JPH0829674A - Automatic area selection camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically select subject information to be used even in the case of photographing where a photographer does not perform range-finding area selecting operation. CONSTITUTION:This camera is constituted of plural information output means dividing a photographic image plane into plural areas and outputting the subject information in the area respectively; an input means 21 inputting photographic viewing angle information from a photographing lens 20; a shake detecting means 15 detecting the shake of a camera main body 10 and the photographing lens 20; a subject recognition means 12 recognizing the direction of the desired subject and recognizing the initial position of the desired subject; a moving amount calculating means 17 calculating the present position of the desired subject image in the photographic image plane based on output from the detecting means 15, viewing angle information from the input means 21 and position information from the recognition means 12; and an information control means 1 controlling so that the subject information in the specified area may be emphasized out of the subject information outputted from the plural information output means based on the output from the calculating means 17.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an area automatic selection camera which automates selection of a distance measuring area of a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an autofocus camera, a plurality of distance measuring areas are provided within a screen to be photographed, and the distance measuring area is automatically selected by the camera at the time of photographing. What to do is known. It is also known that the photographer operates a predetermined button of each camera every time a photograph is taken, or the distance measurement area is selected by inputting a line of sight of a symbol of the distance measurement area shown in the viewfinder. .

[0003]

The conventional range-finding area selection system is disadvantageous in that the intention of the photographer is not reflected in the selection and that the holding posture of the camera must be changed for the selection operation. there were. Alternatively, there is a drawback in that the photographer may hinder the exertion of the concentration of the optic nerve that is required when determining the composition and the photo opportunity.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and automatically selects an area such as a distance measuring area even when a photographer does not perform a selection operation such as selecting a distance measuring area. Is intended.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, a first aspect of the present invention is directed to a camera body having a plurality of distance measuring areas, an input means for inputting photographing angle information from a photographing lens, and a camera body. A shake detecting means for detecting shake of the photographing lens, a subject recognizing means for recognizing a desired subject direction and recognizing an initial position of the subject, an output of the shake detecting means, angle-of-view information from the input means, and a subject A movement amount calculating means for calculating the current position of the subject image in the photographing screen based on the position information from the recognizing means, and a distance measuring area automatic selecting means for selecting a distance measuring area to be used based on the information from the moving amount calculating means. It consists of

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a photographing screen is divided into a plurality of areas and a plurality of information output means for respectively outputting subject information in the areas, an input means for inputting photographing field angle information from a photographing lens, and a camera body. And a shake detecting means for detecting shake of the photographing lens, a subject recognizing means for recognizing a direction of a desired subject and recognizing an initial position of the desired subject, an output of the shake detecting means, and an angle-of-view information from the input means. And a plurality of information output means based on the output from the movement amount calculation means for calculating the current position of the desired subject image in the photographing screen based on the position information from the subject recognition means. Information control means for controlling so as to place emphasis on the subject information of a specific area among the subject information output by the.

[0007]

In the area automatic selection camera having the above structure,
The amount of movement of the subject within the screen due to the change in the pointing direction of the camera based on the reference direction of the subject desired to be in focus recognized by the camera, the shake angle of the camera from the reference direction, and the current angle of view of the shooting lens. Based on the calculated information, the distance measurement area at the position of the subject that the photographer desires to focus can be automatically selected from the multiple distance measurement areas in the shooting screen of the camera body. it can.

Further, according to the second invention, it is possible to increase the weighting ratio to the photometric output of the automatically selected area.

[0009]

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

FIG. 1 is a block connection diagram showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the area automatic selection camera is
A plurality of distance measurement areas 11 on the camera body 10 side, a subject recognition means 12, an automatic tracking distance measurement means 13, an angle-of-view information reading means 14, a shake detection means 15, a shake determination means 16, an in-screen subject image movement amount calculation means. 17, distance measuring area automatic selection means 18, photometric distribution automatic selection means 19, start signal input means 100, subject recognition point display means 101, selected AF area position display means 102, release determination means 10
3, the distance measuring area automatic selection operation temporary stop means 104, the recognition end determination means 105 (not shown), the angle-of-view information providing means (input means) 21 on the lens 20 side, and the linkage operation of the above elements are controlled. It is composed of a CPU 1.

The plurality of distance measuring areas 11 are a group of distance measuring areas provided at a plurality of places within the photographing screen, and the distance measuring areas to be used are designated by the distance measuring area automatic selecting means 18 which will be described later. It is something. The subject recognition unit 12 sets a reference direction for the subject of the camera that the photographer desires to focus on. The reference direction setting is
Press the shutter button halfway with the symbol displayed in the viewfinder indicating the focus detection area at the center of the screen among the plurality of focus detection areas 11 superimposed on the desired subject (finder image) to be focused. By doing. The recognition of the subject made by the subject recognizing means 12 can be canceled at any time by the recognition end determining means 105 described later.

The automatic tracking and ranging means 13 continuously operates the automatic tracking and ranging with respect to the recognized subject while the subject is being recognized by the subject recognizing means 12. The angle-of-view information reading unit 14 reads the information about the current angle of view of the lens 20 from the angle-of-view information providing unit 21 on the lens 20 side.

The shake detecting means 15 detects an angular change in the direction of the camera from a reference direction (set by recognition of the subject recognizing means 12) caused by a change in the direction of the camera body (vibration). Is. Shake detection means 15
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the moving rotation angle θx of the camera body 10 in the x-axis direction is read, and the angular velocity sensor 1a that detects image movement in the yz plane and the moving rotation angle θy in the y-axis direction are read. , And an angular velocity sensor 1b for detecting image movement in the xz plane. As the shake detecting means 15, for example, two acceleration sensors may be arranged per one axial direction, and the rotational angular velocity may be obtained from the difference between the outputs of these two sensors.

The shake determination means 16 calculates angle information by subjecting the detection output of the shake detection means 15 to known integration processing, and compares the result with the information read by the angle-of-view information reading means 14, It is determined whether the current camera shake state indicates camera shake of the photographer or composition change operation of the photographer. The in-screen subject image movement amount calculation unit 17 determines the photographer's image based on the information about the angle of view read by the angle-of-view information reading unit 14 and the information about the shake of the camera body 10 from the shake detection unit 15 and the shake determination unit 16. The position of the subject desired to be focused in the current photographing screen is calculated.

The distance measuring area automatic selecting means 18 calculates the subject image movement amount within the screen from a plurality of distance measuring areas.
The distance measuring area closest to the current position within the photographing screen of the subject desired to be focused by the photographer is automatically selected as the currently used distance measuring area. The photometric distribution automatic selection means 19 automatically selects the in-screen photometric distribution corresponding to the position of the distance measuring area designated by the distance measuring area automatic selecting means 18.

The subject recognition point display means 101 displays the subject recognition points used when the subject recognition means 12 recognizes the subject with a symbol 106 (not shown). Selected AF area position display means 102
Shows the distance measuring area selected by the distance measuring area automatic selecting means 18 in the viewfinder by a symbol 107 (not shown).

Distance measuring area automatic selection operation temporary stop means 10
4 is for enabling the photographer to temporarily stop the operation of automatically selecting the ranging area at an arbitrary time.
The range-finding area automatic selection operation is temporarily stopped only while the range-finding area temporary fixing button 108 shown in is pressed, and the range-finding area automatic selection operation is resumed when the pressing is stopped. That is, the photographer uses the distance-measuring area automatic selection operation suspension means 1
By operating 04, the subject recognition position of the camera can be corrected at any time during the continuation of the distance measuring area automatic selecting operation.

The recognition end judging means 105 judges that the object recognizing operation of the object recognizing means 12 is completed when the photographer stops pressing the shutter button or stops pressing the shutter button halfway. . Lens 20
The angle-of-view information providing means 21 built in the information of the current angle of view of the mounted lens 20, that is, the angle-of-view value of the lens that changes depending on zooming or a change in the shooting distance, determines the angle of view of the camera body 10. It is provided to the information reading means 14.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the angular velocity sensors 1a and 1b and the distance measuring area temporary fixing button 108 which constitute the shake detecting means 15. As shown in FIG. In this case, with respect to the camera body 10, the angular velocity sensor 1a is arranged parallel to the x-axis, and the angular velocity sensor 1b is arranged along the y-axis orthogonal to this.

Next, the rotation operation of the camera body 10 at the time of photographing and the calculation of the in-screen subject position for the operation will be described.

FIG. 3 shows the camera shown in FIG.
It is a top view which looked down on az axis perpendicular to ay plane.
When the camera is located at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, the above-described subject recognition operation is performed, and movement is performed when the camera body 10 is rotated around the z axis as shown in FIG. 3 while continuing to recognize the subject. The rotation angle is θx. When the output of the angular velocity sensor 1b is α, the rotational movement angle θx is represented by the following formula 1.

[0023] However, k in Formula 1 is a constant, and t0 and t1 are arbitrary unit times. That is, the output of the angular velocity sensor 1b of the shake detecting means 15 is used as the in-screen subject image movement amount calculating means 17
The rotational movement angle θx is calculated by integrating once in. While the signal for starting and continuing the object recognition from the object recognizing means 12 is being supplied, that is, while the shutter button is being pressed or half-pressed, the variation of the rotation angle per unit time is integrated. By doing so, the displacement of the rotation angle of the camera (change of the pointing direction) is obtained.

The above is a description of the case of calculating the rotational angle component (θx) of the camera about the Y-axis obtained by the angular velocity sensor 1b.
The movement rotation angle component (θy) of the camera centered on the X-axis obtained by a can be similarly obtained. These rotation angles θx and θy are compared with the information about the angle of view from the angle-of-view information reading unit 14 in the in-screen subject image movement amount calculation unit 17.

4 to 9 show examples of finder information of the camera of this embodiment. The display shown by the broken lines in FIGS. 4 to 9 represents a state invisible to the photographer, and the state in which various functions of the present invention are operating to perform visual display to the photographer is shown by a solid line. .

FIG. 4 shows all of the displays in the finder according to one embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 40 represents a photographing screen area within the field of view of the finder. A plurality of circles are a plurality of distance measuring areas 11, and this embodiment shows a case where there are a total of 15 distance measuring areas in 3 rows and 5 columns. The position of each distance measuring area 11 is displayed at a corresponding position in the finder when each distance measuring area 11 is selected as the currently used distance measuring area by the distance measuring area automatic selecting means 18. The selected AF area position display means 102 (for example, LED, liquid crystal, etc.) displays the symbol 107 of the selected distance measurement area. A total of eight squares in the square portion and the center portion of the four sides of the photographing area 40 indicate that the position of the subject exists outside the photographing area.
It is 09.

FIG. 5 shows a subject 200 for which distance measurement is desired.
The state within the viewfinder field when the initial direction of the camera is recognized is shown. In the present embodiment, by pressing the shutter button halfway with the subject initial recognition position symbol 106 displayed in the center of the viewfinder shooting screen superimposed on the viewfinder image of the subject 200 desired as the distance measurement target. Set the initial position of.

In FIG. 6, the symbol 1 is set after the reference setting is completed.
At the same time that 06 disappears, a symbol 107 indicating a distance measuring area is displayed at the same center position of the photographing screen as the symbol 106.

In the state of FIG. 5, the subject 20 with respect to the camera
After the initial position of 0 is recognized and the state of FIG. 6 is reached,
An example of a state in which the photographer changes the photographing angle is shown in FIG.
Shown in In the state of FIG. 6, the position on the screen of the subject 200 recognized in FIG. 5 has moved from the center of the shooting screen to the upper left of the shooting screen, and the distance measurement area accordingly moves from the center to the upper left. The symbol 107 for displaying the selected range-finding area in the viewfinder shooting screen is also changed from the center to the upper left.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the selection state of the range-finding area to be used when the position of the recognized subject 200 (see FIG. 5) in the photographing screen is outside each range-finding area. The two-dot chain line in FIG. 8 is an imaginary line that is not actually displayed, and divides the shooting screen into 15 areas, and the recognized subject position (see FIG. 5) is divided by the two-dot chain line.
If the object position is somewhere in the five areas, it means that the distance measuring area in which the subject position exists in the area is the selected distance measuring area. That is, FIG. 8 shows that the distance measuring area closest to the current position on the screen of the image of the subject 200 (see FIG. 5) desired by the photographer is selected from the 15 distance measuring areas in this embodiment. Is shown to be done.

FIG. 9 shows the position of the recognized subject image (see FIG. 5).
(See reference) shows an example of the off-screen subject position display unit 109 in a state where the image is outside the shooting screen. The out-of-screen subject position display unit 109 according to the present embodiment is provided at four corners and four side center portions of the shooting screen to determine in which direction outside the screen with respect to the shooting screen the recognized subject position is located. It is displayed by blinking an LED or the like. When the photographer moves the camera angle in the blinking display direction, the recognized subject 200 can be returned to the screen. When the photographer confirms that both the position of the subject 200 and the position of the distance measuring area on the photographing screen are at desired positions, the photographer releases the shutter and takes a photograph.

The automatic selection of the distance measuring areas and the display of the selected state are displayed until the photographer cancels the object position recognition of the camera, that is, until the shutter button is pressed or half pressed. I can continue.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

FIG. 10 shows the flow of processing when a picture is taken using the automatic distance measuring area selection system of the present invention.

The operation of the system starts when the photographer captures the desired subject in the center of the finder shooting screen and presses the shutter button halfway (step S).
1). First, an automatic focusing operation is performed to focus an object in the shooting screen area of the finder (step S2). When step S2 is completed, the initial position of the subject with respect to the camera is recognized (step S3). Step S3
Then, the reference direction angle of the camera is set when the in-screen object image moving amount calculation means 17 calculates the in-screen object image moving amount of the desired object image by adjusting the camera angle of the photographer or camera shake (step S7). To do. The subject recognition start signal from the subject recognition means 12 is output to the in-screen subject image movement amount calculation means 17, so that the direction of the camera at this time is the reference angle (θx, θy) = (0,
0) is recognized by the CPU 1.

Next, the lens angle of view information at this time is read by the angle of view information reading means 14 from the angle of view information providing means 21 installed on the lens 20 side (step S4).
It is sent to the in-screen subject image movement amount calculation means 17. The transmission of the angle-of-view information is performed every time zooming or changing of the shooting distance is performed on the in-screen object image movement amount calculating means 17 during the subsequent processing, and step S is performed.
The accuracy of the calculation of the amount of movement of the subject image in the screen in 7 is aimed at. Further, the transmission of the angle of view information is a necessary function because the angle of view changes depending on the shooting distance even when using a non-zoom lens.

On the other hand, the shake angle and shake cycle of the camera are detected by the shake detection means 15 (step S5), and the detected signal is sent to the shake determination means 16 to determine whether the current shake of the camera is due to camera shake. It is determined whether the adjustment is due to the adjustment (step S6).

The shake determination method in step S6 is as follows.
In the case where the signal detected by the shake detecting means 15 is a signal having a vibration center and showing a camera shake having a cycle of a fixed value or less, or a small shake angle of a fixed value or less with respect to the current angle of view of the lens, This is to judge the camera shake. In addition,
The camera shake angle and the shake cycle in step S5 are constantly detected, and step S13 described later also applies to step S13.
It is used for the same processing as 6.

If it is determined in step S6 that the camera shake currently detected is due to camera shake, the process proceeds to step S10. If it is determined that the camera shake is associated with the angle adjustment, the process proceeds to step S7. move on. When the process proceeds to step S7, in step S3, step S4, and step S5, the result of the output to the in-screen object image movement amount calculation means 17 is referred to, and the in-screen object image movement amount is calculated. I do. The method of calculating the amount of movement of the subject image in the screen in step S7 is, for example, if the angle of view in the diagonal direction of the current shooting screen read by the view angle information reading means 14 is Θ (f), then the shooting screen in the case of a 35 mm camera Since the diagonal length of the opening (36 mm × 24 mm) is 43.27 mm,

Horizontal angle of view: θx (f) = (36 / 43.27) Θ (f) (2) Vertical angle of view: θy (f) = (24 / 43.27) Θ (f) ·························································································································

It is represented by (dθx (f) / θx (f)) x36 (mm) (4), and in the shooting screen when the camera is swung in the Y direction by dθy (f) in the vertical direction. Similarly, the amount of movement of the image of the subject in the X direction is calculated as (dθy (f) / θx (f)) x24 (mm) (5).

The above-mentioned Θ (f) is stored in advance in, for example, a lens built-in ROM (not shown) or the like, and an element that changes with zooming or focusing operation is read and calculated by comparing it with the data stored in the ROM. It is possible.

Then, the distance measuring area used for the current photographing is changed based on the above calculation result and the positions of the plurality of distance measuring areas 11 (step S8), and accordingly, the photometry in the photographing screen currently used is performed. The distribution is also changed (step S9), and the process proceeds to step S10. In step S10,
Automatic tracking autofocus using the range-finding area changed in step S8 and photometry using the photometric distribution changed in step S9 are performed.

At this point, similarly to step S4, the lens angle-of-view information is read again (step S11), and the shake amount and shake cycle of the camera and the lens body are detected in the same manner as in step S5 (step S12). When the camera shake determination (step S13) similar to step S6 is performed and it is determined that the camera shake is due to the angle adjustment, the process returns to step S7, and steps S7-
The operation of S13 is executed again. On the other hand, while it is determined to be within the range that is recognized to be due to camera shake, the control is determined at step S10 at any time according to the distance measuring area and the photometric distribution changed at steps S8 and S9 by the shutter release operation of the photographer. The camera is in a state in which shooting can be performed at the focused position and the exposure amount. It should be noted that the automatic tracking autofocus on the recognized subject continuously and smoothly operates even if the range-finding area to be used is changed by changing the range-finding area selection.

Next, in step S14, it is determined whether or not the photographer has performed a release operation. When it is determined that the release operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step S15, the exposure operation is performed, and then the film winding operation is performed. On the other hand, while it is determined that the release operation has not been performed, the loop of steps S10 to S14 is continuously repeated to always enable the exposure operation with the focus state and the proper exposure amount at the latest subject recognition position.

Next, in step S16, it is constantly monitored whether or not the above-described object position recognition, which is performed by the half-pressing of the shutter button or the operation of pushing to the release position, is stopped. If the photographer determines that the camera has stopped the recognition, the process proceeds to step S17 to end the operation of the area automatic selection camera, and if it is determined that the recognition is continued, always proceeds to step S10. S14
Repeat the flow of. Thereby, the camera can be controlled based on the latest distance measurement and photometry information at the time of shutter release. In the above program,
Subject recognition can be canceled at any time by pressing the shutter button or stopping half-pressing.

According to the embodiment described above, the photographer can arbitrarily select a desired subject without any special subject selecting operation in the distance measuring area selection. Since the AF area selection change operation after selecting is automatic, the photographer can use multiple AF areas without selecting the desired AF area and without the hassle of AF area selection operations. It enables quick shooting.

In this embodiment, the photometric distribution is changed in accordance with the change of the distance measuring area, but the present invention is not limited to this, and only the distance measuring area or only the light measuring area is changed. May be. As a method of controlling the photometric output when the photometric area is changed, in the case of multi-pattern photometry, increasing the weighting ratio of the selected region to the photometric output can be considered. Further, in the case of spot photometry, it is conceivable that the subsequent control (exposure control) is performed based on the photometric output of the selected area, similarly to the selection of the distance measurement area described above.

[0053]

As described above, according to the area automatic selection camera of the present invention, the distance measuring area is automatically selected in association with the operation of changing the camera angle at the time of shooting. It is possible to automatically select a distance measurement area even during shooting without a distance measurement area selection operation.

According to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to increase the weighting ratio to the photometric output of the automatically selected area.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block connection diagram showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of an area automatic selection camera according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 1a Angular velocity sensor 1b Angular velocity sensor 10 Camera body 11 Distance measuring area 12 Subject recognition means 13 Automatic tracking distance measuring means 14 View angle information reading means 15 Shake detection means 16 Shake judgment means 17 Object image movement amount calculation means in screen 18 Measured Distance area automatic selecting means 19 Photometric distribution automatic selecting means 20 Lens 21 Field angle information providing means 40 Shooting area 100 Start signal input means 102 Selected AF area position display means 103 Release determination means 104 Distance measuring area automatic selection operation temporary stop means 105 Recognition end determination means 106 Subject initial recognition position symbol 107 Symbol 108 Focusing area temporary fixing button 109 Out-of-screen subject position display section 200 Subject

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI Technical display area G03B 7/28 17/20

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A camera body having a plurality of distance-measuring areas, an input means for inputting photographing angle information from a photographing lens, a shake detecting means for detecting shake of the camera body and the photographing lens, and a desired subject. In the photographing screen by the subject recognition means for recognizing the direction of the subject and the initial position of the subject, the output of the shake detection means, the view angle information from the input means, and the position information from the subject recognition means. Area automatic calculating means for calculating the current position of the subject image in the, and distance measuring area automatic selecting means for selecting the distance measuring area to be used based on the information from the moving distance calculating means. Select camera. 2. The movement amount calculating means according to claim 1, further comprising shake determining means for determining whether the movement of the camera body at that time is a shake or an angle adjusting operation based on output information of the shake detecting means, When the shake determination means determines that the movement of the camera body is an angle adjustment operation, the movement amount calculation means
Area automatic selection camera characterized by calculating the current position of the subject image in the shooting screen. 3. The shake determining means according to claim 2, wherein the shake detecting means outputs the output information of the shake detecting means,
An area automatic selection camera characterized in that it is determined whether the movement of the camera body at that time is a blur or an angle adjusting operation based on the angle of view information from the input means. 4. The area automatic selection camera according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the recognition status of the subject recognition means in a finder. 5. The area automatic selection camera according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying a selection status of the distance measuring area automatic selection means in a finder. 6. The shake detecting means according to claim 2, wherein the shake detecting means is an angular acceleration detecting means for detecting the movement of the camera body, and the shake determining means is an integration of the angular acceleration detecting means and the angular acceleration detecting means. An area automatic selection camera characterized by judging from the value and whether the movement of the camera body at that time is a blur or an angle adjusting operation. 7. The area automatic selection camera according to claim 1, further comprising photometry distribution automatic selection means for automatically selecting a photometry distribution according to the selection result of the distance measurement area automatic selection means. 8. A photographing screen is divided into a plurality of areas, and a plurality of information output means for respectively outputting subject information in the areas, an input means for inputting photographing angle information from a photographing lens, a camera body and photographing. A shake detection unit that detects a shake of the lens, a subject recognition unit that recognizes a direction of a desired subject and recognizes an initial position of the desired subject, an output of the shake detection unit, and an angle of view from the input unit. Based on the information and the position information from the subject recognition means, the movement amount calculation means for calculating the current position of the desired subject image in the photographing screen, and based on the output from the movement amount calculation means, An area automatic selection camera, comprising: information control means for controlling so that, among the subject information output by a plurality of information output means, the subject information in a specific area is weighted. 9. The area automatic selection camera according to claim 8, wherein the information control means extracts only subject information of the specific area based on an output from the movement amount calculation means. 10. The area automatic speed selection camera according to claim 8, wherein the subject information is information relating to distance measurement or photometry.