JPS6290640A - Method and apparatus for color correction - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily correct colors and to expose an image to a photosensitive material by inserting plural filters having different densities into an optical path from an original to the photosensitive material in the stage of exposing the original to the photosensitive material by optical scanning. CONSTITUTION:A silver halide color photographic sensitive material 1 in a dark box 2 is drawn out and is cut to a prescribed length by a cutter 7. The cut material is conveyed by a belt 10. The original is placed on an original platen 15 and is subjected to scanning and exposing by a light source 16. The light reflected from the original is reflected by mirrors 18, 19, 20 and is passed through a color correcting device 21 and a lens 22, by which the color correction is made. The reflected light subjected to the color correction is applied via mirrors 23, 24 to the conveyed photosensitive material 1 between rollers 13 and 14 to expose said material. This color correcting member 21 is constituted of the color filters having the plural densities. The color filters are adequately selected according to the sensitivity of the photosensitive material 1. Since the multi-density color filters are used, the easy color correction in a wide range is made possible.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field 1] The present invention relates to a color correction method and a color correction device, and more specifically, a color correction method suitable for imagewise exposing a silver halide color photographic material by a scanning method. and a color correction device.

[Background of the Invention] A method of producing 1 q of color prints using a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material by a static full-surface exposure method is known. This static full-surface exposure method has the disadvantage that, in principle, it has to be large, although it depends on the size of the document and the magnification ratio. On the other hand, the scanning exposure method used in electrophotographic copying machines and the like does not require substantially the same planar space as the original during exposure, unlike the static full-surface exposure method, and thus can be made smaller.

This scanning exposure method is used to print silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials.Since the surface to be exposed moves at a constant speed, it is possible to print a neutral gray to match the sensitivity of the three photosensitive layers of the silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material. As a color correction method for producing C1, it is not possible to use an additive coloring method using blue light, green light, and red light, or an exposure time control method using white light through a cyan, magenta, or yellow filter.

Therefore, a method is used in which a color correction filter is inserted all over the front or back of the lens, but sensitivity varies depending on the brand and type of silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material used, and even depending on the manufacturing lot even for the same brand. In order to obtain the optimal finish, it is inconvenient to prepare several color correction filters with different densities in advance, and to replace the color correction filters as appropriate depending on the sensitivity of the photosensitive material used. . As a solution to this problem, for example, Qerman and Gsell AG
-5Color-R-P printer made by Co., Ltd., performs color correction by automatically switching between multiple color correction filters with different densities placed around the lens using a selection button, but when the device is activated. Therefore, a rotary solenoid is used for each color correction filter, which has the disadvantage of making the device complicated and large, and increasing the cost. Furthermore, it is very complicated to manually change the color correction filter to the optimum one each time the type of silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material used changes.

[Object of the Invention] In view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, the first object of the present invention is to provide a color correction method that can perform a wide range of color correction in a simple manner when exposing a photosensitive material to an image using a scanning exposure method. A second object of the present invention is to provide a color correction device that can implement the above method.

[Structure of the Invention] The first object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of f! This is achieved by providing a color correction method that controls the spectral energy distribution of the optical system by inserting a color filter having a high resolution into the optical path from the original to the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a color filter having a plurality of densities in an optical path from the original to the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material when the original is scanned by an optical system and imagewise exposed to the photosensitive material. This is achieved by providing a color correction device having means for inserting and means for moving the color filter in the optical path.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a copy image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. A roll-shaped silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material (hereinafter simply referred to as a photosensitive material) 1 stored in a dark box 2 is pulled out from the dark box 2, and is moved by two pairs of rollers 3, 3'.
and 4.4', respectively, and is conveyed between endless belts 5.5' and 4.4', and further conveyed by feed rollers 6, 6' and 8.8'. When the leading edge of the photosensitive material 1 has been fed a predetermined length from the position of the cutter 7 provided between the feed rollers 6, 6' and 8, 8', the conveyance is temporarily stopped.
The cutter 7 operates and the photosensitive material 1 is cut into sheets.

Next, the sheet-like photosensitive material 1 is transferred to two pairs of rollers 9, 9' and 11.
．． Endless belt 10 each stretched between 11'
．． 10', and further conveyed between the feed rollers 13.
13' and 14.14', and is subjected to image exposure when passing between feed rows 513.13' and 14.14'.

That is, the passage of the photosensitive material 1 is detected by a sensor attached to the guide 12, and in synchronization with this, the light source 16 is turned on and the guide 12 starts moving at a constant speed. At this time, the auxiliary mirror 17 and the reflecting mirror 18 move at the same speed together with the light source 16, and the reflecting mirrors 19 and 20 move at half the moving speed of the light source 16. The original placed on the original glass table 15 receives scanning exposure from the light source 16, and the reflected light from the original surface is reflected by the reflection mirrors 18, 19 and 20, the color correction device 21 according to the present invention, the lens 22, and the reflection mirror. The light is projected onto the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material 1 via 23 and 24. The photosensitive material 1 image-exposed in this way is transferred to the feed roller 25.2.
5', enters a development processing section (not shown), and undergoes development processing to become a print.

Next, a color correction device that implements color correction according to the present invention will be described.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a front view and a perspective view showing an embodiment of the color correction device.

The color correction device of this embodiment has light-transmitting color filter pieces 27a to 2, each having an area that can cover the effective image area of the optical system, and colored with stepwise densities.
7 [consists of multi-temperature color filters 26 that are sequentially attached to a filter fixing frame 28 and a holder 29 that holds the multi-temperature color filters 26.

For example, the filter pieces 27a to 27f of each color are as follows:
(1) A transparent support coated with a light-transmissive color dye along with a binder; (2) A color silver halide emulsion with a built-in coupler coated on a transparent support, and a colored pattern is formed by monochromatic separation exposure. (3) optically colored glass filters containing metal colloid particles, and (4) dichroic ivy filters with a metal film deposited on a transparent support. For long-term use, the above-mentioned optical color glass filters and dichroic filters are preferable, especially from the point of view of having a small amount of 0.2 to 1. OmmJ optical color glass filters and dichroic filters are preferred.

It is also preferable to provide a protective layer to prevent scratches on the filter surface, or to perform antireflection treatment using a vapor-deposited metal thin film to prevent light loss on the filter surface.

The multi-temperature color filter 26 is a lens 22 placed in the optical path.
The small filter pieces 27a to 27f of each color are arranged in the vicinity of the holder 29 and are configured to be sequentially inserted into the optical path by roughly sliding the inside of the holder 29 in the direction of the arrow shown. Bearings 30a to 30d provided on the holder 29 are in contact with the upper or lower end of the filter fixing frame 28 to guide the sliding movement of the multi-temperature color filter 26. Of these, bearing 3
A spring spring 31 applies a constant pressing force to the upper end of the filter fixing frame 28, and the bearing 30a is inserted into the groove 28 provided in the upper cut of the filter fixing frame 28.
When engaged with ', the multi-temperature color filter 26 is fixed and accurate positioning can be easily performed. Also, filter fixing frame 2
8 has a lever 32 attached to it. This allows the multi-temperature color filter 26 to be easily slid manually.

In the above configuration, each color filter piece 27a to 27
The coloring densities of f are different in stages, and the color filter pieces 27a to 27f are divided according to the sensitivity of the photosensitive material 1 used.
By selecting a suitable color filter piece from among them, sliding the multi-degree color filter 26 and inserting the selected color filter piece into the optical path, the light source can be adjusted according to the sensitivity of the photosensitive material 1 used. The spectral energy distribution of the image is corrected and appropriate color correction is performed.

The multi-temperature color filter 26 may be slid manually by using the lever 32 as described above, or automatically by mechanical or electrical means. good. For example, it can be driven by a rotary dial, motor, etc. via a pulley, gears, etc.

In this embodiment, the multi-temperature color filter 26 has six different densities.
Although the color filter pieces 27a to 27f are made up of 27a to 27f, the number of color filter pieces can be set arbitrarily depending on the required number of density levels.

4 and 5 are a front view and a perspective view showing another embodiment of the color correction device.

In addition to arranging the color filter pieces in a horizontal row as in the embodiments described above, the color filter pieces can also be arranged on a disk. That is, the color filter pieces 34a to 34 arranged on a rotatable disk-shaped filter fixing frame 35
Appropriate color filter pieces can be selected by rotating the multi-temperature color filter 33 consisting of f manually or automatically using a motor or the like.

Although the above embodiments have been described using one multi-temperature color filter, it is preferable to further combine multi-temperature color filters of different colors in order to perform color correction more accurately.

Further, in the above embodiments, the color filter pieces having a stepwise difference in 4ffa degrees are used, but it is also possible to use a filter having a continuous difference.

Further, in the above embodiment, the color correction device is placed near the lens 22, but there is no particular limitation as long as it is on the optical path from the original to the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material 1. Considering the size of the necessary color filter pieces, etc., it is preferable to arrange them near the lens 22.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above in detail, the method of the present invention allows color correction over a wide range to be easily performed by using a multi-finess color filter. Further, the apparatus of the present invention realizes the method according to the present invention with a simple configuration.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a copying image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, FIGS. 2 and 3 are front views and perspective views showing an example of a color correction device, and FIGS. The figures are a front view and a perspective view showing another embodiment of the color correction device. 1...Sensitive material, 16...Light source, 21...
Color correction device, 22... Lens, 26.33...
Multi-density color filter Figure 2

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) When exposing a photosensitive material in an image while scanning an original with an optical system, the optical system A color correction method characterized by controlling the spectral energy distribution of. (2) means for inserting color filters having a plurality of densities into an optical path from the original to the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material when exposing the photosensitive material to an image while scanning the original with an optical system; A color correction device comprising means for moving a color filter within an optical path.