JP3367634B2 - camera - 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, and more particularly, to an image of a subject taken with the camera body tilted, for example, by 90 ° instead of being upright (that is, in a standard orientation). In this case, it is possible to identify whether the captured image is a normal image or a tilted image, and it is possible to change to the normal image state when the image is output (reproduced or printed). Regarding the camera that did.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional camera, when an image of a subject is picked up and an image obtained by picking up the image is output to a monitor, the output image is an image tilted according to the tilt angle of the camera body. That is, although the output image when the image captured with the camera body upright is output is a normal image, the output image when the image captured with the camera body tilted 90 ° is output is 90 °. It becomes a tilted image. When the orientation of the output image is different in this way, it becomes extremely difficult to see, and it is necessary to rotate the orientation of the output image each time. For example, when the image output device is an output screen such as a CRT, it is necessary to rotate the output screen.

Therefore, in view of such a problem in recent years, "a horizontal key for setting the orientation of the camera main body and a vertical key are provided in the camera main body, and when the camera captures an image, the horizontal key or the vertical key is used. Operate any of the direction keys,
A camera configured to operate the shutter after setting the orientation information of the camera body has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-22.
3520 gazette). Further, in the case of this camera, there is an advantage that the captured image can be rotated based on the orientation information of the camera body so that the output image can always be a normal image.

[0004]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned camera, when capturing an image with the camera, either the horizontal key or the vertical key of the camera body is operated to set the orientation information of the camera body, and then the shutter is released. Because you need to operate
There are the following issues. That is, (1) When capturing an image of a subject, it is always necessary to perform two operations, that is, a camera body orientation information setting operation and a shutter operation. . (2) When the camera body is tilted to capture an image, the shutter button is located on the side surface, which makes it difficult to operate the shutter. (3) When the shutter is operated, "camera shake" is likely to occur, and often the image is blurred. There are issues such as.

The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned problems, and its object is to
The camera body is upright (that is, in the standard orientation)
However, it is another object of the present invention to provide a camera capable of discriminating whether an image obtained by capturing the image is a normal image or an image in a tilted state when the image is captured in a tilted state and the shutter operation is smoothly performed.

[0006]

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the camera of the present invention has a camera body.
, Two or more shutter buttons corresponding to the camera tilt angle.
Button and the recording of image information by operating the shutter button.
In response to the recording instruction, touch the shutter button you operated.
A means for recording the tilt angle information of the corresponding image is provided.
It is characterized by

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the shutter button is an upright state shutter button for taking an image while the camera body is upright, and the camera body is tilted. It is characterized by having a tilt state shutter button for photographing in a state.

The camera of claim 3 is the camera of claim 1
In a second aspect of the invention, the camera body is provided with an upright shutter button on the upper surface, and a tilt shutter button on the side surface of the camera body. Further, the camera according to claim 4 is characterized in that, in the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, there is provided means for changing the angle of the image according to the angle information recorded by the means for recording the angle information. .

[0009] Here, the camera, in addition to the general single-lens reflex camera that records an object image on the film, magnetic tape, disk, or video camera to be recorded on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory,, CCD, etc. Including an electronic camera such as the image pickup device. Further, the “camera tilt” is the tilt when the camera body is rotated or rotated along the optical axis of the camera, in other words, 0 ° to ±± when the standard shooting state of the camera body is 0 °. It means a state of being rotated 180 °. Further, the "image tilt angle information" means, for example, when the image obtained in the standard photographing state is a normal image, information on the tilt angle with respect to the normal image. The "shutter button" includes a shutter operation means such as a key or a switch for capturing an image.

[0010] The camera of the present invention, like conventional cameras, although imaging Aim the lens, in the present invention, since a plurality of shutters are provided, the inclination of the camera body By operating the corresponding specific shutter button, the inclination state of the image of the subject can be recorded when the image of the subject is captured. Therefore, when the monitor output of the image is obtained, the output image is a normal image by rotating the image tilted, for example, the image tilted by 90 ° in the reverse direction by 90 ° based on the tilt angle information. Obtainable.

[0011]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the invention of claim 1 of the present invention, two or more shutter buttons corresponding to the camera tilt angle are provided on the camera body, and an image is taken by the camera. Since a means for recording the tilt angle information of the image is provided, when the subject is imaged in a tilted state of the camera body, not in the upright state (that is, in the standard orientation), the image is obtained by the imaging. It is possible to identify whether the image is a normal image or an image in a tilted state, and since it has two or more shutter buttons corresponding to the tilt angle of the camera, the shutter can be easily operated regardless of the tilt of the camera body. Since it is sufficient to perform the button operation, there is an effect that the operation can be performed smoothly and a good output image can be obtained without camera shake or the like.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the shutter button has an upright state shutter button for photographing the camera body in an upright state, and a shutter button for photographing the camera body in a tilted state. Since the shutter button for tilting state is provided, when the subject is imaged in a tilted state without the camera body being upright (that is, in the standard orientation), the obtained image is a normal image or It is possible to identify whether the image is an image in a tilted state, and it is possible to freely select whether to capture the captured image as a normal image or a tilted image.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the upright shutter button is provided on the upper surface of the camera body, and the tilt shutter button is provided on the side surface of the camera body. When the output image is captured so as to be a normal image, the shutter button located on the upper surface side of the camera body may be operated at all times, which has the effect of improving the operability. According to the invention of claim 4, since there is a means for changing the angle of the image according to the angle information recorded by the means for recording the angle information, in addition to the respective effects, image conversion software is provided. Without using it, the image in the normal image state is C as it is.
It has an effect that it can be obtained on a monitor such as an RT.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a front view of a camera body, FIG. 2 is a front view of the camera body tilted by 90 °, and FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram. is there. By the way, since the camera of the present embodiment is composed of a lens, a shutter, a film storage portion, a shutter button, and other components as in the conventional general camera, description of the general structure of the camera is omitted. Hereinafter, the characteristic part will be described.

The camera of this embodiment is shown in FIGS.
In summary, the camera tilt angle
Shutter button for capturing multiple images corresponding to
2a and 2b, image information recording unit 3, and image output unit 4
It is characterized by a configuration including.

The shutter button 2a is provided on the camera body 1.
It is provided on the upper part 1a, and the shutter button 2b is
It is provided on the side portion 1b of the camera body 1. Each sha
The ter button corresponds to the camera tilt angle in advance. An example
For example, the shutter button raised the camera body upright.
Upright shutter button 2a for shooting in upright position
And a tilted shape for shooting with the camera body tilted.
In the case of the shutter button 2b for the upright state, the shutter for the upright state is
The camera tilt is 0 °,
That is, the image information that the camera is upright (standard shooting state) is displayed.
The information is input to the recording unit 3 and the shutter button for tilting
If the camera 2b is operated, the camera tilt is + 90 °,
Then, tilt + 90 ° with respect to the upright (standard shooting state)
Information is input to the image information recording unit 3.
Therefore, by operating either shutter, the camera book
Since the tilt angle of the body is regulated, an angle sensor
Need not be provided, so simplify the configuration.
You can

In the image information recording section 3, the camera body 1 has 0
Whether it is in the state of ° or tilted by 90 °
For recording image information and image information obtained by imaging
Thus, the CPU 5 and the recording unit 6 are provided. CPU5 is
Button 2 Image acquisition by operating a and 2b
It is a control unit for controlling the
The recorded image information and the camera tilt angle information are recorded in the recording unit 6.
The information is recorded and the information is output to the image output unit 4. Picture
The image output unit 4 displays the image recorded in the image information recording unit 3.
Output information and tilt angle information to an external output device such as a CRT
It is a part to do. Here, connected to CPU5
I / O port.

The camera of this embodiment is a normal camera.
Aim the lens of the camera body at the subject in the same way as for Mela.
Image by pressing the shutter button
Can be captured as In this embodiment, the photographer
When the camera body 1 is tilted (+ 90 ° tilted)
Then, when I try to shoot,
Operate the tilt state shutter button 2b provided on the side.
As a result, the captured image is tilted by + 90 °
It is detected that the
Input to the information recording unit 3. That is, always the camera body
In addition to the image information, the tilt angle information is recorded in 1.
The image recorded in the image information recording unit 3
The output image is output to the outside such as a CRT through the image output unit 4.
You can get it with a power device. This output image contains the image information.
In addition to the report, the tilt angle information is included.
Data software uses this tilt angle information to
Image is changed to the normal image state, and all output images are
You can rearrange them to see.

As described above, in the camera of this embodiment,
Is a multiple shutter button corresponding to the camera tilt angle.
Since the camera is installed, the subject and camera body are upright
Not tilted (ie standard orientation), but tilted
When an image is taken, the image obtained by the image is the normal image or the tilt image.
It is possible to identify whether the image is in the image state, and
Since it has a push button, it does not affect the tilt of the camera body.
You can operate the shutter button where it is easy to operate.
Therefore, the operation can be performed smoothly, Good with no camera shake
It is possible to obtain various output images.

The present invention is limited to the above embodiment.
Without departing from the spirit of the present invention
It includes a configuration that can be modified. Incidentally, in the above-described embodiment
For the explanation, we will explain the configuration with two shutter buttons.
However, the configuration may be such that three or more are provided. Shutter shutter
If the tongue corresponds to the camera angle, it is the same as the camera body
It is possible to have multiple units on a plane (side), or different
With the configuration provided on the surface (side) corresponding to the camera angle,
You may. For example, if three are provided, the camera body
Top side, right side, left side in standard shooting
It is preferable to have a configuration provided corresponding to the camera angle.
Good This shutter button is located outside the camera body.
The configuration may be different depending on the view shape. example
For example, in the case of a pentagon on the front, 5 shutter buttons are provided.
You can also do so. At this time, each shutter
-The button should be provided according to the camera angle.
Needless to say. That is, you can operate the shutter.
Since and, the tilt angle of the camera body is specified,
On the way, it is not necessary to provide an angle sensor, so its configuration
Can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a camera body showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the camera body tilted by 90 °.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Camera body, 2 ... Shutter button, 2a
... Shutter button for erecting state, 2b ... Shutter button for tilting state, 3 ... Image information recording section, 4.
..Image output section, 5 ... CPU, 6 ... Recording section, 7
···lens

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI H04N 5/781 (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/225

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A camera body having two or more shutter buttons corresponding to camera tilt angles, and the shutter button
Operate in response to an instruction to record image information
A camera provided with means for recording image tilt angle information corresponding to a shutter button . 2. The shutter button has an upright state shutter button for taking a picture while the camera body is upright, and a tilt state shutter button for taking a picture with the camera body tilted. The camera according to claim 1. 3. The camera according to claim 1, wherein an upright shutter button is provided on an upper surface of the camera body, and a tilt shutter button is provided on a side surface of the camera body. Wherein said the angle information recorded angle information with means for recording, camera according to any one of claims the preceding claims having means for changing the angle of the image.