JPH02149073A - Interchangeable lens system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inform a photographer of the propriety of a test by sending a test signal from a camera main body to a lens unit through a communication path when the lens unit is mounted on the camera main body, actuating each unit, and indicating its state on the camera main body. CONSTITUTION:A power source is supplied from the camera main body to a lens L side when the lens L is mounted on the camera main body C and data communication is executed between the camera main body C and the lens L through a communication path 13. The control command for the test is sent at every units AF and AE and a zoom from the camera main body C to the lens L side, a drive in accordance with the control command is executed at the lens L side, its moving amount is detected by respective encoders 31, 32 and 33, and control status information is transmitted with its output. The camera main body C compares it with the quantity to be commanded by itself from this moving amount, decides through a step S20 whether or not the test is normal, and the situation of each unit is indicated through a fault indication with the result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an interchangeable lens system, and particularly to an interchangeable lens system that displays on the camera unit whether or not the function of the lens unit in an interchangeable lens camera is good or bad.

(Prior Art) Currently, this type of interchangeable lens video camera has an interchangeable lens system in which the camera body and the lens can be attached and detached. Like single-lens reflex cameras with interchangeable lenses, telephoto, wide-angle, zoom, The field of use of cameras is expanding dramatically as various lens combinations can be used, such as for close-up photography.In addition, manual focus is also available.

Autofocus (active AF, passive AF, T
It is possible to select an AF that suits the photographer's preference, such as V-AF). Moreover, the interchangeable lens system, which allows the camera body and lens to be attached and detached, has moderate compatibility and can be freely replaced with camera bodies made not only by one manufacturer but also by other companies, allowing for a wide range of combinations. This makes it more fun to use.

[The burden that the invention attempts to solve]

However, while it is fun to make such a large number of combinations, it is possible to misuse the free compatibility and damage the camera body by attaching a defective lens, or if something is caught in the lens barrel. This often resulted in malfunctions, such as people not noticing and allowing the battery to continue operating unnecessarily, consuming unnecessary battery power.

The present invention was developed in view of the problems of the conventional camera as described above.In order to ensure that the photographer can use the camera with peace of mind, the present invention automatically checks the operating condition of the lens unit when the lens is attached to the camera body. The object of the present invention is to provide an interchangeable lens system of this type that displays and informs the photographer of the quality of the lens.

[Means to solve the problem]

Therefore, in the present invention, when the lens unit is attached to the camera body, a test signal is sent from the camera body to the lens unit via the communication path, for example, the AF unit or the AE unit.

The above object is achieved by activating each unit such as a zoom unit, determining whether the unit's condition is good or bad based on its operating condition, and displaying the condition on the camera body.

(Function) With the above configuration, the camera user can use the display means on the camera body to know whether the function of each lens unit is good or not when replacing the lens, thereby preventing damage to the camera body or battery consumption due to misuse or malfunction. Problems such as these can be prevented.

(Example) The present invention will be explained below based on examples.

(Configuration) FIG. 1 shows a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of an interchangeable lens system for a video camera according to the present invention. 1 in the center of the drawing
The camera body C side is on the right side, and the lens unit L side is on the left side, with the dotted chain line as the border.

A light image of a subject 1 is transmitted to an image sensor 3 such as a CCD by an optical system 2.
The electrical output is sent to the camera signal processing circuit 4.
is converted into a television signal and output.

On the other hand, this television signal uses the well-known AWB (automatic white balance) and AF (automatic focus).

It is used in various automatic adjustment mechanisms such as AE (automatic exposure). Each AWB as a control signal source for these automatic adjustment mechanisms,
Each control signal is output from the AF and AE control signal generation section 5.6.7. The AWB control signal that adjusts the color balance of camera eye No. 8 processing is input from the AW8 control signal generation unit 5 to the processing circuit 4, and the remaining AF, AE control signals C, .
C2 is manually input to the camera-side microcomputer (hereinafter simply referred to as microcomputer) 9. Furthermore, the control signal C3 generated by the zoom switch 8 that sets the focal length of the optical system 2 is also
It is input to the camera side microcomputer 9. Each of these control signals is transmitted from the camera C side to the lens L side via the data communication path 13 as communication data. Data communication path 13
is connected to the lens side microcomputer 14, and all of these communication data are once received by this lens side microcomputer 14.

Various control signals C, , C input to the camera side microcomputer 9
2 and C3 are input to each driver circuit 27, 26.25 by the lens-side microcomputer 14. The AF actuator 30 controls the optical system 2 according to the output to the AF driver 27.
AE actuator 2
9 controls optics and v-2 according to the output of the AE driver 26, and adjusts the aperture value to the optimum aperture value. Further, the zoom actuator 28 controls the optical system 2 according to the output of the zoom driver 25, and adjusts the focal length as instructed.

Further, the optical system 2 is provided with encoders 31, 32, 33, respectively, for checking the operating states of the AF, AE, and zoom actuators 30, 29, 28, respectively. That is, the encoder 31 for detecting the focus position. Encoder 32 for aperture state detection. It has an encoder 33 for detecting focal length information by zoom operation, and each detected information is sent to the lens-side microcomputer 14. These encoder information are used for internal control of the lens L, and are also transmitted to the camera-side microcomputer 9 as necessary and used for processing such as AF and AE on the camera C side. The display 34 is a display for displaying whether the lens unit L is functioning well (failure status, etc.).

(Operation) FIG. 2 shows an operation sequence flowchart of the apparatus of this embodiment having the above configuration.

This flow will be explained below. The flow on the left side shows the flow of the lens unit L, and the flow on the right side shows the flow of the camera body C. When the lens L is attached to the camera body C, power is supplied from the camera body C to the left side of the lens, and data communication is performed between the camera body C and the lens L via the communication path 13.

First, in step S9, the camera body C sends a CTL transmission signal to the lens unit L as an initial value request. The lens side receives the CLT signal from the lever in step S1, and in step S2 sends the number of each unit to the camera C side with a delay of one field, and the camera C (+11 receives this in step 310). As a result, in step Sll, the camera body C and the lens unit L confirm whether or not data communication has been performed correctly with each other.

If the communication cannot be received correctly (No), the process returns to the initial step S9 and the communication is re-performed. If this data is sent and received normally (YES), it is assumed that the lens L has been correctly attached to the camera body C side, that the connection is normal, and that power is normally supplied to the left side of the lens. In particular,
The microcontrollers 9.14 on the camera side and lens side are also judged to be normal.

In the lens specification request CTL transmission in step S12, information such as the manufacturer number, lens number 1, presence/absence of a unit, etc. is asked. The left side of the lens receives this in the CTL reception in step S3, and sends an LTC transmission 4 indicating the presence or absence of lens specifications to step S4, and the camera C side receives it in the LCT reception in step S13.

Similarly, in step S14, the unit specification request is CT.
L is transmitted, and in step S5, the lens L1m transmits this to CTL.
After receiving the unit specifications, the minimum value and maximum value for each unit are sent to the camera C side by unit specification LTC transmission in step S6. Up to this point, camera C and lens L have introduced themselves, and camera body C knows the identity of the left side of the lens.

Thereafter, in step S16, it is tested whether the drive section on the left side of the lens operates normally. The test signal in step S17 uses an identification flag indicating that the control command is different from normal work, and separates the control command in step 318 from the test signal and the normal control command. If the test signal flag is set, it is used for testing, and if it is not set, it is distinguished from a normal control command. The reason why the drive section on the left side of the lens unit is considered to be defective is because the drive section of the lens unit does not operate even though the control command from the camera body C has issued a command to "move", or vice versa. This is a case where the control command says "Stop + h" but the machine fails to stop immediately.

Therefore, the test control command in step 518 is sent to the left side of the lens for each unit 1-AF, AE, and zoom, and the left side of the lens receives this test signal by receiving the CTL in step S7 and drives according to the control command. The amount of movement is detected by each encoder 31, 32, 33, and the output is transmitted as control status information in step S8. Camera body C
Compare this amount of movement with the amount you issued the command,
It is determined in step S20 whether the test is normal or not, and step S
At step 21, the status of each unit is displayed as a failure display based on the results.

(Function/Effect) As described above, in this embodiment, after the lens L is attached to the camera body C, a control command is sent as a test signal from the camera body C to the left side of the lens unit via the communication path, and the lens The left side of the unit transmits the amount of movement of the drive unit via a communication path.

The camera body C determines whether the functions of each unit are operating normally based on the difference between this control command and the amount of movement of the drive unit, and displays the result as a failure status on the display of the camera body C. As a result, the photographer may accidentally attach a damaged lens to the camera, damaging the C side of the camera body, or taking a picture without knowing that the lens barrel is caught in something, which may affect the performance of the camera or the battery. It is possible to prevent power from being wasted, and it is also possible to eliminate the possibility that a small failure may lead to a larger failure without being noticed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, when the interchangeable lens unit is attached to the camera body, the function of each unit of the camera body is automatically determined and this is displayed on the camera body. This makes it possible to prevent accidents associated with lens exchange.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the interchangeable lens system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2FSZ is a flowchart of the operation sequence of the embodiment. C...Camera body (camera unit) L...
-Lens unit 9/14---Camera side/lens side microcomputer 13---Data communication path 34---Display device

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a camera system in which a lens unit and a camera unit are detachable, test data is sent from the camera unit to the lens unit via a communication path, and the functionality of the lens unit is detected and displayed on the camera body. An interchangeable lens system characterized by being configured to.