JPH10333223A - Electronic image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image pickup device capable of surely preventing misphotographing due to assembling in an incomplete state by obviously recognizing that repairing by a general user is impossible, when a photographic lens protecting opening/closing cover comes out of a main body. SOLUTION: The device is provided with the photographic lens protecting opening/closing cover 2 which can be opened/closed, in the front surface of the device, a stroboscope window is disposed in the opening/closing cover 2 and a strobe light emitting part (a xenon tube 23 and a reflector 24) is disposed inside the stroboscope window. When the photographic lens protecting opening/ closing cover 2 comes out of the main body, because of dropping, etc., misphotographing caused by assembling in the incomplete state is prevented, because it is obviously recognized that repairing by the general user is impossible because the lead wire of the strobe light emitting part is cut off by the blade part 28b of a lead wire fixing member 28.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic imaging device,
More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for recording an image captured by an imaging element as electrical image information, and more particularly, to an electronic imaging apparatus having a photographic lens protection opening / closing lid having a built-in flash unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A camera incorporating a strobe light emitting portion in a lens barrier serving as an opening / closing cover for protecting a photographing lens of an image pickup device has been proposed as a silver halide film type camera. By employing such a structure, the size of the camera body can be reduced.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned lens barrier is generally slidably supported on the camera body using a guide rail or the like, and is not particularly strongly restrained. . Therefore, if a strong shock is applied to the camera, there is a risk that the lens barrier may come off the guide rail of the camera body and fall off. In particular, in the case where a strobe light emitting portion is incorporated in the lens barrier, the strobe light emitting portion or the charging portion is exposed in a state where a plurality of lead wires are connected, and in some cases, a connection failure may occur. There is a risk that a general user may mistakenly assume that the above-mentioned state can be restored even in the above-mentioned state, and incorporate it in an incomplete state. It goes without saying that the camera in the assembled state has an incomplete shooting operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and cannot be repaired by a general user if the opening / closing lid for protecting the taking lens comes off the main body. To provide an electronic image pickup device that can reliably prevent mistakes in photographing by assembling in an incomplete state, and also prevent touching of a charged part with a hand. With the goal.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic image pickup apparatus having a photographing lens protection opening / closing lid having a built-in strobe light emitting unit on a front surface of a main body thereof. A lead wire for electrically connecting the device body and the strobe light-emitting portion in the opening / closing cover for protecting the photographing lens,
A cutting means for cutting when the opening / closing lid for protecting the photographing lens is dropped is provided in the apparatus main body. In the electronic imaging device, when the opening and closing cover for protecting the photographing lens is dropped, the lead wire is cut by the cutting means,
It is recognized that the opening / closing lid for protecting the photographing lens is completely cut off, and the user cannot restore the camera.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the electronic imaging apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the cutting means is fixed to the apparatus main body, and the lead wire is connected to an opening provided in the apparatus main body. The lead-out portion is provided integrally with a lead wire fixing member that holds the lead wire, and is disposed inside the apparatus main body. In the electronic imaging device, the lead wire is provided on the lead wire fixing member and is cut by a cutting unit located inside the device main body, so that the cut portion of the lead wire is exposed to the outside. Stay inside.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Regarding a digital camera which is an electronic imaging device as an embodiment of the present invention, first,
The structure around the exterior will be described. 1 to 7 show an external view of the digital camera. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a front view with the barrier open, and FIGS. 3 to 7 are a left side view, a right side view, a plan view, a bottom view, and a rear view of the camera body, respectively. Each electric control system element such as a switch and an LED used in the following description will be described with reference to the block diagram of the electric control system in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the main body 1 of the digital camera is mainly composed of two exterior bodies, a front cover 20 and a rear cover 21. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, on the front surface of the front cover 20 of the main body 1, a photographing lens 22 and an optical finder window 16b are disposed at a position closer to the right. Further, a lens barrier 2, which is a member for protecting the photographing lens 22 and the optical finder window 16b and which is an opening / closing cover for protecting the photographing lens, which is slidable to the left and right opening positions. Further, a self-timer display window 3 is provided in the lower right corner of the area not covered by the lens barrier 2.

The lens barrier 2 is used for photographing or
By sliding in the open / close direction when not shooting,
The taking lens 22 and the optical finder window 16b can be exposed or covered. The lens barrier 2
A lens barrier switch 35 that is turned on / off in conjunction with the opening and closing operations of the camera is disposed inside the main body. As the switch 35 is turned on / off, the power of the camera system is turned on / off. When the lens barrier 2 is at the barrier open position, a click force is acting and the barrier open state is maintained.

Further, a flash window 19 is provided in the lens barrier 2, and a flash light emitting section including a trigger transformer is accommodated therein, and slides integrally with the lens barrier 2. By moving the strobe light emitting unit together with the lens barrier 2 in this manner, an appropriate distance between the photographing lens 22 and the strobe light emitting unit during photographing is ensured.

The self-timer display window 3 is a substantially elliptical semi-transparent member, and as shown in FIG.
It is arranged in a state of protruding from. A printed circuit board (not shown) in the main body 1 is provided inside the self-timer display window 3.
Is mounted on the LED 45. LED4 above
5 is controlled by the system controller 30 and emits light during the self-timer mode operation. However, since the display window 3 has the protruding elliptical shape as described above, the entire window shines, and the lighting state is an oblique direction other than the front. You can also observe from.

As shown in FIG. 3, an openable and closable memory card cover 4 for covering a mounting opening of a memory card 41 as a recording medium is provided on the left side of the camera body 1. The memory card cover 4 is rotatably supported by a hinge shaft 17 fixed to the main body 1 via a hinge portion 4b.

A memory card cover switch 36 which is turned on / off in conjunction with opening and closing of the memory card cover 4 is provided inside the main body 1. Therefore, if the camera is operated in a state where the cover 4 is not completely closed when the memory card 41 is inserted, the output of the cover switch 36 is detected, and a buzzer 55 issues a warning sound, The memory card 41 can be protected more reliably.

The hinges 4b are provided at two locations in the upper and lower portions, and the main body has a concave shape at an intermediate position, and the hinge shaft 17 through which the hinges 4b are inserted is exposed. Therefore, the hinge shaft 17 can be used as a shaft for hanging a portable hand strap.

An openable / closable external terminal cover 8 is provided on the right side of the camera body 1 as shown in FIG. Inside the external terminal cover 8, an external device jack 56 which is a terminal portion for video signal output and digital output, which will be described later,
The external power supply jack 54, which is an external power supply connection terminal portion, is accommodated. By closing the external terminal cover 8, dust can be prevented from entering each terminal portion when not in use. When the external terminal cover 8 is to be opened, the cover 8 can be opened by putting a finger on the cover 8 from a finger hook concave portion 12 (see FIG. 6) provided on the bottom side of the camera body 1.

On the upper surface of the camera body 1, a mode LCD 5 showing the state of each operation mode of the camera as shown in FIG.
, The operation button 6a of the operation mode setting switch 6
Are arranged on the right side and two on the left side. Further, an operation button 7a of the release switch 7 is provided on the upper left side. The release switch 7 is a recording instruction switch at the time of photographing by the camera. By operating the release switch 7, image information being captured can be recorded on the memory card 41 or the like.

On the bottom side of the camera body 1, in addition to the finger hook recess 12 as shown in FIG. 6, an openable / closable battery cover 10 for replacing a camera power supply battery 51 is provided on the left side of the rear cover 21. And a tripod screw 18 slightly to the left of the center.
Is provided.

The battery lid 10 has an egg-shaped recess formed at the center thereof, and a rotatable operation knob 11 is provided in the recess. When the operation knob 11 is rotated, the battery cover 10 is unlocked and the battery cover 10 is rotated around the hinge near the center of the camera body to open, and the battery can be replaced. The thickness of the operation knob 11 is set within the depth of the concave portion, and the knob 11 does not project from the bottom surface of the camera body 1.

On the rear side of the camera body 1, a color liquid crystal display section 13 for displaying an image is provided at the center as shown in FIG. The display unit 13 is attached in a state where the display unit 13 is surrounded by an auxiliary cover 14. And
On the left side of the display unit 13, three operation buttons 15a of the LCD operation switch 15 are arranged side by side. Further, an optical viewfinder eyepiece window 16 for confirming a subject is provided in an upper portion of the rear surface.

Next, the configuration of the electric control system of the digital camera according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of the electric control system shown in FIG. In the present digital camera, the entire electric control system is controlled by the system controller 30 as shown in FIG. The electric control system mainly includes an imaging unit, a strobe light emitting unit, a display / warning unit, an operation switch unit, and a power supply unit.

In the case of photographing a subject image in the imaging section, first, subject light passing through the photographing lens 22 is formed on an imager 32. The amount of exposure to the imager 32 is controlled by a mechanical shutter 37 provided in the taking lens 22. The focus of the subject image is adjusted by the focus control unit 38.

The subject image is converted from an optical signal into an electric signal by an imager 32, and is passed through a video processing circuit 33 and a digital processing circuit 34 to a built-in memory 39 or a memory card connected to a card connector 40. 4
1 is recorded as image information.

The image being photographed or the image recorded in the built-in memory 39 or the memory card 41 can be displayed on the color liquid crystal display unit 13. Also,
As the image output to the outside, two types of output signals, a video output converted into a video signal by the video encoder 42 and a digital output converted by the digital interface (I / F) 43, can be selected. These outputs are taken out via an external device jack 56.

The strobe light emitting section includes a strobe circuit 31 for controlling light emission, a charging capacitor 44, a trigger transformer 25, a strobe reflector (hereinafter referred to as a reflector) 24, and a xenon tube 23. Have been. However, the trigger transformer 25, the reflector 24, and the xenon tube 23 are housed in the lens barrier 2, and are electrically connected to a printed circuit board in the camera body 1 by a lead wire 27a. Note that the trigger transformer 25 and the xenon tube 23 are electrically connected within the lens barrier 2 via a lead wire 27b.

The display / warning section is driven by a driver 46 and includes an LED 45 for displaying a self-timer, a mode LCD 5 for displaying an operation mode setting state, and a buzzer 55 for warning.

The operation switch section includes a mode setting switch 6 for setting an operation mode and an LCD operation switch 1 for selecting an image to be displayed on the color liquid crystal display section 13.
5, a release switch 7 for instructing the capture of an image being captured, a memory card cover switch 36 for detecting the open / closed state of the memory card cover 4, and a lens barrier switch 35 for detecting the open / closed state of the lens barrier. I have.
The outputs of the mode setting switch 6, the LCD operation switch 15, and the release switch 7 are transmitted to the system controller 30 via an input unit 47, which is a switch input circuit.
It is taken in.

The power supply section includes a battery 51 for driving the camera, a power supply circuit 52, an external power supply jack 54 to which an external power supply can be connected, and a super capacitor 53 for supplying auxiliary power.

Next, the structure around the lens barrier of the digital camera will be described. FIG. 9 is a front view around the lens barrier in the barrier open state, and is a diagram showing a part of the barrier as a broken surface, and FIG. 10 is AA ′ in FIG.
It is sectional drawing. As described above, the lens barrier 2 of the digital camera can be slid in the left and right opening and closing directions, and a strobe window 19 is provided in the upper front part thereof, and a trigger transformer 25 and strobe light emission are provided therein. A reflector 24 and a xenon tube 23 are accommodated.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the lens barrier 2 has the upper and lower slide projections 2a and 2b slidably fitted into the guide grooves 20a and 20b provided in the front cover 20 of the main body 1. The main body 1 can be slid horizontally. Further, a strobe light emitting unit holding member 26 as a holding member is fixed inside the strobe window 19 of the lens barrier 2 with a screw or the like.

The holding member 26 is a resin member,
A concave accommodating portion 26a for accommodating the reflective umbrella 24 and a concave portion 26b for accommodating the trigger transformer 25 are provided immediately below the concave accommodating portion 26a. The back surface of the housing portion 26a of the holding member 26 has a convex shape, but the outer surface has a substantially flat surface shape.

The convex portion on the back side of the housing portion 26a enters the concave portion 20a of the front cover 20 of the camera body 1, and the shape of the front cover 20 follows the convex shape of the holding member 26. Thus, the recess 20 of the front cover 20
The portion a and its vicinity is a portion that can be secured as an empty space due to the arrangement inside the camera, and the xenon tube 23, the reflector 24 and the trigger transformer 25 of the strobe light emitting portion are provided.
It is convenient to accommodate etc.

The reflection umbrella 24 accommodated in the accommodation portion 26a
Has a curved shape, inside which a xenon tube 23 is attached. Then, the irradiation direction of the light emitted from the xenon tube 23 to the subject is adjusted by the curved shape. Further, the projection surface of the reflector 24 is smaller than the flash window 19, and a predetermined insulation distance is secured to the outer portion of the reflector 24 even if the lens barrier 2 and the front cover 20 are conductive members. it can.

The trigger transformer 25 housed in the concave portion 26b is a transformer that boosts the voltage to obtain a voltage necessary for causing the xenon tube 23 to emit light, and its output voltage is reflected via a lead wire 27b. The umbrella 24 is applied. The length of the lead wire 27b is
5 can be shorter because it is directly below the reflector 24, which is effective in reducing the voltage drop and suppressing the generation of noise.

An opening 20d is provided on the front cover 20 below the mounting portion of the strobe light emitting portion for leading a lead wire 27a for electrical connection to the strobe light emitting portion via a lead wire fixing member 28. ing.

As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 11, the lead wire fixing member 28 is
And four lead wire support portions 28a, a blade portion 28b which is a sharp edge-shaped lead wire cutting means parallel to the arrangement direction of the lead wire support portions 28a, and a lead wire pressing portion 28c.
And a lead wire insertion portion 28d, which is fixed to the opening 20d of the front cover 20 with a screw or the like with the blade portion 28b facing inward. In addition, the said blade part 28b is
When the lead wire 27a is strongly contacted by a large tension, it acts as a cutter member for cutting the contact portion.

The lead wire 27 for connecting the strobe light emitting section
a is composed of four wires, one end of which is connected to a printed circuit board 29 in the camera body 1. The other end is connected to the strobe light emitting unit. That is, after the lead wire insertion portion 28d of the lead wire fixing member 28 is inserted and a U-turn is performed in a state where a gap is maintained with respect to the blade portion 28b,
Pass through the lead wire support 28a. In this passing portion, the lead wire 27a is sandwiched between the opening 20d of the front cover 20 and the lead wire support portion 28a to be in a holding state. After that, the lead is passed through the back surface of the lens barrier 2 and inserted through each of the insertion holes provided in the holding member 26, and the two lead wires 27a are connected to the terminals of the xenon tube 23, and the other two lead wires 27a are connected to the trigger transformer. 25 terminals.

It should be noted that the lead wire fixing member 28 is
Since the blade portion 28b is located inside the surface of the apparatus main body 1 after the assembly, no trouble occurs in the subsequent assembling work of the apparatus main body 1 and the lens barrier 2, and rather, the lead wires 27a are put together. Work is easy.

The lead wire support 28a and the xenon tube 2
The lead wire 27a between the terminal 3 and the terminal of the trigger transformer 25 swings around the lead wire supporting portion 28a in accordance with the opening and closing movement of the lens barrier 2, but with some slack. Because of this, it can be swung without any trouble. Further, there is no possibility that the lens barrier 2 is exposed outside.

Next, operations of the digital camera of the present embodiment configured as described above, such as photographing, will be described. The case where flash photography is performed by the present digital camera will be described. First, the lens barrier 2 is moved from the closed position in FIG. 1 to the open position in FIG. 2, and the photographing lens 22 and the optical finder window 16b are opened. The power of the camera is turned on via. In this lens barrier open state, the optical axis O1 of the photographing lens 22 and the optical axis O2 of the strobe light emitting unit are separated from each other by a predetermined distance, and the state where red-eye does not occur due to strobe light emission is maintained.

When the flash photography mode is set by the mode setting switch 6, the condenser 44 is charged via the flash circuit 31 according to the instruction of the system controller 30, and the flash photography preparation state is established. Therefore,
When the release switch 7 is operated, exposure is performed after focusing on the subject. At the time of the exposure, a high voltage is applied from the trigger transformer 25 to the reflector 24 via the lead wire 27b, the electric charge of the capacitor 44 is discharged, and the xenon tube 23 emits light. The emitted light is radiated from the flash window 19 toward the subject, and the image 32
Captures a subject image. The captured image signal of the subject image is recorded in the built-in memory 39 or the like, and the shooting ends.

Next, a state when the lens barrier 2 drops off from the camera body 1 will be described. Lens barrier 2
Has a structure in which the slide protrusions 2a and 2b are slidably fitted in the guide grooves 20a and 20b with respect to the front cover 20. Therefore, if a strong impact force acts on the lens barrier 2 such as accidentally dropping the digital camera while using the digital camera, the lens barrier 2 is moved into the guide groove 2.
0a.

When the lens barrier 2 falls off as described above, a sharp tension acts on the lead wire 27a. Due to the tension, the lead wire 27a strongly contacts the blade portion 28b of the lead wire fixing member 28, and is cut. Then, the lens barrier 2 is completely separated from the camera body 1 side, and is recognized as a state in which the user himself cannot repair it. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which this is assembled and the photographing is performed in an incomplete state.

On the other hand, on the camera body 1 side, since the blade portion 28b of the lead wire fixing member 28 is disposed inside the front cover 20, the cut portion of the cut lead wire 27a in the camera is , Is not exposed outside the front cover 20. Therefore, there is no danger of touching the charged portion of the cut lead wire 27a with the hand.

As described above, according to the digital camera of the present embodiment, when flash photography is performed, a high-voltage current is supplied to the xenon tube 23, and further, a pulsed ultra-high current is supplied through the trigger transformer 25. High voltage is reflective umbrella 24
, The xenon tube 23, the reflector 2
In addition to 4, a trigger transformer 25, which is a source of high noise, is incorporated in the lens barrier 2 and is isolated from the camera body. Therefore, the noise generated by the light emitting section or the like has a small influence on the imager 32 and other processing circuits inside the camera body, and a good photographed image signal with little influence of the noise can be recorded in a memory or the like. it can. Further, since the strobe light emitting unit and the trigger transformer 25 are isolated within the lens barrier 2,
It becomes easy to electrically shield the inside of the camera body as required, which is advantageous in terms of cost and space.

On the other hand, when the lens barrier 2 is detached by dropping the camera as described above, the lead wire 27a is also cut by the tension at the time of detachment. It is certainly recognized that it is possible. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the user himself from performing an incomplete repair, taking a picture with a camera in an incomplete state, and making a mistake in taking a picture.

Also, the lens barrier 2 comes off and the lead wire 2
Since the repair of the broken 7a is stopped by the work of replacing the lead wire 27a in the repair department or the like, the repair period is short, the cost is low, the repair can be easily completed, and the burden on the user is small. I'm done.

Although the application example of the present embodiment is a digital camera, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied to a digital video which is also used for recording a still image and is equipped with a strobe. Further, recently, since computerization is remarkable even in a silver halide film type camera, a remarkable effect can be expected even when applied to such a camera.

[0048]

As described above, the first aspect of the present invention is as described above.
According to the electronic imaging device described above, if the opening / closing lid for protecting the photographing lens is detached from the main body of the device due to an impact such as dropping, the lead wire of the strobe light emitting unit is also cut off. Since it is clearly recognized that it is impossible to repair by itself and that it cannot be repaired as a finished product unless it is in the repair department, it is possible to reliably prevent a mistake in taking a picture by assembling it in an incomplete state.

According to the electronic imaging device of the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the electronic imaging device of the first aspect, after the lead wire fixing member is incorporated in the main body of the device, cutting is performed. Since the means is located inside the apparatus main body, there is no trouble in assembling the apparatus main body and the opening / closing lid for protecting the photographing lens, and the lead wire cutting portion is provided in the apparatus main body even when the lead wire is cut. There is no danger of remaining inside and touching live parts.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an external appearance of a digital camera which is an electronic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a barrier closed state.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the external appearance of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1, showing a barrier open state.

FIG. 3 is a left side view showing the appearance of the digital camera in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a right side view showing an appearance of the digital camera of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the appearance of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a bottom view showing the appearance of the digital camera of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a rear view showing the appearance of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an electric control system of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a front view around the lens barrier of the digital camera in FIG. 1 in a barrier open state.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line AA ′ of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a lead wire fixing member applied to the digital camera of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Device main body (main body) 2 ... Lens barrier (opening / closing lid for photographing lens protection) 20 ... Front cover (main body) 23 ... Xenon tube (strobe light emitting part) 24 ... Reflective umbrella (strobe light emitting part) 28 ... Lead wire fixing member 28b ... Blade part (cutting means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electronic image pickup apparatus comprising a photographing lens protection opening / closing lid in which a strobe light emitting section is incorporated, provided on a front surface of a main body. An electronic imaging apparatus, wherein a cutting means for cutting a lead wire to be electrically connected when the opening / closing lid for protecting a photographing lens falls off is provided in the apparatus main body. 2. The cutting means is fixed to a main body of the apparatus, and is provided integrally with a lead fixing member for holding the lead at a portion where the lead is led out from an opening provided in the main body of the apparatus. 2. The electronic imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic imaging apparatus is disposed inside the apparatus main body.