JP2782538B2 - Driving device for single-lens reflex camera - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single-lens reflex camera driving apparatus in which film feeding and mechanical charging such as a shutter and a mirror are performed by separate driving units, for example, motors.

"Prior art and its problems" Many single-lens reflex cameras in recent years have an autowind device. The autowind device normally performs a mechanical charge using a single motor in parallel with film feeding (winding and rewinding). This mechanical charge is, for example, a mirror charge that moves a mirror to a lowermost position against a spring force that raises the mirror, and a front curtain and a rear curtain of a shutter that move a predetermined amount against a spring force that respectively moves them. And a diaphragm charge for moving an aperture lever for narrowing the aperture to an open position against a spring force for moving the aperture lever in the aperture direction.

Further, recently, there has been a demand for an autowind device having a high speed equivalent to that of a motor drive. In order to satisfy this demand, an automatic winder in which film feeding and mechanical charging are performed by separate and independent motors has been developed.

However, the drive control of the conventional wind motor and mechanical charge motor is performed by a control unit as a series of controls. For example, in a camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-183630, the start of two motors is controlled as a series of operations in a program such as a start of a wind motor after a predetermined time has elapsed after a start of a charge motor. .

The error check is performed by the state of a switch that detects completion of the operation by each motor drive or by a timer. Therefore, even if an error occurs in one of the motors, both motors cannot be stopped immediately at that point of time, resulting in unnecessary operation. For example, even if an error occurs in the mechanical charge motor, the film is wound because the wind motor continues to be driven.

Therefore, when an error occurs, it is difficult for the photographer to know in which process the error occurred in a series of operations from the end of the release operation of the camera to the standby state for shooting the next frame. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the related art, and has been described in a single-lens reflex camera driving apparatus in which film feeding and mechanical charging are performed by separate driving means. It is an object to provide a control device capable of detecting an operation and preventing an abnormal operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a first driving unit for lowering a mechanical charge and a main mirror, a second driving unit for feeding a film, the first driving unit, Detecting means for respectively detecting that the second driving means has started normally, and starting one of the two driving means after the exposure is completed, and detecting that the started starting means has started a normal operation. And control means for activating the other drive means when the means detects it.

According to the above configuration, the other drive unit is activated on condition that one of the drive units is normally activated. Therefore, even if an error occurs, it is easy to know where the error occurred.

Further, since the two driving units are not activated at the same time, there is no abnormal drop in the power supply voltage.

The timing for activating the later driving means is arbitrary. For example, when activating the first driving means first, a mirror down detecting means for detecting that the mirror has started to be down is provided. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which the second drive unit is activated after the mirror down is detected by the down detection unit. On the other hand, when the second driving means is driven first, a film running detecting means for detecting that the film is running is provided, and after detecting the start of film winding by the film running detecting means, the first driving means is provided. The driving means can be configured to be activated.

"Examples of the Invention" The present invention will be described below based on illustrated examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control system of a single-lens reflex camera to which the present invention is applied.

The control system of this camera mounted on the camera body 10
Main CPU (Centr
al Processing Unit) 11, DPU (Data Processing Uni)
t) 13 and an Indication Processing Unit (IPU) 15.

The main CPU 11 is a microcomputer that controls the DPU 13, the IPU 15, and the entire system of the camera. DP
U13 mainly functions as an interface for outputting the ranging signal output from the CCD ranging sensor 16 and the ranging sensor 17 and the ranging signal to the main CPU 11, and controls flash emission via a flash circuit 19. It is responsible for the flash control function.

IPU15 displays shooting information such as exposure mode, number of shots, shutter speed, aperture value and flash information on the display panel.
It has a display control function to display it on 21.

A switch circuit 23 is connected to an input port of the main CPU 11, and a photometric switch and a release switch (not shown) are input to the circuit 23 as switches. As is well known, the photometry switch and the release switch are linked to a release button (not shown), and the photometry switch is turned on by half-pressing the release button, and the release switch is turned on by fully pressing the release button.

Further, the switch circuit 23 is connected with a mechanical charge completion detection switch SW1, a winding completion detection switch SW2, a rear curtain traveling completion detection switch SW3, a mirror down detection switch SW4 as a detection unit, and a wind pulse generation switch SW5 as the detection unit. Have been.

The mechanical charge completion detection switch SW1 is a switch that is turned on when the mechanical charge is completed, and is turned on when the mirror moves down to the lowest position in conjunction with the mirror.

The winding completion detection switch SW2 is turned on when the film is wound by one frame. Rear curtain run completion switch SW3
Is provided at the trailing end position of the trailing curtain, and is turned on when the trailing curtain travel is completed.

The mirror down detection switch SW4 is a mechanical switch that starts turning down from the highest position of the mirror and turns on when the mirror goes down to some extent, and constitutes a mirror down detection unit.

The wind pulse generation switch SW5 is a switch that generates a pulse in conjunction with a sprocket that is rotationally driven by the running of the film, and constitutes a film running detecting unit. The wind pulse generation switch SW5 includes, for example, a cam plate that rotates in conjunction with a sprocket and a switch that is turned on / off by rotation of the cam plate, or a slit disk that rotates in conjunction with the sprocket and a slit in the slit disk. It is composed of a photo interrupter provided at the passing position.

Further, this camera has three motors as driving means: an AF motor 25 for automatic focus adjustment, a rewind motor 29, and a mechanical charge motor 31. The AF motor 25 is connected via a motor driver 27, and the mechanical charge motor 31 as a first drive unit and the wind motor 29 as a second drive unit are respectively connected via a motor driver 33 to the main CPU 1.
Controlled by 1.

Although not shown, the AF motor 25 adjusts the focus by moving a focus lens group of the photographing lens in the optical axis direction via an AF drive mechanism.

The wind motor 29 feeds (auto-loads, winds and rewinds) the film via a known film feeding mechanism.

The mechanical charge motor 31 moves (charges) to the initial position against the spring force for moving the front curtain and the rear curtain of the shutter, respectively, and moves the diaphragm lever for narrowing the diaphragm to the initial position against the spring force ( Charge), and then move the mirror down to the initial position against the spring force (charge)
I do. Each member is locked by a mechanical locking means (not shown) at the charge completion position, and the mechanical locking is released by the energization of the relays magnet 35. The above-described charging is performed in parallel with the mirror-down operation.

Further, a release magnet 35, a leading curtain magnet 39, and a trailing curtain magnet 43 are connected to the main CPU 11 as magnets via magnet drivers 37, 41, and 45, respectively. The release magnet 35 releases the mechanical lock of the charged member when energized.
On the other hand, when energized, the front curtain magnet 39 and the rear curtain magnet 43 lock the front curtain and the rear curtain, respectively, instead of mechanical locking, and control their traveling.

The main CPU 11 also includes an EE pulse generator that generates an EE pulse in conjunction with the aperture operation, and an EE magnet (not shown) that stops the aperture operation and holds the aperture at a predetermined aperture value. A known EE circuit 47 is connected. The focusing operation is performed in conjunction with the mirror raising operation.

The E ² PROM 49 stores various data relating to photographing, and the data is read out by the main CPU 11 in a timely manner.

The main CPU 11 is a lens CPU mounted on the taking lens L
Communication is performed between the device and the device 51 via an electrical contact group provided on the mount surface. The lens CPU 51 stores lens information specific to the photographing lens, such as focal length information, open aperture value, and minimum aperture value information, and the photographing information is read into the main CPU 11 by the above communication.

The DPU 13 has a distance measurement sensor 1 of the phase difference detection method as described above.
6 and a photometric sensor 17 for detecting subject brightness. As the distance measuring sensor 16, a CCD image sensor in which a large number of pixels are arranged on a column is used. Each pixel signal sequentially output from (the CCD image sensor of) the distance measurement sensor 16 is converted by the DPU 13 into pixel data that can be processed by the main CPU 11, and is output to the main CPU 11. The main CPU 11 executes a predetermined calculation based on the pixel data from the DPU 13 to calculate a defocus amount, and drives the AF motor 25 based on the calculated defocus amount.

Although not shown, the distance measuring sensor 16 includes a light receiving element and a light measuring circuit, and logarithmically compresses an output signal of the light receiving element having received the subject light beam by the light measuring circuit and outputs the signal to the DPU 13. DPU13
Converts the photometric data into predetermined subject luminance data and outputs it to the main CPU 11. The main CPU 11 calculates a shutter speed and an aperture value based on the subject luminance data, the film sensitivity information, and the like.

Further, the DPU 13 is connected to a flash circuit 17 for controlling light emission of a built-in flash and an external flash. DPU1
3 receives a light emission preparation signal from the main CPU 11 and causes the flash to perform flash light emission preparation (charging) via the flash circuit 17, and upon receiving the light emission signal, outputs a trigger signal to the flash circuit 11 and causes the flash to emit light. .

On the other hand, the DPU 13 receives a light emission preparation completion signal from the flash circuit 17 before the light emission, receives a quench signal after the light emission, outputs a predetermined display signal to the IPU 15, and displays a predetermined display on the LCD (liquid crystal display) 21. Let it.

The display of the LCD 21 is controlled by the IPU 15, and photographing information such as the flash information is displayed. Main CPU 11 is IPU
Data communication with the main CPU 11 to IPU 15
The camera sends shooting information such as a shooting mode, the number of shots, an in-focus state, and a strobe use recommendation. The LCD 21 is provided on the outer upper surface of the camera body 10 and in the viewfinder field.

Next, the relay operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This operation is executed by the main CPU 11 according to a program stored in the main CPU 11.

When the shutter switch is fully pressed and the release switch is turned on, a subroutine shown in FIG. 2 is called. Before the release switch is turned on, the photometry switch is first turned on by half-pressing the shutter button, the focusing operation and the photometry operation are executed, and the aperture value (the number of EE pulses) and the shutter speed are calculated and stored. I have.

In this release processing, first, a 60 ms timer is started (S11). This timer is a timer for waiting for the completion of mechanical movement and the completion of mechanical vibration when the main mirror moves up in the release operation, and its value is set according to the camera.

And first, the first curtain magnet 39 and the second curtain magnet
Turn on the release magnet 37 after turning on 43 to lock the front curtain and rear curtain electromagnetically (for 5 ms)
To release the mechanical lock of the mirror charge member (S1
3). With this release of the lock, the mirror-up operation and the narrowing-down operation start, and the mechanical lock of the shutter is released in conjunction with the movement of the mirror during the mirror-up operation.

Next, the EE circuit 47 is activated to start counting EE pulses (S15). When the count value of the number of EE pulses reaches the predetermined value calculated in the previous photometry operation, the aperture magnet is turned on to stop the aperture stop operation, and the aperture is maintained at the predetermined value (S1).
7).

Then, it waits for the 60 ms timer to expire (S19). In a normal operation, the mirror-up operation ends before the 60 ms timer expires, but the mechanical vibration that occurs when the mirror stops is accommodated by the wait processing.

When the 60ms timer expires, the first curtain magnet
Turn off 39 and run the first curtain to start exposure (S21).
Then, it is checked whether the shutter speed obtained by the exposure calculation (or set by the photographer) is low (S23). In this embodiment, the speed is slower than 1/15 second, 1/30
Although the speed is higher than seconds, the boundary speed is arbitrary.

If the shutter speed is high, wait until the set shutter time has come, and if the shutter time has come, the rear curtain magnet
Turn off 43 and run the second curtain to finish exposure (S25, S3
1).

On the other hand, if the speed is low, the time until the trailing curtain runs is long, so it is checked whether or not the lock has been released, and if the lock has been released, it is checked whether or not the set shutter time has come. The lock release check and the shutter second time elapse check are repeated until it comes (S27, S29). When the shutter second time comes, the second curtain magnet 43 is turned off, the second curtain is run, and the exposure ends (S31).

The lock release check (S27) is a process of running the rear curtain when an abnormal operation is performed during exposure to avoid trouble. Normal unlocking is performed when the main switch is turned off or the back cover is opened.

When the rear curtain magnet 43 is turned off, it is repeatedly checked whether the rear curtain has finished traveling and waits for the rear curtain to finish traveling (S33). The completion of travel of the rear curtain is detected by the change of the rear curtain travel completion switch SW3.

When the completion of running of the second curtain is detected in S33, the exposure is completed, and the process proceeds to the wind processing.

Next, an embodiment of the wind processing which is a feature of the present invention will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 3 and a timing chart shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the mechanical charge motor is provided before the wind motor 29.
It is a configuration to start 31.

When the completion of running of the rear curtain is detected in S33, this subroutine is entered. First, the mechanical charge motor 31 is started, and the mirror down and the charging of the spring are started (S41).

Then, a mirror down abnormality detection timer as a detecting means is started (S43), and it is repeatedly checked whether or not the timer has timed out, and if not, whether or not the mirror down detection switch SW4 has been turned on (S43). S45, S47). Although the mirror down abnormality detection timer is set to 20 ms in this embodiment,
This time is changed according to the camera. The mirror down detection switch SW4 is a mechanical switch that is turned on when the mirror is slightly lowered from the highest position, and turns on in 10 to 15 ms from the start of the mirror down abnormality detection timer during normal operation.

If the mirror down abnormality detection timer times out before the mirror down detection switch SW4 is turned on, the mirror operation is abnormal.
Is stopped, and all the displays on the LCD 21 are blinked to display a warning. At this time, since the wind motor 29 does not start, the photographer notices an abnormality and can confirm that an error has occurred before the film winding operation.

When the mirror down detection switch SW4 is turned on before the time is up, the operation is normal, so the wind motor 29 is started in the wind direction to start winding the film (S51). Thus, after the mechanical charge motor 31 starts, the operation state of the mirror is checked, and then the wind motor
If an error occurs in the mechanical charge system, the wind motor 29 will be started and no unnecessary operation will be performed, nor will two motors be started at the same time. There is no decrease in power supply voltage due to.

Then, a wind abnormality detection timer as a detection means is started (S53). The wind abnormality detection timer is set to 100 ms in this embodiment, but this value is changed according to the output cycle of the wind pulse.

Next, a change in the wind pulse is detected (S55). This wind pulse is output from a wind pulse generating member that works in conjunction with a sprocket that is driven to rotate by running the film. The wind pulse generating member can be composed of, for example, a cam plate that rotates in conjunction with a sprocket and a switch that is turned on / off by rotation of the cam plate.

When there is a change in the wind pulse, the wind abnormality detection timer is reset and restarted (S5
7). Then, it is checked whether or not the winding has been completed, and if not completed, the processing of S55 to S59 is repeated until the winding is completed. The completion of the winding is turned on, for example, by counting the number of pulses output from the wind pulse generating member by counting the number of pulses output from the wind pulse generating member, or by turning the sprocket by one frame. Or, it is detected by a switch that turns off.

If there is no change in the wind pulse, the process proceeds to S67 to check whether the mechanical charging is completed by checking whether the mechanical charge completion detection switch SW1 is turned on. In the present embodiment, the winding of the film is finished before the mechanical charging, so the mechanical charging completion detection switch SW1 is off during the normal winding. If the mechanical charge completion detection switch SW1 is off, jump S69 to check whether the winding abnormality timer has expired (S73). If the operation is normal, the time is not up and the process returns to S55, and the processes of S55, S57 to S59 and S55 and S67 to S73 are repeated until the winding is completed.

When the winding is completed, the wind motor 29 is stopped to complete the winding of the film (S61).

In the present embodiment, since the mechanical charging is not completed even after the winding of the film is completed, the check of the mechanical charging completion detection switch SW1 is repeated until the mechanical charging is further completed (S63).

Mech charge complete and mech charge complete switch SW
When 1 is turned on, the mechanical charge motor 31 stops and returns.

 With the above processing, the normal wind processing 1 is completed.

For some reason, if the mechanical charging is completed before the winding and the mechanical charging completion detection switch SW1 is turned on, this is detected in S67, and the mechanical charging motor 31 is stopped first in S69.

If the film is not wound up normally, or if the film is wound up to the end and cannot be wound any more, the change of the wind pulse is lost and the wind abnormality detection timer times out. Therefore, in this case, the process proceeds from S71 to S73 to stop the wind motor 29. Then, it waits for the completion of the mechanical charging, and when completed, stops the mechanical charging motor 31 and performs the film end processing (S75, S77). In this film termination processing, for example, a liquid crystal film number display means is used. This is a process for rewinding the film by turning on and off and rotating the wind motor 29 in the rewinding direction.

The above is the operation flowchart of the embodiment in which the mechanical charge motor 31 is started before the wind motor 29,
Next, a description will be given, based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 and the timing chart shown in FIG. 6, of the winding process 2 in which the winding motor 29 is started before the mechanical charge motor 31.

If the completion of running of the second curtain is detected in S33, the subroutine of this wind processing 2 is entered. First, in the winding process 2, the winding motor 29 is turned on in the winding direction to start film winding, and a winding abnormality detection timer as a detecting means is started (S81, S82). Then, it is checked whether the wind pulse output from the wind pulse generation switch SW5 has changed before the winding abnormality detection timer times out (S85, S87, S89, S91, S9).
1). During normal operation, it changes before the time is up.

If the wind pulse changes before the time is up, the winding abnormality detection timer is reset and restarted, and the mechanical charge motor 31 is started (S95, S97). Since the mechanical charge motor 31 is started after confirming that the wind pulse changes, the mechanical charge motor 29 is not started when an error occurs when the wind motor 31 is started. Further, since the two motors 29 and 31 do not start at the same time, the power supply voltage does not decrease due to the overcurrent.

When the mechanical charge motor 31 is started, the mirror timer is started (S99), and before the winding abnormality timer times out, a check process for checking whether the wind pulse has changed is started (S101, S103, S105,
S107, S109). When a normal winding operation is being performed, the following processing is performed. At first, there is no change in the wind pulse, so go from S101 to S103 to check whether the mirror down detection switch SW4 is turned on.If not, go to S105 to check whether the mirror down timer has timed out. Since the time is not up, the process proceeds to S107, and if the mirror down detection switch SW4 is ON in S103, the process proceeds to S107. In S107, it is checked whether or not the time of the winding abnormality detection timer has expired. Since the time has not elapsed, the process returns to S101. The above processing is repeated until the wind pulse changes.

When the wind pulse changes, the abnormality detection timer is reset and restarted, and whether or not winding has been completed is checked by the winding completion switch. If winding has not been completed, the process returns to S101 to repeat the above processing.

When the film is wound up by one frame and the winding completion switch is turned on, the process advances from S111 to S113 to stop the wind motor 29. Then, wait for the completion of the mechanical charging by repeatedly checking the mechanical charging completion detection switch SW1.
When turned on, the mechanical charge motor 31 is stopped, and the process proceeds to the power-off process (S115, S117).

With the above operation, the film winding and the mechanical charging are completed, and the winding process 2 ends.

Next, processing when the film reaches the end during the wind processing 2 and when an abnormality occurs will be described.

If the frame subjected to the release processing is the last frame in which the film cannot be further pulled out from the patrone, the film is not wound up by one frame even when the wind motor 29 is turned on.
There is no change on the way. Therefore, the abnormality detection timer times out during the wind pulse check loop processing of S85 to S93. Therefore, the main CPU 11 is S87 or S9
This time-up is detected by the check of 3, and the wind motor 29 is stopped to proceed to the film end processing (S119). In the film termination processing, predetermined display and rewinding of the film are performed.

Further, when the film reaches the end during the winding of the film, the following processing is performed. During the wind pulse / mirror down check loop processing in S101 to S107, the winding abnormality detection timer times out. Main CPU11
Detects this time-up by the check in S107 and stops the wind motor 29 (S121). Thereby, overload of the wind motor 29 is prevented. At this stage, since the mechanical charge motor 31 is operating, the charge completion switch check is repeated until the mechanical charge is completed (S123). When the mechanical charging is completed, the mechanical charging motor 31 is stopped and the process proceeds to the film end processing (S125).

With the above processing, even if the film is terminated in the middle of film winding, an appropriate operation in which the mechanical charging is completed is performed.

If the mirror is not properly lowered, the following processing is performed. When the mechanical charge motor 31 starts, the mirror down starts. At this time, if the mirror does not go down for any reason, such as when a foreign object enters the mirror box, the mirror detection timer times out before the mirror down detection switch SW4 is turned on, that is, the wind pulse of S101 to S107 -The winding abnormality detection timer times out during the mirror down check loop processing. The main CPU 11 detects this time-up by the check in S107, immediately stops the mechanical charge motor 33 and the wind motor 29, and proceeds to mechanical abnormality processing (S12).
7, S129). This processing prevents overload of the motor, breakage of the mirror, and the like. The mechanical abnormality processing is, for example, turning off the power and blinking all the displays on the LCD 21.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the mechanical charging and the film winding are performed by separate independent motors, respectively, so that the winding speed is increased, and the start time is shifted, so that there is no overlap of the rush current at the time of start. In addition, malfunction due to abnormal voltage drop is eliminated.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, one of the two motors for independently performing the mechanical charging and the film winding is checked for the activation state, and then the other motor is activated. Can be confirmed, and since the two motors do not start at the same time, a decrease in the power supply voltage due to an overcurrent can be prevented.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, in the present invention, the mechanical charge and the film feeding are driven by separate driving means, but after confirming the operation state of one driving means, the other driving means Is driven, when an error occurs, the specific location where the error occurs can be known, and a drop in the power supply voltage due to an overcurrent can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a control system of a single-lens reflex camera to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a flowchart relating to a release operation of the camera, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the first embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 13 is an operation flowchart of another embodiment relating to the wind processing of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a timing chart of the other embodiment. 11 Main CPU 29 Wind motor (second driving means) 31 Mechanical charge motor (first driving means) SW4 Mirror down detection switch (mirror down detection means) SW5 Wind Pulse generation switch (film running detection means).

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first driving means for lowering a mechanical charge and a main mirror, a second driving means for feeding a film, and the first driving means and the second driving means are normally activated. Detecting means for activating one of the two driving means after the exposure is completed, and detecting the other of the two driving means to start a normal operation. A drive device for a single-lens reflex camera, comprising: control means for activating the drive means. 2. A driving device according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means comprises mirror down detecting means for detecting that the mirror has started to be down, and said control means comprises means for controlling said first driving after exposure is completed. A single-lens reflex camera driving device for activating the device and driving the second driving device after the mirror down detecting device detects the mirror down. 3. The driving device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit activates the first driving unit after the exposure is completed, and further when the mirror down detecting unit detects the mirror down within a predetermined time. And a driving device for the single-lens reflex camera which then drives the second driving means. 4. A driving device according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means comprises film running detecting means for detecting running of the film, and said controlling means controls said second driving after completion of exposure.
A driving device for a single-lens reflex camera, wherein the driving means is activated and the first driving means is activated after the film traveling detecting means detects the traveling of the film. 5. The driving device according to claim 4, wherein the control means activates the second driving means after the exposure is completed, and further, the film running detecting means detects the running of the film within a predetermined time. A driving device for a single-lens reflex camera which sometimes activates the first driving means thereafter. 6. The driving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the single-lens reflex camera includes a display unit for displaying the abnormality when the detection unit detects the abnormality. A driving device for a single-lens reflex camera.