JPH07234452A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a small-sized and easily operated image recorder at a low cost. CONSTITUTION:An adapter case 3 is attachably/detachably loaded on a lens mount part 2 for a camera body 1 capable of interchanging a camera lens. A liquid crystal display panel(LCD) 18, the lens 14 and light sources 21 and 23 are installed in the case 3. A photosensitive material(film) 6 is arranged in the camera body 1. Picture elements are two-dimensionally arranged on the liquid crystal display panel 18. The lens 14 is arranged so that an image displayed on the liquid crystal panel 18 may be formed on the photosensitive material 6, and the light sources 21 and 23 are installed behind the liquid crystal display panel 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for forming a hard copy by forming an image displayed on a liquid crystal display panel on a photosensitive material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for making a hard copy of an image displayed on a screen (hereinafter referred to as "CRT") of a television or the like using a cathode ray tube or a liquid crystal display panel (hereinafter referred to as "LCD"), Video printer, CR
A camera that directly shoots a T screen or the like is used.

[0003]

However, since the conventional video printer has a complicated structure, it is large and expensive, and the running cost is high. In addition, the direct shooting of the CRT screen by the camera is not possible due to the installation of the device and the CR by external light.
There is a problem in that it is necessary to prevent the reflection of the T screen and the operation is not easy. Further, when the screen of the LCD is projected on the photosensitive material through the lens, the LCD has the viewing angle characteristic that the brightness varies depending on the viewing direction. Therefore, the image is formed by the lens on the photosensitive recording medium (film). There is a problem in that the illuminance becomes uneven depending on the location and uneven recording cannot be performed. Further, the CRT and the LCD have a problem that a black stripe portion that partitions adjacent pixels is projected on the image forming surface to darken a recorded image. A first object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus that is small and easy to operate at low cost. A second object of the present invention is to provide a uniform recorded image with little unevenness in illuminance. A third object of the present invention is to provide a bright recorded image.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, in the image recording apparatus of the present invention, a case is detachably attached to a lens mount portion of a camera body in which a camera lens can be exchanged. is there. A liquid crystal display panel, a lens, and a light source are provided inside the case. A photosensitive material is provided inside the camera body. The liquid crystal display panel has pixels arranged two-dimensionally. The lens is provided at a position for forming an image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel on the photosensitive material, and the light source is provided on the back surface of the liquid crystal display panel. Further, the center of the liquid crystal display panel is deviated in a predetermined direction with respect to the optical axis of the lens, and the center of the photosensitive material is positioned on the center line connecting the center of the lens and the center of the liquid crystal display panel. You may form it. The light source may be composed of a flash light source that emits light in synchronization with the release of the shutter of the camera body and an auxiliary light source that emits light constantly. Further, the above liquid crystal display panel may be a color liquid crystal display panel that performs color display by additive color mixing, and at least optical control means for exposing at least light emission colors of adjacent pixels on a photosensitive material may be provided. Further, the liquid crystal display panel is a black and white display panel, a color filter switching mechanism is provided on the optical axis between the light source and the photosensitive material, and an image corresponding to three primary colors is displayed in conjunction with the color filter switching mechanism. A color image may be recorded on the photosensitive material by displaying the image and emitting light from the light source in synchronization with the display to perform additive color mixing.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the camera body 1 uses a commercially available single-lens reflex type camera in which a camera lens (not shown) can be replaced. A lens mount portion 2 for connecting a camera lens is provided in an opening 1a on the front surface (left side in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the camera body 1. A case mount portion 4 provided in a rear end opening 3a of the adapter case 3 is detachably attached to the lens mount portion 2 by a bayonet method. The method of connecting the lens mount portions 2 is not limited to the bayonet method, but there are various known methods, and the case mount portion 4 is manufactured in accordance with each method.

First, the internal structure of the camera body 1 will be described. Inside the camera body 1 which is kept in a light-shielded state so that external light does not enter from other than the opening 1a, a cartridge 5 is provided.
The photosensitive material (35 mm roll-shaped photosensitive film) 6 pulled out from the sheet is guided so as to pass the image forming position. Further, inside the camera body 1, an eyepiece 7, a pentaprism 8 and a return mirror 9 for peeping a subject (an LCD 18 described later in this embodiment) from a finder provided at the center of the upper rear surface of the camera body 1. Is provided. A normal focal plane shutter 15a is provided on the front surface of the photosensitive material 6 to prevent the photosensitive material 6 from being exposed to light when unnecessary.

Next, the internal structure of the adapter case 3 will be described. A focus adjustment ring receiving member 10 is fixedly provided on the front surface of the case mount portion 4, and a lens holder receiving member 11 is fixedly provided in front of the focus adjusting ring receiving member 10 with a space therebetween. Both of the receiving members 10 and 11 are provided with holes 10a and 11a that penetrate from the front surface to the back surface, respectively. A rear end portion of the focus adjustment ring 12 is slidably inserted into the hole portion 10a, and a male screw portion formed on the outer peripheral portion of the front end of the lens holder 13 is provided in the hole portion 11a in the hole portion 11a. It is screwed to a female thread.
Further, the front end portion 12a of the focus adjustment ring 12 is fixed to the rear end portion of the lens holder 13 and can rotate integrally.

The front end portion 12a of the focus adjusting ring 12 is
It is formed in a brim shape by extending in the outer peripheral direction, and a part thereof projects from an opening 3b provided in a side surface near the rear of the adapter case 3 to form a projection 12b. When this protrusion 12b is manually rotated in the forward and reverse directions, the lens holder 13 is also integrally rotated in the forward and reverse directions, and the lens holder 13 is moved forward and backward by the screw action of the hole 11a and the front end of the lens holder 13. By moving in the (left and right in FIGS. 1 and 2) direction, it is possible to adjust the focus when the image displayed on the LCD 18 is formed on the photosensitive film 6.

The lens holder 13 holds the lens 14 inside. The lens 14 is provided at a position where an image displayed on the LCD 18 described later is formed on the image forming surface 15 of the photosensitive film 6. In this embodiment, the lens 14
Has a focal length of about 20 to 50 mm and the FNO. 8-16
This is a magnifying lens with a small aperture, and the LCD 18 having a size of about 0.7 inch is magnified to an image plane of 2 to 2.3 times.

The light-shielding cylinder 1 is provided on the outer periphery of the hole 11a on the front side.
The rear end portion of 6 is fixed. L is attached to the front end of the light-shielding cylinder 16.
The CD receiving member 17 is fixed. The LCD receiving member 17 is provided with a hole 17a penetrating from the front surface to the back surface so as to face the hole 11a.

An LCD 18 is provided in the center of the hole 17a so as to face the image forming surface 15. This LCD 18 is
A liquid crystal display panel that performs color display by additive color mixing, and is a TFT-type light transmission panel in which pixels each having a size of several tens of μm square are two-dimensionally arranged, for example, several hundred vertical and horizontal pixels.
This is driven by a composite video signal or the like.

Adjacent pixels in the LCD 18 are separated by black stripes. Since the black stripe portion does not emit or transmit light, the image plane 15
A black stripe portion is projected on the screen along with light information of adjacent pixels, which causes the image to be dark. L
In the case where the CD 18 is small as in this embodiment, the aperture ratio of the pixel is as small as 20 to 30% as compared with the case where it is large, so that the area occupied by the black stripe portion projected on the image plane 15 is reduced. The proportion also increases and the image darkens. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to obtain a bright image at a position several hundreds of μm away from the rear surface of the LCD 18, a diffraction grating 19 as an optical control means is provided.

A light source support member 20 is fixed to the front surface of the LCD receiving member 17. The light source support member 20 has a hole 20a (FIG. 1) penetrating from the front surface to the back surface.
It is provided so as to face 7a. At the rear end of the hole 20a,
Continuous light lamp (bean lamp) 21 that is an auxiliary light source and diffuser plate 2
4 and are provided. A reflecting mirror 22 is provided at the front end of the hole 20a.
A xenon tube 23, which is a flash light source, is provided between the reflecting mirror 22 and the diffusing plate 24. The xenon tube 23 is driven by a well-known circuit in synchronism with the release of the shutter (not shown) of the camera body 1, and the stored energy of the capacitor is discharged by the trigger electrode in a time of 1 ms or less. It emits light. The xenon tube 23 of the present embodiment is configured to emit light in synchronism with the vertical synchronizing signal of the video signal, and prevents horizontal streak-like light and shade unevenness that appears during non-synchronization.
Further, a space between the xenon tube 23 and the image forming surface 15 is a light-shielding space in order to prevent the photosensitive film 6 from being exposed to external light.

By the way, in the past, in general, the LCD has a position 18 where the center intersects the optical axis 14a of the lens 14.
a (FIG. 3), and the image plane is located at a position 15a orthogonal to the center of the optical axis 14a. However, in the case of an LCD, since the viewing angle characteristics differ depending on the viewing direction, when the xenon tube 23 is turned on, the image plane is positioned at the position 15a.
In the case of, the phenomenon that the upper left part becomes the dark part 15b occurs as shown in FIGS. The dark part 15b is LC
Depending on the orientation direction of D, etc., it occurs on the upper side or on the upper right part. In this embodiment, the dark portion 15 is on the upper left portion.
Since b occurs, the LCD 18 should be avoiding this dark area.
From the optical axis 14a in the χ direction and the y direction, respectively.
The center of the image forming surface 15 of the photosensitive film 6 is located on the center line L connecting the center of the lens 14 and the center of the LCD 18 by moving it by 2. As a result, the image plane 15 becomes a plane which is displaced in the -χ direction and the -y direction by nd1 and nd2 obtained by multiplying the movement amounts (displacement amounts) d1 and d2, respectively, and the dark portion 15b is avoided. It becomes the illuminance.

Next, the operation will be described. First, LC
A video image signal is supplied to D18. Camera body 1
In addition, since the light-shielding area is kept dark around the optical path from the xenon tube 23 to the camera body 1, the continuous light 21
As a backlight of the LCD 18. Therefore, the optical information transmitted through the image on the LCD 18 is returned by the return mirror 9, and the pentaprism 8 and the eyepiece 7
You can see through the viewfinder through. At this time, the photosensitive film 6 is prevented from being exposed to light by the shutter 15a.

Therefore, when the shutter of the camera body 1 is released at the time of a desired image, the xenon tube 23 connected to the tuning contact of the camera body 1 emits light at a timing matched with the vertical blanking period of the image signal.

The shutter speed is preferably longer than the sum of the field time and the light emission time of the xenon tube 23, and is set to a lower speed side than, for example, 1/30 second. Even when the shutter speed is set to a low speed side such as 1/15 seconds, the light emission time of the xenon tube 23 is 1 ms or less, and a moving image can be recorded without a memory. When the shutter speed is set to be long, it is desirable that the light emitting lamp 21 is turned off to release the shutter.

The light emitted from the xenon tube 23 is emitted from the LCD 1
The light is modulated by the laser beam 8, and is imaged on the image forming surface 15 by the lens 14 through the diffraction grating 19 to expose the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive film 6 to light. At this time, since the LCD 18 is deviated in the χ direction, no dark portion is generated on the image plane 15 and uniform exposure is possible.

The optical information of each pixel is dispersed at a predetermined ratio when passing through the diffraction grating 19. Therefore, at least the light emission colors of the adjacent pixels are overlapped and exposed at the imaging surface 15 at a predetermined ratio. That is, in the black stripe portion projected on the image plane 15 when the diffraction grating 19 is not provided, the three primary colors of the emission colors of the respective pixels are overlapped at a predetermined ratio by the light dispersion action of the diffraction grating 19. , Good color is obtained by mixing colors appropriately.

In addition to the effect of the diffraction grating 19, the projection 12b of the focus adjusting ring 12 is moved with a finger to finely adjust the lens 14 back and forth, and the image on the LCD 18 is slightly defocused on the photosensitive film 6. If the image is formed with, a black stripe is inconspicuous and a bright image in which the three primary colors are well mixed can be obtained.

When recording is continued, the photosensitive film 6 is moved by the film winding mechanism (not shown) of the camera body 1 and the above operation is repeated. When the recording operation on the photosensitive film 6 is completed, the exposed film 6 is rewound and stored in the cartridge 5 and then taken out from the camera body 1, and development and printing are performed in a developing room to obtain a recorded photograph.

Although the active matrix TFT type LCD is shown as the LCD 18 in the above embodiment,
Other MIM type LCDs may be used, and simple matrix type TN type LCDs and STN type LCDs are also possible. Further, instead of the LCD 18, a flat CRT, a plasma display or the like can be used. Although the xenon tube 23 is shown as an example of the flash light source, another light source, for example, a miniature lamp used as the constant light lamp 21 can be used. When using a miniature lamp, set the shutter speed to 1/3 so that the gaps and overlaps of the scanning lines on the LCD 18 screen are not noticeable.
It is desirable to set 0 seconds or an integral multiple thereof (for example, 1/15 second). Further, the shutter speed may be set to 1/1000 seconds or higher, and the shutter may be synchronized with the vertical blanking period of the image signal. The deviation direction of the LCD is not limited to the oblique direction, but depending on the LCD, the up and down direction
It may be in the left-right direction. As the photosensitive material, other than the 35 mm roll-shaped film, a 70 mm film such as a 6 × 6 plate, an instant film, an organic photoconductor used in an optical printer, and the like can be appropriately changed.

The LCD is provided with R, G and B color filters, but a black and white LCD without a color filter is also applicable. When a monochrome display LCD is used as described above, a color filter switching mechanism 24 is provided in the optical path as shown in FIG. 5, and an image matching the color of the color filter is displayed on the monochrome display LCD 180, and the three primary colors are displayed. If the color image is recorded by writing, a high resolution color image can be recorded.

In the present embodiment, an example of a defocused state by the diffraction grating 19 and the focus adjustment ring 12 is shown as a means for producing optical information in the black stripe portion of the LCD 18 projected on the image plane 15. May be combined, or the diffusion surface may be arranged close to the surface of the photosensitive film 6. The diffusing surface is, for example, a light diffusing plate in which a transparent lacquer is spin-coated on the surface of frosted glass. When recording an image on a 35 mm roll-shaped photosensitive film using a color LCD of 100,000 pixel level, the gap between the diffusion surface and the photosensitive film surface is preferably about the distance between the centers of the three primary colors on the image forming surface, It is preferable to dispose the diffusion surface and the photosensitive material surface with a transparent spacer of about 0.05 to 0.1 mm interposed.

As image signals, camcorders, video decks, televisions, laser disks, home game machines, microscopes, CCD cameras for microscopes, electronic still cameras, endoscopes, industrial endoscopes, surveillance cameras. Image signals output from various measuring instrument monitors, ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, dental intraoral cameras, personal computers, etc. can be used.

[0026]

According to the image recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to provide a small-sized image recording apparatus which is easy to operate at low cost (Claim 1).

Further, it is possible to reduce the unevenness of the illuminance of lens image formation due to the viewing angle characteristic of the LCD, and it is possible to record a uniform and bright image (claims 2 to 5).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the above.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship among an image plane, an optical axis, and a liquid crystal display panel.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a positional relationship between a liquid crystal display panel and an image plane.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Camera Body 2 Lens Mount Section 3 Case (Adapter Case) 6 Photosensitive Material (Photosensitive Film) 14 Lens 14a Optical Axis 18 Liquid Crystal Display Panel (LCD) 180 Liquid Crystal Display Panel (LCD) 19 Optical Control Means (Diffraction Grating) 21 Light Source ( Auxiliary light source: constant light lamp 23 Light source (flash light source: xenon tube) 24 Color filter switching mechanism L Center line d1, d2 Deviation (deviation amount) χ, y direction

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Atsushi Yoshida 4-1-1 Taihei, Sumida-ku, Tokyo Inside the Seikosha Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A case is detachably attached to a lens mount portion of a camera body in which a camera lens can be replaced, and a liquid crystal display panel, a lens and a light source are provided inside the case. A photosensitive material is provided inside the camera body, the liquid crystal display panel has pixels arranged two-dimensionally, and the lens has an image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel. The image recording apparatus is provided at a position where an image is formed on a photosensitive material, and the light source is provided on a back surface of the liquid crystal display panel. 2. An image of the photosensitive material is formed on a center line connecting the center of the lens and the center of the liquid crystal display panel by displacing the center of the liquid crystal display panel in a predetermined direction with respect to the optical axis of the lens. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the center of the surface is located. 3. The light source comprises a flash light source that emits light in synchronism with release of the shutter of the camera body, and an auxiliary light source that emits light at all times. Or the image recording device described above. 4. The liquid crystal display panel is a color liquid crystal display panel that performs color display by additive color mixing, and is provided with an optical control unit that superimposes the emission colors of at least adjacent pixels to expose the photosensitive material. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image recording apparatus is an image recording apparatus. 5. The liquid crystal display panel is a monochrome display panel, and displays an image corresponding to three primary colors in cooperation with a color filter switching mechanism provided on the optical axis between the light source and the photosensitive material, 4. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light source emits light in synchronism with the display to perform additive color mixture to record a color image on the photosensitive material.