JPH05244471A - Electronic still camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily attain focus adjustment even when an electronic view finder with a few picture element numbers by magnifying a picture of a designated part onto the entire display screen of a small sized monitor so as to adjust the focus. CONSTITUTION:In the case of making focus adjustment, a frame line setting switch 27 is operated at first. A CPU 28 displays a white level frame line 29 to designate a focus matching area onto an LCD monitor 26 and display data for a frame line are written in a frame memory 18. When the position of the frame line is decided, a focus adjustment switch 32 is operated. Then a picture in the frame line is displayed on the entire display screen of the monitor 26 with magnification. Then a photographer executes the focus adjustment while observing the picture displayed on the screen of the monitor 26 with magnification. Then the display pattern of the monitor 26 is restored to a picture of an original field angle by restoring the switch 32 from the operating position to the non-operating position after the end of adjustment and image is picked up by operating a release switch.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic still camera device for converting an optical image of a photographed object into digital image data, performing compression processing and recording the compressed image on a recording medium, and in particular, focusing adjustment by the electronic viewfinder. It's about what you can do easily.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in recent years, there has been an electronic photographic system which converts an optical image of a photographed subject into digital image data and causes a television receiver to display an image based on the digital image data. It has been developed and is becoming popular in the market. An example of such an electronic photography system is an electronic still camera device. This electronic still camera device includes a semiconductor memory, a magnetic tape,
A recording medium such as a disc is attached to the camera body, and the digital image data obtained by shooting is recorded.After recording, remove the recording medium from the camera body, attach it to the playback device, and connect it to the playback device. A still image is displayed by the television receiver that has been set up.

In such an electronic still camera device, since the amount of digital image data to be handled is enormous, in order to record a large amount of digital image data in a limited recording medium capacity, The digital image data is compressed. FIG. 3 shows a conventional electronic still camera device having such a data compression function. First, the optical image of the subject that has entered through the imaging lens 11 is guided to the optical finder 14 through the mirrors 12 and 13 and is viewed by the photographer. The photographer decides the angle of view of the subject excluding the optical viewfinder 14,
After the focus of the lens unit 11 is adjusted, a release switch (not shown) is operated to perform photographing.

When the release switch is operated, the mirror 12 is flipped up, and an optical image of the subject incident through the image pickup lens 11 is formed on a CCD (charge coupled device) 15 and electrically. It is converted into an image signal. The image signal output from this CCD 15 is
After being supplied to the image pickup circuit 16 and subjected to color separation processing, A
It is converted into digital image data by the / D (analog / digital) conversion circuit 17 and is once written in the frame memory 18. Then, the digital image data read from the frame memory 18 is supplied to the compression circuit 19 to reduce the amount of data, and then the memory card 2 having a semiconductor memory (not shown) built therein via the card control circuit 20.
Stored in 1.

Here, in the electronic still camera device as described above, it is an essential subject to miniaturize the structure of the optical system in order to miniaturize and reduce the cost. That is, in the current structure of the optical system, the imaging lens 11 and the CCD
It is necessary to interpose the mirror 12 and its flip-up mechanism between the CCD 15 and the optical mirror 15, and depending on the type of CCD 15 used, an optical low-pass filter, a prism, etc.
It is necessary to install it in the preceding stage of 5, and after all, the imaging lens 11
It is necessary to set the distance between the CCD 15 and the CCD 15 to about 30 to 50 mm.

On the other hand, the wide-angle side focal length of the image pickup lens 11 is 8 in a 2/3 "or 1/2" CCD.
-10 mm, and the imaging lens 11 and C at this focal length
In order to set a distance of 30 to 50 mm from the CD 15, the image pickup lens 11 needs to be extremely retrofocused, which causes a disadvantage that the diameter of the image pickup lens 11 becomes large. Therefore, recently, in the electronic still camera device, instead of the optical finder 14,
For example, by using an electronic viewfinder that is commonly used in 8 mm type video cameras, the distance between the imaging lens 11 and the CCD 15 can be shortened by eliminating the mirror 12 and its flipping mechanism. It is considered to reduce the size.

However, since the screen size of an electronic viewfinder installed in an electronic still camera device is smaller than that of a video camera, the number of pixels in an LCD (liquid crystal display device) is used, for example. Can be used as long as the angle of view of the subject is confirmed, but there is a problem in that the image on the screen is insufficient for focus adjustment. In particular, when it is desired to photograph a fine pattern or characters for close-up photography, it is very difficult to adjust the focus.

[0008]

As described above, the conventional electronic still camera device using the electronic viewfinder has a problem that it is difficult to adjust the focus because the number of pixels of the electronic viewfinder is not sufficient. ing.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and provides an extremely good electronic still camera device in which focus adjustment can be easily performed even when an electronic viewfinder having a small number of pixels is used. With the goal.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An electronic still camera device according to the present invention is intended for converting an optical image of a photographed subject into digital image data, compressing the image, and recording the image on a recording medium. A small monitor for displaying an image based on data, a specifying means for specifying a part of the image displayed on the small monitor, and an enlarged display for enlarging and displaying the image part specified by the specifying means on the entire display screen of the small monitor. And means.

[0011]

With the above-described structure, the portion of the image displayed on the small monitor that is desired to be in focus is designated,
Since the image of the designated portion is enlarged and displayed on the entire display screen of the small monitor to perform the focus adjustment, the focus adjustment can be easily performed even if the small monitor having a small number of pixels is used.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, the same parts as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals. However, since the electronic viewfinder is used, the mirrors 12 and 13 and the optical finder 14 are omitted. That is, the digital image data written in the frame memory 18 is read out in the order of addresses designated by the control of the memory control circuit 22, and converted into an analog image signal by the D / A (digital / analog) conversion circuit 23. After
In the reproducing circuit 24, for example, it is converted into the form of NTSC signal,
An image is displayed on the LCD monitor 26 via the f special (frequency characteristic) correction circuit 25. In this case, the LCD monitor 26 is an electronic viewfinder, and an image of an optical image of a subject incident through the imaging lens 11 as shown in FIG. 2A is displayed as an image. Also, this LCD monitor 26
Is removable from the camera body.

Next, when the focus is adjusted, the frame line setting switch 27 is first operated. Then CP
The U (central processing unit) 28 has a white level frame line 29 for designating a focus matching area as shown in FIG.
Is displayed on the LCD monitor 26, the address generation circuit 30 and the memory control circuit are controlled to write the display data of the frame line 29 in the frame memory 18. The frame line 29 can be freely moved on the display screen of the LCD monitor 26 by operating the frame line moving operator 31. This movement of the frame line 29 is performed by the CPU
28 is realized by controlling the address output from the address generation circuit 30 according to the operation position of the frame line moving operator 31, and rewriting the display data of the frame line 29 on the frame memory 18. ..

Now, when the position of the frame line 29 is determined as shown in FIG. 2C, the focus adjustment switch 32
To operate. Then, as shown in FIG.
The image in 9 is enlarged and displayed on the entire display screen of the LCD monitor 26. In this enlarged display, the CPU 28 controls the clock switching circuit 33, and a countdown of the clock output from the oscillation circuit 34 is given to the frame memory 18 via the memory control circuit 22 as a read address, whereby the frame memory 18 is read.
It is realized by slowing down the reading speed of. However,
In this case, the CPU 28 controls the output address of the address generation circuit 30 so that the position of the frame memory 18 corresponding to the upper left end of FIG.

After that, the photographer adjusts the focus while looking at the enlarged image on the screen of the LCD monitor 26 as shown in FIG. 2 (d). Then, by returning the focus adjustment switch 32 from the operated position to the non-operated position after the adjustment is completed, the display screen of the LCD monitor 26 is changed to that shown in FIG.
The image having the original angle of view shown in (a) is restored, and thereafter, the release switch is operated to perform photographing. The f special correction circuit 25 functions so as to clarify the difference in focus and facilitate focus adjustment when the image within the frame line 29 is enlarged to the entire display screen of the LCD monitor 26.

Therefore, according to the configuration of the above embodiment, the portion of the image displayed on the LCD monitor 26 that is desired to be focused is designated by the frame line 29, and the designated portion of the image is displayed on the LCD monitor 26. Since the focus adjustment is performed by enlarging the display on the entire display screen, the focus adjustment can be easily performed even with the LCD monitor 26 having a small number of pixels. For example, the number of pixels of the CCD 15 is 800 × 400 in the horizontal and vertical directions, and the LCD monitor 2
Even if the number of pixels of 6 is 200 × 100 in the horizontal and vertical directions, if the image within the frame line 29 is enlarged and displayed four times on the screen of the LCD monitor 26, the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions is increased. Focus adjustment can be performed with the same ease as when a large 800 × 400 monitor is used. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0017]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an extremely good electronic still camera device that enables easy focus adjustment even with an electronic viewfinder having a small number of pixels.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic still camera device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram shown for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram showing a conventional electronic still camera device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Imaging lens, 12, 13 ... Mirror, 14 ... Optical viewfinder, 15 ... CCD, 16 ... Imaging circuit, 17 ... A /
D conversion circuit, 18 ... Frame memory, 19 ... Compression circuit,
20 ... Card control circuit, 21 ... Memory card,
22 ... Memory control circuit, 23 ... D / A conversion circuit, 24 ... Reproduction circuit, 25 ... F special correction circuit, 26 ... LC
D monitor, 27 ... Frame line setting switch, 28 ... CPU,
29 ... Frame line, 30 ... Address generation circuit, 31 ... Frame line moving operator, 32 ... Focus adjustment switch, 33 ... Clock switching circuit, 34 ... Oscillation circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electronic still camera device for converting an optical image of a photographed subject into digital image data, performing compression processing and recording the compressed image on a recording medium, and a small monitor for displaying an image based on the digital image data, and this small size monitor. It is characterized by comprising: designating means for designating a part of the image displayed on the monitor; and enlarged display means for enlarging and displaying the image portion designated by the designating means on the entire display screen of the small monitor. Electronic still camera device.