JPH10150594A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively inhibit correction for camera-shake when panning or tilt operation. SOLUTION: The camera is made up of a shake correction signal generating means 20, receiving a sensing output from a camera-shake sensor 18 fitted to a camera main body, a camera-shake correction means 22 receiving a camera- shake correction signal, a sight line detection means 40 that detects a motion of a sight line of a photographer, and a control means 50 that generates a camera-shake correction control signal to control the camera-shake correction, based on a sight line sensing output Sb and a sensor sensing an output Sa. When it is an deliberate motion by the photographer, the camera-shake correction signal is either held, based on the camera-shake correction control signal or outputted at a low level. Thus, the camera-shake correction is inhibited without special operation in the case of panning or tilt operation. Thus, a more natural video image is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera equipped with a camera shake correction function suitable for a business video camera or the like. For more details, monitor the movement of the photographer's line of sight (line of sight), and when an intentional camera operation such as a pan operation or a tilt operation is detected, hold The movement can be suppressed to a minimum.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Video cameras equipped with a camera shake correction function are known. FIG. 5 shows a video camera 1 showing an example thereof.
0, a subject image is an image sensor via an optical system 12.
And an imaging signal is obtained. The imaging signal is converted into a video signal in the processor 16 for signal processing.

A camera shake sensor 18 is attached to the camera body, and a shake detection output obtained from the camera shake sensor 18 is supplied to a camera shake correction signal generating means 20 to generate a predetermined camera shake correction signal. 22. This loop changes the optical axis of the camera shake correction unit 22 so that a stable image can be obtained even if camera shake occurs.

[0004]

The ideal correction operation of the above-mentioned camera shake correction device mounted on a video camera is to correct all the shake components generated in the camera body even though the photographer does not intend to do so. To stand still. On the other hand, the image stabilizing device does not perform a negative correction operation for a shake component generated by a pan operation, a tilt operation, or the like intentionally moved by the photographer. It is necessary not to cause unnatural motions in the image due to the correction.

[0005] In a conventionally known image stabilizing apparatus as described above, a camera shake component to be removed and
In some cases, a shake component of an intentional motion that should not be removed is determined by capturing a feature of a detection signal from a camera shake sensor.

[0006] This method is excellent in that it does not require any special additional device, but it is difficult to clearly distinguish and control the intended shake from the undesired shake. The frequency is set to be slightly suppressed, for example, so that as large an erroneous correction as possible is prevented. Nevertheless, in practice, some erroneous correction occurs when intentional movement accompanies. Subsequent operations require an operation to restore the erroneous movement, which causes a problem that the photographer feels uncomfortable.

[0007] In another conventionally known image stabilizing apparatus, in order to avoid the above-described problem, when intentionally performing a pan operation or a tilt operation, a push button is provided to notify the camera side of the operation. Some have buttons.

While the push button is being pressed, no shake correction is performed. However, this method requires the photographer to perform a new image stabilization release operation in addition to the original operation of the video camera, especially in situations where there is not enough time such as coverage in the field, it is easy to forget this release operation,
This is inconvenient camera work, and is not a very effective solution.

Therefore, the present invention has solved such a conventional problem, and focuses on the rule of thumb that the photographer's eyes move in that direction when performing a pan or tilt operation. The present invention proposes a video camera that monitors and detects an intentional camera operation so that unnatural motion of an image due to erroneous correction can be suppressed to a minimum by holding a camera shake correction function or the like.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a video camera according to the present invention comprises a camera shake correction signal generating means to which a detection output from a camera shake sensor attached to a camera body is supplied, and a camera shake correction signal generating means. A camera shake correction unit to which a correction signal is supplied, a line-of-sight detection unit that detects the movement of the line of sight of the photographer, and a camera-shake correction control signal that controls the camera shake correction based on the line-of-sight detection output and the sensor detection unit. Control signal generating means, when the intentional movement of the photographer, hold the camera shake correction signal based on the camera shake correction control signal, or output at a low level, I do.

According to the present invention, an eye-gaze detecting means is provided in the viewfinder, and when the eye-gaze moves characteristically, it is determined that the operation is an intentional operation such as a pan operation or a tilt operation. In this case, the camera shake correction signal is held and the camera shake correction is prohibited. Alternatively, the level of the camera shake correction signal is held at a low level, and control is performed so that the camera shake is hardly corrected.

[0012] In this case, since the camera shake correction is prohibited during intentional camera work, unnatural movement of the image can be minimized. Whether it is intentional camera work or not is automatically determined, so that you can concentrate on reporting activities in the field or the like.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment of a video camera equipped with a camera shake correction function according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a specific example of a main part of a video camera 10 showing an example of this. In this example, a subject image is formed on a CCD two-dimensional sensor 14 via an optical system 12 as an image pickup device. Is obtained. The image pickup signal is converted into, for example, a digital video signal in a signal processing processor 16.

A camera shake sensor 18 is attached to the camera body. A gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, a rotational angular velocity sensor, or the like can be used as the camera shake sensor 18.

A shake detection output So output from the shake sensor 18 (separated into an X-axis (horizontal axis) component and a Y-axis component (vertical axis)) So is a camera shake correction signal generating means 20 functioning as a target value calculating means. To generate a predetermined camera shake correction signal. The camera shake correction signal is supplied to the camera shake correction unit 22. The generation unit 20 controls the motion of the screen (image) due to the camera shake to be zero by the camera shake correction signal.
The target value (camera shake correction signal) is calculated.

The camera shake correction means 22 includes a variable apex angle prism that changes the optical axis by adjusting the angle of a lens having a liquid sealed therein, or a pair of purely cylindrical lenses (or spherical lenses). Are arranged so as to be freely rotatable, a cylindrical surface is rotated by a predetermined amount according to the amount of camera shake, and a vertex angle variable prism that adjusts the optical axis by changing the vertex angle of the prism is used. be able to.

The optical path of the subject image is guided to a mirror 28 in a viewfinder 26 by a half mirror 24 and the like, in addition to the two-dimensional sensor 14, and the light is further passed through an eyepiece 30 to form an image forming surface (glass surface) 32. Leads to. Therefore, the photographer's eyeball 34 is moved to this eyecup (eyepiece cup)
By hitting 6, the subject being imaged can be observed.

The viewfinder 26 may be an electronic viewfinder instead of an optical type as shown.

In the present invention, an eye-gaze detecting means 40 of the photographer is arranged in the viewfinder 26. In this example, the line-of-sight detecting means 40 includes an infrared light emitting element 42 and a light receiving element 44 thereof. When infrared rays are applied to the eyeball, the relationship between the movement of the eyeball and the irradiation position of the infrared ray L is shown in FIGS.
It looks like C. By observing the return light from the eyeball, the direction of the eye line of the photographer can be determined.

In order to more accurately grasp the position of the photographer's line of sight, marks Ma to Md are provided at appropriate positions on the left, right, upper and lower sides of the image forming plane 32 as shown in FIG. If the user is trained to move toward the marks Mc and Md, and when performing a tilt operation, the eyes are moved toward the marks Ma and Mb, the characteristic camera work can be accurately determined.

The eye-gaze detecting means 40 outputs an eye-gaze detection signal Sb when this characteristic eye movement occurs, and sends it to a control signal generating means 50 constituted by a CPU together with the detection output Sa from the camera shake sensor 18. Supplied.

When a camera work such as a pan operation or a tilt operation is performed, the camera body also swings largely in the operation direction, so that a detection output Sa as shown in FIG. 4A is obtained. The small fluctuation component Sp in the detection output Sa is a vibration component due to camera shake.

On the other hand, it is known that the line of sight moves in the direction of operation just before performing a pan or tilt operation. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4B, the eye-gaze detection signal Sb is obtained from a timing immediately before the start of a camera work such as a pan or tilt operation. Only when the control signal generating means 50 obtains the line-of-sight detection signal Sb and when the detection output Sa having a large fluctuation component is obtained, FIG.
Shake hold signal (shake correction control signal) Sc shown in FIG.
Is formed.

The camera shake hold signal Sc is supplied as a control signal to the camera shake correction signal generation means 20. When the camera shake hold signal Sc is supplied, the camera shake correction signal holds the immediately preceding value during that time. That is, even when a pan or tilt operation is performed, such a camera shake correction is not performed. In other words, camera shake correction is prohibited. As a result, the motion of the video is not corrected in accordance with the pan and tilt operations, so that unnatural motion of the video due to erroneous correction can be suppressed.

The camera shake correction signal may be controlled to a low level value instead of being held at the immediately preceding value by the camera shake hold signal Sc. Of course, this low level value is such that the optical axis control of the camera shake correction means 22 is no longer possible.

When the camera shake hold signal Sc disappears, the camera returns to the normal camera shake correction state, so that the motion of the image due to the camera shake at the time of normal imaging is appropriately corrected.

It can be easily understood that the above-mentioned eye-gaze detecting means 40 can be employed as a user interface of a video camera, for example, for specifying a subject for autofocus, in addition to the object of the present invention. Therefore, since the eye-gaze detection signal Sb can be used in addition to the hand-shake hold, these functions are comprehensively installed, so that the eye-gaze detection means 40 can be used.
Resources can be used more effectively, and the overall cost of the product can be secured.

[0029]

As described above, in the video camera according to the present invention, the movement of the photographer's line of sight is detected by the line of sight detecting means provided in the viewfinder, and this information and the information obtained by detecting the camera shake are synthesized. In this case, it is determined whether or not the currently occurring shake is caused by a camera work intentionally performed by the photographer, such as panning or tilting.

Thus, there is a feature that unnatural motion of an image due to erroneous correction can be suppressed to a minimum without requiring the photographer to perform a new operation. Since the camera shake correction for a characteristic camera work can be held without requiring any special operation, this is an extremely effective means especially in an imaging situation where there is no room such as a field coverage activity. Therefore, the present invention is extremely suitable for application to professional video cameras and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a main part showing an embodiment of a video camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a movement of a line of sight and an infrared irradiation position.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between mark positions on a viewfinder.

FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram illustrating an example of a pan and tilt detection operation.

FIG. 5 is a system diagram of a conventional video camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 video camera, 14 imaging means, 18
..Hand shake sensors, 22...
..Hand shake correction signal generation means, 26 ... viewfinder, 40 ... eye line detection means, 50 ... hand shake hold signal formation means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A camera shake correction signal generation unit to which a detection output from a camera shake sensor attached to a camera body is supplied, a camera shake correction unit to which the camera shake correction signal is supplied, and a movement of a photographer's eyes. An eye-gaze detecting means, and a control signal generating means for generating a camera-shake correction control signal for controlling camera shake correction based on the eye-gaze detection output and the sensor detecting means. A video camera characterized in that the camera shake correction signal is held or output at a low level based on the camera shake correction control signal. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said line-of-sight detecting means is provided in a viewfinder, and detects intentional movement based on return light when an eyeball is irradiated with infrared rays. Video camera. 3. The video camera according to claim 2, wherein the intentional movement is a pan operation or a tilt operation.