JPH09258338A - Image exposure device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To expose a high-quality character together with an image as for an image exposure device using a liquid crystal display panel. SOLUTION: This image exposure device is provided with a first light source 10 emitting recording light L for exposing a photosensitive material 14, the first liquid crystal display panel for exposing the image 12 spatially modulating the light L and an image forming optical system 13. Then, character recording light Lc emitted from a second light source 20 is spatially modulated by the second liquid crystal display panel 22 whose resolution is higher than the first panel 12 and the spatially modulated light Lc is synthesized with the light L by a recording light synthesis means 23 and made incident on the optical system 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image exposure device using a liquid crystal display panel, and more particularly to an image exposure device capable of exposing both an image such as a photograph and characters to a photosensitive material. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a large number of liquid crystal cells, which change the light transmittance according to the voltage application, are arranged in an array, and a liquid crystal display panel which spatially modulates the light transmitted through each liquid crystal cell to display an image. Are variously provided. Further, recently, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-133041, a gradation image displayed on a liquid crystal display panel is formed on a photosensitive material, and this image is recorded on the photosensitive material. Has been.

By the way, when an image such as a photographic image is exposed on a photosensitive material, it is sometimes desired that the photosensitive material also be exposed with textual information including addresses and comments. As a hard copy obtained in this manner, so-called New Year's cards with photographs are well known.

When it is desired to expose both an image such as a photograph and a character to a light-sensitive material as described above, in a surface exposure type image exposure apparatus using a conventional film, the character is imprinted separately from the film on which the image is recorded. I made a squirrel film,
The lith film was used to expose characters on a light-sensitive material.

[0005]

However, the production of the lith film and the image exposure work using the lith film are quite troublesome, so that labor saving of the character exposure is desired.

In the image exposure apparatus using the above-mentioned liquid crystal display panel, since characters can be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel, it is possible to use the above lith film without using the lith film.
Character information can be exposed on the photosensitive material.

However, when the liquid crystal display panel is used to expose character information on the photosensitive material, the character has a very high contrast, and the shape of the exposed character is unnatural due to the shape of each liquid crystal cell being reflected. , There are fine irregularities on the outer edge. When human eyes compare a gradation image recorded with the same pixel density with a character, even if the image quality of the gradation image seems to be good, the character has a high contrast and therefore the quality is poor. There is a tendency to feel keenly.

Due to such circumstances, it is difficult to expose high-quality characters with the conventional image exposure apparatus which uses a liquid crystal display panel to expose characters.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image exposure apparatus using a liquid crystal display panel capable of exposing high quality characters.

[0010]

A first image exposure device according to the present invention is, as described in claim 1, a first light source for emitting recording light for exposing a photosensitive material, and the recording light as an image signal. An image exposure device having a first liquid crystal display panel that is spatially modulated based on the image forming apparatus and an image forming optical system that forms an image formed on the first liquid crystal display panel on a photosensitive material is used to expose the photosensitive material. A second light source that emits character recording light and a second light source that has a higher resolution than the first liquid crystal display panel that spatially modulates the character recording light based on the input character information data and displays the character indicated by the data. A liquid crystal display panel of No. 2 and character recording light spatially modulated by the second liquid crystal display panel are incident on the imaging optical system together with recording light spatially modulated by the first liquid crystal display panel. Photosynthesis means It is characterized in that is provided.

A second image exposure apparatus according to the present invention is
An image exposure apparatus having a light source for emitting recording light for exposing a photosensitive material, a first liquid crystal display panel and an image forming optical system similar to those in the first image exposure apparatus, A second liquid crystal display panel having a higher resolution than that of the first liquid crystal display panel, which spatially modulates the recording light from the light source based on the inputted character information data and displays the character indicated by the data; A panel switching means for selectively inserting one of the second liquid crystal display panel and the first liquid crystal display panel into the optical path of the recording light is provided.

Further, the third image exposure apparatus according to the present invention is one in which only one liquid crystal display panel is used so that high quality characters can be exposed. Specifically, as described in claim 3, A light source that emits recording light that exposes the photosensitive material, a liquid crystal display panel that spatially modulates the recording light based on an image signal, and an imaging optical system that forms an image formed on the liquid crystal display panel on the photosensitive material. In the image exposure apparatus having, an optical system capable of changing the image forming magnification is used as the image forming optical system.

[0013]

In the first and second image exposure apparatuses of the present invention having the above structure, the second liquid crystal display panel having a higher resolution than the first liquid crystal display panel used for ordinary image exposure is provided. Since the characters displayed there are exposed on the photosensitive material, high quality characters can be exposed.

On the other hand, in the third image exposure apparatus of the present invention, since the image forming optical system capable of changing the image forming magnification is used, the result of the general image exposure which generally requires a relatively large exposure size is obtained. To meet this requirement by setting the image magnification relatively large, on the other hand, in the case of character exposure in which a large exposure size is not generally required, it is possible to expose high quality characters by setting the imaging magnification relatively small.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an image exposure apparatus that is a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this image exposure apparatus is provided with a first light source 10 for emitting a recording light L for exposing a color photosensitive material 14, and the first light source 10 is arranged so as to be in the vicinity of a focal point. A condenser lens 11 for collimating the recording light L emitted from the light source 10,
For example, many TN liquid crystal cells are arranged two-dimensionally,
A first liquid crystal display panel 12 arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the optical axis of the condenser lens 11, and an imaging lens 13 arranged at a position where the recording light L passing through the liquid crystal display panel 12 is incident.
And a color filter 15 inserted in the optical path of the recording light L in front of the first liquid crystal display panel 12.

Further, this image exposure apparatus is provided with a color photosensitive material.
Second light source 20 for emitting character recording light Lc for exposing 14
And a condenser lens 21 arranged so that the second light source 20 is located near the focal position to collimate the character recording light Lc emitted from the light source 20, and an optical axis of the condenser lens 21. A second liquid crystal display panel 22 arranged in a direction substantially vertical to the first liquid crystal display panel 22 and an optical path of the recording light L in front of the imaging lens 13;
And a half mirror 23 as a recording light combining means for guiding the character recording light Lc that has passed through the liquid crystal display panel 22 together with the recording light L to the imaging lens 13.

The first light source 10 is, for example, a halogen lamp that emits white light. In addition, the first liquid crystal display panel 12
Is driven by a drive circuit 16 which receives an image signal S indicating a gradation image, and spatially modulates the recording light L to display a gradation image. That is, each of the plurality of TN liquid crystal cells arranged two-dimensionally in the first liquid crystal display panel 12 is applied with a voltage according to the image signal S by the drive circuit 16, and according to the value of the applied voltage. By changing the transmittance of the recording light L, a gradation image is displayed on the first liquid crystal display panel 12. The imaging lens 13 forms an image of the gradation image thus formed on the first liquid crystal display panel 12 on the photosensitive material 14, and exposes the photosensitive material 14.

The color filter 15 comprises an R (red) filter, a G (green) filter and a B (blue) filter. Then, these respective color filters are sequentially inserted in the optical path of the recording light L, and the first liquid crystal display panel 12 is driven based on the respective color image signals corresponding to the colors during the period in which the respective color filters are inserted. In this way, the color light-sensitive material 14 is sequentially exposed to the modulated red, green and blue lights, and a color photographic latent image is recorded thereon.

The second light source 20, like the first light source 10,
For example, it comprises a halogen lamp that emits white light. The second liquid crystal display panel 22 is also basically configured similarly to the first liquid crystal display panel 12, and is driven by the drive circuit 26 that receives the character information data Sc indicating a character,
The character recording light Lc is spatially modulated to display characters. However, as the second liquid crystal display panel 22, one having a higher resolution than that of the first liquid crystal display panel 12 is used.

The character recording light Lc spatially modulated as described above is guided by the half mirror 23 to the image forming lens 13 together with the recording light L. Therefore, the photosensitive material 14 is exposed with the gradation image and the characters displayed on the second liquid crystal display panel 22 at the same time.

After that, the photosensitive material 14 is subjected to a normal developing process to visualize the gradation image and the character image. As a result, a hard copy in which the characters are imprinted on the photosensitive material 14 together with the gradation image is obtained.

Here, as described above, since the second liquid crystal display panel 22 having a higher resolution than that of the first liquid crystal display panel 12 is used, the photosensitive material 14 is exposed with high quality characters. , Can be recorded. This character is
It is possible to record in both color and monochrome.

Next, a second embodiment of the image exposure apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, the same elements as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description thereof will be omitted (the same applies hereinafter).

In the structure of FIG. 2, the first liquid crystal display panel 12 and the second liquid crystal display panel 22 are integrated by a connecting member 27. The connecting member 27 is moved up and down in the figure by the panel switching means 28, whereby the first liquid crystal display panel 12 and the second liquid crystal display panel are moved.
One of 22 is selectively inserted into the optical path of the recording light L.

In this image exposure apparatus, the first liquid crystal display panel 12 is first inserted in the optical path of the recording light L, and the gradation image can be exposed on the photosensitive material 14 in the same manner as described above. After that, the second liquid crystal display panel 22 is inserted into the optical path of the recording light L, and characters can be exposed on the photosensitive material 14 in the same manner as described above. The order of the gradation image exposure and the character exposure may be opposite to the above.

Also in this case, the second liquid crystal display panel 22 for character exposure has a higher resolution than that of the first liquid crystal display panel 12, whereby the photosensitive material 14 is provided with high quality characters. Can be exposed and recorded.

Next, a third embodiment of the image exposure apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the configuration of FIG. 3, only one liquid crystal display panel is provided. The drive circuit 16 of the liquid crystal display panel 12 receives the image signal S indicating the gradation image and the character information data Sc.
They are entered with a time offset from each other. Therefore, both the gradation image and the character are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 12 with a time shift from each other.

Further, as the image forming lens 33, one having a zoom function capable of changing the image forming magnification is used. When the image signal S is input to the drive circuit 16 and the gradation image is exposed, the image forming lens 33 is brought into a state indicated by a solid line in the figure. Therefore, the gradation image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 12 is imaged on the photosensitive material 14 at a relatively high magnification and is exposed with a relatively large size.

On the other hand, when the character information data Sc is input to the drive circuit 16 to expose a character, the image forming lens 33 is in the state indicated by the broken line in the figure. Therefore, the characters displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 12 are imaged on the photosensitive material 14 at a relatively low magnification, so that high quality characters can be exposed.

Although the image exposure apparatus of the above-described embodiment exposes a color image by switching color filters, the present invention spatially modulates recording light of three colors by separate liquid crystal display panels. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to an image exposure apparatus of a type in which a light-sensitive material is simultaneously irradiated with those lights to perform image exposure. Furthermore, the present invention can be similarly applied to an apparatus that exposes a monochrome image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an image exposure apparatus that is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an image exposure apparatus that is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an image exposure apparatus that is a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 First light source 11 Condensing lens 12 First liquid crystal display panel 13 Image forming lens 14 Photosensitive material 15 Color filter 16 Liquid crystal display panel drive circuit 20 Second light source 21 Condensing lens 22 Second liquid crystal display panel 23 Half mirror 26 Liquid crystal display panel drive circuit 27 Connecting member 28 Panel switching means 33 Imaging lens L recording light Lc character recording light

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first light source that emits recording light for exposing a photosensitive material, a first liquid crystal display panel that spatially modulates the recording light based on an image signal, and a first liquid crystal display panel formed on the first liquid crystal display panel. An image exposure apparatus having an image forming optical system for forming an image on a photosensitive material, the second light source for emitting character recording light for exposing the photosensitive material, and the character recording based on the input character information data. Firstly, the light is spatially modulated to display a character indicated by the data.
Second liquid crystal display panel having a higher resolution than that of the liquid crystal display panel, and recording light synthesis for causing the character recording light spatially modulated by the second liquid crystal display panel to enter the imaging optical system together with the recording light. And an image exposure device. 2. A light source for emitting recording light for exposing a photosensitive material, a first liquid crystal display panel for spatially modulating the recording light based on an image signal, and an image formed on the first liquid crystal display panel. In an image exposure apparatus having an image forming optical system for forming an image on a photosensitive material, the first liquid crystal, which spatially modulates the recording light based on inputted character information data and displays characters indicated by the data. A second liquid crystal display panel having a resolution higher than that of the display panel, and a panel switching means for selectively inserting one of the second liquid crystal display panel and the first liquid crystal display panel into the optical path of the recording light are provided. An image exposure device characterized by the above. 3. A light source that emits recording light for exposing a photosensitive material, a liquid crystal display panel that spatially modulates the recording light based on an image signal, and an image formed on the liquid crystal display panel is formed on the photosensitive material. An image exposure apparatus having an image forming optical system for making use of the optical system capable of changing an image forming magnification as the image forming optical system.