JPH01165267A - Electronic still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent unconvinced image information from being recorded by recording photographed image information in a non-volatile memory in a recording medium selectively after being confirmed at a finder mechanism once. CONSTITUTION:Composition is set based on an image displayed from an image pickup part 10 on the finder mechanism 15 via a switch 12, and a shutter operator is operated by a user, then, image information is written on the non-volatile memory 13. After that, the image information written on the memory 13 is displayed on the finder mechansim 15, and it is confirmed by the user, and when it is a recordable one, a memory switch 19 is operated. In such a way, the image information written on the non-volatile memory 13 is transferred to and recorded on a non-volatile memory 18 in the recording medium 17.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an electronic still camera in which image information is recorded on a recording medium having a built-in non-volatile memory such as a memory card. Regarding improvements.

(Prior Art) This type of electronic still camera has an advantage over conventional cameras using silver halide film in that it is possible to view photographic content more quickly. When photographing is performed using such an electronic still camera, the procedure shown in FIG. 3 is followed.

First, a composition is set in step S1, and then a shutter operator is operated by the user in step S2.

Then, in step S3, the aperture is set by the automatic aperture mechanism and the exposure is set to an appropriate value, and the image information captured by the imaging section is recorded in the nonvolatile memory of the recording medium in step S4.

Further, in step S3 above, if the exposure by the automatic aperture mechanism is not set properly, step S1 is performed again.
The camera will be returned to , and composition settings will be made.

However, since the electronic still camera described above is configured to record all captured image information in a non-volatile memory of a recording medium, there is a risk that the recorded image information may not be captured in an image that is satisfactory to the user. . According to this, if the image is not satisfactory and you want to erase it, you have to erase the image information recorded in the nonvolatile memory again, so handling operations including the erasing work are extremely difficult. There is a problem that it is troublesome.

In addition, some devices are equipped with a finder mechanism so that the recorded contents can be checked, but all of these devices only check the image information recorded in the non-volatile memory of the recording medium, and after checking, the Since the image that has been created must be erased, there is a problem in terms of handling and operability, similar to the above.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, with conventional electronic still cameras, if you are not satisfied with the captured image information, you have to erase the image information recorded on the recording medium again. , the handling operations including the erasing work have become troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is a strong object of the present invention to provide an electronic still camera that has a simple structure and is designed to improve handling and operability as much as possible.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) This invention provides an electronic still camera that records image information in a non-volatile memory built into a card-shaped recording medium. A volatile memory into which information is once written; a finder mechanism that displays the image information written in the volatile memory; and a finder mechanism that displays the image information written in the volatile memory; and a selection means for recording data in the digital memory.

(Function) According to the above configuration, the photographed image information is first checked with the finder mechanism and then selectively recorded in the nonvolatile memory of the recording medium. Therefore, it is possible to prevent unsatisfactory image information from being recorded, and there is no need to erase it again, which simplifies the erasing work and improves the ease of handling.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an electronic still camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which an analog/digital (A/D) converter 11 and a fixed contact a of a changeover switch 12 are connected to the output end of an imaging section 1o. Ru. Of these, the A/D converter 11 is connected to a volatile memory 13 composed of, for example, s-kAM, and a digital/analog (D/A) converter 14 is connected to one output end of the volatile memory 13. Connected. The output terminal of this D/A converter 14 is connected to the fixed contact C of the changeover switch, and the finder mechanism 15 is connected to the movable contact C of this changeover switch.

The volatile memory 13 is connected to the CPU (CentraIP).
It is connected via a processing unit 16 to a non-volatile memory 18 which is constituted by an electrically erasable E2ROM built in a card-shaped recording medium 17 called a memory card, for example. This CPU 16 is provided with a memory switch 19, and in conjunction with the operation of this memory switch 19, the image information written in the volatile memory 13 is transferred to the nonvolatile memory 18 of the recording medium 17.

In the electronic still camera, image information captured in the procedure shown in FIG. 2 is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 18 of the recording medium 17. That is, in step s1, first, a composition is set based on the image displayed on the finder mechanism 15 from the imaging section 10 via the switches 12, and in step S2, the shutter operator is operated by the user. Then, in step s3, the automatic aperture mechanism is activated to set exposure, and image information is written to volatile memory 13 in step S4. Thereafter, the movable contact C of the changeover switch 12 is automatically connected to the fixed contact C, and the image information written in the volatile memory 13 is transferred to the finder mechanism 1 in step S5.
5, and the user confirms in step S6 that recording is possible, and then activates the memory switch 19. As a result, in step S7, the image information written in the volatile memory 13 is transferred to the nonvolatile memory 1 of the recording medium 17.
8 and recorded. In step s6, if the user confirms that recording is not possible, for example, the memory switch 19 may not be operated. The image information written in the volatile memory 13 will be automatically erased if it is rewritten in the next photographing.

Note that the movable contact C of the changeover switch 12 is the fixed contact a.
The image information captured by the imaging section 10 is directly guided to the finder mechanism 15 and displayed. Further, a switch (not shown) can be provided to activate the data transfer hold function, and in this case, the image information captured by the image capturing section 10 is transmitted to the A/D converter 11.
from the volatile memory 13 to the nonvolatile memory 18 of the recording medium 17 for recording. In this case, it is also possible to perform quick shooting (continuous shooting).

In this manner, the electronic still camera is configured such that the captured image information is once written into the volatile memory 13, and after confirmation by the finder mechanism 15, is selectively recorded into the non-volatile memory 18 of the recording medium 17. This can reliably prevent unsatisfactory image information from being recorded on the memory card 17. According to this, it is no longer necessary to erase the captured image information again after recording it on the recording medium 17 as in the conventional case, so the erasing work can be simplified.
Handling and operability can be improved as much as possible.

Although the above embodiment has been described with the memory switch 19 provided separately, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, it is also possible to configure it so that it is linked to a shutter operator, which can reduce the number of components.

Furthermore, as the nonvolatile memory 18 of the recording medium 17, E
2. In addition to using EFROM, it is also possible to use EFROM or writable so-called one-time FROM.

Therefore, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic still camera that has a simple configuration and is designed to improve handling and operability as much as possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a circuit configuration diagram showing an electronic still camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart shown to explain the operation of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional electronic still camera. It is a flowchart figure shown for explanation. 10... Imaging unit, 11... A/D converter, 12...
・Selector switch, 13... Volatile memory, 14...
D/A converter, 15...finder mechanism, 16...
CPU. 17... Recording medium, 18... Non-volatile memory, 19
...Memory switch. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an electronic still camera that records image information in a non-volatile memory built into a card-shaped recording medium, the image information taken by the image pickup unit is first written into the volatile memory, and then the image information is written into the volatile memory. An electronic still camera comprising: a finder mechanism for displaying image information written in the volatile memory; and a selection means for selectively recording the image information written in the volatile memory in the nonvolatile memory of the recording medium. .