JP2851853B2 - Interchangeable lens system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a lens exchange system, and is particularly suitable for use in a so-called electronic mount system for performing data communication between a lens and a camera. is there.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, units having the same function have not been simultaneously connected to both ends of a data communication path used in an electronic mount system.

For example, with regard to the automatic focusing mechanism (hereinafter referred to as “AF”), in one interchangeable lens system,
It is designed so that only one of them has an AF function, and there is no AF function on both the lens side and the camera body side.

As an example, an infrared AF in which the AF function is completed only on the lens side will be described below. (See Fig. 5) From the infrared projector (102) toward the subject (101),
A light beam of an infrared wavelength is projected. The reflected light is received by the infrared sensor (103), and the focus state is determined by the determination circuit (104). If in-focus, there is no need for correction, but if out-of-focus, the correction direction and correction amount according to the determination of which of the front focus is out of focus are output to the motor drive circuit (105). The lens driving motor (106) is driven by the control signal from (105) to move the lens (107) to the in-focus position. As a result, a focused image is formed on the image sensor (108) located on the camera side.

As another example of conventional AF, a television reputation AF (hereinafter referred to as "TV-AF") with a focus determination function on the camera side
Will be described. (Refer to FIG. 6.) Light from the subject (201) is imaged on the imaging element (203) on the camera side by the lens (202). As a result, a television signal is generated and output by the camera signal processing circuit (204).

On the other hand, the output is filtered by a high-pass filter (205) to extract only high-definition signals that are likely to be generated in large quantities during focusing.
The signal is converted into a digital signal by the converter (206) and is used as determination information of the focus determination circuit (207).

In order to determine the direction of blur, a driver (209) drives an actuator (208) such as a bimorph plate with a signal having a period several times the frequency of the frame generated by the timing signal (210), and the image sensor ( 203) is vibrated by a very small width before and after the focal plane. Based on this vibration, whether the pin is a front pin or a rear pin is determined by the determination circuit (207). The judgment result is
It is transmitted to the driver (211) on the lens side and the motor (2
At 12), the lens (202) is moved to the focus position.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in one interchangeable lens system,
If the focus determination function is limited to either the camera side or the lens side, no problem occurs in the system configuration. However, when viewed as an interchangeable lens system as a whole, it involves a problem of lack of developability. An object of the present invention is to solve these problems and to provide a system that allows a plurality of function realizing means to be freely selected and combined.

(Constitution of the Invention) The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above problems, and according to the invention described in claim (1), a camera body and a camera body that can be detachably attached to the camera body. An actuator provided on one or both of the camera body and the lens unit and control means for controlling the actuator; and the actuator and the camera unit between the camera body and the lens unit. Communication means for communicating identification data such as presence / absence and type of the control means, and the communication means may cause the same function as the actuator or the control means to be duplicated in both the camera body and the lens unit. And selecting means for selecting any one of them when the discrimination is made operable. You.

According to the invention described in claim (2), there is provided an interchangeable lens camera to which a lens unit is detachable, wherein an actuator for optically adjusting the lens unit between the camera and the lens unit, and Communication means for communicating identification data such as the presence or absence and type of control means for controlling, and the communication means, the same function as the actuator or the control means is duplicated in both the camera and the lens unit. An interchangeable lens type camera comprising: a selection unit for selecting one of them to be operable when it is determined that the camera is present.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lens unit detachable from a camera body,
Communication means for transmitting, to the camera body, identification information such as presence / absence and type of an actuator provided in the lens unit and control means for controlling the actuator in response to a request from the camera body; When the communication unit determines that the same function as the actuator or the control unit is present in both the camera body and the lens unit in an overlapping manner,
A lens unit comprising: a selection unit for selecting any one of them to be operable.

(Operation of the Invention) The transmitting means informs the other of what control function the lens unit or camera unit has.

At least one of them can grasp the state of both the lens and the camera, so that it is possible to determine which control function to use.

Based on the determination result, the data can be selected so that the lens-side actuator is driven based on either the control signal on the lens unit or the control signal on the camera unit.

(Embodiment) The overall configuration of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B). The camera body is on the right side and the lens is on the left side with respect to the one-dot broken line in the center of the drawing. The light of the subject (1) forms an image on the image sensor (3) by the optical system (2).

The output is converted into a television signal by the camera signal processing circuit (4) and output.

On the other hand, the television signal is used for various automatic adjustment mechanisms such as well-known AWB (automatic white balance), AF, and AE (automatic exposure control).

Each control signal is output from a control signal generator (5), (6), (7) as a control signal source of the automatic adjustment mechanism. AWB control signals for adjusting the color balance of the camera signal processing are input to the processing circuit (4), and the remaining control signals are input to the camera microcomputer (9).

A control signal generated by a zoom switch (8) for setting the focal length of the optical system is also input to the camera microcomputer (9).

Switches (10), (11) and (12) are
Switches as identification data forming means that are turned ON / OFF according to the presence or absence of the AE, AF, and zoom control functions. The open / closed states of these switches are input to the camera microcomputer. A ROM or the like may be used instead of the switch. These identification data, control signals, and the like are transmitted as communication data from the camera side to the lens side via the data communication path (13).

The data communication path (13) is connected to the lens microcomputer (14), and all communication data is once received by the lens microcomputer.

Further, the states of the switches (15), (16), and (17) that open and close corresponding to the AE, AF, and zoom functions on the lens side are input to the lens microcomputer similarly to the camera microcomputer.

Various control signals C1 and C input to the camera microcomputer (9)
2 and C3 are output to the data switching circuits (22), (23) and (24) by the lens microcomputer (14), respectively.

 FIG. 1 (B) shows an operation flowchart of FIG.

That is, when the camera power is turned on, the state of the camera is read. Next, after waiting until the lens is mounted, the camera mode by the switch is transmitted as a switching flag via the communication path. After that, the lens mode is received from the lens,
Then, parallel-to-serial conversion of the data for reading the data Ci is performed, and the data CTL is transmitted to the lens side. Also, it receives data LTC from the lens side and performs various controls while outputting encoder data. After that, if the lens is attached, it is further checked whether the camera power is on.
Return to the reading step. This routine ends when the lens is removed or the camera power is turned off.

On the other hand, on the lens side, after mounting the lens, the lens switch is read, the camera mode is received, the lens mode is transmitted, the data of the encoder is read, and the data is parallel-serial-converted. Further, after receiving data CTL, it transmits data LTC and further outputs data Ci. If the camera is turned on while the lens is still attached, the encoder data is read again after waiting for one field period. This routine ends when the lens is removed or the camera power is turned off.

For example, the control signal C1 is sent to the AF data switching circuit (22).
The focus control signal L1 generated by the focus determination circuit (21) using the lens-side AF sensor (20) is input, selected and switched by the switching flag F1, and output to the driver (27). The AF actuator (30) controls the optical system (2) according to the output to the driver (27), and adjusts the focus state. The switching flag F1 is set to the camera side switch (1
H (high) and L (low) are set according to 1) and the open / close state of the lens side switch (16).

For example, if the simplest lens side priority is set, it is determined only by opening and closing the switch (16) regardless of the state of the switch (11). When SW (16) = OPEN, F1 = H selects C1. When SW (16) = CLOSE, F1 = L selects L1.

Of course, various other combinations are possible.

For example, the control signal C2 is supplied to the AE data switching circuit (23).
And control data L2 from a manual aperture adjuster provided on the lens side, and are selectively switched by the switching flag F2 and output to the driver (26). The AE actuator (29) controls the optical system (2) according to the output of the driver (26), and adjusts the aperture value to the optimal value.

The switching flag F2 sets H (high) and L (low) according to the open / close state of the camera-side switch (10) and the lens-side switch (15).

For example, if the simplest lens side is prioritized, switch (15) is normally set to OPEN, C2 is selected, and control is left to the camera side. When the manual aperture is operated, switch (15) is closed, The manual aperture control data has priority.

Further, for example, the control signal C3 and the control data L3 from the focal length adjuster provided on the lens side are input to the zoom data switching circuit (24), the selection is switched by the switching flag F3, and the driver (25) is switched. ). The zoom actuator (28) controls the optical system (2) according to the output of the driver (25), and adjusts the focal length as instructed.

The switching flag F3 is set to H (high) or L according to the open / close state of the camera-side switch (12) and the lens-side switch (17).
(Low).

For example, in the simplest case, when priority is given to boosting, when a zoom operation is performed on either the camera or the lens side, the switches (12),
The switch (17) is closed accordingly. The control data of C3 or L3 is selected according to the switch on the closed side. Here, if (12) and (17) are CLOS at the same time
If E is selected, the data corresponding to the switch pressed later is selected.

Further, the optical system (2) is provided with encoders (31), (32), and (33) for checking the operation state of each actuator.

An encoder (31) for detecting a focus position, an encoder (32) for detecting an aperture state, and an encoder (33) for detecting focal length information by a zoom operation. ). The encoder information is used for in-lens control and, if necessary, transmitted to a camera microcomputer to be used for AF, AE, and other processing on the camera side.

In an interchangeable lens system that performs data communication,
The method for selecting data from a plurality of control data generators has been described above.

 Next, focusing on AF, the details of data selection will be described.

Second Embodiment As shown in the configuration of FIG. 2A and the flowchart of FIG. 2B, an infrared AF is used on the lens side and a TV is used on the camera side.
The case where each has AF is described. Note that, in each block in FIG. 2, the same components as those in the conventional example are given the same numbers.

The image of the subject (101) is converted into a TV signal by (203) and (204) and output. On the other hand, for the AF process, (205) and (2)
06), (208), (209), (210)
Focusing decision unit (20) with blur direction information from each block of
7) Generate a focus control signal. The control signal is input to the camera microcomputer (301) and sent out to the communication path (304). Data is transmitted from the camera side to the lens side through the contact point of the lens mount, and the lens microcomputer (302) receives the data on the lens side. The lens microcomputer (302) combines the control signal output from the focusing determiner (207) on the camera side based on the received data, and sends it to the data switch (300). Also, to identify that the lens has an AF function,
The switch (303) is closed, and the discrimination flag used for data switching control is H (high). For this reason, the control data transmitted from the camera side is not selected, and the data switching circuit (300) operates the lens side AF determination circuit (10
4) Supply the control signal to the driver circuit (105).

As a result, the independent operation of the infrared AF is performed as described in the conventional example.

Further, the processing that can be added as necessary includes stopping transmission of control data. This is because the information of the switching control flag is transmitted to the camera microcomputer (30) through the communication path (304).
1) Stops transmission of control data from the focus determiner (207).

Third Embodiment Hereinafter, a third embodiment will be described with reference to a configuration diagram of FIG. 3A and a flowchart of FIG. 3B. When a lens with an in-lens complete AF system and a camera with AF processing (arithmetic function) are combined in the above-mentioned system, the AF processing on the camera side is, for example, AF using video signals etc.
In such a case, it may be superior to the complete AF function in the lens (it has special functions, etc.). In such a combination, the AF processing circuit (20
Drive the motor (106) in the lens according to the result of 7),
The information of the encoder (400) for performing the AF operation as a total system is required. In addition, in order to operate the motor (106) in the drive direction and the drive amount on the camera side, the determination circuit (104 ) Requires a switching circuit (300) for switching the drive amount data in the drive direction. Further, in order to determine which of the switching circuits (300) to use, the lens side needs to recognize whether the lens side or the camera side has an AF processing function. For this purpose, a specific bit (b in FIG. 4) of the serial data sent from the camera side to the lens side is reserved for this purpose. For example, the camera side has an AF processing function and the processing (operation) data If you want to drive the lens side based on, set this specific bit to 1. Also, if there is no AF processing on the camera side, or if the lens side has an AF processing function and TTL Is used, this specific bit is determined to be 0 (zero). If the specific bit is 1, the lens side cuts the drive amount and drive direction data output from the determination circuit (104) inside the lens side, and cuts the drive amount and drive amount based on the serial data given from the camera side. Select the switching circuit (300) so that the motor can be driven with the direction data. When the determination bit is 0, the reverse selection is performed. By using such a switching circuit (300), the AF function as a total system is satisfied no matter what camera is connected from the lens side.

 FIG. 4 shows an example of the above serial data.

(Effect of the Invention) According to the present invention, at least one of the states of the lens and the camera can be grasped, so that it is possible to determine which control function is used.

Further, based on the determination result, there is an effect that data can be selected such that the drive of the lens-side actuator is performed based on either the control signal of the lens unit or the control signal of the camera unit.

Therefore, various functions that were conventionally limited at the time of mounting design can be expanded later, and the possibility of system development is greatly expanded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 (A) is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 (B) is a flowchart of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 (A) is a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 (B) is a flowchart of the second embodiment, FIG. 3 (A) is a block diagram of the third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 (B) is a flowchart of the third embodiment, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of serial data communication in FIG. 3, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams of a conventional example.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A camera body, comprising a lens unit detachable from the camera body, an actuator provided on one or both of the camera body and the lens unit, and control means for controlling the actuator; Communication means for communicating identification data such as presence / absence and type of the actuator and the control means between the camera body and the lens unit; and the actuator or the communication means for both the camera body and the lens unit by the communication means. An interchangeable lens system comprising: selecting means for selecting any one of the functions when the same function as that of the control means is present and operating the same. 2. An interchangeable lens camera to which a lens unit can be attached and detached, comprising: an actuator for optically adjusting the lens unit between the camera and the lens unit; and a control unit for controlling the actuator. Communication means for communicating identification data such as type, and when the communication means determines that the same function as the actuator or the control means is present in both the camera and the lens unit in an overlapping manner, An interchangeable lens camera comprising: selecting means for selecting any one of them to operate. 3. A lens unit detachable from a camera body, comprising an actuator provided in the lens unit in response to a request from the camera body and presence / absence and type of control means for controlling the actuator. Communication means for transmitting the identification information to the camera body side, and the same function as the actuator or the control means is duplicated in both the camera body and the lens unit by the communication means. And selecting means for selecting any one of them when it is determined that the lens unit is operable.