JPH0273559A - Electronic image pick-up device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the loading/unloading operation of an recording medium by providing the loading opening of a front loading type mechanism in a face part comparatively away from a face being a grip face. CONSTITUTION:A slit loading/unloading opening which coincides with the loading/unloading opening to load a magnetic disk package 28 of the recording medium into a recording medium drive unit 36 in a camera main body 12 is formed horizontally on the left side face of the camera main body 12. Thus, as holding the right side edge part of the camera main body 12 by a right hand, an eject button can be pushed by a left hand, the magnetic disk package 28 loaded in the recording medium drive unit 36 can be taken out and the new magnetic disk package 28 can be loaded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to electronic imaging devices, and more particularly to the arrangement of loading apertures in front-loading mechanisms in electronic imaging devices, such as electronic still cameras.

[Prior Art] In electronic still cameras, there are two types of loading mechanisms for magnetic disk packages: top loading type and front loading type. In the top-loading type configuration, the opening/closing lid provided on the camera body has a large opening, and the package holder integrated into the opening/closing lid holds the magnetic disk package, and by closing the opening/closing lid, the package is held in a predetermined position. (Refer to Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-93366). In addition, the front-loading type has a thin slit-shaped opening on the side of the camera body, and by inserting the magnetic disk package into the opening, the package is loaded in a predetermined position ( Utility Model No. 60-14567, Utility Model No. 61-3555
(Refer to the publication number, etc.)

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, the top-loading type configuration in which the opening/closing lid is left wide open to take in and take out the magnetic disk package is difficult to operate and dust easily gets mixed in. Additionally, electronic still cameras have many operating elements arranged on a relatively small camera body, but in the case of a top-loading type, the position of operating elements is restricted to a narrow range excluding the opening/closing lid. The camera is not very easy to operate because it is hidden away. That is, in terms of operability and dustproofness, it can be said that the front-loading type electronic still camera is superior to the top-loading type.

Regarding operability, in the case of an electronic still camera, unlike stationary electronic devices, the camera body is held with one hand, so it is required to operate the camera in a way that does not interfere with the user's grip of the camera.

In other words, even in a front-loading type configuration, the location of the loading opening greatly affects the operability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of these problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic imaging device in which a loading opening is located at a position where a magnetic disk package can be easily inserted and removed using the hand opposite to the one gripping the camera body. is to provide.

[Means and Effects for Solving the Problems] The electronic imaging device of the present invention is provided with a loading opening for a front-loading mechanism on a surface portion of each surface of the exterior body that is relatively distant from the surface that becomes the grip portion. The loading operation is performed with the hand opposite to the one holding the device.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an electronic still camera to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, this electronic still camera is shown viewed from above on the rear side.

The overall shape of the main body 12 of this electronic still camera 11 is as follows:
Compared to the dimensions in the front-back (vertical) direction and the left-right (horizontal) direction,
It is formed into a flat, substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape with short dimensions in the vertical (height) direction.

Inside the camera body 12, an optical system, which will be described later, is disposed so as to pass through the upper part slightly to the right of the center in the front-rear direction, and the photographing lens 13 of this optical system is exposed at the front of the camera. A finder eyepiece 14 is disposed to be exposed at a position on the back surface opposite to this. Further, in the optical system, the upper part of the lens barrel is exposed on the upper surface of the camera body 12, and this protruding exposed portion 15 is located on the camera body 12.
It serves as a finger rest for the fingers of the right hand when grasping. That is, when the right side edge of the camera body 12 is gripped with the right hand, the tips of the gripping fingers placed on the upper surface of the camera body 12 can fully reach the protruding exposed portion 15 . And the camera body 12
The left and right upper surfaces of the protruding exposed portion 15 are formed into inclined surfaces that are inclined toward the left and right side edges, respectively, so that the user can easily hold it with both hands. On the right side edge of the camera body 12, when the camera body 12 is held with the right hand,
A grip strap 16 is provided to enable stable holding with only one hand.

In the protruding exposed portion 15, a push button type release switch air is provided at a position closer to the rear than the middle thereof, and a sliding type power switch 18 is provided behind the switch 17.

When the right side edge of the camera body 12 is held with the right hand, for example, the middle finger is located on the release switch 17 and the index finger is located on the power switch 18.

Also, on the inclined surface on the left side of the protruding exposed portion 15, 1
．． Push-button zoom switch 1 is located near the left edge.
9.20 are arranged in the front-back direction. The zoom switch 19 is a switch that performs zooming from wide to telephoto, and the zoom switch 20 is a switch that performs zooming from telephoto to wide.

These zoom switches 19 and 20 include the camera body 1
When the left side edge of 2 is grasped with the left hand, for example, the middle finger and index finger are positioned respectively.

Further, on the left side of the camera body 12, there is an insertion/ejection opening 36a (see FIG. 2) of a recording medium drive unit 36 (described later) inside the camera body 12, for loading a magnetic disk package 28, which is a recording medium, into the recording medium drive unit 36 inside the camera body 12. A matching slit-like insertion/dislocation (not shown) is formed horizontally. The reason why this insertion/ejection port is provided on the left side of the camera body 12 is that the camera body 12 is mainly held using the right side edge as a grip, so when replacing the magnetic disk package 28, etc. Main body 1
2 with your right hand, press the eject button (not shown) with your left hand without being disturbed in any way to easily take out the magnetic disk package 28 loaded in the recording medium drive unit 36, and insert a new magnetic disk package 28. This is to allow the recording medium drive unit 36 to be loaded easily.

In addition, on the rear surface where the finder eyepiece 14 is provided, a connector 21 is provided below the eyepiece 14 and is closed with a shield 1i21a, and on the right side there is a shield that controls the electrical on/off of the connector 21. A connector switch 22 is provided to simultaneously open and close the plate 21a. The connector 21 is for connecting the electronic still camera 11 to an external device (not shown), and the connector switch 22
When operated in the direction of the arrow, the shield ff21a opens and the connector pin 21b (see FIG. 4) is exposed.

Further, on the left side of the back side of the camera body 12, a display 23 made of a liquid crystal plate or the like and operation buttons 24 to 27 for mode switches such as a strobe switch, a drive switch, a self-timer switch, and a buzzer switch are arranged.

2 to 4 are diagrams showing the arrangement of the main internal components of the electronic still camera with the exterior body removed. FIG. 2 is a view of the camera seen from above on the front side, FIG. 3 is a front view, and FIG. 4 is a view from above on the rear side similar to FIG. 1 above.

The optical system 30 has the photographic lens 13 and the finder eyepiece section 14 at both ends, and the photographic lens 13 is disposed at the front side.
AF section 31. It consists of a zooming/diaphragm section 32 and a finder section 33 which integrally has the eyepiece section 14 on its back surface. Note that an imaging device such as a CCD (not shown) is disposed within the zooming/diaphragm section 32.

When viewed from the user side (that is, the rear side of the camera as in the case of explaining FIG. 1), the AF having the photographing lens 13
A strobe unit 34 having a light emitting window 34a on the front side is arranged to the left of the section 31. This strobe unit 34 has a built-in strobe drive circuit. At the rear of the strobe unit 34 is a DC/DCC power supply circuit.
/formula-ta 35 is arranged, and furthermore, this DC/DCC/
A magnetic disk package 28 (
A recording medium drive unit 36 is disposed for driving recording and reproduction of a magnetic disk (see FIG. 1). That is, the strobe unit 34. DC/DCC/
The 35° recording medium drive units 36 are arranged in this order. Strobe unit 34. DC/DC
Both the C/type data storage unit 35 and the recording medium drive unit 36 are surrounded by a shield member made of a thin iron plate or the like. The insertion/removal opening 36a of the recording medium drive unit 36 for loading the magnetic disk package 28 (see FIG. 1) in a front loading type is as follows.
As mentioned above, it is located on the left side edge furthest from the right side edge, which is the grip of the camera, in order to coincide with the insertion/ejection opening (not shown) of the exterior body, and on the left side where it is easiest to put in and take out the package 28. It is open and open.

Further, a battery storage section 37 is disposed on the side of the optical system 30 facing the recording medium drive unit 36 across the optical axis 0. The battery storage section 37 has an opening at its lower end as a battery insertion port, and the power source battery 38 is inserted into the battery storage section 37 as shown by the arrow. The power supply battery 38 has a large mW among the components built into the electronic still camera 11, but since the recording medium drive unit 36 is also a mechanical structure, its ff1ffl is relatively large, and the finder section 33 of the optical system 30 is The weight between the left and right sides is balanced. Moreover, as is clear from the correspondence between FIGS. 2 and 3 and FIG. The part where it is placed is the left hand grip. That is, the camera body 12
By arranging heavy weight members in a well-balanced manner on the left and right gripping parts at the rear of the camera, it is easy to grip the camera body 12, and the posture when holding the camera body 12 with both hands is stable. It becomes. Regarding balance in the front-rear direction, the AF section 31 and zooming/aperture section 32 of the optical system 30 located at the front of the camera
However, the weight is relatively large due to the built-in components such as the lens group, so it is not the case that only the rear part of the camera is extremely heavy.

Further, the strobe unit 34. DC/DCC/Formula-
Ta35. Recording medium drive unit 36 and optical system 3
An electric circuit board 41 is disposed horizontally below 0.

A shield member (not shown) is provided on the upper surface of the electric circuit board 41. Parallel to this substrate 41 is the strobe unit 34. An electric circuit board 42 is placed above the DC/DCC/type controller 35 and the recording medium drive unit 36.
or has been set up. Adjustment members such as a trimmer capacitor and a trimmer resistor (not shown) are provided on the top surface of the electric circuit board 42, and electrical adjustments can be easily made with the exterior body including the main body 12 of the electronic still camera 11 removed. is now possible. Further, an electric circuit board 43 is vertically disposed at a position facing the right side of the strobe unit 34 and the right side of the DC/DCC/type controller 35, sandwiching the AF section 31 and zooming/aperture section 32 of the optical system 30. It is set up. Since this electric circuit board 43 includes an imaging system circuit including a synchronization signal generation circuit, there is a possibility that noise may be generated from this electric circuit board 43 to other electric circuits. 43 is a strobe unit DC/D arranged vertically inside the right edge of the camera body 2 and each having other electric circuits;
C converter 35. Electrical Circuit JI> What is Kari 4142 etc.?
Since it is located across the optical system 30, the arrangement is such that it does not affect other electrical circuits as much as possible, such as noise. Furthermore, this electric circuit board 43 is placed in a box-shaped shield member (not shown) in order to prevent the generation of noise. The two electrical circuit boards 41 and 42 arranged horizontally above and below are the strobe unit 34.
, DC/DCC/type motor 35, recording medium drive unit 3
6 by connectors not shown, and the vertically arranged electric circuit board 43 is also electrically connected to the other electric circuit boards 41 and 42 by connectors not shown, respectively. There is.

The DC/DC converter 35 receives the electricity from the battery 38. Based on the voltage, it converts the supply voltage to a level suitable for each electrical circuit, and this DC/DCC
The supply voltage from the motor 35 is sent to each electrical circuit.

By disposing the DC/DCC converter 35 between the strobe unit 34 and the recording medium drive unit 360, the power supply path from the DC/DC converter 35 to the strobe unit 34 and the recording medium drive unit 36 is shortest. It has become a thing. Also, DC/
Two electrical circuit boards 41, upper and lower, from the DCC/former 35
．． The power supply route to 42 is also shortened. Therefore, problems such as power loss and noise generation in the power supply path do not occur. Furthermore, the wiring for power supply can be short, leading to cost reduction.

As described above, in this embodiment, the camera body 12 can be held mainly by gripping with the right hand, and the insertion/removal position on the main body 12 corresponding to the insertion/removal opening 36a of the front-loading type recording medium drive unit 36 can be adjusted. Since the magnetic disk package 28 is provided on the left side, the magnetic disk package 28 can be easily inserted or removed with the left hand while holding the camera body 12 with the right hand.

Although the main body shape of the electronic still camera 11 in the above embodiment is flat, the present invention can also be applied to various other shapes.

The camera body 52 of the electronic still camera 51 shown in FIG. 5 has a shape substantially similar to that of a normal silver halide film camera, which is shorter than the dimensions in the front-rear direction or in the vertical and horizontal directions, excluding the lens barrel 53. Therefore, a recording medium drive unit 54 for driving a magnetic disk to perform recording and reproduction on the disk is also vertically disposed within the camera body 12. The right edge of this camera serves as a grip and can be held with the right hand, and the drive unit 54 is located on the left edge that does not interfere with the position of the imaging optical system. A slit-shaped insertion/removal port 55 for loading is formed on the left side surface where it is easiest to operate with the left hand.

The insertion/removal opening 55 on the left side surface is normally closed by a protective shutter 56 to prevent dust, and the protective shutter 56 opens and closes as the magnetic disk package 28 is inserted or removed. When the magnetic disk package 28 is pushed to some extent through the insertion/ejection opening 55 in a direction parallel to the front and rear plates of the camera body 52, the motor in the drive unit 54 loads it into a predetermined position. When removing the magnetic disk package 28, the motor in the drive unit 54 is driven by pressing an eject button (not shown), and the magnetic disk package 28 is automatically inserted into the insertion/ejection opening 55 in parallel with the front plate of the camera body 52. It is pushed out.

The camera body 62 of the electronic still camera 61 shown in FIG. 6 has a shape substantially similar to that of a normal video movie camera, in which the front-rear dimension, excluding the lens barrel 63, is longer than the vertical and horizontal dimensions. It is showing. This camera body 6
The recording medium drive unit 64 is vertically arranged close to the left side of the camera body 62, and the insertion/ejection port 65 is located on the left side of the rear plate. Existing. Therefore, in this case as well, the magnetic disk package 28 can be easily inserted and removed with the left hand while holding the camera body 62 with the right hand. In this case, the magnetic disk package 28 is inserted and removed in the front and back direction, but this camera 6
Similarly to the embodiment shown in FIG. It may also be possible to insert and remove it in the left and right direction.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, while holding the camera body with one hand, the recording medium can be easily inserted and removed with the other hand.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of one embodiment of an electronic still camera to which the present invention is applied, as seen diagonally from the rear, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a front view of the electronic still camera shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the electronic still camera shown in FIG. FIGS. 5 and 6 are external perspective views of two other embodiments of the electronic still camera to which the present invention is applied, as seen diagonally from the front. FIGS. 28...Magnetic disk package 36.54.
64... Recording medium drive unit 36a, 55.6
5...Insertion and dislocation (loading opening) See 1 Figure

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An electronic imaging device characterized in that a loading opening for a front-loading mechanism is provided in a surface portion of each surface portion of the exterior body that is relatively distant from a surface serving as a grip portion. (2) The above-mentioned front-loading mechanism has a configuration in which the recording medium is loaded by moving the recording medium in a direction substantially parallel to both surfaces that are closest to each other among the surfaces that make up the exterior of the camera body. The electronic imaging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: