JP2538725Y2 - Camera information input dial - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an arrangement of an information input dial on a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a camera becomes multifunctional, means for a photographer to input various information for photographing, for example, a photographing mode, an aperture value, a shutter speed, an ISO sensitivity, etc., to the camera are required. It has become. As the input member, a lever or a button provided on a camera body is often used.

[0003]

[0004]

However, the input member as described above has the following problems.

That is, when a lever or button provided on the camera body is used, two members are arranged or one member is used to increase or decrease the set value.
It is necessary to move in the direction. It is difficult for the photographer to distinguish and operate the two members while looking through the viewfinder, and the setting value may be changed in the wrong direction. Or they had to slide and hold the button over and over again, which was a nuisance for the photographer.

[0006]

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problem and to obtain a camera capable of inputting information with a natural movement of a finger from the holding state of the camera.

[0008]

An information input dial for a camera according to the present invention is a disc-shaped dial whose one end protrudes in an arc shape from a camera body, and is provided on an upper portion of a rear surface of the camera body. The center axis is provided to be inclined at least in the lateral direction of the camera body with respect to the vertical direction of the camera body.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera information input dial which is a disc-shaped dial disposed on the upper surface of the camera body and having one end protruding in an arc shape from the camera body, wherein the center axis of the dial is the camera. An information input dial for a camera, wherein the information input dial is provided to be inclined at least in the lateral direction of the body with respect to the longitudinal direction of the body.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the information input dial of the camera includes a first dial and a second dial, and the first dial and the second dial have one ends projecting from the camera body in an arc shape. A disk-shaped dial, wherein the first dial is provided at an upper portion of a rear surface of the camera body, with a central axis of the first dial being inclined at least in the left-right direction of the camera body with respect to the up-down direction of the camera body; The second dial is disposed on an upper surface of a camera body, and a center axis of the second dial is provided to be inclined at least in a left-right direction of the body with respect to a front-rear direction of the camera body. Information input dial.

[0011]

[0012]

According to the structure of the present invention, the photographer can input information to the camera by natural movement of the finger from the holding state where the camera is held.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a camera body to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a top view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a rear view thereof.

This embodiment is an interchangeable lens type single-lens reflex camera, and has a main switch 1 for switching power on and off and a function key 10 used for setting functions on the left shoulder when viewed from the rear side of the body. . On the back side of the right shoulder, the AF mechanism is activated by pushing it in one step, and the shutter switch is made possible by pushing it in two steps. On the near side, various information necessary for shooting,
For example, a rectangular liquid crystal display device 3 that displays a shutter speed, an aperture value, a film sensitivity, and the like is provided.
A disc-shaped first dial 4 having a central axis oriented substantially in the front-rear direction of the camera and one end protruding in an arc shape from the upper surface of the body is provided on the back side of the release switch 2, that is, in front of the grip portion 11. In the upper right part of the back surface, a second dial 5 on a disk whose central axis is substantially in the vertical direction of the camera and one end of which protrudes in an arc shape from the back surface of the body is provided.
Here, more precisely, the first dial 4 is arranged so that the right side is inclined forward when viewed from above, and the second dial 5 is arranged such that the right side is inclined upward when viewed from behind.

A finger (usually an index finger) used for release when the camera is in the holding state from the top surface of the camera to the right side surface is a groove-shaped first finger attachment portion 6 which naturally engages the release switch 2. Is provided.
On the back of the camera, a finger (usually a thumb) used for operating the second dial 5 in the holding state as described above.
However, a second finger 7 is provided so as to be positioned at a position close to the left end of the second dial 5.

A finder 8 is provided at the upper part on the back of the body, and a back cover 9 is provided at the lower part.

Next, the operation of the camera according to the present invention will be described.

When photographing, the photographer turns on the main switch 1 to activate the camera. The camera of the present embodiment is in a program photographing mode in an initial state. Next, while the camera is in the holding state, the release switch 2 is pressed down one step while determining the composition through the viewfinder 8, thereby performing a focusing operation. At this time, the holding of the camera is performed on the camera body, and the right hand 12 is usually attached to the body from the right side of the grip portion 11, and the index finger is moved to the first position.
The release switch 2 is hung on the finger attachment 6, the thumb is at a position close to the left end of the second dial 5 with the thumb supporting the second finger attachment 7 from the lower left, and the remaining fingers are gripped by the grip 11. The user grips the grip section 11 from the front side of the camera.

In the case of the program photographing, the aperture value and the shutter speed are determined by the photometric value of a photometric device (not shown) by depressing the release switch by one step, but when the photographer wants to express his intention by photographing, For example, in the case of using blur effectively or performing panning, it is necessary to change the shooting mode to aperture priority or shutter speed priority. Further, there is a case where it is desired to slightly change the exposure by performing the exposure correction.

The camera according to the present embodiment is configured so that various other set values can be changed in addition to the above-described settings. The first dial 4 and the second dial are used to change the set values. 5 is used. To give a specific example, when changing the shooting mode, the function key 10 is pressed once and the first dial 4 is rotated to sequentially change the aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual from the program. The second dial 5 is used to set the aperture value when the aperture is prioritized, and the first dial 4 is used to set the shutter speed when the shutter is prioritized. Second in manual
The aperture value can be set with the dial 5 and the shutter speed can be set with the first dial 4 at the same time.

An advantage of using the information input dial of the present invention is that the input operation can be performed by extremely rational finger movement. That is, the rotation of the first dial 4 can be performed by rotating the index finger in the holding state by the first finger attachment portion 6 so as to be shifted from the position toward the front side of the grip portion 11 around the base of the finger. . The rotation of the second dial 5 can be performed by rotating the thumb in the holding state by the second finger pad 7 so as to be shifted from the position toward the upper right of the back of the camera about the base of the finger.

In the above description, the information to be input using the dial is the mode change and the set value in each mode. However, the information that can be input by the dial of the present embodiment is not limited to these, and the exposure correction amount, AF mode or area selection, metering mode or area selection, ISO sensitivity setting, and continuous shooting number setting It can be used to input all kinds of information related to camera functions, such as setting a flash mode, setting the number of seconds or the number of sheets of a self-timer.

[0023]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the two information input dials provided on the upper surface and the rear surface of the camera rotate their operating fingers from the holding position about the base of the finger. Therefore, information can be input by a very natural movement of the finger. Such movement of the finger does not significantly break the holding state of the camera, and the possibility of failure in photographing due to hand shake or the like is reduced.

Further, the present invention has an effect that information can be easily and reliably input even when the photographer looks into the viewfinder.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a camera body to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the camera body to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the camera body to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4, 5: Dial

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-211433 (JP, A) JP-A-2-105119 (JP, A) JP-A-61-171039 (JP, U)

Claims (3)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A camera having a dial for inputting information to the camera, wherein the dial is a disk-shaped dial whose one end protrudes in an arc shape from the camera body, and is provided at an upper portion of a rear surface of the camera body. An information input dial for a camera, wherein a central axis of the dial is provided at least in a horizontal direction of the camera body with respect to a vertical direction of the camera body. 2. A camera having a dial for inputting information to the camera, wherein the dial is a disc-shaped dial disposed on an upper surface of the camera body and having one end protruding in an arc shape from the camera body. The information input dial for a camera, wherein the center axis of the dial is provided at least in the left-right direction of the body with respect to the front-rear direction of the camera body. 3. A camera having a first dial and a second dial for inputting information to the camera,
The first dial and the second dial are disc-shaped dials having one end protruding in an arc shape from a camera body, and the first dial is provided at an upper portion of a rear surface of the camera body. A center axis of the dial is provided to be inclined at least in the body left-right direction with respect to a vertical direction of the camera body, the second dial is disposed on an upper surface of the camera body, and a center axis of the second dial is set in the camera body. An information input dial for a camera, wherein the information input dial is provided to be inclined at least in the lateral direction of the body with respect to the front-back direction of the camera.