JPH07261258A - Camera with picture size switching function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the missing of a shutter chance and the consumption of power. CONSTITUTION:This camera with a picture size switching function is equipped with a motor 3 driving a lens barrel 4, a driving means 2 driving the motor 3 to a telephoto position or a wide angle position, a detecting means 5 detecting the position of the lens barrel 4, a picture size switching means 6 changing over plural photographic picture sizes, a main switch 7 turning on or off the power of the camera, a telephoto setting switch 8 for driving the lens barrel 4 to a telephoto side, a wide angle setting switch 9 for driving the lens barrel 4 to a wide angle side and a control circuit 1 controlling the driving means 2 based on the outputs of the lens barrel position detecting means 5, the picture size switching means 6, the main switch 7, the telephoto setting switch 8 and the wide angle setting switch 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a variable focus camera having a screen size switching function and capable of photographing at least two or more different focal lengths.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Among conventional cameras having a photographing screen size switching function, there is known a camera having a bifocal or zoom lens capable of changing a focal length of a wide-angle photographing of about 28 mm and a standard photographing of about 80 mm. is there. In such a camera, when the main switch (hereinafter abbreviated as SW) is turned on, the lens is moved from the retracted position to the short focus side (wide-angle position) regardless of the shooting mode of the standard screen mode, the panorama mode and other modes. I was moving.

[0003]

However, in the conventional camera, the shooting mode is standard when the main SW is turned on, although the shooting is frequently performed on the long focus side (standard position) during normal shooting. The lens was moved from the retracted position to the short focus side (wide angle position) regardless of the screen mode, panorama mode and other modes. For this reason, in the standard screen mode, after being driven to the short focus side once, the user needs to switch the focal length position to the long focus side again, which is troublesome to operate and provides a shutter opportunity. There was a problem of missing. The present invention aims to solve the above problems.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, in a camera with a screen size switching function of the present invention, a lens barrel, a motor for driving the lens barrel, and a telephoto or wide-angle lens for driving the motor. Driving means for driving the lens barrel, a detecting means for detecting the position of the lens barrel, a screen size switching means for switching a plurality of photographing screen sizes, and a main switch for turning on or off the power of the camera. A telephoto setting switch for driving the lens barrel to the telephoto side, a wide-angle setting switch for driving the lens barrel to the wide-angle side, the barrel position detecting means, the screen size switching means, and the A main switch, the telephoto setting switch, and a control circuit for controlling the drive means based on the output of the wide-angle setting switch,
The control circuit drives the lens barrel to the retracted position when the main switch is on and is in a position other than the retracted position, and when the lens barrel is in the retracted position, the screen size is the first size. The lens barrel is driven to the telephoto position, and in the case of the second size, the lens barrel is driven to the wide-angle position.

[0005]

When the main SW is in the ON state, the lens is driven to the focal length position where the photographing frequency is high regardless of the photographing mode, so that the opportunity to switch the focal length position before photographing is reduced and the shutter chance can be missed. It also reduces the power consumption consumed for braking when stopped.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. A control circuit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 1 sends a signal to the driving means 2 to control the movement of the motor 3. The CPU 1 has a built-in non-volatile memory (hereinafter referred to as ROM) 1A programmed in advance to perform each operation of the camera. The lens barrel position detection means 5 detects the position of the lens barrel 4 and encodes it to output to the CPU 1. The screen size switching means 6 detects whether the current shooting is performed in 35 mm full size (hereinafter referred to as standard size) or panoramic size. The main SW7 turns the power of the camera on or off. The telephoto setting SW8 is a SW for driving the taking lens barrel to the telephoto side, and the wide-angle setting SW9 is a SW for driving the wide-angle side.

Next, the operation of this camera will be described.
When the photographer operates any of the main SWs 7, 8, and 9, the SW processing routine is called. Tele setting SW
When 8 is turned on, the wide-angle setting switch is unconditionally set to the telephoto side.
When 9 is turned on, the CPU 1 unconditionally moves to the wide-angle side to send a signal to the driving means 2 to control the motor 3 to drive the lens barrel 4. When the main SW 7 is turned on, the lens barrel position detecting means 5 detects the position of the lens barrel 4, and if the lens barrel 4 is not in the retracted position, it is driven to the retracted position. If the lens barrel 4 is not in the retracted position, then the CPU
1 detects the current size from the screen size switching means 6. If the standard size is set to the telephoto side, if the panoramic size is set to the wide-angle side, a signal is sent to the driving means 2 and the motor 3 is sent.
Is controlled to drive the lens barrel 4.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the above.
become that way. When any of the main SWs 7, 8 and 9 is turned on and this routine is called, the CPU 1 first detects which SW is turned on (# 001). Main S
If W7 is on, then the position of the lens barrel 4 is detected by the lens barrel position detecting means 5 (# 002). If the lens barrel 4 is not in the retracted position, the CPU 1 drives the motor 3 by the driving means 2. The lens barrel 4 is controlled to drive the lens barrel 4 to the retracted position and the routine exits (# 003). If the lens barrel 4 is in the retracted position in # 002, then the screen size switching means 6 determines the screen size (# 004). If it is the standard size, the lens barrel 4 is driven to the telephoto position (# 00).
5) If the size is the panorama size, the lens barrel 4 is driven to the wide-angle position and this routine is exited (# 006). Also # 0
If the telephoto setting SW8 is turned on at 01, the lens barrel 4
To the telephoto position and exit this routine (# 00
5). If the wide-angle setting switch 9 is turned on in # 001, the lens barrel 4 is driven to the wide-angle position and the routine exits (# 006).

In the above embodiment, the screen size is limited to two types, standard and panoramic, but it is not necessarily limited to these two types, and the same applies when there are three or more screen sizes.

The taking lens in the above embodiments may be a so-called bifocal lens which selectively sets the telephoto position and the wide-angle position, or the so-called bifocal lens which can continuously set between the telephoto position and the wide-angle position. It may be a zoom lens.

Further, the telephoto position or the wide-angle position of the taking lens in the above embodiments does not necessarily have to be the telephoto end or the wide-angle end.

[0012]

When the main switch is turned on, the photographing mode is detected and the lens is driven to the focal length position where photographing is frequently performed regardless of the preset focal length of the photographing lens. The chance of switching the focal length position before photographing is reduced, and the chance of taking a shutter is reduced. In particular, it is effective for the operation immediately after the main switch is turned on to start shooting, and also reduces power consumption when stopped.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 lens barrel 3 motor 2 driving means 6 screen size switching means 7 main SW 8 telephoto setting SW 9 wide-angle setting SW 1 CPU

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G03B 17/04

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A lens barrel, a motor for driving the lens barrel, driving means for driving the motor to either a telephoto or wide-angle position, and a detection means for detecting the position of the lens barrel. , A screen size switching means for switching a plurality of shooting screen sizes, a main switch for turning the power of the camera on or off, a telephoto setting switch for driving the lens barrel to the telephoto side, and the lens barrel. Wide-angle setting switch for driving to the wide-angle side, control for controlling the driving means based on outputs of the lens barrel position detecting means, the screen size switching means, the main switch, the telephoto setting switch, and the wide-angle setting switch A circuit, the control circuit is driven to the collapsed position when the lens barrel is in a position other than the collapsed position when the main switch is on, The lens barrel in a telephoto position when the screen size in the case in the barrel position is of a first size,
A camera with a screen size switching function, characterized in that the lens barrel is driven to a wide-angle position in the case of the second size.