JP4296612B2 - Two-way camera - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a camera capable of photographing a photographer himself.
[0002]
[Prior art and its problems]
There is known a digital camera in which a camera body is divided into a lens unit including a photographing lens and a monitor unit including an LCD monitor, and both units are connected so as to be relatively rotatable. With this type of camera, it is possible to rotate the lens unit toward the photographer and photograph the photographer himself (referred to as face-to-face photographing in this specification).
[0003]
By the way, at the time of face-to-face shooting, the photographer often holds the camera and shoots, and the shooting distance is within about 1 m. Therefore, when face-to-face shooting is performed with a conventional camera, the photographer's own image is projected on the LCD monitor, and the shooting magnification must be adjusted each time.
[0004]
An object of the present invention is to improve operability during face-to-face photography.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
(1) The invention of claim 1 includes a first unit and a second unit that are relatively rotatably connected, and the first unit includes a photographing lens, and the photographed image and predetermined information are displayed on the second unit. It is applied to a camera capable of face-to-face photography provided with a display unit.
Then, the rotation detection means for detecting the rotation angle between the first unit and the second unit, and when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value, the display area on the display unit of the photographed image taken by the photographing lens is detected as the rotation angle. Control means for reducing the display magnification of the photographed image to a predetermined value or less so that the photographed image is reduced and displayed so as to be smaller than the display area when the value does not exceed the predetermined value.
( 2 ) The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to claim 2 is configured such that the control means reverses the top and bottom of the photographed image when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value.
( 3 ) In the camera capable of face-to-face photography according to claim 3 , when displaying predetermined information on the display unit by the control means, the display magnification and photographing magnification are not reduced and the screen is not inverted. Is.
( 4 ) The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to claim 4 is configured such that flash photography is prohibited by the control means when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value.
( 5 ) The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to claim 5 is configured such that when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value, the focus adjustment range of the photographing lens is limited to the predetermined range by the control means.
( 6 ) The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to claim 6 is configured such that when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value, the white balance is adjusted to the predetermined value by the control means.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
1A and 1B show the external appearance of the camera according to an embodiment when the camera is housed and carried. FIG. 1A is a top view and FIG. 1B is a rear view. 2A and 2B show the external appearance of the camera according to the embodiment during normal shooting. FIG. 2A is a front view, FIG. 2B is a top view, and FIG. 1 and 2 are based on trigonometry. Furthermore, FIG. 3 shows the external appearance of the camera of one embodiment during face-to-face photography.
The camera 1 according to the embodiment is divided into a lens unit 1a including a photographing lens 2 and a monitor unit 1b including an LCD monitor 3, and both units 1a and 1b are connected to be relatively rotatable.
[0007]
When stored or carried, the lens unit 1a is rotated so that the lens unit 1a and the monitor unit 1b are flat as shown in FIG. Further, during normal photographing, as shown in FIG. 2, the lens unit 1a is rotated so that the photographing lens 2 faces the subject. Further, at the time of face-to-face photography, as shown in FIG. 3, the lens unit 1a is rotated so that the photographing lens 2 faces the photographer. Note that the photographer shoots while looking at the LCD monitor 3 during normal shooting and face-to-face shooting, so the monitor unit 1b is always held so that the LCD monitor 3 faces the photographer.
[0008]
In addition to the photographing lens 2, the lens unit 1a includes an electronic flash device 4, a finder window 5, a red-eye reduction / self-timer display lamp 6, a finder eyepiece window 7, and the like. On the other hand, in addition to the LCD monitor 3, the monitor unit 1b includes a main switch 8, a release button 9, a display panel 10, a flash mode button 11, an AF mode button 12, an image quality mode button 13, a zoom button 14, a monitor button 15, and a menu. A button 16 is provided.
[0009]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment.
The microcomputer 20 includes peripheral components such as a memory and an AD converter, and performs various calculations and controls of the camera. The microcomputer 20 includes a main switch 8, a half-press switch 21, a full-press switch 22, a zoom-up switch 23, a zoom-down switch 24, a rotation switch 25, a distance measuring device 26, a photometric device 27, a lens driving device 28, and an electronic flash device. 4. An LCD monitor driver 29, a display panel driver 30 and the like are connected.
[0010]
The half-press switch 21 and the full-press switch 22 are turned on when the release button 9 is half-pressed and fully pressed, respectively. The zoom up switch 23 and the zoom down switch 24 are turned on in conjunction with the up operation and the down operation of the zoom button 14, respectively.
[0011]
The rotation switch 25 is turned on when the lens unit 1a is rotated so that the photographing lens 2 faces the photographer itself in order to perform face-to-face photographing. As shown in FIG. 3, the rotation is performed when the relative rotation angle of the lens unit 1a and the monitor unit 1b is −90 degrees (the rotation angle when the photographing lens 2 is directed toward the photographer is negative). The switch 25 may be turned on, or the rotation switch 25 may be turned on when the relative rotation angle falls within a predetermined range (−90 ± α degrees). Furthermore, the rotation switch 25 may be turned on when the relative rotation angle exceeds a predetermined value (−β degrees).
[0012]
The distance measuring device 26 measures the shooting distance to the subject, and the photometric device 27 measures the subject brightness. The lens driving device 28 performs zooming driving and focusing driving of the photographing lens 2 and zooming driving of the optical viewfinder. The LCD monitor driver 29 drives the LCD monitor 3, and the display panel driver 30 drives the display panel 10.
[0013]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating face-to-face shooting control according to an embodiment.
When the lens unit 1a is rotated so that the photographing lens 2 faces the photographer, the rotation switch 25 is turned on, and the microcomputer 20 determines that the photographing is face-to-face and starts the face-to-face photographing control shown in FIG. In step 1, if flash photography is performed during face-to-face photography, a flash is emitted in front of the photographer and is dazzling, so flash photography by the electronic flash device 4 is prohibited during face-to-face photography. Note that flash photography may be permitted by limiting the flash emission amount to a low value during face-to-face photography.
[0014]
In step 2, it is determined whether to display an image photographed by the photographing lens 2 or to display a screen of characters and symbols such as a menu screen as shown in FIG. When displaying a menu screen or the like, basically, it is not necessary to reverse the top of the screen or change the display magnification or the imaging magnification, so the process returns to step 1 without performing the process for face-to-face imaging.
[0015]
When displaying the photographer's own image on the LCD monitor 3 in the face-to-face shooting, the face-to-face shooting processing in steps 3 to 6 is performed. During face-to-face photography, the lens unit 1a is rotated approximately 180 degrees with respect to normal photography. Therefore, the top and bottom of the image taken in step 3 is reversed.
[0016]
In face-to-face shooting, the photographer himself holds the camera 1 and shoots, so the shooting distance is at most 1 m. If an image taken at such a close distance is displayed on the LCD monitor 3 as it is, the photographer's own face is too large as shown in FIG. Therefore, in step 4, image processing is performed so that the display magnification becomes a predetermined value or less, and the image is reduced as shown in FIG.
[0017]
Instead of reducing the image display magnification during face-to-face photography, the photographing lens 2 may be driven and zoomed to the wide angle side to reduce the photographing magnification. FIG. 9 shows a display example in which the shooting magnification is reduced during face-to-face shooting. In this case, for example, the photographer's own portrait may be reduced to a magnification that allows photographing at the photographing distance (approximately 1 m) for face-to-face photography.
[0018]
On the other hand, in the face-to-face shooting, the shooting distance is about the length of the photographer's arm as described above. Therefore, by limiting the focus adjustment range of the shooting lens 2 to a range corresponding to this shooting distance, Thus, it is possible to avoid unnecessary focusing operation of the taking lens 2 and to perform accurate focus adjustment in a short time. Therefore, in step 5, the focus adjustment range of the taking lens 2 is limited to a predetermined range, and the focus adjustment of the taking lens 2 is performed by the lens driving device 28.
[0019]
Furthermore, since the portrait of the photographer is taken in face-to-face photography, white balance is adjusted in step 6 so that the skin color of the face is close to a natural color.
[0020]
In the configuration of the embodiment described above, the lens unit 1a is the first unit, the monitor unit 1b is the second unit, the taking lens 2 is the taking lens, the LCD monitor 3 is the display unit, and the rotation switch 25 detects the rotation. The microcomputer 20 constitutes the control means.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
(1) According to the invention of claim 1, when the rotation angle between the first unit and the second unit exceeds a predetermined value, the display area in the display unit of the photographed image photographed by the photographing lens becomes the rotation angle detection value. Since the display magnification of the captured image is reduced to a predetermined value or less so as to be smaller than the display area when the predetermined value is not exceeded, the captured image is suddenly displayed during face-to-face shooting. The face of the photographer is automatically displayed in an appropriate size at the time of face-to-face shooting, and the operability at the time of face-to-face shooting can be improved.
( 2 ) According to the invention of claim 2 , when the rotation angle between the first unit and the second unit exceeds a predetermined value, the top and bottom of the photographed image is reversed. It is possible to avoid being projected as an inverted image.
( 3 ) According to the invention of claim 3 , when predetermined information is displayed on the display unit, the display magnification and the photographing magnification are not reduced and the screen is not reversed. When displaying symbol information, it is possible to prevent the image from becoming difficult to see due to the reduction and inversion of the image.
( 4 ) According to the invention of claim 4 , since flash photography is prohibited when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value, it is possible to prevent flash emission from being performed immediately before the photographer during face-to-face photography.
( 5 ) According to the invention of claim 5 , when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value, the focus adjustment range of the photographing lens is limited to the predetermined range. Can be prevented, and accurate focus adjustment can be performed in a short time.
( 6 ) According to the invention of claim 6 , when the detected rotation angle exceeds a predetermined value, the white balance is adjusted to the predetermined value, so that the photographer's portrait is photographed with a natural skin color at the time of face-to-face photography. be able to.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a camera according to an embodiment when the camera is stored and when the camera is carried.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a camera according to an embodiment during normal shooting.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an external appearance of a camera according to an embodiment during face-to-face shooting.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating face-to-face shooting control according to one embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a menu screen.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a captured image is displayed without adjusting a display magnification or a shooting magnification during face-to-face shooting.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a captured image is displayed at a lower display magnification during face-to-face shooting.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a photographed image is displayed with a photographing magnification reduced during face-to-face photography.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera 1a Lens unit 1b Monitor unit 2 Shooting lens 3 LCD monitor 4 Electronic flash device 25 Rotary switch 26 Distance measuring device 27 Photometric device 28 Lens drive device 29 LCD monitor driver

Claims (6)

Face-to-face shooting comprising a first unit and a second unit that are relatively rotatably connected, the first unit including a shooting lens, and the second unit including a display unit that displays a shot image and predetermined information. In a possible camera,
Rotation detection means for detecting a rotation angle between the first unit and the second unit;
When the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value, a display area on the display unit of a photographed image captured by the photographing lens is made smaller than a display area when the rotation angle detection value does not exceed the predetermined value. And a control means for reducing the display magnification of the captured image to a predetermined value or less to display the captured image in a reduced size. The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to claim 1,
The camera capable of face-to-face photography , wherein the control means reverses the top and bottom of a photographed image when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value . The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to claim 1 or 2,
The camera capable of face-to-face photography , wherein when the predetermined information is displayed on the display unit, the display magnification and photographing magnification are not reduced and the screen is not inverted . The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The camera capable of face-to-face photography, wherein the control means prohibits flash photography when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value . The camera capable of face-to-face photography according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The camera capable of face-to-face photography, wherein the control means limits the focus adjustment range of the photographing lens to a predetermined range when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value. In the camera capable of face-to-face photography according to any one of claims 1 to 5 ,
The camera capable of face-to-face photography, wherein the control means adjusts the white balance to a predetermined value when the rotation angle detection value exceeds a predetermined value .

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