JPH11305287A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video camera constituted so that a photographer can firmly hold a camera main body with the left hand, without inadvertently catching his or her finger on the front surface of a lens. SOLUTION: An electronic display 3 is arranged inside the camera main body 2, so as to be visually recognized from the back of the camera. A photographic lens part 4 is arranged not so as to physically interfere with the electronic display 3. A lens barrier shields the photographic lens, when the camera is not used and is housed without projecting from the camera main body 2. At the time of taking a photograph, the lens barrier 8 is operated in the direction of an arrow, so that the lens barrier 8 pivotally supported by the camera main body 2 is turned by a rotary shaft. At this time, a power supply switch not shown in the figure, which is linked with a detecting member, is turned on, to obtain a photographing ready state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera provided with an electronic display such as a liquid crystal display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many conventional electronic cameras, such as digital still cameras, which do not use a silver halide film, have been put on the market. There are various camera layouts since no film is used. However, the most common among them is a silver halide camera layout. In a video camera, an electronic display typified by a liquid crystal display unit is generally mounted, and the electronic display is generally arranged on the back of the camera. On the other hand, in order to reduce the thickness of the camera, it is effective to arrange the electronic display device and the taking lens unit so as not to physically interfere with each other.

[0003]

With the above-described video camera, the lens is inevitably driven to the right end when viewed from the front of the camera. As a result, as shown in the conventional example of FIG. 6, the left hand must hold the camera over the front surface 1 of the photographing lens, and the operability is considerably poor. In addition, there are many cases where the front surface of the lens is inadvertently covered with a finger or the lens is touched.

According to the present invention, a slim and compact video camera having an electronic display on the back and a photographic lens arranged at the end of the camera, but without inadvertently touching the front of the lens and firmly. An object of the present invention is to provide a video camera having a configuration in which a camera body can be held by a left hand.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a display unit of an electronic display is provided on a back surface, and a photographing lens is provided so as not to physically interfere with the electronic display. In a video camera in which the unit is disposed at the right end when viewed from the front of the camera, a displaceable lens barrier member is attached to the end of the video camera, and the lens barrier member protrudes in the lateral direction of the camera body during shooting. It is configured to be a holding section for the photographer's left hand.

With this configuration, the camera can be held without the left hand of the user covering the front surface of the lens during photographing.

Further, in the invention described in claim 2 of the present application, the lens barrier member covers the front surface of the photographing lens when not photographing, and the lens barrier member rotates in the lateral direction of the camera body when photographing. The video camera body is provided with a detecting member for detecting that the video camera body is ready for shooting.

According to this configuration, the preparation for photographing is completed only by the operation of opening the barrier.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows the features of the present invention most clearly, and shows the use state of a video camera. 2 is a top view when the video camera is not used, FIG. 3 is a top view when the video camera is used, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view conceptually showing the inside of the camera in the state of FIG. .

As shown in FIG. 4, an electronic display 3 is provided inside the camera body 2 so as to be visible from the back of the camera, and a photographic lens unit 4 is arranged so as not to physically interfere with the electronic display 3. Is done. 5 is C
An electric board on which an image pickup device such as a CD is mounted, reference numeral 6 denotes a circuit component, and reference numeral 7 denotes a battery. Reference numeral 8 denotes a lens barrier. In FIG. 2 when the camera is not used, the lens barrier 8 covers the photographing lens and is stored without protruding from the camera body 2.

At the time of photographing, by operating the lens barrier 8 in the direction of the arrow, the lens barrier 8 pivotally supported by the camera body 2 by the rotating shaft 9 is turned to the state shown in FIG. At this time, by turning on a power switch (not shown) in which the detection member indicated by 10 is linked, a photographing preparation state is set. When the camera body 2 is held in this state, the state shown in FIG. 1 is obtained. However, as can be seen from the figure, the left hand can firmly hold the lens barrier 8 and can be used without touching the front surface 1 of the taking lens.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a photograph button.
Reference numeral 12 denotes an optical finder window. In a video camera such as the present invention, the photographing can be performed while looking at the electronic display 3, so that the optical viewfinder 12 may be omitted.
When the optical finder 12 is provided as described above, the finder window can be shielded together with the taking lens by the lens barrier 8 when it is stored.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment, in which the lens barrier 8A has a slide structure. The user can obtain the same effect as in the first embodiment by sliding the lens barrier 8A from the camera body 2 in the direction of the arrow when shooting.

[0014]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a video camera provided with an electronic display and having a taking lens at the end of the camera body as shown in the conventional example It is possible to solve the inconvenience that is equivalent to the absence of the left hand holding portion with a simple configuration.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the user does not need any special operation, and obtains the effect of the present invention by opening the lens barrier at the start of use, ie, by one operation of turning on the power. Is very effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a use state of a video camera of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing a non-use state of the video camera of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing a use state of the video camera of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the video camera of the present invention as viewed from above.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a video camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a usage state of a conventional video camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 front of photographic lens 2 camera body 3 electronic display 4 photographic lens unit 5 electric board 6 circuit component 7 battery 8, 8A lens barrier 9 rotation axis 10 detection member 11 shooting button 12 optical finder

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A video camera in which a display unit of an electronic display is provided on a back surface, and a photographing lens unit is disposed at a right end when viewed from the front of the camera so as not to physically interfere with the electronic display. A video camera, comprising a displaceable lens barrier member, and wherein at the time of photographing, the lens barrier member protrudes in a lateral direction of the camera body so as to be a holding portion of a photographer's left hand. 2. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein
The lens barrier member, when not photographing, the lens barrier member covers the front surface of the photographing lens, and at the time of photographing, the lens barrier member rotates in the lateral direction of the camera body and protrudes,
The video camera body further comprises a detection member for detecting that the video camera is ready for shooting.