JPS63161778A - Video camera with still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simultaneously photograph a moving picture and a still picture without interfering with each other by installing a still camera function part in a finder unit and using the view finder in common with a still camera part and a video camera part for photographing. CONSTITUTION:A titled camera has a first enclosure 11 housing the video camera part 10 which shoots an object to be shot and records the moving picture in a video tape and a second enclosure 31 housing the view finder 30 and the still camera part 210 which records the still picture. Connection means 204 and 206, which connects the second enclosure 31 to the first enclosure 11, holds the second enclosure 31 and the first enclosure 11 in order that the end part of the long hand direction of the shape of the second enclosure 31 projects from the side of the first enclosure 11 at a first position where the view finder 36 faces the object to be shot in the video camera part 10. Therefore, the optical view finder 30 is used in common in the still camera part 216 and the video camera part 10. Thus, the shots by both camera parts can be simultaneously executed without interfering each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a video camera equipped with a still camera, and more specifically to a movie video camera equipped with a still camera using, for example, silver halide photographic film.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION While filming with a television camera, ie, a video camera, that has a videotape recording function, there has been a desire to record a particular scene as a still photograph. conventionally,
For example, I would carry both a silver-halide still camera and a video camera, and if I wanted to shoot a still scene while shooting with the video camera, I would stop shooting with the video camera and shoot with the still camera. In such a situation, you have to carry two devices, you have to stop recording with a video camera, and there is a risk of missing out on an important photo opportunity. There was a problem.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, a still camera and a video camera are combined into one device, and a still camera is installed that allows you to operate the still camera and take still pictures without interrupting the video camera. A video camera will be required.

Such a video camera with a still camera must have both methyl and movie functions at the same time. Therefore, it must be easy to operate, and it must be able to perform the so-called "vacation operation."

In particular, it is required that the still camera section and the video camera section have a common viewfinder for determining the field of view. Furthermore, the still camera section is also required to have no significant irregularities with respect to the overall shape of the video camera.

This is a condition that is required especially considering portability, but the operation to change the still camera unit or video camera unit from an unused state to a usable state is as easy as possible. It is desirable that

OBJECTS In view of these demands, it is an object of the present invention to provide a video camera with a still camera that is convenient to carry and has good operability.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION A video camera with a still camera according to the present invention includes a first housing housing a video camera unit that images a subject and records the moving image on a videotape, and a view for viewing the subject. a second casing housing a finder and a still camera unit that images a subject and records a still image thereof;
connection means for connecting the second housing to the first housing,
The second casing has a relatively long shape as a whole, and the connecting means is connected to the second casing at a first position where the viewfinder faces the field to be imaged by the video camera section. the second housing so that the end in the direction protrudes from the side of the first housing.
casing is held against the first casing, and the second casing houses a viewfinder in its protruding end.

In this specification, the term "video camera with still camera" refers to whether the still camera section is integrated into the video camera section, whether the two are separated, or if they are separable, each is used as a single unit. It shall be interpreted in a broad sense to include photographing devices that have both still camera function and video camera function, regardless of whether or not they are capable of doing so.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of a video camera with still camera according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a so-called 8 mm video camera, and the embodiment basically consists of a video camera section 10 and a viewfinder unit 30.
It consists of. The video camera section 10 has a tape width of 8 mm.
This is a movie video camera that uses a videotape 422 (FIG. 7) as a video recording medium, images a scene, and records the moving image on the videotape 422 in the form of a video signal. A viewfinder unit 30 is placed above it.

The viewfinder unit 30 has the function of a still camera, and in this embodiment, it includes the main parts of a so-called 110-inch silver halide still camera as a still camera section 216 (FIGS. 5 and 8). There is. This constitutes a still camera section that uses an 110 type cartridge film 200 (FIG. 5) as a video recording medium and records still images thereof as latent images on a silver halide film 531. As can be seen from FIG. 5, the viewfinder unit 30 is
When the lid 44 on the rear surface 42 is opened, a 110-inch film cartridge 200 can be removably loaded into the main body 31.

The housing 31 of the viewfinder 22) 30
An imaging optical system 32 is disposed on the front surface 40 of the camera, and the imaging optical system 32 is provided with various mechanisms necessary for imaging, such as an imaging lens 52B, an aperture 53B, and an optical shutter 530 (FIG. 8). . As a result, the photographed subject image is recorded on this cartridge film 531. Imaging lens 52
8 may be a fixed focus, or may be an automatic focus (A) that obtains a ranging signal from the video camera section 10 and focuses.
F) The diaphragm 53B and the optical shutter 530, which may have a mechanism, also receive a photometric signal from the video camera unit 10 and adjust the exposure to an appropriate level using automatic exposure control! (EE)
Features are advantageously applied. An automatic function is advantageously applied to loading the cartridge 200 and winding the film 531 in response to an instruction signal from the video camera section 10.

Furthermore, a strobe mechanism for still photography may be provided.

As shown in the figure, the video camera section 10 has a housing or main body 11 that has a rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and an imaging optical system 14 and a microphone 16 are disposed on the front surface 20 of the main body 11. The main body 11 has a storage section 12, into which an 8 mm video tape set 202 (FIG. 5) is removably attached. Imaging optical system! The video signal photographed in step 4 and the audio at the photographing site collected by the microphone 16 are recorded on the video tape 422 in the storage section 12. A hand grip 18 is attached to the side surface of the main body 11 of the video camera section 10.

The viewfinder unit 30 also has a main body 31 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and the width Ll (FIG. 5) of the short side of the main body 31 is approximately the depth L2 of the rectangular main body 11 of 1° in the video camera section. are formed to be equal. As can be seen from FIG. 5, a connector 204 is fixed to the bottom surface 46. The connector 204 has an overall flat cylindrical shape as shown, and the film winding rotation shaft 205 of the cartridge 200 protrudes from the center thereof.

In front of the top surface 22 of the main body 11 of the video camera unit IO,
As shown in FIG. 3, a connector 20B is provided.

The connector 20B has a shape that complementarily fits into the connector 204 of the viewfinder unit 30, and has a drive shaft 2 at its center that engages with the film winding rotation shaft 205.
0B is provided. The drive shaft 208 is a motor 543 (FIG. 7) disposed inside the video camera section 10.
mechanically connected to. These form a connecting means for connecting the main body 11 to the main body 31. Note that the still camera section 216 of the finder unit 30 has an autofocus function.

When the automatic exposure adjustment function, automatic film loading and winding functions are provided, it is advantageous to have electrical connection terminals in the connectors 204 and 20θ for transmitting and receiving electrical signals for these functions between the finder unit 30 and the video camera section IO. used for.

As shown by the dashed line 209 in FIG. It can be attached to. Connector 204 is configured to be rotatable relative to connector 20B about axis 205, 208 in the engaged state. As a result, when the present device is in use, the longitudinal direction of the main body 31 of the finder unit 30 can be oriented perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the main body 11 of the video camera section 10, as shown in FIG. In order to semi-fix this orientation state, the connector 20B is provided with a click means. When the device is not in use, the finder unit 30 is connected to the video camera section.
By rotating 90° with respect to O, the orientation shown in FIG. 2 can be obtained. In order to semi-fix this state, the connector 208 is provided with another click means.

The connectors 204 and 20B may be configured so that the user can attach or detach the finder unit 30 to the video camera section 10, or may be configured to be inseparable. When the unit 30 is separated from the video camera section IO, another viewfinder having only a viewfinder function and equipped with a connector 204 can be attached in place of the finder unit 30 having the still camera section 21B.

This allows the video camera unit 10 to be used alone.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, when one device is in use, the object scene imaged by the still camera section 216 of the finder unit 30 faces the same object area imaged by the video camera fiBio. As shown in the figure, when this device is not in use, the finder unit 30 is rotated 90 degrees with respect to the video camera section 10.
The main body 31 of the video camera unit 10 and the main body 11 of the video camera unit 10 can be combined into a shape with less unevenness. That is, main body 3
The main body 31 can be stored in a state in which the rectangular parallelepiped shape of the main body 11 as a whole is substantially included in the extension of the rectangular parallelepiped shape of the main body 11. This is because, as described above, the shorter width Ll of the main body 31 is formed to be approximately equal to the depth L2 of the main body 11.

As shown in FIG. 1, the viewfinder unit 30 is positioned such that a part of its rectangular parallelepiped main body 31 in the longitudinal direction protrudes from the side surface of the main body 11 of the video camera section 10 when in use. An optical viewfinder 36 is provided on this protrusion or end 34 . In the finder 38, an objective lens section 100 is disposed on the front surface 40 of the main body 31, and an eyepiece section 102 is disposed on the rear surface 42. When in use, the viewfinder 3B faces the same object scene imaged by the video camera section 10 and the still camera section 216 of the viewfinder unit 30. As a result, when photographing with this device, the arrow 103 (first
The operator can see the object scene by looking through the finder 3G from the direction shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the optical viewfinder 3B has a field of view visible when looking through it. In this embodiment, the still camera section 216 of the finder unit 30 is configured to
It has a viewing angle slightly wider than the field of view that can be photographed in a single frame. Within the viewfinder field of view, whose viewing angle is indicated by a frame 110, two types of bright frames 112 and 114 are displayed at four locations each, as shown in the figure. One bright frame 112 is a display that displays the angle of view of one frame imaged on the silver halide film 531 by the still camera unit 21B, and the other bright frame 114 is a display that displays the angle of view of one frame imaged on the videotape 422 by the video camera unit 10. This is a display that displays the angle of view of one frame.

As can be seen from FIG. 6, in this embodiment, a bright frame 112 that displays the angle of view of the still camera is displayed slightly inside the full field of view area 110, and a bright frame 114 that displays the angle of view of the video camera. is displayed further inside the area indicated by the bright frame 112. The reason why the entire field of view is set wider than the still shooting angle of view in this way is to allow the pattern of the subject entering the desired angle of view to be observed over the entire field of view of the viewfinder. Additionally, the video shooting angle of view is set narrower than the still image shooting angle because generally still image shooting requires a relatively wide angle of view due to its nature, while video shooting requires a relatively wide angle of view due to its nature. This is because a narrow angle of view is required.

By the way, a video cassette 202 is loaded into the storage section 12 of the video camera section 10. In this embodiment, on the upper surface 22 of the main body 11 of the video camera unit 10, as can be clearly seen from FIG. A button 210 is provided. By operating this button 210, the main body 1
1 is driven, and as shown in FIG. 4, the upper cover 212 of the storage section 12 is raised and lowered, and the front M214 is opened and closed. cassette in the state shown in Figure 4)
202 can be inserted into and taken out from the storage section 12.

In this embodiment, when the device is not in use, that is, when the finder unit 30 is stored in the non-use state as shown in FIG. 2, the cassette 202 cannot be attached or detached. . switch button 2
10 is arranged at a position where it is hidden under the finder unit 30 when it is stored in a non-use state. Therefore, the switch button 210 cannot be operated from the outside. That is, the end portion 34 of the main body 31 disables the function of the eject button 210. Further, as can be seen from FIG. 2, a portion of the upper lid 212 of the cassette storage section 12 is hidden under the finder unit 30 when it is not in use. Therefore, when the switch button 210 is not in use, access to the switch button 210 from the outside is prohibited, and lifting of the top cover 212 is also prohibited.

Note that the function of prohibiting the upper lid 212 from rising is also realized by controlling power supply to a motor that drives the upper lid 212 to rise and lower. For example, if a mechanical switch is provided in connection with the connector 20B of the main body 11 of the video camera section 10, and the finder unit 30 is stored in a non-use state, the orientation of the connector 204 engaged with the connector 206 at that time The disabling means may be configured so that this mechanical switch operates depending on the angle and cuts off the power supply circuit of the drive motor of the upper cover 212. When configured in this way,
The operation button 210 for attaching and detaching the cassette is located in the video camera section l.
It may be placed at any position of O.

Referring to FIG. 7, there is shown an example of the internal configuration of the video camera unit 10 that is advantageously applied to the embodiment shown in FIG. The imaging optical system 14 of the video camera unit 10 has a master lens 405, and a COD (charge-coupled device) that converts an optical image of a subject captured by the master lens 405 from an optical signal to a video signal. 40B is placed. (, CD 4
The video signal obtained by 08 is sent to a video signal system circuit.

As shown in the figure, the video signal system circuit includes an amplifier 407 that amplifies the video signal from the CCD 406;
A pre-emphasis circuit 408 that emphasizes the high frequency components of the signal sent from the pre-emphasis circuit 408, a clamp circuit 409 that fixes the signal obtained from the pre-emphasis circuit 408 to a predetermined level, and a video signal output from the clamp circuit 409 that is connected to a video tape. F to convert into a recording signal to be recorded on 422
An M modulator 410 , a high pass filter (HPF) 411 that removes a frequency band of an audio signal, which will be described later, from the output signal of the FM modulator 410 , and a band pass filter (BPF) 419 that removes the frequency band of the audio signal from the output signal of the HPF 411 . The mixer 412 multiplexes audio signals. Note that the pre-emphasis circuit 408 and the clamp circuit 409
Advantageously, those used in recording circuits of conventional video tape recorders are used.

A microphone 1B is also attached to the video camera section 10, and the audio captured by the microphone 16 is converted into an audio signal by the microcapsule 414. The audio signal from the microcapsule 414 is sent to an audio signal recording system circuit.

The audio signal recording system circuit has an amplifier 415 that amplifies the audio signal from the microcapsule 414, as shown in the figure. The output from amplifier 415 is controlled by automatic gain control (A
GO) circuit 417. AGO times 417
automatically adjusts the input level of the audio signal if it does not reach a predetermined value.

The output from AGO circuit 417 is input to FM modulator 418.

FM modulator 418 converts the audio signal from AGO circuit 417 into a recording signal to be recorded on videotape 422. B
PF (band 1 pass filter) 419 is the FM converter 4
Among the modulated audio signals from 1B, only signals outside the band of the frequency modulated video signal are allowed to pass.

These recording signals of video and audio signals are mixed in a mixer 412, and sent to magnetic heads 421a and 42 with different azimuth angles via a recording amplifier 420.
1b and recorded on video tape 422 by magnetic heads 421a and 421b. videotape 42
2 is held between a capstan 424 and a vinyl roller 425 driven by a tape drive circuit 423, and is run in a predetermined direction.

Also, points! As shown at jj450, the signal from the amplifier 407 is also input to an electronic viewfinder (EVF) processing circuit 451, and after being processed by the same processing circuit 451,
It may be configured to input to GRT 452.

CRT 452 (7) Screen 45Bd receives a video signal from EVF processing circuit 451 and displays the subject image represented by the video signal. The operator uses the CR through the eyepiece lens 453.
Display images on seven screens 456 can be viewed. This configures an electronic viewfinder 454.

The electronic viewfinder 454 displays the field photographed by the imaging optical system 14 of the video camera section 10. The field photographed by the still camera unit 216 usually has a wider field of view than this. However, since the field of view projected on the finder 454 is contained within the central part of such a wide field of view, the electronic viewfinder 454 can also be fully used as the finder of the still camera section 216. I can do it. When such an electronic viewfinder 454 is provided, it is of course not necessary to provide the optical viewfinder 36, and the electronic viewfinder 454 is provided on the protrusion 34 of the viewfinder section 30 instead of the optical viewfinder 36. The electrical connection 450 between the electronic viewfinder 454 and the video signal system circuit of the video camera unit 10 is as follows:
Connectors 204 and 20B are provided with connecting wires and terminals for this purpose.

The video camera system controller 42B is a control circuit that controls each part of the video camera unit 10. For example, the video camera system controller 42B controls the tape drive circuit 423 in response to the operation of the record/stop (REC) button 427, and controls the video tape 42B.
Controls the feeding of 2.

The video camera section 10 includes a still camera section 21 which will be described later.
A motor 543 for winding the film 322 of No. 6 and a film winding drive circuit 538 for driving the motor are provided, and the latter is connected to the video camera system controller 428. The motor 543 is a one-dot line 20
As conceptually shown at 8, it is mechanically connected to the aforementioned drive shaft 208. A motor that drives the capstan 424 without the motor 543 or a magnetic herad 42
The drive shaft 208 may be configured to be connected to a motor that drives 1a and 421b.

Referring to FIG. 8, the optical system 32 of the still camera section 21B, which is advantageously applied to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, has a master lens 528. A cartridge film 531 is placed behind the master lens 528 on an optical path 529 from the subject entering from the master lens 528 via an aperture 536 and a shutter 530 .

Cartridge film 531 is mechanically connected to the aforementioned driven shaft 205 as conceptually indicated by dotted line 205. The driven shaft 205 can engage with the drive shaft 208 of the video camera section 10 as described above, and is driven by the motor 543 of the video camera section 10 to rotate the film 53.
It constitutes a drive mechanism that winds up the 1.

The still camera system controller 541 is a control circuit that controls each part of the still camera section 216, and responds to the operation of the shirt release button 344, for example, by controlling the exposure control section 540. It controls the lens moving mechanism 544 and the flash control section 55B. The shirt release button 344 is provided on the main body 31 of the still camera section 21B.

The still camera section 21B has an automatic focus (AF) sensor 74
and an automatic exposure (EE) sensor 558. The AF sensor 74 measures the distance between the device and the subject, and the E
The E-sensors 558 each measure the brightness of the object field and output the measured data to the still camera system controller 541.

The still camera system controller 541 controls the lens moving mechanism 544 according to the data on the distance between the device composed of the AF sensor 74 and the subject, and the lens moving mechanism 544 thereby adjusts the focus of the master lens 528. .

In addition, the still camera system controller 541 is EE.
Exposure control section 540 and strobe control section 558 according to the brightness data of the subject input from sensor 558.
control. The exposure control unit 540 thereby controls the aperture 53.
B and also controls the opening time of the shutter 530. Further, the strobe control unit 556 controls the light emission of the strobe 555.

Note that the still camera system controller 541 and the video camera system controller 42B may be configured to be interconnected by a bus via the connection terminals of the connection connectors 204 and 20B. Both system controllers 541 like this! -426 interconnects allow necessary control and status signals to be transferred between each other.

For example, the still camera section 21B is added to the video camera section 10.
A shirt release button may be provided for the camera, and in response to its operation, the video camera system controller 426 may control the still camera system controller 541 to cause the still camera section 70 to take a picture. The video camera system controller 42ε receives measurement data of the sensor 74 and the EE sensor 558 from the still camera system controller 541, and performs photographing control such as focusing control and iris control of the imaging optical system 14 of the video camera unit 10. I can do it.

In the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 1, an optical finder is used as the viewfinder, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an electronic finder as mentioned in connection with the circuit example of FIG. Needless to say, it can also be effectively applied.

In this way, in the embodiment of the present invention, the finder unit 3
0 is equipped with a still camera function section.

The optical viewfinder 3B is shared by the still camera section 216 and the video camera section 10. In other words, by looking through the finder 36, the video camera section 10 shoots a moving image, and the still camera section 21B of the viewfinder unit 30
It is possible to take a still image at the same time without interfering with each other. When in use, the finder unit 30 protrudes to the side of the video camera unit 10 and is oriented so that it is easy to look through the finder, and when not in use, the finder unit 30 is oriented at an angle of 80°.
stored in a rotated position. This makes it convenient to handle when not in use, such as when carrying. Furthermore, since the cassette eject button 210 is disabled when the video cassette 202 is not in use, the video cassette 202 will not be accidentally ejected.

In the above-described embodiment, the viewfinder unit 30
Although the still camera section 218 uses the silver halide film 531, it may also be of an instant photography type or an electronic still camera type that records video signals on a magnetic disk.

Effects As described above, according to the present invention, the still camera function section is provided in the finder unit, and the viewfinder is shared by the still camera section and the video camera section. This allows you to simultaneously shoot moving images using the video camera section and still images using the still camera section by looking through the viewfinder.
Moreover, they can be carried out without any problems. In addition, since the finder unit protrudes laterally from the video camera section, when taking pictures, the video camera section can be placed on the shoulder and held in a stable position, resulting in a good image with less shaking. You can take pictures. therefore,
A video camera with a still camera that is convenient to carry and easy to operate is provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example in which the present invention is applied to a so-called 8 mm video camera in a used state, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the example shown in FIG. 1 in an unused state, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view for explaining the assembly mechanism of the same embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the cassette eject state of the same embodiment. FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the field of view formed by the optical viewfinder in the same embodiment; FIG. FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a video camera section that is advantageously applied to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 8 is an example of the internal configuration of a still camera section that is advantageously applied to the embodiment shown in FIG. It is a functional block diagram showing. Explanation of symbols of main parts 10, . . . Video camera section 11. 31. , main body 12, , cassette storage section 14.32. , imaging optical system 30, , viewfinder unit 3B, , optical viewfinder 204.208. Connector 210, Cassette eject button 21B, Still camera section Patent applicant Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. Agent Writer Takao Maruyama Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first casing housing a video camera unit that images a subject and records the moving image on a videotape; a viewfinder for viewing the subject; A second casing housing a still camera unit that images a subject and records a still image thereof; and a connecting means for connecting the second casing to the first casing; The housing has a relatively long shape as a whole, and the connecting means is connected to the longitudinal direction of the second housing at a first position where the viewfinder faces a field to be imaged by the video camera section. The second casing is held relative to the first casing such that the end of the direction protrudes from the side of the first casing, and the second casing has a A video camera with a still camera that houses a viewfinder. 2. In the video camera with still camera according to claim 1, the connecting means holds the second housing rotatably with respect to the first housing, and The second position, the shape of which is substantially included in the extension of the shape of the first housing, is moved to the second position by rotation of the second housing.
A video camera with a still camera, characterized in that the casing allows the camera to take pictures. 3. In the video camera with a still camera as set forth in claim 2, the first casing includes a storage section that removably stores a cassette containing the videotape, and a storage section into which the cassette is installed and removed. A video camera with a still camera, comprising: an attachment/detachment instruction means for instructing the attachment/detachment of a cassette, and an invalidating means for invalidating the instruction to attach/detach the cassette by the attachment/detachment instruction means when the second casing is in the second position.