JP2569754Y2 - Electronic viewfinder - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic viewfinder, and more particularly, to an electronic viewfinder that can use illumination light of the electronic viewfinder for other display units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a liquid crystal display unit such as a camera, which uses external light as illumination light, the external light is reflected through a reflector disposed on the back surface of the liquid crystal plate, and the reflected light is used to display the display unit. Is configured to be visible. In the case of using a dedicated light source, for example, an LED, EL (ELEC
TRO LUMINESCENCE), using a fluorescent lamp, etc.
Alternatively, the display portion is configured to be visible by irradiating light from the rear surface. As an electronic viewfinder (hereinafter, referred to as EVF) for a video camera using the liquid crystal display, an EVF of a video camera disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 63-152364 is provided at the rear of the camera body. The EVF and the battery are arranged side by side in a vertical position in which the longitudinal direction is up and down. An irradiation optical system is arranged above or below the EVF so that the light emitting surface of the EVF can be viewed from behind. It was done. In addition, as an EVF using a liquid crystal display, a finder device of a video camera disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-61877 is provided opposite to a liquid crystal display panel, and a back screen capable of transmitting external light. It is an EVF having light sources arranged above and below it.

In a conventional general video camera, an external liquid crystal display is provided in addition to the EVF.
In many cases, another liquid crystal display unit, that is, a finder display unit (hereinafter, referred to as an F display unit) is provided in the VF unit. FIG. 6 shows the appearance of the video camera,
EV is attached to the camera body 100 having the grip portion 100a.
F section 101, zoom button 102, release button 103
, An external liquid crystal display unit 104, various operation buttons 105, and the like. The EVF unit 101 includes FIG.
As shown in the figure, the F-inside liquid crystal display unit 101B is provided in a state of being provided alongside the EVF 101A. And the above EV
The configuration of the F101A is such that an LCD 111 is disposed behind a loupe lens 110 supported by a finder main body 114 as shown in a sectional view of FIG. A backlight 113 is provided. When the LCD 111 is a color liquid crystal, it is necessary to separate the LCD from the backlight due to the characteristics of the polarizing plate of the LCD.
12 are required. The EVF 101A displays an image being shot, and the in-F liquid crystal display unit 101B displays the number of frames, an aperture value, a shutter speed, an AF / flash completion display, and the like.

[0004]

However, if the in-F liquid crystal display unit 101B or the external liquid crystal display unit 104 provided in the above-mentioned conventional EVF 101 uses external light, it cannot be used for nighttime photographing. Therefore, in order to enable the use at night, it is necessary to use the above-mentioned Japanese Utility Model Application No. 63-152364.
A dedicated light source, such as an LED or an EL, must be separately provided, such as the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 63-61877 and the EVF of a video camera disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-61877. This not only increases the cost of parts of the light source unit, but also requires an extra space for disposing the light source unit, which hinders miniaturization of the device. Further, it is disadvantageous in power consumption. This is a problem not only for popular cameras but also for high-end cameras. In order to use the backlight 113 of the EVF 101A as the backlight of the in-F liquid crystal display unit 101B, the emission area of the backlight 113 may be increased. However, the enlargement of the backlight is disadvantageous in cost. Of course, this leads to a decrease in luminous efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and does not require any additional illumination light for a liquid crystal display unit other than the EVF display unit in a device having an EVF that requires illumination light. It is another object of the present invention to provide an EVF capable of visually recognizing a display of a liquid crystal unit other than the EVF.

[0006]

In the EVF of the present invention, in the EVF requiring illumination light, a part of members constituting the EVF is configured as a light guide for guiding the illumination light to another display unit. It is characterized by.

[0007]

[Function] For example, a spacer between a liquid crystal and a backlight,
A member necessary for constituting the EVF such as a backlight press plate is formed as a part of the light guide,
The illumination light extracted through the light guide is guided to another display unit.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiment. FIG. 1 is a view showing a main part of an EVF according to a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein (A) is a longitudinal sectional view of the EVF and (B).
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a backlight and a light guide section of the EVF. The EVF of this embodiment is an EVF that displays a subject image.
A VF section and a VF section, which are provided together with the VF section,
For example, it has an in-F liquid crystal display unit that displays characters such as the number of frames and the aperture value. ◎ EVF of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the EVF main body 1 includes a color LCD 3 requiring illumination light, a light guide 4 integral with the spacer section 4a, and a backlight 5 of a surface light-emitting body (EL or the like). It is supported and is fixed by being pressed from behind by the holding plate 2. Then, the exit surface 4 of the light guide 4
A liquid crystal display LCD 6 in F is disposed in front of c.
The light guide 4 has an incident surface 4b for taking in the emitted light below the backlight 5, and an emitting surface 4c for guiding the incident light to a predetermined position and emitting the light. When the display surface of the LCD 6 is wide and the illumination light is not strong, the exit surface 4c needs to be a surface having a diffusion effect. The same can be said for the following embodiments.

In the EVF constructed as described above, the illumination light of the backlight 5 directly illuminates the LCD 3. At the same time, part of the illumination light becomes the emission light L1 (see FIG. 1B) from the emission surface 4c via the light guide 4, and becomes the illumination light for the in-F liquid crystal display LCD 6. And
At the same time as the EVF, the display on the F liquid crystal display section is observed. Since the amount of light emitted from the backlight 5 is large, even if a part of the emitted light is used, the in-F liquid crystal display LC
D6 has a sufficient light quantity.

As described above, in the embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a light source dedicated to the in-F liquid crystal display LCD 6, which is advantageous in terms of parts cost and space. And
The LCD 3 is a color LCD, and it is necessary to assemble the LCD 3 with a predetermined space between the LCD 3 and the backlight 5 as described above. It was made. Therefore, a special space
This is advantageous in reducing the number of parts and the number of assembling man-hours without providing any additional components.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a main part of an EVF according to a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein (A) is a longitudinal sectional view of the EVF, and (B) is a backlight and a light guide of the EVF. It is a perspective view of a part. Similarly to the first embodiment, the EVF of this embodiment is an EVF section that displays a subject image and is provided in parallel with the EVF section, and displays shooting information, for example, a character number such as the number of frames and an aperture value. It has a liquid crystal display section inside F. The EVF according to the present embodiment includes a color LCD 1 that requires illumination light, as shown in FIG.
3, a spacer 14, a backlight 15 of a surface light-emitting body, and a light guide 12, which also serves as a holding plate for the backlight 15, are pressed and fixed by the light guide 12. Further, the light exit surface 12 of the light guide 12
A liquid crystal display LCD 16 inside F is disposed in front of c. The light guide 12 includes a backlight 15
And a light exit surface 12c for guiding the incident light to a predetermined position and emitting the light after guiding the incident light to a predetermined position. It is desirable that the back surface 12d be subjected to aluminum evaporation treatment.
5 is not always necessary because the light amount is large.

In the EVF constructed as described above, the illumination light of the backlight 15 illuminates the LCD 13 directly. At the same time, the light from the back surface of the illumination light becomes the emission light L2 (see FIG. 2B) from the emission surface 12c via the light guide 12, and becomes the illumination light for the in-F liquid crystal display LCD16. Then, the display on the F liquid crystal display portion is observed simultaneously with the EVF. As described above, the liquid crystal display LCD 1 in F according to the present embodiment is similar to the liquid crystal display LCD 1 according to the first embodiment.
6 It is not necessary to provide a dedicated light source. And
Since the light guide 12 also serves as a holding plate, there is no need to provide a dedicated holding plate. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the number of assembly steps.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are views showing an EVF and a main part of an external liquid crystal display unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a longitudinal sectional view of the EVF and the external liquid crystal display unit, and FIG. ) Is the EVF
3 is a perspective view of the light guide of FIG. The EVF of this embodiment is:
It has an EVF section for displaying a subject image, and an external liquid crystal display section for displaying a character or a picture indicating shooting information is provided at a predetermined position separated from the EVF. The EVF of the present embodiment has a color that requires illumination light on the EVF main body 21 as shown in FIG.
The LCD 23, the light guide 24 integrated with the spacer section 24 a, and the surface light emitting backlight 25 are supported in this order, and are pressed and fixed from behind by the pressing plate 22. The light guide 24 is provided on an incident surface 24 for taking in a part of the emitted light above the backlight 25.
b, and an exit surface 24 for guiding the incident light to a position on the external liquid crystal display unit separated from the predetermined position and emitting the light.
c. The external liquid crystal display section includes an exterior body 28.
The light guide 24 includes a light-transmitting LCD 26 and a light-blocking member 27.
The LCD 26 is positioned so as to face the rear surface.

In the EVF constructed as described above, the illumination light of the backlight 25 illuminates the LCD 23 directly. At the same time, part of the illumination light is
And the light L3 emitted from the exit surface 24c
(See FIG. 1B), and the external liquid crystal display LCD 26
Illumination light. Then, the display on the external liquid crystal display section is observed simultaneously with the EVF. As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if the external liquid crystal display LCD 26 is separated from the EVF section, it is not necessary to provide a light source dedicated to the external liquid crystal display LCD 26, which is advantageous in terms of cost and space. is there. Further, the backlight 25 of the LCD 23 is used.
It is necessary to assemble with a predetermined space between the light guide 24 and the space, but the space is formed by a part of the light guide 24, and a special space is not provided and the number of parts can be reduced. Reduction and assembly man-hours can be achieved.

4A and 4B are views showing an EVF and a main part of an external liquid crystal display unit according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A is a longitudinal sectional view of the EVF and the external liquid crystal display unit, and FIG. ) Is the EVF
3 is a perspective view of the light guide of FIG. The EVF of this embodiment is an EVF for displaying a subject image, similarly to the third embodiment.
It has an F portion, and an external liquid crystal display portion provided on a camera exterior body at a predetermined position separated from the EVF is provided. As shown in FIG. 4A, the EVF of this embodiment is supported by the EVF main body 31 in the order of the color LCD 33, the spacer 34, and the surface light emitting backlight 35 that require illumination light. It is pressed and fixed from behind by a light guide 32 which also serves as a pressing plate. The light guide 32 has an incident surface 32b for taking in the light escaping from the back surface of the backlight 35, similarly to the second embodiment, and the external liquid crystal display portion of the external liquid crystal display portion which separates the incident light to a predetermined position. And an emission surface 32c for guiding the light to the position and emitting the light. The external liquid crystal display section includes a transmissive LCD 36, a light shielding section 37, and a window 39 provided on an exterior body 38, and an emission surface 32c of the light guide 32 faces a back surface of the LCD 36. Position. The back surface 3 of the light guide 32
2d and the guide portion surface 32e are desirably subjected to aluminum vapor deposition.

In the EVF constructed as described above, the illumination light of the backlight 35 directly illuminates the LCD 33. At the same time, part of the illumination light is
And the light L4 emitted from the exit surface 32c
(See FIG. 4B), and the external liquid crystal display LCD 36
Illumination light. Then, the display on the external liquid crystal display section is observed simultaneously with the EVF. As described above, in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a light source dedicated to the external liquid crystal display LCD 36, which is advantageous in terms of cost and space as in the case of the above embodiment. Further, since the light guide 32 also serves as a holding plate, a dedicated holding plate is not required, and the number of parts and the number of assembling steps can be reduced.

5A and 5B are views showing an EVF and a main part of an external liquid crystal display unit according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is a longitudinal sectional view of the EVF and the external liquid crystal display unit, and FIG. ) Is the EVF
3 is a perspective view of the light guide of FIG. The EVF of this embodiment is:
The shape of the light guide 42 with respect to the EVF of the fourth embodiment has an inclined surface 42d as shown in FIG.
The difference is that the incident light from the backlight 35 is reflected upward only on the surface. Therefore, the above-mentioned external liquid crystal display section is applied when it is located relatively near the EVF section. In FIG. 5, the same members as those in the fourth embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Light guide 4 used for EVF of this embodiment
2 has an incident surface 42b for taking in the light escaping from the back surface of the backlight 35, and reflects the incident light on the inclined surface 42d to emit light L5 (see FIG. )) And an emission surface 42c for emitting light. The inclined surface 42d of the light guide 42
It is not necessary to perform an aluminum deposition process as long as the surface accuracy is manufactured with high accuracy. The operation of the present EVF configured as described above is the same as that of the EVF of the fourth embodiment. Thus, in this embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a light source dedicated to the external liquid crystal display LCD 36, which is advantageous in terms of cost and space as in the above embodiment. Furthermore, in the case of the EVF of the present embodiment, the emission surface 42c can be made large, so that it can be applied to illumination of a large external liquid crystal display unit.

[0019]

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, in the EVF of the present invention,
The light guide for guiding a part of the illumination light for the EVF to another display unit is also used as a member constituting the EVF. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to separately provide an illumination source for the LCD of the F display unit or the external display unit, and also, a part of the light guide is used as another component of the EVF. It has a number of remarkable effects, such as reduction in parts cost and assembly man-hours.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B show a structure of an EVF showing a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a main longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a light guide and a backlight.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show the structure of an EVF showing a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 2A is a main longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 2B is a perspective view of a light guide and a backlight.

3A and 3B show a structure of an EVF showing a third embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 3A is a main longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 3B is a perspective view of a light guide.

4A and 4B show a structure of an EVF showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 4A is a main longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view of a light guide.

5A and 5B show a structure of an EVF showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 5A is a main longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 5B is a perspective view of a light guide.

FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of a conventional camera with an EVF.

FIG. 7E shows a camera having an in-F liquid crystal display portion of the camera shown in FIG. 6;
The front view of VF.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of only the EVF section of the camera of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

4, 24 ... Light guide (light guide) also serving as spacer 12, 32, 42 ... Light guide (light guide) also serving as holding plate

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An electronic viewfinder requiring illumination light, wherein a part of members constituting the electronic viewfinder is configured as a light guide for guiding the illumination light to another display unit. finder.