JP5341050B2 - Printer device and image forming method of printer device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for controlling whether or not to execute gradation correction processing that is automatically performed when printing image data based on shooting information added to the image data.

  In general, an AE (Auto Exposure) function of an electronic camera measures the intensity (amount) of light reflected by a subject, and the reflectance of the subject is determined to be 18% (so-called standard reflectance). ) Is calculated, and the aperture and shutter speed are set based on the exposure value to automatically adjust the exposure.

  As described above, the AE function of the electronic camera is configured to obtain the exposure value when the reflectance of the subject is assumed to be 18%. Therefore, depending on the photographed subject, the exposure of the obtained image data may be There were times when I felt under and over. For example, if most of the subject is white with high reflectance, even if the subject is not exposed to strong light, adjustments are made so that the exposure is underexposed. Conversely, most of the subject is reflected. In the case of black with a low rate, even if the subject is irradiated with strong light, an adjustment that causes overexposure is performed, and appropriate exposure adjustment may not be performed.

  Therefore, for example, when printing such image data, the user uses an image processing function included in the electronic camera or an image processing function included in the paint software before printing, so that appropriate exposure correction ( Gradation correction) is necessary, and the burden on the user is heavy.

  Therefore, in order to reduce such a burden on the user, when the image data is printed, the printer apparatus analyzes the image data and performs tone correction as when the previous white or black subject is photographed. Therefore, printer apparatuses configured to automatically execute gradation correction on image data that needs to be printed and to print an image with an appropriate exposure have come to the market.

  However, depending on the photographer's intention, depending on the photographer's intention, for example, a photograph taken with the aperture and shutter speed set in manual mode, a photograph taken with exposure compensation, or spot metering is used. Some image data was taken with intentionally specified non-standard exposures, such as those taken with

  When such image data is printed by the above-described printer device, gradation correction is automatically performed by the printer device even for image data shot with intentional non-standard exposure set. This has caused a new problem that an image unintended by the photographer is printed.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is different from a photographer's intention by prohibiting automatic gradation correction processing when printing image data that is photographed with intentional exposure specified by the photographer. It is to provide a technique capable of preventing an image from being printed.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer device that reads image data to be printed and reading data that is added to the image data and indicates whether or not gradation correction can be performed on the image data. Print instruction means for instructing printing, gradation correction means for performing gradation correction processing on the image data to be printed, and whether or not gradation correction processing is performed on image data based on data indicating whether gradation correction is possible If the determination unit determines that the gradation correction processing is to be performed, the gradation correction is performed on the image data to be printed, and the gradation correction processing is performed by the determination unit. If it is determined that there is no image, the control means for controlling the processing of prohibiting gradation correction to the image data to be printed and the image data processed based on the control means Comprising a printing means for forming an image on the forming medium, and after the image data read is displayed by said reading means, image processing relating to the exposure on the image data is subjected, the image data is recorded In this case, data indicating prohibition of gradation correction is added to the image data .

  A printer apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention further includes color conversion means for performing color conversion processing for printing image data after the process control is performed based on the control means in the first aspect. It is characterized by that.

  In the printer device according to the third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, when the data indicating whether the gradation correction is possible includes information indicating that the photographing mode is photographed in the manual mode, It is characterized in that it is data that prohibits correction.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printer device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the data indicating whether or not the gradation correction is possible is information indicating that the image has been shot with exposure correction or a part thereof. When at least one of the information indicating that spot photometry is specified and photoed is included, the data is set to prohibit gradation correction.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the printer device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the data indicating whether or not the gradation correction is possible is performed when image processing relating to exposure is performed after shooting. It is characterized in that it is data that prohibits correction.

  In the printer device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the gradation correction unit creates a histogram from the image data to be printed and obtains at least the histogram. The gradation correction is performed using the maximum value of the image data obtained.

  Further, the present invention can be configured as an image forming method for a printer apparatus in addition to the above-described printer apparatus.

  According to the present invention, when printing image data that has been intentionally specified for exposure by a photographer, automatic gradation correction processing is prohibited, that is, printing is performed without performing automatic gradation correction processing. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an image different from the image intended by the photographer from being printed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is an external view of the electronic camera which shows 1st embodiment of this invention, (a) is a rear view, (b) is the front view. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the electronic camera which shows 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process performed when the release button shown in 1st Embodiment of this invention is pushed. It is a figure which shows the kind of imaging | photography mode and exposure mode which comprise imaging | photography information. It is a flowchart which shows a printing process shown in 1st embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the automatic gradation correction process flag judgment table. It is a flowchart which shows an example of an automatic gradation correction process. (a) shows a histogram before automatic gradation correction processing, and (b) shows a histogram after automatic gradation correction processing. It is a flowchart which shows the process performed when the release button shown in 2nd Embodiment is pushed. It is a flowchart which shows the printing process shown in 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the printer apparatus which shows 3rd embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 (a) and 1 (b) are external views of an electronic camera showing a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a rear view thereof, and FIG. 1 (b) is a front view thereof. Show. This electronic camera is an electronic camera with a so-called instant film developing function, which has a built-in instant film printer (printer unit) and is configured to print out captured image data on the spot.

  As shown in FIG. 1 (a), an electronic camera 1 has an image display LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 2, a mode dial 3, a power button 4, a zoom lever 5, a cross key 6, a spot metering button 7, a print on the rear surface. A button 8 and the like are provided, and a film discharge port for discharging the instant film 9 is provided on the upper surface.

The image display LCD 2 displays captured image data, image data recorded on a memory card, a monitor image, or the like.
The mode dial 3 is used for photographing modes such as “P: program mode (auto mode)”, “A: aperture priority mode”, “S: shutter speed priority mode”, and “M: manual mode”, and “PR: print mode”. This is a dial for switching various modes such as “mode”.

The power button 4 is a button for turning on / off the power of the electronic camera 1.
The zoom lever 5 is a lever for driving the zoom lens to the telephoto side (T: telephoto side) or the wide side (W: wide-angle side).

  The cross key 6 is a key for instructing up, down, left, and right, and is used, for example, when selecting predetermined image data from a plurality of image data recorded on a memory card displayed on the image display LCD 2. Key.

The spot metering button 7 is a button for designating spot metering as a metering method at the time of photographing.
The print button 8 is a button for instructing to print the image data selected by the cross key 6 or the captured image data.

The instant film 9 is provided in a film cartridge together with an F (film) battery, and the film cartridge is configured to be detachable from the electronic camera 1.
As shown in FIG. 1B, the electronic camera 1 includes a zoom lens 10, a release button 11, a strobe 12, a film cartridge lid 13 and the like on the front surface thereof.

The zoom lens 10 is a lens configured to be able to change the focal length continuously within a predetermined range.
The release button 11 is a button for instructing photographing.

The strobe 12 is used when, for example, shooting in a dark place or shooting in a backlight is used to instantly generate strong light to prevent the subject from being shot dark.
The film cartridge lid 13 is a lid that is opened and closed when the film cartridge is attached or detached.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration of such an electronic camera 1. As shown in the figure, the electronic camera 1 is configured integrally with a configuration that contributes to shooting (camera unit) and a configuration that contributes to printing (printer unit).

  In the figure, the zoom lens system 21, the image sensor 22, the image pickup circuit 23, and an A / D (analog / digital) conversion circuit 24 constitute an image pickup unit. In the imaging unit, the subject image formed by the zoom lens system 21 is photoelectrically converted by the imaging element 22, and when an image signal that is the conversion output is input to the A / D conversion circuit 24 via the imaging circuit 23, there. Image data which is digital data is obtained by analog-digital conversion. Here, the lens provided in the zoom lens system 21 is driven by the lens driving unit 26 controlled by the lens drive control circuit 25, and the focus of the subject image is adjusted.

  The syscon (system controller) 27 is configured to include a CPU (central processing unit), controls each part of the electronic camera 1, and corrects the lightness / darkness / saturation / tint of the image indicated by the image data. Various image processing is performed. Also, a histogram creation process that creates a histogram from image data, a process that performs gradation correction on the image data based on this histogram, and a color that corrects color misalignment between the image data to be printed and the image after printing. Also performs conversion processing.

An ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 28 performs image data compression processing and decompression processing according to the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) method.
The RAM 29 is a random access memory used not only as a buffer memory for temporarily storing image data but also as a work storage area for various processes by the system controller 27.

  The ROM 30 is a control program for causing the CPU included in the syscon 27 to control each part of the electronic camera 1, calculation data necessary for various processes, and an automatic gradation correction processing flag to be described later. This is a read-only memory in which a determination table and the like are stored in advance.

  The memory I / F (interface) 31 provides an interface function for exchanging data with the memory card 33 inserted in the card slot 32, and includes a semiconductor memory capable of reading and writing data. The image data is written to the memory card 33 configured as described above, or the image data is read from the memory card 33.

  The external I / F (interface) 34 provides an interface function for exchanging data with an external device connected to the external input / output terminal 35, such as a personal computer. Output processing of image data and various data, or input processing of image data and various data from an external device is performed.

  The video memory 36 is a memory for temporarily storing image data for display obtained by image processing in the syscon 27, and this image data is then read from the video memory 36 and sent to the video output circuit 37. It is input and converted into an image signal which is a video signal. When this image signal is input to the image display LCD 2, an image is displayed. The image signal can also be sent to another device via the video-out terminal 38.

  The line memory 39 is a memory for storing image data for printing obtained by various image processing such as gradation correction processing and color conversion processing in the syscon 27 for each line data.

  An LCS (Liquid Crystal Shutter) control circuit 40 reads one line of image data held in the line memory 39, controls the LCS 41 based on this, and controls the light quantity of the LED 43 exposed to the instant film 9. To do.

  The film cartridge 9 includes an instant film 9 and an F (film) battery 46, and the instant film 9 is driven based on a drive signal of a drive unit 45 controlled by a drive control circuit 44 using the F battery 46 as a power supply. However, exposure is performed via the LCS 41 using the LED 43 as a light source.

  The operation unit 47 includes the mode dial 3, the power button 4, the zoom lever 5, the cross key 6, the spot metering button 7, the print button 8, the release button 11, and the like, which are operated by a photographer (user). This is for receiving various instructions from the photographer (user) and transmitting them to the system controller 27.

The power supply unit 48 controls the voltage of the F battery 46, the voltage of the camera battery 49, or the voltage of the power input to the external power supply terminal 50 to supply power to each unit of the electronic camera 1.
The strobe light emitting unit 51 is for causing the strobe 12 to emit light when photographing using the strobe 12.

  Next, various control processes related to the present invention performed by the CPU provided in the syscon 27 of the electronic camera 1 will be described. These processes are realized by the CPU reading and executing a control program stored in the ROM 30 of the electronic camera 1.

3, 5, and 7 are flowcharts showing the processing contents of the control processing performed by the system controller 27 of the electronic camera 1.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process executed when the release button 11 is pressed. In the figure, when the release button 11 is pressed and a shooting instruction is given, first, an imaging process is performed (S301). In this imaging process, the subject image formed by the zoom lens system 21 is photoelectrically converted by the imaging element 22, and an image signal that is the conversion output is input to the A / D conversion circuit 24 via the imaging circuit 23. This is a process of obtaining image data as digital data by performing analog-digital conversion.

  Subsequently, various image processing such as white balance (WB) is performed on the obtained image data (S302), and further, JPEG compression processing by the ASIC unit 28 is performed in order to reduce the amount of data to be recorded (S303). ).

  Subsequently, in order to add shooting information to the compressed image data, the shooting mode and exposure mode at the time of shooting are recorded as shooting information in the file header of the image data (S304). The added shooting information (shooting mode and exposure mode) is recorded in the memory card 33 (S305), and the flow ends.

  In the photographing information, the photographing mode is set by operating the mode dial 3 by the photographer during photographing. The exposure mode is set by pressing an exposure correction button (+/− button) (not shown) or pressing the spot metering button 7. The above-described exposure correction button can be selected by pressing the “+” or “−” button, for example, “−3 EV”, “−2 EV”, “−1 EV”, “0 (no correction)”, “+1 EV”. , “+2 EV”, “+3 EV”, etc. are designated.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing types of shooting modes and types of exposure modes that constitute shooting information. As shown in the figure, there are four types of shooting modes: “program mode (auto mode)”, “aperture priority mode”, “shutter speed priority mode”, and “manual mode”. There are three exposure modes: “no exposure correction”, “with exposure correction”, and “spot metering”. The shooting mode is when “P: program mode (auto mode)” is specified by the operation of the mode dial 3 at the time of shooting by the photographer, and “A: aperture priority mode” is specified. “Aperture priority”, “S: Shutter speed priority mode” is designated, “Shutter speed priority” is set, and “M: Manual mode” is designated, “Manual”. In the exposure mode, when the above-described exposure correction button is operated and an exposure other than “0” is designated, for example, “exposure correction (with exposure correction)” is set as the exposure mode, and the spot metering button 7 When is pressed, “spot metering” is set, and in other cases, that is, when no designation relating to exposure is made, “no correction (no exposure correction)” is set.

Next, a process for printing image data recorded in the memory card 33 in this way will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the printing process. The flow shown in the figure is processing performed when the mode dial 3 is set to “print mode”.

  In the figure, first, one file (image data and photographing information added thereto) recorded in the memory card 33 is read (S501), and the image data is displayed on the image display LCD 2 (S502). Note that image data may be read from an external device via the external input / output terminal 35.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the photographer has operated the left and right keys of the cross key 6 (S503). If it is determined that the photographer has operated (S503 exists), the process returns to S501 and the left and right keys of the cross key 6 are operated. Based on the above, the next one file is read from the memory card 33 and the image data is similarly displayed on the image display LCD 2. On the other hand, when it is determined that the cross key 6 has not been operated (No in S503), it is determined whether or not the print button 8 has been pressed (S504). Return to the process.

  As described above, the processes in S501 to S504 are repeated until the photographer operates the right / left key of the cross key 6 to select the image data to be printed (the print button 8 is pressed). is there.

  Subsequently, when the photographer determines image data to be printed and determines that the print button 8 is pressed (S504 is pressed), shooting information (shooting mode and exposure mode) added to the determined image data. ) And the automatic gradation correction processing flag determination table stored in the ROM 30, a process for determining and determining whether the automatic gradation correction processing flag is set to ON or OFF is performed (S 505).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an automatic gradation correction processing flag determination table stored in the ROM 30. The table shown in the figure is a table showing whether the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned on (permitted) or turned off (prohibited) depending on the combination of the shooting mode and the exposure mode. In the figure, the combination of the shooting mode and the exposure mode in which the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned on is indicated by ◯, and the combination in which the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned off is indicated by ×. That is, the combination for turning on the automatic gradation correction processing flag is when the shooting mode is “auto” and the exposure mode is “no correction”, or the shooting mode is “aperture priority” and the exposure mode is “no correction”. Or when the shooting mode is “shutter speed priority” and the exposure mode is “no correction”, the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned ON. In the case of a combination of other shooting modes and exposure modes, the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned off. When the photographing mode is “manual”, the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned off regardless of the exposure mode.

  Returning to FIG. 5, when the automatic gradation correction processing flag is thus determined, it is determined whether the flag is ON or OFF (S506). If it is determined in this determination processing that the flag is ON (Yes in S506), automatic gradation correction processing (to be described later) is performed on the image data designated for printing (S507), and the above-described color conversion processing (printing) is performed. (Image processing) (S508) is performed, an image based on the image data is actually printed on the instant film 9 (S509), and the flow ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S506 that the flag is OFF (NO in S506), the automatic gradation correction process is prohibited, that is, the automatic gradation correction process is not performed and the process proceeds to S508. Color conversion processing is performed on the image data, processing for printing an image based on the image data on the instant film 9 is performed (S509), and the flow ends.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the automatic gradation correction processing (S507) shown in FIG. In this example, the gradation value of each pixel of the image data is configured to be represented by a digital value (8 bits) from 0 (black) to intermediate color to 255 (white). Therefore, in the gradation correction processing shown in FIG. 6, first, a histogram of image data designated for printing is created (S701), and the maximum value (MAX) of gradation values is obtained from this histogram (S702), and this maximum value (MAX) ), The gradation value of each pixel is multiplied by 255 / MAX (S703), and gradation correction is performed, so that the gradation distribution of the image data is averaged. The automatic gradation correction process is not limited to the above-described method, and the automatic gradation correction process may be performed using other methods.

  FIG. 8A shows a histogram before the automatic gradation correction process, and FIG. 8B shows a histogram after the automatic gradation correction process. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the horizontal axis indicates the gradation value indicated by a digital value (8 bits) from 0 (black) to halftone to 255 (white), and the vertical axis indicates the gradation value. The pixel frequency is shown.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, in the histogram of the image data before the automatic gradation correction processing, a large number of dark gradation (dark) pixels are distributed. Further, MAX in FIG. 6A indicates the maximum value of the gradation value. From the MAX value, as described above, the gradation correction processing is performed by multiplying the gradation of each pixel of the image data by 255 / MAX, so that the gradation distribution of the image data as shown in FIG. As a result, a histogram in which the gradation distribution is averaged as compared with the histogram shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the electronic camera shown in the first embodiment, at the time of shooting, “M: manual mode” is designated, a predetermined exposure is designated by the exposure correction button, or the spot photometry button 7 is set. When exposure is intentionally specified by the photographer, such as when it is pressed, the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned OFF, and automatic gradation correction is prohibited, and processing is performed so that printing is performed. Thus, it is possible to prevent the automatic gradation correction processing from being erroneously applied to the image data for which the non-standard exposure is designated, and to print an image unintended by the photographer.

  In the first embodiment, for example, image data once recorded on the memory card 33 is displayed on the image display LCD 2 by an operation of the photographer (user), and the photographer instructs the image data to the image data. When the specified image processing related to exposure based on the image is performed and recorded again on the memory card, it is added to the image data in order to prohibit automatic gradation correction processing on the image data at the time of printing. In addition to the shooting mode and the exposure mode, the shooting information may be configured to include information indicating that image processing related to exposure has been performed after shooting. When this information is included, it is configured to determine whether the automatic gradation correction processing is prohibited regardless of the type of the shooting mode and the exposure mode.

In the first embodiment, the photographed image data may be printed as it is without being recorded in the memory card 33.
In the first embodiment, the shooting information includes the shooting mode and the exposure mode. However, the shooting information may include other information.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment described above, the automatic gradation correction processing flag is determined and determined at the time of printing. However, in the second embodiment, the automatic gradation correction processing flag is determined at the time of shooting. It is comprised so that it may determine.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed when the release button 11 is pressed according to the second embodiment. 3 corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. 3 shown in the first embodiment, and different processing is performed by setting an automatic gradation correction processing flag between the processing of S303 and S304 of FIG. A process for determining and determining is added.

  That is, in FIG. 9, when the release button is pressed, first, imaging processing is performed (S901), and image processing such as white balance (WB) is performed on the obtained image data (S902). JPEG compression processing is performed (S903).

  Subsequently, based on the shooting conditions at the time of shooting, that is, the specification of the shooting mode with the mode dial 3, the exposure specification with the exposure correction button, the specification of spot metering with the spot metering button 7, etc. And whether to turn on or off the automatic gradation correction processing flag based on the photographing mode and exposure mode and the automatic gradation correction processing flag determination table (see FIG. 6) stored in the ROM 30. Processing to determine is performed (S904).

  Subsequently, in order to add shooting information to the image data that has been subjected to the compression processing of S903, the determined automatic gradation correction processing flag is recorded as shooting information in the file header of the image data (S905). And the shooting information (automatic gradation correction processing flag) added thereto are recorded in the memory card 33 (S906), and the flow ends. The automatic gradation correction processing flag is also information indicating a determination (determination) result of whether or not gradation correction is prohibited.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating print processing according to the second embodiment. The flow shown in the figure corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. 5 shown in the first embodiment, and the processing of S505 in the flow shown in FIG. 5, that is, the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned on. The process of determining and determining whether to turn off or off is omitted.

  That is, in FIG. 10, image data and shooting information (automatic gradation correction processing flag) added thereto are read from the memory card 33 (S1001), and the image data is displayed on the image display LCD 2 (S1002). Subsequently, when the photographer operates the cross key 6 and the print button 8 to designate printing of predetermined image data (NO in S1003, pressing S1004), the automatic gradation correction processing flag of the shooting information is turned ON. It is determined whether it is OFF or OFF (S1005). If it is determined in this determination processing that the automatic gradation correction processing flag is ON (Yes in S1005), for example, automatic gradation correction processing as shown in FIG. 7 is performed on the image data (S1006), and further color conversion is performed. Processing is performed (S1007), processing for actually printing an image based on the image data on the instant film 9 is performed (S1008), and the flow is finished. On the other hand, when it is determined that the automatic gradation correction processing flag is OFF (No in S1005), the automatic gradation correction process is prohibited, that is, the process proceeds to S1007 without performing the automatic gradation correction process, and the color conversion process is performed. (Print image processing) is performed (S1007), an image based on the image data is actually printed on the instant film 9 (S1008), and the flow ends.

  As described above, according to the electronic camera shown in the second embodiment, the automatic gradation correction processing flag that has been performed at the time of printing is obtained by using the automatic gradation correction processing flag as the shooting information added to the image data. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform the process of determining and determining the above, so that it is possible to reduce the processing load during printing.

In the second embodiment, the shooting information is composed of the automatic gradation correction processing flag, but may be configured to include other information.
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the system configuration of the printer apparatus showing the third embodiment of the present invention. The printer apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is an electronic camera shown in FIG. 2 in which the configuration mainly related to print processing is made independent. Accordingly, components having the same functions as those shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and only different components will be described here.

  In FIG. 11, a system controller (system controller) 127 includes a CPU (central processing unit), controls each part of the printer device, and controls the brightness / saturation / saturation / tone of the image indicated by the image data. Various image processing for correcting the image is performed. Also, a process for creating a histogram from image data, a gradation correction process based on the histogram, a color conversion process for preventing color misregistration after printing, and the like are performed.

  The ROM 130 is a control program for causing the CPU included in the syscon 127 to control each unit constituting the printer apparatus, calculation data necessary for various processes, and an automatic gradation correction processing flag determination table ( Is a read-only memory stored in advance.

  The operation unit 147 includes various switch groups operated by the user, such as a power switch, a switch for selecting and determining image data, a switch for instructing printing, and the like, and receives various instructions from the user. It is for receiving and transmitting to the syscon 127.

The power supply unit 148 controls the voltage of the F battery 46 or the voltage of the electric power input to the external power supply terminal 50 to supply electric power to each unit constituting this printer apparatus.
The printer device having such a configuration records in a file (including image data and shooting information added thereto) recorded in the memory card 33 or in a storage unit of an external device connected to an external input / output terminal. When a user issues a print instruction from a file (including image data and shooting information added thereto), the file is read first, and shooting information of the file (shooting mode) And the exposure mode (see FIG. 4) and an automatic gradation correction processing flag determination table stored in the ROM 130, it is determined and determined whether the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned on or off. Here, when the automatic gradation correction processing flag is determined to be ON, the automatic gradation correction processing is performed on the image data of the read file and then the print processing is performed, and the automatic gradation correction processing flag is determined to be OFF. In such a case, the automatic gradation correction processing for the image data is prohibited, that is, the print processing is performed without performing the automatic gradation correction processing.

  The image data file to which the above-described shooting information is added is, for example, a file recorded by the electronic camera 1 shown in the first embodiment, or is related to shooting processing in the electronic camera 1. For example, a file recorded by an electronic camera (configured without the configuration related to print processing) configured independently of the configuration.

  As described above, according to the printer apparatus shown in the third embodiment, the automatic gradation correction processing at the time of printing is performed based on the shooting information (shooting mode and exposure mode) added to the image data of the file instructed to be printed. It becomes possible to control whether to prohibit or not.

  In the third embodiment, the shooting information may be configured to be an automatic gradation correction processing flag instead of the shooting mode and the exposure mode. In this case, the image data file to which the automatic gradation correction processing flag is added as shooting information is, for example, a file recorded by the electronic camera shown in the second embodiment, or in the electronic camera. And a file recorded by an electronic camera (configured without the configuration related to the print processing) configured independently of the configuration related to the imaging processing. With this configuration, it is not necessary to store the automatic gradation correction processing flag correspondence table in the ROM 130. Therefore, the memory capacity of the ROM 130 can be reduced, and whether the automatic gradation correction processing flag is turned ON or OFF. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform the process of determining and determining the above, so that it is possible to reduce the processing load during printing.

  In the first to third embodiments described above, the print mechanism is shown in which the light of the LED 43 is exposed and printed on the instant film 9 via the LCS 41 as the print mechanism. However, for example, an inkjet method or a thermal method is used. In addition, other print mechanisms may be provided.

1 Electronic camera 2 Image display LCD
3 Mode dial 4 Power button 5 Zoom lever 6 Four-way controller 7 Spot metering button 8 Print button 9 Instant film 10 Zoom lens 11 Release button 12 Strobe 13 Film cartridge cover 21 Zoom lens system 22 Image sensor 23 Imaging circuit 24 A / D conversion circuit 25 Lens drive unit 26 Lens drive control circuit 27, 127 Syscon 28 ASIC unit 29 RAM
30, 130 ROM
31 Memory I / F
32 Card slot 33 Memory card 34 External I / F
35 External input / output terminal 36 Video memory 37 Video output circuit 38 Video out terminal 39 Line memory 40 LCS control circuit 41 LCS
43 LED
44 drive control circuit 45 drive unit 46 F battery 47, 147 operation unit 48, 148 power supply unit 49 camera battery 50 external power input terminal 51 strobe light emitting unit

Claims (7)

Reading means for reading image data to be printed, and data added to the image data indicating whether or not gradation correction is possible for the image data;
Print instruction means for instructing printing of the image data;
Gradation correction means for performing gradation correction processing on the image data to be printed;
Determination means for determining whether to perform gradation correction processing on image data from data indicating whether gradation correction is possible;
When it is determined that the gradation correction processing is performed by the determination unit, gradation correction is performed on the image data to be printed, and when the determination unit determines that the gradation correction processing is not performed, Control means for controlling processing for prohibiting gradation correction to image data to be printed;
Printing means for forming image data processed based on the control means as an image on an image forming medium;
Equipped with a,
After the image data read by the reading means is displayed, when image processing related to exposure is performed on the image data and the image data is recorded, the image data is prohibited from gradation correction. Append data to indicate
Printer device comprising a call. A color conversion unit that performs color conversion processing for printing image data after the process is controlled based on the control unit;
The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The data indicating whether or not the gradation correction is possible is data for prohibiting gradation correction when information indicating that the photographing mode is photographed in the manual mode is included.
The printer apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein When the data indicating whether or not the gradation correction is possible includes at least one of information that the image was taken after exposure correction or information that the photo was taken by specifying spot metering for metering a partial range, It is data that prohibits gradation correction,
The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printer apparatus is a printer apparatus. The data indicating whether or not gradation correction is possible is data that prohibits gradation correction when image processing related to exposure is performed after shooting.
The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printer apparatus is a printer apparatus. The gradation correction unit creates a histogram from the image data to be printed, and performs gradation correction using at least the maximum value of the image data obtained from the histogram.
The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printer apparatus is a printer apparatus. An image forming method for a printer device, comprising:
Read the image data to be printed and the data attached to this image data indicating the possibility of gradation correction for the image data,
Instructing the printing of the image data,
It is determined whether to perform gradation correction processing on the image data from the data indicating whether gradation correction is possible,
If it is determined that gradation correction processing is to be performed, gradation correction is performed on the image data to be printed, and if it is determined not to perform gradation correction processing, Control the process of prohibiting gradation correction,
Forming an image of image data processed based on the control on the image forming medium,
After the read image data is displayed, when image processing related to exposure is performed on the image data and the image data is recorded, the data indicating the prohibition of gradation correction is added to the image data. Add
An image forming method.