 1. It is determined that the monitor 200 is in the shooting direction, which is the direction in which shooting can be performed.

  The measurement value measured by the exposure meter 30 is transmitted to the digital camera body 100 using infrared rays, and is received by the optical system control unit 11. When the monitor position detection unit 26 determines that the monitor 200 is in the photographing direction with respect to the digital camera body 100, the optical system control unit 11 determines the storage time of the diaphragm mechanism 2, the shutter 3, and the CCD 4 by using an exposure meter 30. The exposure is appropriately controlled by controlling using the measured value.

  When it is in the shooting direction relative to the digital camera main body 100, there is a high possibility that the person who is the subject or the person near the subject has the monitor 200. Therefore, it can be said that the measurement value measured by the exposure meter 30 in the monitor 200 accurately represents the exposure of the subject. By using this measurement value, it is possible to control exposure more accurately. Even if the person who is the subject or the person near the subject does not have the monitor 200, it can be said that the monitor 200 is closer to the subject than the digital camera body 100. Even in this case, the exposure can be controlled more accurately than the exposure is controlled by measuring the exposure with the digital camera body 100.

  On the other hand, when the monitor 200 is attached to the digital camera body 100 or when the monitor 200 is behind the digital camera body 100, the monitor position detection means 26 causes the monitor 200 to be in the shooting direction relative to the digital camera body 100. Judge that there is no. In this case, since the digital camera body 100 is closer to the subject than the monitor 200, appropriate exposure control can be performed by performing exposure control in the same manner as in the past. For example, exposure control is performed based on the brightness of the entire photographed image, or when the monitor 200 is attached to the digital camera body 100, exposure control is performed using the measurement value of the exposure meter 30.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the digital camera body 100 when the monitor 200 is in the shooting direction relative to the digital camera body 100. This process is started each time the digital camera body 100 receives an infrared signal from the monitor 200.

  When the process starts, the monitor position detecting means 26 detects the position of the monitor 200 in step S100. The monitor position detection unit 26 determines that the monitor 200 is in the shooting direction when the digital camera body 100 and the monitor 200 can communicate with each other by infrared rays. Next, in step S110, it is checked whether or not the position of the monitor 200 detected by the monitor position detecting means 26 is the shooting direction. When the position of the monitor 200 is the shooting direction, the process proceeds to step S120. On the other hand, if it is determined that the position of the monitor 200 is not in the shooting direction, the process proceeds to step S180, and the image data created by the image data creation unit 5 is transmitted to the monitor 200 as it is.

  In step S120, the monitor image control means 20 generates a monitor transmission image that is an image obtained by horizontally inverting the image data created by the image data creation unit 5.

  FIG. 6 is an example of image data displayed on the LCD 32. This is an example when the photographer has the monitor 200 removed from the digital camera body 100 in his hand and the photographer is going to be a subject to photograph himself. At this time, the monitor position detection unit 26 determines that the monitor 200 is in the shooting direction with respect to the digital camera body 100, so that the image displayed on the LCD 32 is reversed left and right by the monitor image control unit 20. For this reason, the left and right when the image displayed on the LCD 32 is viewed are the same as the actual left and right. I can understand.

  In step S130, monitor image control unit 20 adds the scale image to the monitor transmission image. A scale image 300 is added to the lower part of the image displayed on the LCD 32 (FIG. 6) by the monitor image control means 20. The scale image 300 is a scale based on the pixels of the LCD 32. For example, a memory is created in units of 50 pixels. The photographer grasps the positional relationship in the image displayed on the LCD 32 using this memory and adjusts the composition.

  In FIG. 6, the photographer is slightly left. If the photographer tries to adjust the composition so that the photographer is in the center, it can be seen from the image in FIG. 6 that the photographer has only to move one memory to the right. In addition, since the width of the monitor 200 is exactly one memory, it can be seen that the distance to the right may be about half the width of the monitor 200. As described above, since the moving distance can be set with reference to the scale image 300, the composition can be easily adjusted.

  The monitor 200 can remotely control the digital camera body 100 such as the shutter button 120. After adjusting the composition by looking at the image displayed on the LCD 32, the digital camera body 100 can be operated such as pressing the shutter button 120 immediately. Therefore, there is no need to return to the original digital camera body 100.

  In step S140, when the measured value measured by the exposure meter 30 is included in the infrared signal received by the digital camera body 100, the measured value measured by the exposure meter 30 is acquired. And the optical system control part 11 controls exposure appropriately using the acquired measured value of the exposure meter 30. FIG.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an image displayed on the LCD 32 when the cursor key 130 is operated. In step S150, when the infrared signal received by the digital camera body 100 includes the cursor key 130 signal, the monitor image control means 20 acquires the cursor key 130 signal. When the signal of the cursor key 130 is first acquired, the monitor image control unit 20 sets the internal state to the mark display and sets the position of the mark 320 to the center. Further, when the signal of the cursor key 130 is acquired when the internal state is displaying the mark, that is, when the signal of the cursor key 130 is acquired for the second time or later, the monitor image control means 20 The position is moved according to the cursor key 130.

  In step S160, if the internal state is displaying a mark, the monitor image control means 20 adds a mark 320 to the position set in step S150 of the monitor transmission image.

  In step S170, if the infrared signal received by the digital camera body 100 includes the signal of the shooting direction change button 132, the signal of the shooting direction change button 132 is acquired and the shooting direction change button 132 is pressed. Find out if it is. When the shooting direction change button 132 is pressed, the shooting direction changing unit 24 operates the pan / tilt mechanism 134 to change the shooting direction of the digital camera body 100 so that the mark 320 is at the center of the image.

  As described above, since the shooting direction can be changed by the cursor key 130 and the shooting direction change button 132 provided in the remote controller 28, the shooting direction can be changed while viewing the image displayed on the LCD 32, and the shooting direction can be changed. Easy to change.

  In step S180, the image transmission unit 22 transmits the monitor transmission image to the monitor 200, and displays the monitor transmission image on the LCD 32 of the monitor 200.

  In the first embodiment, the shooting direction is instructed by the cursor key 130 and the shooting direction change button 132, but may be instructed by the direction and the number of memories displayed in the memory image. For example, the instruction is “move left by one memory”. Instruction input uses a keyboard or voice recognition that is provided separately.

Hereinafter, modifications related to the digital camera device of the first embodiment will be described.
(Modification 1)
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an image displayed on the LCD 32 in the first modification. The monitor image control means 20 adds a scale image 310 based on the actual distance to the image data instead of the scale image 300 based on the number of pixels of the LCD 32. The monitor position detection means 26 calculates the ratio between the number of pixels and the distance in the in-focus portion of the image data using the focal length and magnification of the lens 1. In this way, by looking at the scale image 310, when adjusting the composition, it is possible to know how much it should move by the actual distance.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Lens, 2 ... Pan tilt mechanism, 3 ... Shutter, 4 ... CCD, 5 ... Image data preparation part, 6 ... Frame memory, 7 ... Image data output part, 8 ... Recording medium control part, 9 ... Recording medium, 10 ... I / F, 11 ... optical system control unit, 15 ... control unit, 16 ... CPU, 17 ... ROM, 18 ... RAM, 20 ... monitor image control means, 22 ... image transmission means, 24 ... imaging direction changing means, 26 ... Monitor position detecting means 28 ... Remote control device 30 ... Exposure meter 32 ... LCD 100 ... Digital camera body 110 ... Zoom button 120 ... Shutter button 130 ... Cursor key 132 ... Shooting direction change button 134 ... Pan tilt Mechanism: 140 ... Remove button, 150 ... Recess, 170 ... Strobe light emitting part, 180 ... Infrared transmission / reception window, 190 ... Mounting hook, 200 ... Monitor, 210 Infrared transceiver window, 300 ... scale image, 310 ... scale image, 320 ... mark.

Claims (8)

A digital camera device having a monitor for displaying a captured image in the digital camera body,
Image transmitting means for transmitting the captured image to the monitor;
Monitor position detecting means for detecting the position of the monitor;
Monitor image control means for controlling an image to be displayed on the monitor,
The monitor is detachably attached to the digital camera body,
The monitor image control means reverses the captured image displayed on the monitor horizontally when the position of the monitor detected by the monitor position detection means is in a direction of capturing from the digital camera body. A digital camera device characterized by the above. The digital camera device according to claim 1,
The digital camera apparatus, wherein the monitor includes a remote control device for remotely operating the digital camera body. The digital camera device according to claim 1,
The monitor comprises an exposure meter for measuring exposure;
The exposure meter transmits the measured exposure information to the digital camera body,
The digital camera body uses the exposure information when the position of the monitor detected by the monitor position detecting means is in a direction in which the image is taken from the digital camera body. The digital camera device according to claim 1, wherein the monitor image control unit is configured to monitor when the monitor position detected by the monitor position detection unit is in a direction in which the image is captured from the digital camera body. A digital camera apparatus, wherein a scale image indicating a scale based on a predetermined unit in the photographed image is added to the photographed image displayed on the screen. The digital camera device according to claim 4,
The monitor image control means adds the scale image indicating the scale in units of the number of pixels in the captured image displayed on the monitor to the captured image. The digital camera device according to claim 4,
The monitor image control means uses the distance representing the distance from the digital camera body to the subject in the photographed image and the ratio between the actual size of the subject and the size in the image data as a unit of the actual distance. A digital camera apparatus, wherein the scale image indicating the scale is added to image data. The digital camera device according to claim 2,
A photographing direction changing means for changing a photographing direction of the digital camera body;
The digital camera device characterized in that the remote control device remotely operates the photographing direction changing means. The digital camera device according to claim 4,
A photographing direction changing means for changing a photographing direction of the digital camera body;
The remote control device remotely controls the shooting direction changing unit by instructing a change amount of the shooting direction with respect to the shooting direction changing unit based on the scale displayed on the monitor. apparatus.

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