JPH1083035A - Peprinting method and photographic printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the density and color of a reprinted photograph equal to those of the photograph printed the last time. SOLUTION: The photometry of a finished printed photograph is performed with a paper scanner 50. Finishing data concerning the density and color balance is obtained based on a photometric value by a finishing data arithmetic operation part 51. The finishing data is stored in a memory 53. The finishing data is written in the transparent magnetic recording layer of photographic film 13 by a magnetic recording head 53 and a magnetic recording and reproducing part 52. In the case of reordering, the reordering data is written in the transparent magnetic recording layer. The reordering data and the finishing data are read out in the reordered print. The photometry of an object frame to be reprinted is performed based on the finishing data. Relation between the photometry data and the finishing data is previously obtained. By using the relation, the finishing data is predicted based on the film photometry data. Exposure correction amount is obtained according to deviation between the predicted finishing data and the recorded finishing data. Printing exposure is corrected according to the exposure correction amount. The reordered frame is exposed to be printed with the corrected printing exposure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reprinting method and a photographic printer, and more particularly to a reprinting method and a photographic printer for making a reprint finish the same as the previous one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing system using a photographic film, even when the same frame is printed and exposed, the reproducibility differs due to differences in printer models, machine differences, chemical processing fluctuation factors, and the like.

[0003]

For this reason, in reprinting such as a reprint order, the finish density and color of the reprint may be different from the previous print.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide a reprinting method and a photographic printer in which the density and color of a reprinted photograph are the same as those printed last time. .

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reprinting method, wherein a finished print photograph is photometrically measured to obtain finished data relating to density and color balance, and the finished data is recorded. In addition, while reading out the finish data at the time of reprint order,
Photometry is performed on the frame to be reprinted, and the exposure control parameter is adjusted based on the relationship between the finished data and the photometric data so that the last finished print is the same as the current finished print.

The relationship between the finished data and the film photometric data is determined in advance, the finished data is predicted by the film photometric data using this relationship, and the relationship between the predicted finished data and the recorded finished data is calculated. Preferably, the exposure control parameter is adjusted according to the amount of deviation. Further, the finished data has photometric area information that defines the photometric area of the finished print photograph,
At the time of photometry of the frame to be reprinted, it is preferable to perform photometry on the same area as the photometry area of the finished print photograph based on the photometry area information. Preferably, the finished data is recorded on a recording medium that is handled together with the photo film. Further, the recording medium is preferably a transparent magnetic recording layer formed on a photographic film. These deviation amounts are determined based on an ideal print density value obtained based on the exposure control arithmetic expression and an actual print density value obtained by photometry of the finished print photograph, and the deviation amount and the ideal print density value are calculated. Therefore, it is preferable to obtain the finish data and record the finish data. As the shift amount, it is preferable to accumulate the past N (N is an integer of 1 or more) frames and use the average value thereof.

The photographic printer according to the present invention is characterized in that finished photo calculation means for measuring finished print photographs to obtain finished data relating to density and color balance, and to record the finished data on a recording medium handled together with the photographic film. Means for reading, and means for reading the finished data at the time of ordering the reprint, photometry of the frame to be reprinted based on the read finished data, and the previous finish based on the relationship between the finished data and photometric data. It is provided with an exposure control means for controlling exposure so that the print and the finished print are the same. It is preferable to provide a means for correcting the exposure control parameter based on the amount of deviation between the finished data of the reprinted photograph obtained from the finished data calculating means and the previously recorded finished data.

[0008]

When a photo is printed, the finished print photo is measured by photometry, and based on the photometry, finished data relating to density and color balance is obtained. The finished data is recorded on a recording medium handled together with the photographic film, for example, a transparent magnetic recording layer formed on the photographic film. When ordering a reprint, finished data is read from the transparent magnetic recording layer. The photo film is subjected to photometry so that the photometry area is the same as the print photo based on the photometry area information in the finished data. The exposure control parameters are adjusted based on the relationship between the photometric data and the finish data, so that the previous print and the current reprint have the same finish. The adjustment of the exposure control parameters is performed, for example, as follows. The relationship between the finished data and the film photometric data is determined in advance, and the finished data is predicted by the film photometric data using this relationship. Then, an exposure control parameter, for example, an exposure correction amount is obtained in accordance with a shift amount between the predicted finish data and the recorded finish data, and the printing exposure amount is corrected based on the exposure correction amount.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a printer processor embodying the present invention. This printer processor 1
Numeral 0 is composed of a printing exposure unit 11 and a paper processor unit 12 as is well known. The printing exposure unit 11 prints and prints an image to be printed (negative image) of the photographic film 13 on a color paper 14. Paper reservoir 15
Temporarily stores the color paper 14 which has been printed and exposed, and absorbs a difference in processing speed between the print exposure unit 11 and the paper processor unit 12. The paper processor 12 develops the color paper 14 and thereafter cuts the color paper 14 one by one into a print photograph 16, which is discharged to a tray 17.

A light source 20 is disposed in the printing exposure unit 11. The white light emitted from the light source 20 is supplied to a cyan filter 21, a magenta filter 22, and a yellow filter 23.
And then into the mixing box 24. The amount of insertion of these color correction filters 21 to 23 into the printing optical path 26 is adjusted by the light quality adjusting unit 25, and thereby the three-color light components of the printing light and the intensity thereof are adjusted. The mixing box 24 is formed by attaching diffusion plates to both ends of a rectangular tube whose inner surface is a mirror surface.

The film carrier 27 is arranged at a printing position. The developed photo film 13 is set in the film carrier 27, and the mixing box 2
4 is illuminated with the light transmitted through. In order to ensure the flatness of the photo film 13, a film mask 29 is provided above the print position.

A printing lens 30 is arranged above the printing position. The printing lens 30 forms an image of a frame of the photographic film 13 on the color paper 14. Reference numeral 32 denotes a paper mask. A shutter 34 is arranged between the printing lens 30 and the color paper 14. The shutter 34 is configured to retreat from the printing optical path 26 for a predetermined time by a shutter driving unit 35.

A film scanner 40 comprising a lens 38 and an image area sensor 39 is disposed diagonally above the print position. The film scanner 40 measures the transmitted light of red, green, and blue for each point of the frame set at the print position. The signal of the film scanner 40 is sent to a signal processing circuit 41, where it is subjected to digital conversion and logarithmic conversion.

The digital signal from the signal processing circuit 41 is sent to a printing exposure calculation section 42, where the printing exposure is calculated based on a well-known exposure calculation formula.

The printing exposure calculation section 42 extracts a main subject by scene analysis and calculates a printing exposure based on the extracted main subject. Therefore, first, the area is divided based on the image data. Examples of the area division method include a clustering method of extracting a group of pixels having similar properties using color data and density data, and a contour shape extraction method using differential filtering. These methods are used. Next, a well-known scene analysis is performed based on the region division result. And
For example, a main subject, which is a person image, is extracted based on a skin color portion. Next, for example, a printing exposure amount in which a main subject is weighted is calculated based on a well-known exposure amount calculation formula.
Data used for scene analysis and exposure calculation include full-screen density data, density data for each screen division area, and results of extraction of main subjects (position, area, shape, density data). Maximum, minimum,
There is a histogram. The calculated printing exposure amount is sent to the controller 45. In addition to extracting the main subject by scene analysis and calculating the printing exposure based on this,
The printing exposure amount may be simply calculated by LATD.

The controller 45 is composed of a well-known microcomputer, and controls each part in sequence. Further, the controller 45 is connected with a keyboard 45a used for setting various modes and inputting commands, and a display 45b for displaying the contents of these mode designations and commands. Further, the controller 45 obtains a set position of each of the color correction filters 21 to 23 based on the printing exposure amount, and controls the light quality adjusting unit 25 based on this position.
Then, the controller 45 opens the shutter 34 for a predetermined time via the shutter driving unit 35 to print and print the image to be printed on the color paper 14. The color paper 14 subjected to printing exposure is sent to the paper processor unit 12 via a paper reservoir 15 as is well known, and is subjected to development processing.

A paper scanner 50 is arranged on the paper exit side of the paper processor unit 12. The paper scanner 50 measures the image of each frame after the development processing. This photometric value is sent to the finished data calculation unit 51. The finished data calculation unit 51 is a paper scanner 50.
The finishing data is obtained based on the photometric value obtained from. The finished data includes an average value, a maximum value, a minimum value, a histogram, and the like in the photometry area for each of R, G, and B colors (hereinafter, a histogram).
These are referred to as paper balance data). Further, instead of the average value or the maximum value for each color, the average value or the maximum value in the gray density may be used as the balance data. Also, the finished data calculation unit 5
A step 1 obtains the photometric area information of the photo film 13 corresponding to the photometric area in the paper scanner 50 based on the printing magnification. This photometric area information is recorded as a relative value of the position and size with respect to the entire frame.

The magnetic recording / reproducing section 52 includes a magnetic recording head 5
3, finished data including paper balance data and photometric area information is written on the transparent magnetic recording layer of the photographic film 13. As described above, the paper balance data is obtained by measuring the color paper 14 which has been subjected to the development processing. Therefore, when the paper balance data is to be written in the transparent magnetic recording area corresponding to each frame, this frame balance data is obtained. Has already been sent from the print position of the film carrier 27 after the printing exposure. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the finish data is written in the corresponding transparent magnetic recording area by rewinding the film after the printing exposure of all the frames for one frame is completed and sending the film again. Further, the magnetic recording / reproducing unit 52 reads, via the magnetic reproducing head 54, various kinds of photographing information written on the transparent magnetic recording layer of the photographic film 13 during simultaneous printing. At the time of reprinting, in addition to various pieces of photographing information, finish data and reorder data for designating the number and size of prints are read.

The controller 45 controls the film scanner 4 based on the photometric area information read at the time of reprinting.
The photometric value from 0 is set to the same area as the photometric area of the print photograph, and the film balance data is obtained in the same manner as the paper balance data. The relationship between the film balance data and the paper balance data is obtained in advance, and this is stored in the controller 45 in a look-up table format. Therefore, paper balance data is predicted from the film balance data based on the look-up table memory (LUT).
Next, a difference between the predicted paper balance data and the previous paper balance data is obtained. Then, the exposure correction amount is determined based on this difference. The relationship between the difference and the exposure correction amount is also obtained in advance, and this is stored in the controller 45 as an LUT. Therefore, the exposure correction amount is obtained using this LUT. Based on the exposure correction amount, the printing exposure amount calculation unit 42 corrects the printing exposure amount calculated from the photometric value from the film scanner 40. The controller 45 performs reprinting based on the corrected printing exposure amount.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, in the simultaneous printing, the photographic film that has been subjected to the development processing is set on the film carrier, and each frame is sequentially set at the printing position. At the time of frame advance to the print position, photographing information is read from the transparent magnetic recording layer. As the shooting information, in the present embodiment,
The number of prints, print type, and PQI (print quality improvement information) are used. The number of prints for the same frame is determined based on the print number information. For example, when the number of prints is “2”, the same image is printed twice for the same frame, and the same image is continuously printed on the color paper 14 for two frames. As the print type, as is well known, each of print sizes of a standard type, a powerful type, and a panorama type is selected. The PQI is a light source type, exposure data, and the like at the time of photographing, and the printing exposure amount is corrected using these. When each frame is set at the print position, the number of perforations is detected by a perforation sensor (not shown), and the frame number of the frame set at the print position is specified based on this.

The frame set at the print position is measured by the film scanner 40, and an optimum printing exposure amount is calculated based on the measured light value. Then, the set positions of the color filters 21 to 23 are adjusted so as to obtain the printing exposure amount, and printing exposure is performed. The printed color paper 14 is sent to the paper processor 12 where it is developed. Developed color paper 14
Are measured by the paper scanner 50.
The finished data calculation unit 51 obtains paper balance data based on the photometric value. Also, the finished data calculation unit 5
1 also obtains photometric area information. Then, the finished data including the obtained paper balance data and the photometry area information is stored in the memory 55 of the magnetic recording / reproducing unit 52 for each frame.

When the simultaneous printing of all frames for one photo film is completed, the photo film 13 is rewound and stored in the film cartridge. Next, Photo Film 1
3 is sent again, and during this feeding, the paper balance data and the photometry area information of each frame are written in the transparent magnetic recording area of each frame. When the writing is completed, the photographic film is rewound and wound up in the film cartridge. Incidentally, if the balance data and the photometry area information are recorded in a recording format that can be read by both sending and rewinding, regardless of the feeding direction of the film, naturally, after the printing exposure is completed, These information may be written when rewinding the film.

When a reprint order is received, the number of prints and the print type are written on the transparent magnetic recording layer of the reprint order frame by an order receiving machine (not shown).
Instead of writing the reorder information on the transparent magnetic recording layer in this way, the number of prints may be specified by manually setting the print target frame at the print position.

As shown in FIG. 3, the printer processor 10
After the photo film 13 for reordering is set in the photo film carrier 27, the photo film 13 is fed by frames.
At the time of frame advance, the magnetic reproduction head 54 reads reorder data including the number of prints and the print type of reorder, and finish data including paper balance data and photometric area information. The reorder data is sent to the controller 45. The finished data is sent to the printing exposure calculation section 42. The controller 45 sequentially sets the frame in which the reorder data is written at the print position.

Next, the controller 45 measures the photo frame to be printed by the film scanner 40 for the frame set at the print position. The photometric value is sent to a printing exposure amount calculation unit 42 via a signal processing circuit 41.
The printing exposure amount calculation unit 42 obtains film balance data based on the photometric data and the photometric area information. Based on the film balance data, the LUT
To obtain the predicted paper balance data. Next, a difference between the predicted paper balance data and the previous paper balance data is obtained, and based on the difference, an exposure correction amount is obtained by an LUT representing a relationship between the difference and the exposure correction amount.

The signal processing circuit 41 converts the photometric value from the scanner 40 into various characteristic values. Then, the printing exposure calculation section 42 calculates the printing exposure using a well-known exposure calculation formula based on the various characteristic values. The obtained printing exposure amount is corrected using an exposure correction amount based on the predicted balance data. Then, the frame to be reordered is printed and exposed on the basis of the corrected printing exposure amount, and thereafter, the paper processor unit 12 performs development processing. In this way, a reordered print photograph having almost the same finish as the previous print is obtained. Hereinafter, other reorder frames are printed in the same manner.

If necessary, the reordered print may be photometrically measured by the paper scanner 50, and the finish data in the reorder may be obtained again, thereby rewriting the previously recorded finish data. In addition, by comparing the finished data obtained from the reorder print with the previous finished data, the deviation amount is obtained, and when the deviation amount is out of a certain range, the exposure control parameter is corrected so as to eliminate the deviation. May be.

In the case of a reorder print, if there is an instruction for correcting the density or color, the instruction for correction is made based on the previous print. Therefore, by correcting the result of the density and color balance correction processing based on the paper balance data at the time of the previous printing with an exposure correction amount corresponding to the specified density and color balance correction instruction, the user can perform printing as desired. Can be created.

Since development processing is performed after printing exposure, there is naturally a difference between the printing exposure timing for the same frame and the print development processing completion timing. Therefore, when the paper balance data is obtained, the transparent magnetic recording area of this frame to be written is not already at the print position of the film carrier 27. Therefore, in the above embodiment, each paper balance data is stored in the memory 55, and when all the paper balance data is obtained, the paper balance data and the photometric area information are stored in the transparent magnetic recording layer of the photographic film 13. Is written. As a result, the time until the print processing ends is lengthened. In order to prevent this, the paper balance data may be predicted, and the predicted value may be written when the film is fed immediately after the printing exposure is completed.

In this case, the amount of deviation between the ideal print density value obtained based on the exposure control arithmetic expression and the actual print density value obtained by photometry of the finished print photograph at the time of photo printing is obtained. It is preferable that the finish data is predicted from the deviation amount and the ideal print density value, and the predicted finish data is recorded.

For example, if there is a time lag of a frame between the frame being printed and exposed and the frame that has been printed, when the I-th frame is printed and exposed, the paper processor unit 12 outputs the I-frame. -The image of the a-th frame is output. In this case, the finished data calculation unit 51
The ideal print density value for N frames before the I-ath is stored, and the average deviation amount is obtained by comparing the ideal print density value with the photometric value of the corresponding image of the output print. Then, the finish data is predicted by correcting the ideal print density value with the average shift amount.

It should be noted that, as the data for the N frames, I-
It is also possible to adopt the latest N frames out of the data for the frames before the a-th frame and update the accumulated shift amount at a predetermined timing. In this case, an ideal print density value for the I-th frame currently being printed and exposed is obtained by a printing exposure amount calculation formula, and the ideal print density value is corrected with the latest average deviation amount, and the print predicted value of this frame is calculated. Ask. The paper balance data and photometric area information calculated using the predicted print value are recorded on the transparent magnetic recording layer of the photo film 13.

In the above embodiment, the paper balance data based on the ideal print density value of the same frame and the paper balance data based on the photometry are used in synchronization with each frame. The average deviation amount may be obtained from a comparison between statistical data such as the average value of. In this case, the accuracy is inferior, but the calculation process of the average deviation amount is simplified.

As described above, by using the paper balance data based on the ideal print density value and the paper balance data obtained by actually measuring the frame whose printing has been completed, the paper balance data can be obtained even when the development processing is not completed. It becomes possible to predict. Therefore, at the time of film frame advance after printing exposure is completed,
Paper balance data can be recorded in the magnetic recording area of this frame. Further, it is possible to predict shifts due to daily or intra-day fluctuations in the same printing machine, so that these shifts can be easily corrected.

In the above embodiment, the reorder data and the finished data are recorded on the transparent magnetic recording layer of the photographic film, but may be recorded on a recording medium such as an IC memory handled with the photographic film. The IC memory may be built in a photographic film cartridge or may be a card memory. In the case of simultaneous printing, the exposure correction amount used in simultaneous printing may be recorded in addition to the finish data.

[0036]

According to the first or eighth aspect of the present invention, the finished print photograph is measured to obtain the corresponding finish data on the density and the color balance, and the finish data is recorded beforehand when ordering a reprint. While reading out the finish data, photometry is performed on the frame to be reprinted, and the exposure control parameters are adjusted based on the relationship between the finish data and the photometric data so that the previous finish print and the current finish print are the same. As a result, the reordered print can be finished in the same manner as the previous print.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the relationship between the finished data and the film photometric data is determined in advance, the finished data is predicted by the film photometric data using this relationship, and the predicted finished data and recorded data are recorded. Since the exposure control parameters are adjusted in accordance with the amount of deviation from the finished data, reprinting can be completed in the same manner as the previous printing even if there is a machine difference or model difference.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the finished data includes light metering area information for defining a light metering area of the finished print photograph. Since the photometry area is the same as the photometry area of the printed photo, the photometry area of the previous photo and the photometry area of the current photo can be made the same, and accurate photometry is possible. Moreover, it is possible to easily cope with the case where the order size is different from the previous order.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the finished data is recorded on the recording medium handled together with the photographic film, it can be easily used when reordering. In addition, when the recording medium is a transparent magnetic recording layer formed on a photographic film, the finished data can be read reliably with a simple structure.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the ideal print density value obtained based on the exposure control arithmetic expression and the actual print density value obtained by photometry of a print photograph finished at the time of photo printing are obtained. The shift amount is obtained, and the finish data is predicted from the shift amount and the ideal print density value. By recording the predicted finish data, the finish data is also predicted for frames during printing exposure. Will be able to do it. Therefore, the finish data can be written on the transparent magnetic recording layer of the photographic film when the film is fed after the printing exposure is completed,
The processing time for simultaneous printing does not increase. Also,
As in the invention according to claim 7, it is possible to easily predict the finished data by accumulating the past N (N is an integer of 1 or more) frames as the shift amount and using the average value thereof. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a printer processor embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of simultaneous printing in the printer processor.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a reorder print processing procedure in the printer processor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printer processor 11 Printing exposure unit 12 Paper processor unit 13 Photo film 14 Color paper 15 Paper reservoir 16 Print photo 27 Film carrier 40 Film scanner 45 Controller 50 Paper scanner 51 Finished data calculation unit 52 Magnetic recording / reproducing unit 53 Magnetic recording head 54 Magnetic reproducing head

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. Photometry of a finished print photograph to obtain finishing data relating to density and color balance, recording the finishing data, reading out the finishing data when ordering a reprint, and metering a frame to be reprinted. A reprinting method characterized in that the exposure control parameter is adjusted based on the relationship between the finished data and the photometric data so that the previous finished print is the same as the current finished print. 2. A relationship between the finished data and the film photometric data is determined in advance, the finished data is predicted by the film photometric data using the relationship, and the predicted finished data and the recorded finished data are compared with each other. 2. The reprinting method according to claim 1, wherein the exposure control parameter is adjusted according to a shift amount. 3. The finished data includes light metering area information that defines a light metering area of a finished print photograph.
3. The reprinting method according to claim 1, wherein the photometry of the same frame as the photometry area of the finished print photograph is performed based on the photometry area information at the time of photometry of the frame to be reprinted. 4. The reprinting method according to claim 3, wherein said finishing data is recorded on a recording medium handled together with a photographic film. 5. The reprinting method according to claim 4, wherein said recording medium is a transparent magnetic recording layer formed on a photographic film. 6. The amount of deviation is determined based on an ideal print density value obtained based on an exposure control arithmetic expression and an actual print density value obtained by photometry of a finished print photograph. 6. The reprinting method according to claim 1, wherein the finish data is predicted from an ideal print density value, and the predicted finish data is recorded. 7. The reprinting method according to claim 6, wherein the shift amount is obtained by accumulating past N (N is an integer of 1 or more) frames and using an average value thereof. 8. A finish data calculating means for measuring the finished print photograph to obtain corresponding finish data on density and color balance, and means for recording the finish data on a recording medium handled together with the photographic film. A metering means for metering a frame to be reprinted at the time of reprinting to obtain metering data; a means for reading the finishing data at the time of ordering a reprint; and a finishing method based on a relationship between the read finishing data and the metering data. A photographic printer, comprising: exposure control means for controlling exposure so that a print and a current finished print are the same. 9. A device according to claim 8, further comprising means for correcting an exposure control parameter based on a deviation amount between the finish data of the reprinted photograph obtained from said finish data calculation means and the finish data recorded last time. A photo printer as described.