JPH0275281A - Electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operating function by making a delay time from the operation of release till the actual start of exposure constant even if either a mechanical shutter is selected or a sensor shutter is selected. CONSTITUTION:An image pickup mode selection section 15 inputs image pickup mode information to a sequence microcomputer control section 11. A half- depression SW 13 is a ready SW and turned on prior to a release SW 14 to activate the sequence microcomputer control section 11 to apply photometric operation and the release SW 14 is turned on to start the image pickup. Even when either the mechanical shutter is selected or the sensor shutter is selected, the time from the release operation till the start of exposure is made identical. Thus, an electronic camera offering convenient usage is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an operation control device for an electronic still camera.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, electronic still cameras that record images purely electrically without using silver halide film have been attracting attention.

Electronic still cameras use a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD or MOS for the photosensitive section, and the recording section uses a memory without moving parts such as a semiconductor memory, or a small magnetic disk that rotates at a constant speed and is read by a magnetic head. It is to be recorded. At present, it is generally known to perform analog recording on small magnetic disks. Compared to silver halide cameras, this electronic still camera has features such as the ability to quickly play back and erase on a monitor etc. without the need for development, and the ability to easily remove and replace discs midway through. Features: (1) In all shooting modes, the time lag from release to the actual start of exposure, that is, shutter opening, is constant.

(2) Camera functions were lacking, such as camera functions (mirror up, mechanical shack running, shutter/mirror charge, etc.) that worked regardless of whether recording was installed or not.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] For this reason, those who are familiar with conventional silver halide cameras find electronic still cameras inconvenient due to their different usability. Furthermore, those who are used to the procedure of checking camera functions before loading film find it inconvenient to be unable to check camera functions before loading a disc. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned problems and inconveniences and to provide an electronic still camera that has operational functions equivalent to conventional silver halide cameras.

[Means to solve problems]

Therefore, in the present invention, whether a mechanical shank or a sensor shutter is selected, the delay time from the time the release is operated until the actual exposure starts is constant in both cases. did.

Furthermore, the mechanical shutter system was made to operate even if no magnetic disk was loaded.

[Function] For those who are familiar with cameras, the time lag between the shutter release operation and the start of exposure is extremely important, and although each camera is different, it is important to understand the time lag unique to that camera. The instantaneous shack-chance is recorded by performing a release operation while taking into account the time delay. In the present invention, if the time from the release operation to the start of exposure is the same whether the mechanical shutter is selected or the sensor shutter is selected, it is possible for those who operate the camera to become familiar with the process. In addition, it is possible to check the shutter system on the camera body side before loading travelogue media, which improves work efficiency.

(Embodiment) Fig. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an example of an electronic camera according to the present invention.To explain each block and each signal, first, light from a subject is input through a lens 1, and an optical system 2
Then, it is guided to a measurement silicon photodiode (hereinafter abbreviated as SPD) 6 and a mechanical shank 3. Although not shown in the diagram, it goes without saying that the light is guided to the viewfinder. The light passing through the shutter is sent to an image sensor.
4, the signal processing unit 5 applies necessary processing to the recording signal, and the recording signal is sent to the recording unit 12 as a recording signal.
is input to. For the signal processing section 5 and the recording section 12, known circuit means are used. Furthermore, the light input to the photometric SPD is converted into an electrical signal, which is input to the sequence microcomputer control unit 11, where the sequence microcomputer control unit 11 calculates the appropriate exposure, and controls the shutter through the shutter drive circuit 7 to achieve the appropriate exposure. . Illustrated at the same time.
4 = Not present, but it goes without saying that aperture control is performed.

Then, through the sensor drive circuit 8, the image sensor 4
The accumulation control is performed. Furthermore, the sequence microcomputer control section 11 is a circuit that performs sequence control of the entire system, and outputs drive timing to each block. The sensor drive circuit 4 is driven by a sensor drive circuit 8, and a drive pulse generation circuit 9 receives a synchronization signal from a synchronization signal generation circuit 16 to generate narrow timings during driving.

The synchronization signal 16 generates a horizontal synchronization signal (hereinafter abbreviated as HD), a vertical synchronization signal (hereinafter abbreviated as VD), and the like. The photographing mode selection section 15 inputs photographing mode information (manual mode, aperture mode, sensor shunter mode, etc.) to the sequence microcomputer control section 11. Half-press 5W13 is a ready SW, and by turning it on before release 5W14, 5P-D6 and sequence microcomputer control unit 11 operate to perform photometry calculations. Release 5W
14 starts photographing when turned on. Installation 5W
Reference numeral 17 indicates that the sequence microcomputer 11 determines whether or not a disk is attached using 0N10FF. FIG. 2 shows an example of a shunter drive circuit.

Both the front curtain and the rear curtain are of electromagnetic adsorption type, and transistor T is used.
1st, Mg2 by turning on r22 and Tr23
0.2nd, conduct Mg 21 and hold the leading and trailing curtains by suction. 0N10FF of Tr22 and Tr23 are the front curtain star 1~ of the sequence microcomputer control aT1 section 11.
T by changing the leading curtain start control signal from "H" to "L" under the control of the control signal and the trailing curtain start control signal.
By turning r22 ON, the 0FFL front curtain is run, and after an appropriate shutter time, Tr23 is turned OFF from ON to run the rear curtain, thereby controlling shutter exposure. Figure 3 shows the main time chart controlled by the sequence microcomputer control unit 11 after the release switch is turned on when a disc is installed, Figure 4 is a time chart of sensor shunter mode with a disc installed, and Figure 5 is the time chart when no disc is installed. Show chart. The readout control signal in Figs. 1, 3 to 5 is “■
] is used to stop reading the image sensor, and ``7'' is used to control the start of reading, and the period in which the recording control signal is ``H'' is the recording period.

Also, power is supplied by the power control signal 'H'.

Next, a flow chart for realizing these time charts is shown in FIG. The main time chart 1 of this embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 will be explained using this flowchart.

First, when the release SW is turned ON (“'H” → “L”), the synchronization signal is reset (VD reset), and immediately after that, the first curtain start control signal “H” and the second curtain start control signal “H”
``'' As a result, the first curtain and the second curtain are electromagnetically attracted.Next, the installation SW1.7 determines whether a disk is installed or not, and if a disk is not installed, the power control signal is set to ``L''.
'' and then waits for 20 m and 5 hours. If a disk is installed and the sensor shutter mode is set, the power control signal is set to "H" and the wait is 15 m and 5 hours. If the disk is not installed and the sensor shutter mode is not (mechanical Shutter mode) Wait for 25ms, then wait for 60m5 hours, then wait for 20m5 at the rising edge of VD ("L"→"H')
'') continues to wait for a falling edge (14'°→"I,"). When a rising edge is caught, in the case of mechanical shutter mode, the continuous output control signal is set to "H" and continuous output of the image sensor is stopped. Then, it catches the rising edge of VD and then waits for the falling edge of VD.

In the case of the mechanical shutter mode with a disc installed as shown in Figure 3, the VD re-cent is performed immediately after the release, so 2
If you wait for VD after waiting for 5-t-60=85 ms, you can catch VD about 100 m5 after release.

In addition, in the case of the sensor shunter in Figure 4, 15 + 60
= Approximately 8 seconds from release as it waits for VD after waiting for 75ms
You can catch VD after 3m5. Furthermore, if no disk is installed, power is not supplied to the synchronization signal, so VD does not occur and a 20m5 timeout occurs.20 +
60 +20 = 100m5 elapsed. Thereafter, the front curtain starts running by setting the front curtain start control signal to "'L".

In the leading curtain running trailing curtain mechanical shutter mode, the shutter time is counted, and after the count-up, the trailing curtain start control signal is set to "L" to run the trailing curtain.

Since the start of this front curtain travel is the start of exposure, the time lag from release to the start of exposure is 1.5 seconds, as shown in FIG.
00 m s. In addition, in the case of the sensor shutter mode, in this embodiment, the exposure period is 1/1000 second of the next VD blanking period (VD signal ゛I]'' period) after the front curtain runs, so as shown in Fig. 4. The time lag from the release ON to the start of exposure is approximately 100m5.Furthermore, even if no disc is installed, the time lag from the release ON to the start of the first curtain (pseudo exposure start) is 100m5 as shown in Figure 5.Next, the mechanical If the disc is installed in shunter mode, wait 8ms after the trailing curtain starts running, then set the continuous control signal to "L" at the next rising edge of VD, start reading from the image sensor,
At the falling edge of VD, the recording control signal is set to "H" to start recording. Then, at the falling edge of the next VD, that is, the third VD after the start of recording, the recording control signal and the power supply control signal are set to "■," and the recording ends. If the disc is not mounted in the mechanical shutter mode (FIG. 5), no recording operation is performed after the trailing curtain runs.

In addition, in the sensor shutter mode (Fig. 4), the recording control is set to "H" at the falling edge of the next VD after the front curtain has run.
Then, turn the recording control to "L" at the beginning of the second VD.
′, this period is set as the recording period. In this embodiment, since the image sensor is an interline 1-transfer CCD, field recording is performed in the sensor shutter mode.

(By controlling the camera, the time lag from the release to the start of exposure can be kept constant at 100 m5, and if no disc is attached, only the camera function can be operated and the recording function can be stopped.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the time lag from the release to the start of shooting is constant in all shooting modes, and even when no disc is installed, the release is released and the time lag is also constant, so the photographer can be sure that the timing is exactly what he or she intended. You can make full use of the shutter timing, and you can check the camera functions even when shooting from the air (no disc installed), making it a very useful electronic camera. Also, when taking aerial shots, no power is consumed for anything other than the camera function, so the power consumption is also very low.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows an example of the shutter drive circuit of this embodiment. Figure 3 is the main time chart in disk-mounted mechanical shutter mode, Figure 4
The figure shows main time chart 1 in the video shutter mode with a disc installed, and Figure 5 shows the main time chart in the mechanical shutter mode with no disc installed. Figure 6 is Figure 3,
An example of a flowchart for realizing the time charts of FIGS. 4 and 5.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A photographic lens that forms a subject image, an imaging means that converts the subject image into a video signal, and is arranged between the photographic lens and the imaging means, and controls the amount of exposure of the subject image to the photographing means. A mechanical shutter is controlled by the operation, and after the mechanical shutter is opened, the exposure amount is controlled by controlling the imaging means. sensor shutter and
a signal processing means for processing the output signal from the photographing means; and a recording means for recording the output signal from the signal processing means;
An electronic still camera equipped with a determination means for determining whether or not a recording medium is attached, characterized in that the time from release to start of exposure is always controlled to be constant regardless of which shutter is used. Electronic still camera. (2) The electronic still camera according to claim 1, wherein the time from release to start of exposure is always controlled to be constant regardless of the output of the determining means. (3) The electronic still camera according to claim 2, wherein power supply control for an imaging and recording system is performed based on the output of the determining means.