JPH06265995A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the visibility of a display unit viewed by a photographer excellent whichever display unit the photographer viewes. CONSTITUTION:This camera is provided with a discrimination means 4 discriminating which is used by the photographer, an external display unit 1 or an internal display unit 2; and a display mode switching means 4 switching a display mode from a 1st display mode in which the visibility of the external display unit is prioritized to a 2nd display mode in which the visibility of the internal display unit is prioritized in the case the discrimination means discriminates that the photographer's eye approaches to the eyepiece part of a finder. In the case of discriminating that the photographer's eye approaches to the eyepiece part of the finder, the display mode is switched to the 2nd display mode in which the visibility of the internal display unit arranged within the finder is prioritized by judging that the photographer views the internal display unit.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises an external display disposed outside the camera, an internal display disposed in the viewfinder, and an illumination means for performing auxiliary illumination when the external display is dark. It concerns the improvement of the camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a camera having display means inside the viewfinder and outside the camera so as to notify a photographer of photographing information such as shutter speed and aperture value.

Especially in recent cameras, as a display means,
Various types of liquid crystal displays have been proposed and commercialized. As for external display, there is a display in which a light emitting diode or the like is provided as a backlight on the back surface of the liquid crystal display so that the operation can be confirmed so that the display can be seen even in the dark.

When a liquid crystal is used for each of the internal and external displays, if the drive circuits are separately arranged, the circuit structure becomes complicated and the cost is increased. Therefore, as a general method, one drive circuit is provided. The circuit configuration is simplified by using the same for each display. That is, in the case of displaying "1/1000" seconds of the shutter speed for both the internal display and the external display, it is common to connect the internal and external liquid crystal displays from a single drive circuit in parallel.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the circuit configuration of the above conventional example.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 51 is an external liquid crystal display arranged on the upper surface of the camera, 52 is an internal liquid crystal display arranged in the finder, and 53 is a liquid crystal drive circuit (hereinafter, LC).
Reference numeral 54 denotes a D decoder driver) and 54 is a microcomputer for controlling the LCD decoder driver 53.

The LCD decoder driver 53 decodes the code indicating the display content output from the micro computer 54, and outputs the external liquid crystal display 51 and the internal liquid crystal display 5.
2, the same voltage value drive signal is supplied to both liquid crystal displays 51 and 52.

With such a structure, while the circuit structure is certainly simplified, it is necessary to make the driving voltages of the external liquid crystal display 51 and the internal liquid crystal display 52 the same, but in general, different liquid crystal displays are used. Since the optimum drive voltage is different for each device, if the drive voltage is set so as to improve the visibility with respect to the external liquid crystal display device 51, the visibility with respect to the internal liquid crystal display device 52 is lowered. There are cases. vice versa,
If the drive voltage is set so that the internal liquid crystal display 52 has good visibility, there is a problem that the external liquid crystal display 51 has low visibility. In particular, as the drive duty of the liquid crystal is reduced to 1/4 and 1/5, the degree of decrease becomes severe.

[0009]

Therefore, conventionally, the drive voltage has been set to a voltage which does not cause a great dissatisfaction with both the internal liquid crystal display 52 and the external liquid crystal display 51, but has been commercialized. This means that the internal liquid crystal display 52,
There is a problem in that there is some dissatisfaction with the visibility of both external liquid crystal displays.

Apart from this, as described above, there is also proposed a camera in which an LED or EL is arranged as a backlight on the back of an external liquid crystal display so that the photographer can operate the camera even in the dark. This kind of camera has a structure in which the backlight on the back surface remains lit even when the photographer is looking at the internal liquid crystal display, that is, when not looking at the external liquid crystal display. However, there is a problem that the used battery is wasted.

(Object of the Invention) It is an object of the present invention to improve the visibility of the display which the photographer is looking at, regardless of which display the photographer is looking at. It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera capable of preventing power consumption.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a discriminating means for discriminating which one of an external display and an internal display is used by a photographer, and the discriminating means is used by the photographer for a viewfinder eyepiece. When it is determined that the eyepiece is being operated on or the operation member is operated to start the shooting preparation operation, the display mode is prioritized on the visibility of the external display. A display mode switching means is provided for switching from the first display mode to the second display mode in which the visibility of the internal display device is prioritized, and when it is determined that the photographer is in contact with the viewfinder eyepiece, or When it is determined that the operation member for starting the preparation operation is operated, it is assumed that the photographer is looking at the internal display, and the second display that prioritizes the visibility of the internal display arranged in the viewfinder is displayed. Switch to display mode There.

In addition to the above-mentioned means, when the second display mode is selected by the lighting means for performing auxiliary lighting in the darkness of the external display and the display mode switching means, the lighting means of the lighting means is selected. A lighting control means for stopping the driving is provided, and the visibility of the internal display arranged in the finder is prioritized.
When switching to the display mode of, the photographer is looking at the internal display, not the external display,
Auxiliary lighting for the external display is not provided.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing each display unit and its control drive unit provided in the camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an external liquid crystal display arranged on the upper surface of the camera or the like, 2 is an internal liquid crystal display arranged in the finder, and 3 is a code indicating the display contents output from a microcomputer described later. To drive the external liquid crystal display 1 and the internal liquid crystal display 2 for display.
The CD decoder driver 4 is a microcomputer for controlling the LCD decoder driver 3. Reference numeral 5 is a reference voltage generation circuit that provides an optimum drive voltage for the external liquid crystal display 1, 6 is a reference voltage generation circuit that is an optimum drive voltage for the internal liquid crystal display 2, and 7 is the external liquid crystal display 1 is an LED as an auxiliary lighting device in the dark, 8 is an LED arranged in the eyepiece for detecting the eye movement of the photographer,
Reference numeral 9 is a phototransistor for detecting the reflected light of the LED 8, 10 is a resistor for converting a photocurrent flowing in the phototransistor 9 into a voltage, and 11 is a photographer's eyeball.

The LED 7 has an anode side connected to the + side of a power supply battery (not shown) and a cathode side connected to the output port P2 of the microcomputer 4.
The LED 8 has its anode side connected to the + side of a power source battery (not shown) and its cathode side connected to the microcomputer 4
Of the output port P3. The collector of the fort transistor 9 is connected to the + side of a power supply battery (not shown), and the emitter side is connected to one end of the resistor 10. The other end of the resistor 10 is connected to the negative side of a power supply battery (not shown), and the signal current-voltage converted by the resistor 10 is connected to the input port P4 of the microcomputer 4.

Next, the operation of the microcomputer 4 of the camera having the above structure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. [Step 101] When it is detected that a power supply battery (not shown) of the camera is turned on, a low level signal is output from the output port P3.

As a result, the LED 8 is forward biased and lit. [Step 102] The input state of the input port P4 is read in order to determine whether or not the photographer is performing an eyepiece operation on the eyepiece. This is because if the photographer is performing the eyepiece movement, the light emitted from the LED 8 is the eyeball 11 of the photographer.
Is reflected by the phototransistor 9 and is input to the phototransistor 9, and a photocurrent flows to change the input state of the input port P4.
Can be determined. That is, if the eyepiece operation is performed as shown in FIG. 1, a photocurrent flows through the phototransistor 9 and the resistance 1
A voltage is generated by 0, and the input signal of the input port P4 becomes high level. On the contrary, if the photographer does not perform the eyepiece operation, the light emitted by the LED 8 is not reflected and input to the phototransistor 9, so that no photocurrent flows through the phototransistor 9 and the input port P4. The input signal of becomes low level. As a result of the above, if it is determined that the eyepiece operation is being performed, step 1
When it is determined that the eyepiece operation is not performed in step 06, the process proceeds to step 103. [Step 103] Since the eyepiece operation is not performed here, it can be estimated that the photographer is looking at the external liquid crystal display 1. Therefore, a low level signal is output from the output port P2.

As a result, the LED 7 is biased in the forward direction and lights up, and exhibits the function of the external liquid crystal display 1 as an auxiliary lighting device. [Step 104] Since the eyepiece operation is not performed here, in order to notify the external liquid crystal display 1 that the optimum drive voltage reference voltage generation circuit 5 side is switched, the LCD is output from the output port P1. It outputs a low level signal to the decoder driver 3.

As a result, the LCD decoder driver 3 selects the reference voltage generation circuit 5 side as the reference voltage of the drive voltage, and as a result, the visibility of the external liquid crystal display 1 is improved and the visibility of the internal liquid crystal display 2 is improved. Becomes worse.

After step 104, the microcomputer 4 controls the operation of the camera in response to an operation switch of the camera (not shown), but the details thereof are not related to the present invention, and therefore the description thereof is omitted. Then step 10
Go to 5. [Step 105] Here, a code indicating the display content (aperture shutter time or aperture value) desired to be output is output to the LCD decoder driver 3.

As a result, the LCD decoder driver 3 decodes the received code and drives the external liquid crystal display 1 and the internal liquid crystal display 2 to display the contents. Then, the process returns to step 102 and the same operation is repeated.

If it is determined in step 102 that the eyepiece operation is being performed, the process proceeds to step 106 as described above. [Step 106] Since the eyepiece operation is performed here, it can be estimated that the photographer does not look at the external liquid crystal display 1. Therefore, a high level signal is output from the output port P2 to the LED 7.

As a result, the LED 7 is turned off because there is no forward bias, the function of the external liquid crystal display 1 as the auxiliary lighting device is stopped, and the power consumption of the power supply battery is stopped. [Step 107] Since the eyepiece operation is being performed, in order to notify the internal liquid crystal display 2 that the liquid crystal drive voltage is switched to the optimum drive voltage reference voltage generation circuit 6 side,
A high level signal is output from the output port P1 to the LCD decoder driver 3.

As a result, the LCD decoder driver 3 selects the reference voltage generating circuit 6 side as the reference voltage of the drive voltage, and as a result, the visibility of the internal liquid crystal display 2 becomes good and the external liquid crystal display 3 becomes visible. Visibility deteriorates.

Thereafter, the same operation as above is repeated.

The structure as a means for detecting whether or not the finder eyepiece is in the eyepiece is known in a camera that starts a photometric operation when the eyepiece is in the eye, and in Japanese Patent Application No.
4-42639, Japanese Patent Application No. -36532, Japanese Patent Application No. -3
The means disclosed in No. 6533 and the like can be easily used as the eyepiece detecting means in this case.

In recent years, a camera has been proposed which switches the point of autofocus by detecting the line-of-sight position of the photographer, and by utilizing these detection devices, it can be used as the eyepiece detection means of the present case.

According to the first embodiment, it is determined whether or not the photographer is in contact with the viewfinder eyepiece, and if it is determined that the eyepiece is in the eyepiece, the internal liquid crystal arranged in the viewfinder is used. For the display 2 to be in the most visible state,
The drive voltage is switched, and the LED 7 provided on the back surface of the external liquid crystal display 1 for auxiliary illumination of the external display is turned off. Further, when it is determined that the eyepiece is not in contact, the drive voltage is switched so that the external liquid crystal display 1 is in the most visible state.

Therefore, when it can be estimated that the photographer is looking at the external liquid crystal display 1, the external liquid crystal display 1
When it is presumed that the internal liquid crystal display 2 is viewed, it is possible to enhance the visibility of the internal liquid crystal display 2 to make each display easy to see. If it can be estimated that the liquid crystal display 1 is not being viewed, the LED 7 is turned off, so that the power supply battery is not consumed unnecessarily.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing each display unit and its control drive unit provided in a camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that parts having the same functions as those in FIG.

In FIG. 3, 12 is a pull-up resistor, 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes a switch interlocked with an operating means for starting a shooting preparation operation. When the switch 13 is turned on, a shooting preparation operation, that is, an operation such as autofocus and photometry is started.

The switch 13 is connected to the pull-up resistor 12 and transmits a low level signal to the input port P5 of the microcomputer 4 in the ON state and a high level signal in the OFF state to the input port P5 of the microcomputer 4.
Tell.

Next, the operation of the microcomputer 4 of the camera having the above structure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. [Step 201] The input state of the input port P5 is read in order to determine whether or not the photographer is performing a shooting preparation operation. Here, if the photographer is performing the photographing preparation operation, the switch 13 is turned on, so that the input port P
The input signal of 5 becomes low level. On the contrary, if the photographer does not perform the shooting preparation operation, the switch 13 is turned off, and the input signal of the input port P5 becomes high level. When the low level signal is input to the input port P5, the microcomputer 4 proceeds to step 205 because the photographing preparation operation is performed, and when the high level signal is input to the input port P5. Assuming that the shooting preparation operation has not been performed, the process proceeds to step 202. [Step 202] Since the shooting preparation operation is not performed here, it can be estimated that the photographer is looking at the external liquid crystal display 1. Therefore, a low level signal is output from the output port P2.

As a result, the LED 7 is biased in the forward direction and lights up, and exhibits the function as an auxiliary lighting device of the external liquid crystal display 1. [Step 203] Since the shooting preparation operation is not performed here, in order to notify the external liquid crystal display 1 that the optimum drive voltage reference voltage generation circuit 5 side is switched, the output port P1 is used. It outputs a low level signal to the LCD decoder driver 3.

As a result, the LCD decoder driver 3 selects the reference voltage generating circuit 5 side as the reference voltage of the driving voltage, and as a result, the visibility of the external liquid crystal display 1 is improved and the visibility of the internal liquid crystal display 2 is improved. Becomes worse.

After step 203, as in the first embodiment, the microcomputer 4 controls the operation of the camera corresponding to the operation switch of the camera (not shown). The contents of the microcomputer 4 are related to the present invention. Since it does not exist, it is omitted.
Then, it progresses to step 204. [Step 204] Here, a code indicating the display content (aperture shutter time or aperture value) desired to be output is output to the LCD decoder driver 3.

As a result, the LCD decoder driver 3 decodes the received code and drives the external liquid crystal display 1 and the internal liquid crystal display 2 to display their contents. Then, the process returns to step 201.

If it is determined in step 201 that the shooting preparation operation is being performed, the process proceeds to step 205 as described above. [Step 205] Since the photographing preparation operation is being performed here, it can be estimated that the photographer is not looking at the external liquid crystal display. Therefore, a high level signal is output from the output port P2 to the LED 7.

As a result, the LED 7 is turned off because there is no forward bias, the function of the external liquid crystal display 1 as the auxiliary lighting device is stopped, and the power consumption of the power supply battery is stopped. [Step 206] Since the shooting preparation operation is being performed, it can be estimated that the photographer is looking into the viewfinder.
Therefore, a high level signal is output from the output port P1 to the LCD decoder driver 3 in order to inform the internal liquid crystal display 2 that the liquid crystal drive voltage is switched to the optimum drive voltage reference voltage generation circuit 6 side.

As a result, the LCD decoder driver 3 selects the reference voltage generating circuit 6 side as the reference voltage of the drive voltage, and as a result, the visibility of the internal liquid crystal display 2 becomes good and the external liquid crystal display 3 becomes visible. Visibility deteriorates.

Thereafter, the same operation as above is repeated.

According to this second embodiment, the switch 13
Depending on the state, that is, whether or not the photographer is preparing to shoot, it is determined whether the photographer is looking into the viewfinder. If it is determined that the photographer is looking into the viewfinder, the internal liquid crystal display placed in the viewfinder 2, the drive voltage is switched so that it is in the most visible state, and the LED 7 provided on the back surface of the external liquid crystal display 1 for auxiliary illumination of the external display is turned off. If it is determined that the user is not looking into the viewfinder during the shooting preparation operation, the drive voltage is switched so that the external liquid crystal display 1 is in the most visible state.

Therefore, as in the first embodiment, when it can be estimated that the photographer is looking at the external liquid crystal display 1,
If the visibility of the external liquid crystal display 1 is enhanced and it can be estimated that the user is looking at the internal liquid crystal display 2, the visibility of the internal liquid crystal display 2 is enhanced so that the respective displays are easy to see. If it can be estimated that the external liquid crystal display 1 is not being viewed, the LED 7 is turned off, so that the power supply battery is not wasted.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A discriminating means for discriminating which of the external display and the internal display is used by the photographer, and the photographer performing an eyepiece operation on the viewfinder eyepiece by the discriminating means, or When it is determined that the operation member has been operated to start the shooting preparation operation, the display mode is changed from the first display mode that prioritizes the visibility of the external display to the visibility of the internal display. Display mode switching means for switching to the second display mode having priority is provided, and in addition to the above-mentioned means, an illumination means for performing auxiliary illumination in the dark of the external display,
When a second display mode is selected by the display mode switching means, an illumination control means for stopping the driving of the illumination means is provided, and it is determined that the photographer is in contact with the viewfinder eyepiece. Alternatively, if it is determined that the operation member for starting the shooting preparation operation is operated, it is assumed that the photographer is looking at the internal display, and the visibility of the internal display arranged in the viewfinder is confirmed. When switching to the second display mode that gives priority, and when switching to the second display mode that gives priority to the visibility of the internal display arranged in the viewfinder, the photographer looks at the internal display. Since the external display is not seen, the auxiliary lighting for the external display is not performed.

Therefore, no matter which display device the photographer is looking at, it is possible to improve the visibility of the display device being viewed and to prevent unnecessary power consumption. It becomes possible to do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing each display unit and its control drive unit provided in a camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the microcomputer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing each display unit and its control drive unit provided in a camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the microcomputer of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing each display unit and its control drive unit provided in a conventional camera.

[Explanation of sign]

 1 External liquid crystal display 2 Internal liquid crystal display 4 Microcomputer 5,6 Reference voltage generation circuit 7,8 LED 9 Phototransistor 10 Resistor 13 Switch

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An external display unit arranged outside the camera, an internal display unit arranged inside a viewfinder, and a judging unit for judging which of the external and internal display units is used, Display mode switching means for switching to either a first display mode which prioritizes the visibility of the external display or a second display mode which prioritizes the visibility of the internal display, according to the discrimination result of the discrimination means. With a camera. 2. The discriminating means is a means for discriminating which of an external display and an internal display is used depending on whether or not the photographer is performing an eyepiece operation on the viewfinder eyepiece. 2. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the means is means for switching the display mode to the second display mode when it is determined by the determination means that the eyepiece operation is being performed. 3. The discriminating means is means for discriminating which of an external display unit and an internal display unit is used depending on whether or not an operation member for starting a photographing preparation operation is operated. 2. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the switching means is a means for switching the display mode to the second display mode when it is determined by the determination means that the operation member is operated. 4. An illumination means for performing auxiliary illumination when the external display is dark, and an illumination control means for stopping the drive of the illumination means when the second display mode is selected by the display mode switching means. The camera according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising: