JPH09224184A - Electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic still camera which hardly generate hand shake and defective focus. SOLUTION: A flash 1, an electrostatic switch 2 for operating a shutter, and a mounting lens 3 are arranged at the front surface part of a camera. In addition a depressing button switch for operating automatic focusing and automatic exposing is provided at the back face part of the position nearly symmetrical with the electrostatic switch 2. Photographing is executed by the operation of these two switches. Thereby the focusing and the exposure adjustment of a subject is always possible and blurring is prevented especially with respect to a fast traveling subject. In addition, switch operating force is mutually cancelled to prevent hand shake.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic still camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, not only an electronic still camera, but also a camera shutter for automatically performing focusing and exposure has one mechanical push button switch. The camera of Conventional Example 1 generally has an operation specification in which focusing and exposure adjustment are performed in a state where the switch is half pressed, and the shutter is released when the switch is further pressed.

As an electronic still camera equipped with two switches, for example, as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-33370 of the second prior art, the first switch supplies driving power to the photographing section and the recording section, and the second switch is used. There is one that releases the shutter with a switch.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example 1, there is no problem if the subject is a stationary object or one that is moving slowly, but it is difficult to focus when a subject moving at high speed is the subject. . If this electronic still camera is held by hand, there is a problem that a difference easily occurs between the position where the subject is focused and the position where the shutter is released. In addition, since a mechanical switch is used, pushing the switch in the upper right position of the electronic still camera with the finger of the hand supporting the electronic still camera reduces the power of the hand supporting the camera, The downward force pushed in strongly works. For this reason, camera shake easily occurs,
This is accompanied by the problem that it is easy to shoot blurred images.

Further, the electronic still camera provided with the two switches shown in the conventional example 2 is intended to save power, and therefore the solution to the problem of the conventional example 1 has not been taken.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic still camera which is less likely to cause camera shake and poor focus.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the electronic still camera of the present invention has a first switch for performing automatic focusing and automatic exposure operations, and a second switch for operating a shutter. And the automatic focus and the operation of the automatic exposure and the shutter can be performed by two independent switches.

Further, the first switch is a mechanical switch and the second switch is an electrostatic switch, and the first and second two switches are the front and back of the electronic still camera, and the operator operates the electronic still. It is preferable that the fingers of one hand while grasping the camera can be operated in the directions in which they cancel each other.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of an electronic still camera according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1 to 4, there is shown one embodiment of an electronic still camera of the present invention. 1 is a front view of the electronic still camera, FIG. 2 is a rear view of the electronic still camera, and FIG. 3 is a view showing a mounting structure of an electrostatic switch. Further, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration example of the electronic still camera.

In FIG. 1, a flash 1, an electrostatic switch 2, and a mount lens are arranged on the front of the electronic camera of this embodiment. A push button switch 4 and a viewfinder 5 are arranged on the rear surface of the electronic camera shown in FIG. The electrostatic switch 2 shown in FIG. 3 is installed in the electronic camera in a state in which the electrostatic cover 2 is slightly depressed from the main body cover 6.

The electrostatic switch 2 is provided at the upper left position of the electronic camera, and is provided as a switch for releasing the shutter. Further, the mechanical push button switch 4 provided at the upper left position of the electronic camera is a switch for focusing and exposing.

The electronic camera shown in FIG. 4 comprises an optical system, an image signal processing system, a control system and an operation system. In each of these systems, the optical system is a lens 7 and a CCD (image pickup device) 8, and the image signal processing system is an image signal processing unit 9 and an A / D.
(Analog / digital) conversion circuit 10, digital signal processing unit 11, memory interface unit 13, and memory 15,
A control system includes a CPU (central processing unit) 12, an AND circuit 14, an AF (automatic focus adjustment) unit 16 and an AE (automatic exposure adjustment) unit 17, and an operation system includes pushbutton switches 4 and electrostatic switches 2. Parts.

In each of the above components, when the push button switch 4 is turned on, the AF unit 16 adjusts the focus.
The section 17 performs exposure adjustment, outputs the adjusted focus information and exposure information to the CCD 8, and simultaneously outputs a control signal to the AND circuit 1.
4 is output.

In the AND circuit 14, the electrostatic switch 2 is turned on.
Then, a request signal for capturing an image is output to the CPU 12. However, the above request signal is not output unless the control signal from the AF unit 16 and the control signal from the AE unit 17 are received at the same time when the electrostatic switch is ON.

The CPU 12 receives the request signal from the AND circuit 14 and outputs a control signal to the CCD 8.

Upon receiving the control signal from the CPU 12, the CCD 8 performs exposure adjustment and focus adjustment based on the focus information and exposure information output from the AF section 16 and the AE section 17, and then via the lens 7. An optical image of the subject is incident. The incident optical image of the subject is converted into an electrical signal by the CCD 8 and output to the image signal processing unit 9.

The image signal processing section 9 converts the electric signal output from the CCD 8 into a television signal format and converts it into an A signal.
Output to the / D conversion circuit 10.

The A / D conversion circuit 10 includes an image signal processing section 9
The television signal output from the is converted into a digital signal and output to the digital signal processing unit 11.

The digital signal processing unit 11 performs a compression process on the digital data output from the A / D conversion circuit 10,
It is output to the memory 15 via the memory interface unit 13.

The memory 15 is a memory interface unit 1.
The compressed data output from 3 is recorded. In addition, CCD
The operation of each component of the image signal processor 8, the digital signal processor 11, the digital signal processor 11, and the memory interface 13 is controlled by the CPU 12.

In the electronic camera of this embodiment constituted by the above-mentioned components, the shutter operation is performed by the electrostatic switch 2, and the automatic focusing and automatic exposure operations are performed by the mechanical push button switch 4. In addition, the control is performed so that the shutter does not open even if the electrostatic switch 2 is contacted unless the push button switch 4 for performing automatic focusing and automatic exposure is pressed.

In this way, the shutter operation and the AE and AF operations are independent and separated from each other, so that automatic focusing and exposure adjustment can always be performed until the moment the shutter is released. Further, by providing the mechanical push button switch 4 on the back side of the electronic still camera on the side opposite to the electrostatic switch 2, the direction of the pushing force of the electrostatic switch 2 when the shutter is released is determined by the mechanical push button switch 4 And the opposite direction. Since the operating force of each switch acts in the direction of grasping each other, it is less likely to cause camera shake.

According to the above embodiment, the shutter can be released by simply touching the electrostatic switch 2 for shutter operation. Furthermore, the switch independent of the shutter operation allows automatic focusing and automatic exposure operations to be performed at free timing.

In this embodiment, the position of the switch is set to the front,
Although the shutters of the electronic still camera are generally electronically controlled, there are few structural restrictions on the arrangement of both switches, although they are located at the upper left positions on the back surface.

No photograph is taken even if the electrostatic switch 2 is touched alone. Further, by providing the electrostatic switch in a state of being depressed from the body cover 6, inadvertent switch operation can be prevented.

The above-described embodiment is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the electronic still camera of the present invention has the first switch for operating the automatic focusing and the automatic exposure and the second switch for operating the shutter. And have. These two
With two switches, automatic focusing, automatic exposure and shutter operation are performed independently. Therefore, it is possible to focus the subject and adjust the exposure at all times, and out-of-focus is prevented particularly for a subject that moves fast. Furthermore, the switch operating forces are canceled by each other,
Camera shake is prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of an electronic still camera of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the electronic still camera.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the structure of the electrostatic switch.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an electronic still camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Flash 2 Electrostatic Switch 3 Mount Lens 4 Push Button Switch 5 Finder 6 Body Cover 7 Lens 8 CCD (Image Imaging Device) 9 Image Signal Processing Unit 10 A / D (Analog / Digital) Conversion Circuit 11 Digital Signal Processing Unit 12 CPU (Central processing unit) 13 memory interface section 14 AND circuit 15 memory 16 AF (automatic focus adjustment) section 17 AE (automatic exposure adjustment) section

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Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first switch for performing an automatic focusing operation and an automatic exposure operation, and a second switch for operating a shutter, wherein the automatic focusing operation, the automatic exposure operation, and the shutter operation are performed. , An electronic still camera characterized by enabling two independent switches. 2. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, wherein the first switch is a mechanical switch and the second switch is an electrostatic switch. 3. The first and second two switches cancel each other on the front and the back of the electronic still camera with a finger of one hand in a state where an operator grasps the electronic still camera. The electronic still camera according to claim 1, wherein the electronic still camera can be operated in any direction.