JPH0376383A - Photographing device with sound level display function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To monitor a sound level while observing an object by mixing sound level information with a video signal and visually displaying the information together with the video signal in an electronic view finder. CONSTITUTION:A sound signal from a microphone 1 is processed by a sound signal processing circuit 2 and outputted to a terminal 20 and the sound level information are prepared by a microcomputer 5 and converted to a video signal form by an on-screen display circuit (OSD circuit) 6. Afterwards, the information are mixed with the video signal from a video signal processing circuit 4 by a mixing circuit 7 and the mixed signal is impressed to an electronic view finder EVF 8. On the other hand, a switch 10 is provided to change over the output of the circuit 4 and the output (the video signal including the sound level information) of the circuit 7 and to output it to a terminal 30. Then, by turning ON this switch 10, the video signal including the sound level information can be supplied through the terminal 30 to an external monitor or a recorder, etc., and by turning OFF this switch 10, only the video signal can be outputted to an external part.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to photographing devices such as video cameras and camera-integrated VTRs, and in particular to a method for monitoring audio levels without taking your eyes off the viewfinder during shooting. The present invention relates to a photographing device with an audio level display function.

[Conventional technology]

It is known that the audio level in this type of photographing device is monitored by displaying the magnitude of the audio signal on a level meter installed in a part of the housing of the photographing device, for example, on the side surface of the housing.

Note that related devices of this type include, for example, those described in Monthly Video Capa J, May 1988 issue, published by Gakushu Kenkyusha.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional technology mentioned above, in order to check the audio level during shooting, it is necessary to move away from the viewfinder and look at the level meter, which makes it difficult to keep an accurate focus on the subject. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a photographing device with an audio level display function that can simultaneously monitor the audio level while capturing a subject with a viewfinder during imaging.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above object is achieved by providing means for creating audio level information from the output signal of the audio signal processing circuit, mixing it with the video signal from the video signal processing circuit, and displaying it in the electronic viewfinder.

[Effect]

By mixing the audio level information with the video signal and visually displaying it together with the video signal in the electronic viewfinder,
You can monitor the audio level while looking at the subject.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a video camera, where ■ is a microphone (hereinafter simply referred to as a microphone), 2 is an audio signal processing circuit, 3 is a camera section, and 4 is a video signal processing circuit. , 5 is a microcomputer as an audio level information creation and control circuit, 6 is an on-screen display circuit (hereinafter referred to as O3D3o), 7 is a mixing circuit, 8 is an electronic viewfinder (EVF), 1
0 is a switch, 20 is an audio signal output terminal, and 3o is a video signal output terminal.

The configuration shown in the figure is the audio signal source (microphone in this case)
It is characterized by creating audio level information from the audio signal from the microphone, mixing it with the refrigerated signal from the video signal source (in this case, the camera section), and displaying it in the electronic viewfinder. The audio signal from 1 is processed by the audio signal processing circuit 2 and output to the ζ terminal 20. At the same time, the microcomputer 5 creates audio level information, the OSD circuit 6 converts it into a video signal format, and the mixing circuit 7 It mixes the video signal from the video signal processing circuit 4 and applies the mixed signal to the electronic viewfinder 8.

On the other hand, the output of the video signal processing circuit 4 and the output of the mixing circuit 7 (
(video signal containing audio level information) and terminal 1.
A switch 10 is provided for outputting to the terminal 2, and when this switch 10 is turned on, a video signal containing audio level information is supplied to an external monitor, recording device, etc. via the terminal 3°, and then turned off. This makes it possible to output only the video signal to the outside.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of the present invention, showing an example in which the present invention is applied to a camera-integrated VTR.

In the figure, the same symbols as in Figure 1 correspond to the same parts,
11 is a video signal conversion circuit, 12 is a frequency conversion circuit, 13
1 is a magnetic head, 14 is a magnetic tape, and 15 is a recording amplifier.

Similar to FIG. 1, the audio signal from the microphone 1 is processed by the audio signal processing circuit 2, and the microcomputer 5
Audio level information is created in , and after being mixed with the video signal from the video signal processing circuit 4 in the mixing circuit 7 via the O3D3o6, it is displayed on the electronic viewfinder 8.

On the other hand, the output of the audio signal processing circuit 2 is transmitted to the frequency conversion circuit 12.
, it is converted into a format suitable for recording.

Furthermore, the output of the video signal processing circuit 4 is the output of the video signal conversion circuit 1.
1 and frequency-converts the luminance component,
The chroma component is subjected to low M conversion.

The converted audio signal and video signal are added/amplified by a recording amplifier 15 and recorded on a magnetic tape 14 by a magnetic head 13.

With this configuration, it is possible to record the photographic signal (video signal, audio signal) on the magnetic tape while monitoring the audio level with the electronic viewfinder.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the audio signal source is an external signal source other than a microphone. Processing is performed in the same manner as in the embodiment, and the audio level is displayed in the electronic viewfinder.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating still another embodiment of the present invention, in which an audio level display function for monitoring the audio level during shooting and recording can be used in the playback mode of the VTR. The same reference numerals as in each of the above embodiments correspond to the same functional parts, 9 is a reproduction amplifier, and 19 is a magnetic head.

In the figure, the audio signal is multiplexed with the video signal and recorded on the magnetic tape 14, and is shown as being reproduced by the magnetic head 19, but the audio signal is not limited to this, and the audio signal is recorded on the magnetic tape 14. A method of reproducing using a head may also be used.

In FIG. 4, a signal recorded on a magnetic tape 14 is read by a magnetic head 19, and this reproduced signal is amplified by an amplifier 9, followed by an audio signal processing circuit 2 and a video signal processing circuit 4.
give to The audio signal processing circuit 2 extracts the audio component from the reproduced signal, outputs it to the terminal 20 as an audio signal, and applies it to the microcomputer 5. The microcomputer 5 creates audio level information from the audio signal,
The signal is supplied to a mixing circuit 7 through an O3D circuit 6, mixed with a video signal demodulated by a video signal processing circuit 4, and displayed on an electronic viewfinder 8.

Note that the operation of the switch 10 is similar to that of the previous embodiment.

As a result, it is possible to check whether or not audio has been recorded within the viewfinder without having to monitor the audio when checking recording, and it is also possible to check the audio level. Also, it is possible to check the audio level on the external monitor for differences played back on the external monitor.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the audio level display mode in the electronic viewfinder, where <a> indicates the left (L) and right (R) stereo audio levels superimposed on the bottom center of the viewfinder.
When the audio level is displayed, (b) moves L to the left,
When R is displayed vertically to the right, (C) is a □ display in which L changes to the left and R changes to the right from the center of the lower row of the viewfinder. This determines the size of the audio signal.

It becomes possible to know the L/H balance at a glance.

In addition, in the figure, the magnitude of the audio level is digitally displayed by changing the length consisting of the number of mouths, but this is not the only option, and various display formats can be adopted, including analog display. .

In this way, since the audio level is visually displayed together with the subject in the viewfinder, it is possible to check the audio level while shooting without taking your eyes off the subject to check/monitor the audio level.

FIG. 6 shows the components surrounding the microcomputer constituting the present invention, where 5 is a microcomputer that controls the operation of the device and also has the function of creating the above-mentioned audio level information.

Further, 6 is an O5D, and 7 is a mixing circuit. Here, an example applied to a camera-integrated VTR will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart explaining the operation of FIG. 6, in which reset/initialization is first performed (S-1
), captures the input of each operation key (S-2), controls the VTR system (S-3), and controls the camera system.
(S-4) and capture the audio signal from the microphone (
S-5), create audio level information from the captured audio signal and perform O3D data conversion (S-6), give this data to the 080 circuit and display it on the viewfinder 11
1m (S-7) Display the audio level on the viewfinder and repeat this operation.

The above-described operation allows the above-mentioned audio level to be monitored within the viewfinder.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to check/monitor the audio level without taking your eyes off the subject in the viewfinder during camera shooting, and to adjust the audio level to 11.
It is possible to provide a photographing device with an audio level display function that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and has excellent functions, such as being able to take photographs while using W1.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a video camera, Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating still another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the audio level display mode within the electronic viewfinder, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart explaining the operation of FIG. 6. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Microphone, 2...Audio signal processing circuit, 3...Camera section, 4...Video signal processing circuit, 5...Microcomputer, 6...On...
Screen display circuit (030 circuit), 7...
...Mixing circuit, 8...Electronic viewfinder (
EVF), 10... switch, 20... audio signal output terminal, 30... video signal output terminal. (G) Fig. 5(b) (C) , Microphone 2゛Audio signal processing circuit 3: Camera section 4: Barking signal processing circuit 5゛Microcontroller C Nitaro °○SD Ro trace 7: -A Anzuguchi 8: EVF Oni figure 2 beginning figure 6 figure so

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An audio signal source, an audio signal processing circuit that processes the audio signal from the audio signal source, a video signal source, and a video signal processing circuit that processes the video signal from the video signal source; An audio level information creation circuit that creates audio level information from the output of the audio signal processing circuit, and an output of the video signal processing circuit, in a photographing device with an audio level display function that is equipped with an electronic viewfinder that monitors a video signal. A mixing circuit for mixing audio level information with the signal and an on-screen display circuit for displaying the output of the mixing circuit on the electronic viewfinder are provided to visually display the audio level information in the electronic viewfinder. A photographing device with an audio level display function. 2. The photographing apparatus with an audio level display function according to claim 1, further comprising a switch means for selectively outputting the output of the mixing circuit and the output of the video signal processing circuit to an external output terminal.