JP2020056855A - Imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an imaging device that can individually obtain a focused photograph of a subject moving on the same route even without measuring a distance during consecutive shooting.SOLUTION: An imaging device has distance measurement means (24) for measuring a distance to a subject; azimuth detection means (51) for detecting an azimuth in which the imaging device faces; storage means (27) for storing the subject distance measured by the distance measurement means (24) so as to be associated with the azimuth when the subject distance is obtained; and control means (14) for performing focus based on the subject distance associated with the azimuth of the imaging device stored in the storage means (27).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital camera that obtains image data by capturing a subject image by light from a subject that has passed through a photographing lens, and particularly relates to an automatic focus adjustment (hereinafter, referred to as AF) function.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in panning shooting, there has been a demand for increasing the number of trials by increasing the continuous shooting speed to increase the probability of obtaining a successful photograph.

  Also, many cameras can improve the continuous shooting speed by omitting ranging during continuous shooting, but if you omit ranging during continuous shooting, you will not be able to focus on the subject I will.

  Therefore, a camera has been proposed in which a focus position is preset in advance for a moving subject moving on the same route so that the subject can be focused even if distance measurement during continuous shooting is omitted.

  Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique of presetting a focus position by associating a camera position obtained by receiving a transmission signal from a signal source installed at a fixed position separated from the camera with a focus position. .

JP-A-3-83031

  However, in the related art disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to provide a signal source separately from the camera, and it is impossible to use the camera alone.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus that can independently obtain a function that can obtain a focused photograph even if distance measurement during continuous shooting is omitted for a subject moving on the same route. It is in.

In order to achieve the above object, an imaging device according to the present invention includes:
Distance measuring means for measuring the distance to the subject, azimuth detecting means for detecting the direction in which the subject is facing, and the subject distance measured by the distance measuring means and the direction at which the subject distance was obtained are stored in association with each other. Storage means for performing focus adjustment based on the subject distance associated with its own direction and stored in the pre-storage means.

 According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image pickup apparatus that can independently obtain a function that can obtain a focused photograph even if distance measurement during continuous shooting is omitted for a subject moving on the same route.

Electrical configuration of camera (imaging device) 1 and photographing lens 2 An overhead view showing the positional relationship between the subject and the photographer Flowchart of ranging mode Shooting mode flowchart Image of continuous shooting in the shooting mode of the image display unit 6

  Hereinafter, an imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 shows an electrical configuration of a camera (imaging device) 1 and a photographing lens 2. The photographing lens 2 houses a photographing optical system including a plurality of optical lenses 8 and an aperture 9. Reference numeral 10 denotes an image sensor configured by a CCD sensor, a CMOS sensor, or the like that photoelectrically converts a subject image.

  An A / D converter 11 converts an analog image signal from the image sensor 10 into a digital image signal. Reference numeral 12 denotes a timing generation circuit that supplies a clock signal and a control signal to the image sensor 10 and the A / D converter 11, and is controlled by the memory controller 13 and the system controller 14 (control means).

  An image processing unit 15 generates image data by performing image processing such as pixel interpolation processing and color conversion processing on the digital imaging signal from the A / D conversion unit 11 or the memory control unit 13. Further, the image processing unit 15 performs a predetermined calculation process using the digital image pickup signal output from the A / D conversion unit 11 and, based on the obtained calculation result, an TTL (through-the-lens) AWB (automatic White balance) control processing.

  The memory control unit 13 controls the A / D conversion unit 11, the timing generation circuit 12, the image processing unit 15, the image display memory 16, the display control unit 17, the memory 18, and the compression / expansion unit 19. The image data generated by the image processing unit 15 based on the digital imaging signal output from the A / D conversion unit 11 or the memory control unit 13 is written to the image display memory 16 or the memory 18 via the memory control unit 13. It is.

  The memory 18 is a memory for storing image data generated by shooting. A compression / decompression unit 19 compresses / decompresses image data read from the memory 18 according to a predetermined image compression method (for example, applied discrete cosine transform). The compression / expansion unit 19 reads the image data stored in the memory 18, performs compression processing or expansion processing, and writes the processed image data in the memory 18. The processed image data is further recorded on the recording medium 20. The recording medium 20 is configured by a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, and is detachable from the camera 1.

  The image data read from the recording medium 20 to the memory 18 is written to the image display memory 16 via the image processing unit 15 and the memory control unit 13 and displayed on the image display unit (image display means) 6 by the display control unit 17. You can also.

  Reference numeral 14 denotes a system control unit that controls the entire camera 1. The system control unit 14 is configured by a microcomputer unit including a CPU, and executes a computer program stored in the memory 18. The system control unit 14 includes a memory control unit 13, an image processing unit 15, a shutter control unit 21, a motor control unit 22, an aperture control unit 23, an AF control unit (distance measuring unit) 24, a flash control unit 26, and a power control unit 28. , A gyro sensor (angular velocity detecting means) 50 and a geomagnetic sensor (azimuth detecting means) 51 are controlled.

  The memory 27 (storage means) stores constants, variables, computer programs, and the like for the operation of the system control unit 14. The computer program includes a program for performing an imaging process, a program for performing an image process, a program for recording created image file data on a recording medium, a program for reading image file data from a recording medium, and the like.

  Reference numeral 21 denotes a shutter control unit that controls the shutter 4 according to a shutter control signal from the system control unit 14.

  Reference numeral 41 denotes a motor, the driving of which is controlled by a motor control unit 22 which has received a motor control signal from the system control unit 14. The system control unit 14 operates the motor 41 via the motor control unit 22 in response to the operation of the release button 3, and drives the shutter 4 and the mirror mechanism 30.

  The aperture control unit 23 controls the aperture 9 to adjust the amount of light reaching the image sensor 10. The AF control unit 24 controls focusing (movement of the focus lens) of the photographing lens 2 according to an AF control signal (movement amount information of the focus lens) from the system control unit 14. Reference numeral 25 denotes a flash that emits light to illuminate the subject, and the emission of the flash 25 is controlled by a flash control unit 26.

  The power control unit 28 determines whether or not a battery as a power source is mounted, determines the type of the battery, the remaining battery level, and the like. The power supply control unit 28 supplies a necessary voltage to each unit in the camera 1 and the photographing lens 2 for a necessary period according to the determination result and an instruction from the system control unit 14.

  Next, the operation of the camera 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is an overhead view showing the positional relationship between the subject and the photographer. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the distance measuring mode, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the photographing mode.

  First, the operation in the distance measurement mode will be described. First, the user operates the mode dial 5 to enter the distance measurement mode (S301). When the system control unit 14 detects that the distance measurement mode has been entered, it starts the geomagnetic sensor 51 and the gyro sensor 50, and starts measuring the azimuth (FIG. 2: θ1 to θn) and the angular velocity (S302). When the system control unit 14 detects SW1 by the user operating the release button 3 in step S303, the system control unit 14 causes the AF control unit 24 to start servo ranging (S304). In step S305, the system control unit 14 causes the memory 27 to store the azimuth, the angular velocity, and the distance measurement result (FIG. 2: d1 to dn) as linked data. Step S305 is repeatedly performed until the user turns off SW1 and the system control unit 14 detects that SW1 is turned off. At this time, the data acquisition interval may be based on time, azimuth, angle, or focus distance. When the system control unit 14 detects that the switch SW1 is turned off, the system control unit 14 ends the geomagnetic sensor 51, the gyro sensor 50, and the servo ranging (S307). Then, the system control unit performs interpolation calculation of the subject distance in order to complement between the discrete data (S308), and ends the operation in the distance measurement mode (S308).

  Next, the operation in the shooting mode will be described. The user operates the mode dial 5 to enter the shooting mode (S401). When the system control unit 14 detects that the imaging mode has been entered, the system control unit 14 starts the geomagnetic sensor 51 and the gyro sensor 50, and starts measuring the azimuth and the angular velocity (S402). When the system control unit 14 detects SW1 by the user operating the release button 3 in step S403, the system control unit 14 causes the AF control unit 24 to start servo ranging (S404). When the system control unit 14 detects SW2 by the user operating the release button 3 in step S405, the system control unit 14 measures the azimuth of the camera 1 based on the output of the geomagnetic sensor 51 (S406). The system control unit 14 reads the data of the azimuth, angular velocity, and subject distance calculated in step S308 from the memory 27 (S408). The system control unit 14 causes the AF control unit 24 to perform focus driving based on the read distance measurement result (S408). The system control unit 14 causes the camera 1 to shoot (S409). Steps S406 to S409 are repeated until the user turns off SW2, and the system control unit 14 detects that SW2 has been turned off and terminates the operation in the imaging mode.

  In this way, an in-focus image can be obtained for a subject moving on the same route without performing AF during continuous shooting. As a result, in a camera in which the continuous shooting speed is improved by omitting the AF during the continuous shooting, the panning can be performed at a higher continuous shooting speed.

  FIG. 5 is an image diagram of the image display unit 6 during continuous shooting in the shooting mode.

  During the continuous shooting mode, the real-time subject 502 cannot be displayed on the image display unit 6. Therefore, an expected subject position 501 calculated from the subject position by the servo ranging before the start of the continuous shooting, the azimuth / angular velocity acquired in the ranging mode, and the azimuth / angular velocity of the camera 1 at that time is displayed. Displayed at 500.

  This makes it easy for the user to perform a panning operation according to the subject while looking at the image display unit 6 when shooting with a camera having no optical viewfinder or performing mirror-up shooting with a single-lens reflex camera. Become.

  As described above, the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist.

1 imaging device, 6 image display unit, 14 system control unit, 24 AF control unit,
27 memory, 50 gyro sensor, 51 geomagnetic sensor

Claims (4)

Distance measuring means for measuring the distance to the subject;
Azimuth detecting means for detecting the azimuth the player is facing,
Storage means for storing the subject distance measured by the distance measuring means and the azimuth at which the subject distance was obtained,
An imaging apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to perform focus adjustment based on the subject distance associated with the own direction and stored in a pre-storage unit. Having angular velocity detection means,
2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an azimuth and an angular velocity of the image pickup apparatus by the angular velocity detection unit are stored in the storage unit in association with each azimuth.   3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein distance measurement is not performed during continuous shooting in which focus adjustment is performed based on information stored in the storage unit. Having image display means,
During continuous shooting in which focus adjustment is performed based on the information stored in the storage unit, a subject position predicted from azimuth information and angular velocity information stored in the storage unit is displayed on the image display unit. The imaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein