JP3301917B2 - Remotely controllable camera device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera device such as a silver halide camera and a video camera, and more particularly to a camera device which can be remotely controlled using infrared rays or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-235880 (H0
4N 5/225) discloses a video camera that can be remotely controlled using infrared light. In this video camera, a mechanism is provided for raising and lowering a light receiving section for infrared light for remote control, and power supply to the light receiving section is turned on / off in accordance with the position of the light receiving section, thereby enabling / disabling remote control. Therefore, unnecessary operation is prevented and power is saved.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned video camera, a mechanism for raising and lowering the light receiving portion is used to switch between enabling and disabling remote control.
There is a problem that a special component is required to configure the mechanism, and the structure is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote controllable camera device capable of enabling / disabling remote control with a simple configuration.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a remote controllable camera device, a remote control circuit for inputting a remote control signal from the outside and controlling the camera body, and an imaging lens. A lens cover that covers the imaging lens, a moving mechanism that enables the lens cover to move to an avoidance area that does not cover the imaging lens, and an operation of the remote control circuit that operates according to the position of the lens cover in the avoidance area. A changeover switch for switching between enable / disable;
Was provided.

The moving mechanism is a rotating mechanism having a center of rotation at a position off the light receiving surface of the imaging lens.

Further, power supply to the remote control circuit is cut off by the changeover switch.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a camera-integrated video tape recorder which can be remotely controlled using infrared rays according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external view thereof. In FIG. 1, 1 is a lens cover,
It covers and protects the imaging lens 2 when photographing is not performed (see FIG. 2), and is pivotally supported about a support 1a provided at a position off the light receiving surface of the imaging lens 2. Then, the image pickup lens 2 is moved to an avoidance area that does not cover the image pickup lens 2 by manually turning in the direction of the arrow R with the support portion 1a as the center of rotation, so that the image pickup lens 2 can receive light from the subject.

The imaging lens 2 is composed of a plurality of optical lenses, and a part thereof is moved by a zoom motor 3 along the optical axis to perform a zoom operation. Reference numeral 4 denotes an iris mechanism, which is opened and closed by an iris motor 5 and adjusts the amount of light from a subject input to the imaging device 6 through the imaging lens 2.

The image sensor 6 converts light from a subject into an electric signal. The electric signal is converted into a video signal by adding a synchronization signal and a color burst signal in a video signal processing circuit 7.
The video is recorded by a video tape recorder 8 (hereinafter abbreviated as “VTR 8”) and displayed by an electronic viewfinder 9 (see FIG. 2).

The control circuit 10 operates in response to an operation of an operation panel 11 composed of various operation buttons or a control signal from a light receiving element 12 which receives infrared rays as a remote control signal from a remote control transmitter (not shown). And the zoom motor 3,
The VTR 8 is controlled.

The zoom operation is performed by controlling the zoom motor 3. By controlling the VTR 8, operations such as video recording, video recording pause, stop, and the like are performed.

On the other hand, a power supply circuit 13 supplies power to each part of the camera-integrated video tape recorder.
2 is supplied with power via the cutoff switch 14. Then, the cutoff switch 14 is connected to the projection 1 b of the lens cover 1.
When the position detection switch 15 that is turned on by contact with the switch turns on when the switch is turned on, power supplied from the power supply circuit 13 to the light receiving element 12 is cut off.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. FIG. 3A and 3B show a state in which the imaging lens 2 is covered by the lens cover 1 (hereinafter, referred to as a “covered state”), wherein FIG. 3A is an external front view, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part showing the positional relationship of FIG. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the imaging lens 2 is not covered by manually rotating the lens cover 1 about the support portion 1b, and the projection 1 of the lens cover 1 is provided.
b shows a state in which the position detection switch 15 is turned on (hereinafter, referred to as “ON state”), (A) is an external front view, and (B) is a position between the lens cover 1 and the position detection switch 15. It is the principal part enlarged view which showed the relationship. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the lens cover 1 is further rotated from the state of FIG. 4, the projection 1b of the lens cover 1 is separated, and the position detection switch 15 is turned off (hereinafter, referred to as an "off state"). A)
FIG. 2 is an external front view, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a main part showing a positional relationship between the lens cover 1 and the position detection switch 15. In addition, 2 and 12 in each figure show the imaging lens 2 and the light receiving element 12 shown in FIG.

When the camera-integrated video tape recorder is not used, the camera is in the covering state shown in FIG. 3, and the lens cover 1 protects the imaging lens 2. When the lens cover 1 is used, the lens cover 1 is manually rotated to be turned on or off as shown in FIGS. Since the lens cover 1 is in an avoidance area that does not cover the imaging lens 2 regardless of whether it is in the ON state or the OFF state, the imaging lens 2 can receive light from a subject, and can shoot and record. But,
In the ON state, the power supply to the light receiving element 12 is cut off, so that remote control by infrared rays becomes impossible. Therefore, in the on state, prevention of unnecessary operation by the remote control transmitter,
And power saving is performed.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, power cannot be saved because remote control is impossible. Instead of shutting off the power supply to the light receiving element 12 by the cutoff switch 14, the light receiving element The control signal from 12 may be blocked from being input to the control circuit 10. Further, the cover state is changed from the covered state to the on state and the off state by rotating the lens cover 1. However, the position of the position detection switch 15 and / or the protrusion 1b of the lens cover 1 is changed to change the covered state. May be changed to an off state and an on state.

In this embodiment, the lens cover 1 is exposed without being housed inside the camera-integrated video tape recorder even in the ON state and the OFF state, so that the lens cover 1 can be remotely controlled. Whether the state is impossible or not can be easily determined by looking at the position of the lens cover 1.

[0018]

According to the present invention, the operability / inability of the remote control circuit is switched according to the position of the lens cover.
The effect is great because a camera device that can be operated remotely and does not require a special mechanism can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view and an enlarged view of a main part showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view and a main part enlarged view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view and a main part enlarged view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lens cover 1a Support part 1b Projection part 2 Imaging lens 10 Control circuit 12 Light receiving element 13 Power supply circuit 14 Cutoff switch 15 Position detection switch

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A remote control circuit for inputting a remote control signal from the outside to control a camera body, a lens cover covering an imaging lens, and the lens cover moving to an avoidance area not covering the imaging lens. And a moving mechanism,
A switch which operates in accordance with the position of the lens cover in the avoidance area and switches between enabling and disabling the remote control circuit. 2. The remotely controllable camera device according to claim 1, wherein the moving mechanism is a rotating mechanism having a center of rotation at a position deviated from a light receiving surface of the imaging lens. 3. The power supply to the remote control circuit is shut off by the changeover switch.
Or a remote controllable camera device according to claim 2.