JPH10197941A - Camera provided with monitor display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a camera capable of confirming the propriety of an image to be photographed by discriminating a main subject by a mechanism for discriminating a subject condition within a photographic image plane and enlarging and displaying a part centering the main subject. SOLUTION: In a magnified display mode, a specified range centering any of three focusing points (a central part, a left side part and a right side part) of a multipoint range-finding mechanism 107 is enlarged and displayed. After finishing ordinary exposure operation, the whole of the image nearly equivalent to the subject image exposed on film is displayed on a monitor display device 121. When the photographer operates an enlarging switch 112 in such a state, the periphery of the main subject position judged based on the focusing result of the mechanism 107 is magnified and displayed. In the case of judging that a person located at the left side range-finding point on the photographic image plane is located at the shortest distance by comparing distance data obtained by the mechanism 107, a control circuit 100 judges that it is the main subject and enlarges and displays the peripheral part of the left side focusing point.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a camera having display means for displaying an electronic image equivalent to a subject image exposed on a silver halide film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, by displaying an electronic image equivalent to a subject image exposed on a silver halide film on a monitor display device formed of a liquid crystal or the like, the quality of the photographed subject image can be confirmed on the spot. Many such cameras have been proposed. However, since the screen size of the liquid crystal monitor display device cannot be made too large due to space and cost constraints, it was difficult as a practical matter to judge the quality of the subject image using this display device.

As a solution to this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-2
In Japanese Patent No. 83991, when a photographer operates a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a touch panel or the like to specify a desired position on a display screen, a predetermined image range centered on the position is enlarged and displayed. An apparatus is disclosed. According to this device, a fine image can be observed only in an image range desired by the photographer.

[0004]

However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
In the case of the device described in Japanese Patent Application No. 283991, the expensive operation member described above must be provided in order to indicate the center position of the enlarged display, and this causes an increase in the cost of the camera. Also, for ordinary photographers,
The operation of selecting the range to be enlarged and displayed by oneself is troublesome. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a camera with display means that is inexpensive and that allows a photographer to enlarge and display a part that the photographer normally recognizes as important without performing the cumbersome operation as described above.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an electronic image equivalent to a subject image exposed on a silver halide film is taken in conjunction with a photographing operation. The main subject is discriminated by a mechanism for discriminating subject conditions in the shooting screen, and a portion centered on the main subject is enlarged and displayed on the display means. In the invention according to claim 2, the enlarged display is performed when the manual operation member is operated. Further, in the invention according to claim 3, the main subject is determined by a multipoint distance measuring mechanism.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. still,
In this figure, illustration of parts not directly related to the present invention, such as a strobe device, is omitted. As can be understood from FIG. 1, this camera is a so-called lens shutter type compact camera in which a photographing optical system and a finder optical system are separated, and includes a photographing device 10 and a finder device 20.

In the finder device 20, a subject image can be optically observed by an observation optical system including an objective lens 201 and an eyepiece 202. A half mirror 203 is disposed between the objective lens 201 and the eyepiece 202. The half mirror 203 reflects a part of the light beam passing through the observation optical system downward in the drawing, and receives the light through the imaging optical system 204 on the side of the imaging device 10. To the image sensor 123. The operation of the image sensor 123 will be described later. The photographing apparatus 10 includes a control circuit 100 that controls an operation sequence of the camera, and various mechanisms that operate in response to a control signal from the control circuit 100.

That is, the film feeding mechanism 106 is for driving the silver halide film 105, and the control circuit 10
In response to the "film feed instruction signal" from 0, the film winding or rewinding operation is executed. Further, the shutter control mechanism 104 controls the opening / closing operation of the aperture / sector shutter 103 in response to the “shutter opening / closing instruction signal” from the control circuit 100, thereby adjusting the exposure amount on the film 105. The focus adjustment mechanism 102 drives the focus adjustment optical system 101a to guide it to a focus position, and operates in response to a “lens drive signal” from the control circuit 100. Note that the photographing lens is the focusing optical system 101 described above.
a, and a variable power optical system 101b.
1b is adapted to be manually adjusted independently of the control circuit 100.

The multi-point distance measuring mechanism 107 measures the distance of each of the objects existing at a plurality of points in the photographing screen. Specifically, the multi-point distance measuring mechanism 107 projects a distance measuring beam onto a plurality of points in the scene. This is a so-called active multi-point AF mechanism that obtains the distance of each subject according to where on the PSD (semiconductor position detection sensor) the reflected light of each ranging beam enters. Regarding this multi-point ranging mechanism,
Details will be described later. The image processing circuit 120 includes an image sensor 123
The finder image photoelectrically converted is converted into a digital image signal by the monitor display device 121 as display means.
Is displayed on the screen. This monitor display device 121 is formed of liquid crystal as is known. The operation of the image processing circuit 120 and its peripheral circuits will also be described later in detail.

Various switches are connected to the control circuit 100. Here, the 1st. Switch 110 is a switch that is turned on by pressing (half-pressing) a release button (not shown) one step, and instructs execution of a multipoint ranging operation by the above-described multipoint ranging mechanism. . Also, 2nd switch 11
Reference numeral 1 denotes a switch which is turned on when the release button is pressed twice (fully pressed), and instructs execution of an exposure operation. Also,
An enlargement switch 112 serving as a switching unit instructs an enlarged display of an image displayed on the monitor display device 121. The enlargement switch 112 is a push button (enlarged display button) 1 as a manual operation member disposed on the outer surface of the camera body.
It operates by pressing 12a. This will also be described in detail when the operation of the image processing circuit 120 is described later.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the multipoint distance measuring mechanism 107 described above. Here, the entire sequence of the multipoint ranging operation is as follows:
Distance measuring circuit 301 according to a control signal from control circuit 100
Perform. Now, when the control circuit 100 instructs to measure the distance in the center of the photographing screen, the distance measuring circuit 301 causes the light emitting element 1 to emit light. The distance measuring light emitted from the light projecting element 1 is applied to the subject c via the light projecting lens 302, and the reflected light is incident on a point a on the PSD (semiconductor position detecting element) via the light receiving lens 303. I do. The PSD sends an output signal corresponding to the incident light position to the distance measuring circuit 301. The distance measuring circuit 301 generates data corresponding to the subject distance from this signal. Similarly, the distance data of the subject h or the subject m is obtained from the incident position (point b or c) on the PSD when the light emitting element 2 or 3 emits light. Since a number of such multi-point distance measuring mechanisms have been conventionally proposed, further description will be omitted here.

After the distance data of the subjects c, h, and m are determined, the control circuit 100 determines that the subject located closest to the subject is the main subject and performs a focus adjustment operation. However, this operation will be described later. FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram of a block for performing the above-described image processing operation. A range surrounded by a dotted frame is the image processing circuit 120 shown in FIG. The image processing circuit 120 includes a control circuit 401 for controlling a sequence of an image processing operation, and an A / D conversion circuit 40 for A / D converting an output of the image sensor 123.
2, a temporary storage circuit 403 for temporarily storing the output of the A / D conversion circuit 402, and the monitor display device 12 after reading out image data from the temporary storage circuit 403 and performing signal processing.
1 comprises a signal processing circuit 404 for displaying the image.
The control circuit 401 controls two image processing operations, that is, an image data capturing operation and an image data display operation.

In the taking operation, first, the control circuit 10
In response to the “image capture instruction signal” from 0, the control circuit 401 instructs the image sensor 123 to start the integration operation. Upon receiving this signal, the imaging element 123 starts the integration operation, and sends an “integration end signal” to the control circuit 401 when the integration is completed. In response to the “integration end signal”, the control circuit 401 instructs the image sensor 123 to discharge an analog image signal, and causes the A / D conversion circuit 402 to A / D convert the discharged analog image signal. , And instruct the temporary storage circuit 403 to store the digital image signal output from the A / D conversion circuit 402. In the display operation, the control circuit 401 instructs the temporary storage circuit 403 to transfer the image data to the signal processing circuit 404 according to the “display mode signal” transmitted from the control circuit 100, and To instruct the monitor display device 121 to perform signal processing on the image data according to the display mode.

Here, the display mode represented by the above-mentioned display mode signal will be described with reference to FIG. There are two display modes, a full screen display mode and an enlarged display mode. In the full screen display mode, a full screen of an image substantially equivalent to the subject image exposed on the film is displayed on the monitor display device 121, and the enlarged display is performed. In the mode, the three distance measuring points of the multi-point distance measuring mechanism 107 (the center c in FIG.
A predetermined range centered on either the left part h or the right part m) is enlarged and displayed. After the normal exposure operation is completed, the monitor display device 121 displays the entire screen of an image (FIG. 4C) substantially equivalent to the subject image (FIG. 4B) exposed on the film. In this state, the photographer operates the enlargement switch 11
When the user operates 2, the area around the main subject position determined based on the distance measurement result of the multipoint distance measurement mechanism 107 is enlarged and displayed. This determination is made, for example, by comparing the distance data obtained by the multi-point ranging mechanism 107, and when the person located at the left ranging point h on the shooting screen is located at the shortest distance, this is determined. The control circuit 100 determines that the subject is the main subject, and enlarges and displays the periphery of the left ranging point h (the aspect ratio is unchanged and the area ratio is one quarter of the entire screen) as shown in FIG.

Returning to FIG. 3, the operation of the enlarged display will be supplemented. In the display operation of the image processing circuit 120, the display control circuit 401 decodes the display mode signal from the control circuit 100 and determines which display mode is instructed. When the full-screen display mode is instructed, data indicating that enlargement processing is unnecessary is transferred to the signal processing circuit 404. When the enlarged display mode is instructed, the distance measurement result is obtained. The data of the enlargement center position is transferred according to. The signal processing circuit 404 reads out image data around the enlargement center designated by the control circuit 401, performs a smoothing process (interpolation process), and displays the image data on the monitor display device 121. Since a specific method of the enlarged display is conventionally known, further detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the control circuit 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The operation flow of 00 will be described. FIG. 5 is a main flow executed when the photographer turns on a power switch (not shown) or after a new film is loaded in the camera body and the idle feeding operation is completed. First, the <film information reading> subroutine of S1 is executed to read the ISO sensitivity of the film from the data recording unit (DX code for 135 cartridge, bar code disk for IX240 cartridge) of the loaded film cartridge. The information and the number of shot frames are read. Next, 1 second at S2
t. It is checked whether or not the switch is ON, that is, whether or not the photographer has pressed (half-pressed) the release button one step. Here, if it is not ON, this check is repeated. If it is ON, the process proceeds to S3 <multipoint ranging>.
Execute a subroutine.

Here, referring to FIG. 6, <multipoint ranging>
The subroutine will be described. In this subroutine, first, in steps S61 to S63, the above-described multi-point distance measuring mechanism 107 is controlled to measure the distance of each of three points in the shooting screen, and the subject distance data Lc at the center, the distance data Lh at the left, and The right side distance data Lm is obtained. Next, in steps S64 to S66, Lc, Lh, and Lm are compared with each other to determine which of the three distance data is closest. As a result of the comparison, Lc ≦ Lh and Lc ≦
If it is Lm, it is determined that Lc is closest, and the process proceeds to S71 where Lc is stored in a distance data register L, and then in S72 a central object is stored in a register AFP for storing position information of a main object. Stores a value “1” indicating that is the main subject. If Lm ≦ Lh, not Lc ≦ Lh, it is determined that Lm is closest,
Proceeding to S67, Lm is stored in the distance data register L, and then a value "2" indicating that the right object is the main object is stored in the register AFP storing the position information of the main object in S68. Further, if Lc ≦ Lh is not satisfied and Lm ≦ Lh is not satisfied, it is determined that Lh is closest, and the process proceeds to S69 where Lh is stored in the distance data register L.
Then, in step S70, a value “3” indicating that the left subject is the main subject is stored in the register AFP storing the position information of the main subject.

When the determination of the main subject is completed, the process proceeds to S73, where the focusing lens 10 is set based on the contents of the register L.
The driving amount of 1a is calculated, and a lens driving operation for focus adjustment is executed in S74. Returning to FIG. 5, after the <multipoint ranging> subroutine is completed, it is checked in step S4 whether or not the second switch is ON. If not, the first switch is checked again in step S5. here,
If the first switch is not ON, the process returns to S2, and if it is ON, the process returns to S4. If the 2nd switch is ON in S4, the above-described image capture signal is sent to the image processing circuit 120 in S6.
Send to After that, the exposure operation is executed in the <exposure> subroutine of S7. This <exposure> subroutine is performed by the above-described shutter control mechanism 104 for the sector shutter 1.
This is a subroutine for performing opening / closing control of No. 03 and exposing a subject image to the silver halide film 105. Since the method is conventionally known, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

After the exposure operation is completed, it is determined in S8 whether or not the frame is the last frame. In this determination, S1
The comparison of the number of photographed frames read in the <Read Film Information> subroutine with the current number of photographed frames is performed. If it is determined that the frame is not the last frame, the silver halide film 105 is fed by one frame in the <one frame winding up> subroutine of S9. Then, after waiting for the first switch to be turned off in S10, the process proceeds to the <display> subroutine in S11. This <display> subroutine corresponds to the image pickup device 12 described above.
3 is a subroutine for converting the finder image photoelectrically converted by 3 into a digital image signal and displaying the digital image signal on the monitor display device 121, the details of which will be described later. In addition, <display>
After returning from the subroutine, the process returns to S2 again.
On the other hand, if it is determined in S8 that the frame is the last frame, the process waits until the first switch is turned off in S12, and then proceeds to the <display> subroutine in S13. After returning from the <display> subroutine, the silver halide film 105 is rewound in the <rewind> subroutine of S14, and a film exchange waiting state is set.

Here, the details of the <display> subroutine will be described with reference to FIG. In the <display> subroutine, first, the full-screen display mode is unconditionally set in S81, and the above-described “image display instruction signal” including the code signal corresponding to the display mode is set in the image processing circuit 1 in S82.
20. Next, in S83, the enlargement switch 112
Is ON, that is, whether or not the photographer has instructed enlargement display. Here, if it is not ON, subsequently, it is determined in S84 whether the display mode should be changed. In this determination operation, the state of the previous enlargement switch is compared with the current state of the switch to determine whether or not the two are different. Here, if they are different, it means that the photographer has instructed to change from the enlarged display mode to the full screen display mode. The same applies to the case where the enlargement switch is set to 0N in S83. If the enlargement switch is different from the previous time, the photographer has instructed the change from the full screen display mode to the enlargement display mode.

Returning to S84, if it is determined that the display mode has not been changed, the process proceeds directly to S78, but if it has been changed, the full screen mode is set in S85,
And returns to S82. Similarly, if it is determined in S86 that the display mode has not been changed, the process proceeds to S8.
8, but if it has been changed, the AFP
, One of the center enlarged display mode, the left enlarged display mode, and the right enlarged display mode is set, and the process returns to S82 via. In S88, it is checked whether or not the first switch is ON. If the switch is ON, the operation after S83 is repeated.
If N has not been performed, in S89, an "image non-display instruction signal" is transmitted to the image processing circuit 120 to terminate the display on the monitor display device 121, and then returns.

The above is the detailed description of the camera of this embodiment. The operation will be described in connection with the present invention.
When the photographer points the camera at the subject and presses the release button one step (half-press), the multi-point distance measuring mechanism is activated, and the distance measuring operation is performed on a plurality of points in the photographing screen. Next, the distance measurement results are compared, the subject located at the closest distance is determined to be the main subject, and the focus adjustment lens is focused on the subject. Subsequently, when the photographer presses the release button two steps (full press), an exposure operation and a one-frame winding operation are performed. When these operations are completed and the photographer releases the single-step pressing (half-pressing) of the release button, an electronic image substantially equivalent to the latest exposed subject image is displayed on the monitor device. When the photographer presses the enlargement display button while the electronic image is displayed on the monitor device, the periphery of the point where the main subject is located is enlarged and displayed. This enlarged display is continued until the photographer releases the enlarged display button. If the photographer presses the release button one step again (half-pressed) while the display is continued, the display on the monitor is turned off, and a series of display operations ends.

In the above-described embodiment, as a method of determining the main subject, the subject located at the shortest distance is determined as the main subject by using the result of the multi-point ranging operation by the multi-point ranging mechanism. However, as a method of this determination,
In addition, a method of estimating the main subject by measuring the luminance of a plurality of portions in the screen or estimating from the color distribution in the screen may be used. Further, from the fact that the probability that the main subject exists in the center is the highest, a low-cost camera may be designed by simply enlarging and displaying only the center.

Further, in this embodiment, when the enlargement display button is pressed, a portion enlarged and displayed is located at a peripheral portion of a point where the closest distance is detected among the distance measuring points of the multipoint distance measuring mechanism. Although it is limited, this is to move the enlarged display range every time the enlarged display button is operated, for example,
In the first operation, the periphery of the closest distance measurement point is displayed. In the second push operation, the periphery of the next closest distance measurement point is displayed. In the third push operation, the periphery of the remaining distance measurement points is displayed. In the fourth pressing operation, the enlarged display portion may be sequentially moved such as the entire screen. in this case,
Enlarged display of a plurality of portions on the screen can be performed by operating only one operation member, so that usability can be improved without increasing costs.

(Supplementary Note) According to the embodiment of the present invention described in detail above, the following configuration can be obtained. (1) Image capturing means for capturing an electronic image equivalent to a subject image exposed on a silver halide film in conjunction with a photographing operation, a monitor for displaying the captured electronic image, and discriminating a main subject in a photographing screen And a display means for enlarging and displaying a part of the electronic image on the monitor in accordance with the position of the main subject in the plane.

(2) The camera according to (1), wherein the camera includes a manual operation member, and the display means performs enlarged display when the manual operation member is operated. (3) The discriminating means includes a multi-point distance measuring means for measuring a distance of a plurality of points in a shooting screen, and discriminates a main subject based on a distance measurement result of the multi-point distance measuring means. 1) The camera according to the above.

[0027]

According to the present invention, a large-sized, expensive, complicated operation member such as a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a touch panel, or the like, is not used, and a magnified display of a subject desired by a photographer is performed by a simple mechanism. Can be made.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multipoint distance measuring mechanism in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display state on a monitor device in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the overall operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a distance measuring operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a display operation of the monitor device in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 control circuit 105 silver halide film 107 multipoint distance measuring mechanism 112 enlargement switch 121 monitor display device 123 image sensor 301 distance measuring circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means for picking up an electronic image equivalent to a subject image exposed on a silver halide film in conjunction with a shooting operation, a display means for displaying the picked up electronic image, and a main subject in a shooting screen A first display mode for displaying the entire area of the captured electronic image; and a second display mode for enlarging and displaying only the main subject portion of the captured image. A camera with a monitor display device, comprising: switching means for switching the display. 2. The monitor display device according to claim 1, wherein said camera includes a manual operation member, and said switching means selects said second display mode when said manual operation member is operated. With camera. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining means includes a multi-point distance measuring means for measuring a distance of a plurality of points in the shooting screen, and determines a main subject based on a distance measurement result of the multi-point distance measuring means. The camera with a monitor display device according to claim 1.