JPH0228509Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an operation check device for a strobe device that is useful as an artificial light source when taking photographs, and in particular to an operation check device for an automatic light control strobe device that can automatically control the amount of light emitted. It is.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, automatic flash control flash devices have been extremely useful because they automatically control the amount of light emitted according to the distance to a subject and obtain an appropriate amount of light emitted.

By the way, in order to check the operation of the automatic light control flash device as described above, it is necessary to check whether the main capacitor has been fully charged and whether the light control operation has been performed.
This has become an indispensable requirement, and as is well known, means that utilize visual perception using some kind of display element,
Alternatively, a well-known method is to utilize the sense of hearing using a sounding body such as a buzzer.

The present invention relates to improvements in the above-mentioned means, particularly those using auditory senses, and will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a conventionally used operation confirmation device that uses auditory senses. Terminal A in the figure emits a high-level signal when the main capacitor (not shown) is charged to a state where it can emit light. Terminal B includes a light receiving sensor (not shown) that receives reflected light from an object, for example, and
A terminal to which a high-level pulse signal of a predetermined width is supplied when the amount of received light reaches a predetermined value, and a terminal C
indicate terminals to which power is supplied.

In addition, the figure number 1 in the figure is the first transistor having the terminal A, 2 is the second transistor whose operation is controlled by the first transistor, 3 is the reference oscillator, 4 is the sounding body, and 5 is the reference oscillator 3. A controlled oscillator that sets the operating period; 6 is a third transistor that is operated by the output of the controlled oscillator 5 and controls the operation of the reference oscillator; 7 is in a conductive state while the terminal B is at a high level; The fourth transistor shown in FIG.

Now, the operation of the conventional automatic light control flash device operation check device having the above-mentioned configuration will be briefly explained with reference to the operation state diagram shown in FIG.

First of all, the overall operation of an automatic flash control flash device is as follows.
As is well known, charging of the main capacitor, trigger capacitor, etc. is started when the power switch is closed. Thereafter, as the charging progresses and the main capacitor etc. are charged so that the flash discharge tube (not shown) can emit light, if the trigger circuit (not shown) operates, the flash discharge tube will emit light, and then the flash discharge tube will emit light. The light emitting operation is appropriately controlled by the function of a dimming circuit (not shown) which starts light receiving and integrating operations at the same time as the light is emitted.

In the above operation process, the operation confirmation device shown in Figure 1 detects when light emitting operation becomes possible.
At t ₁ , a signal as shown in Figure 2 A is sent to terminal A.
Furthermore, at time _t2 when the dimming circuit operates, a pulse signal having a width T as shown in FIG. 2D is supplied to terminal B, so that the following operation occurs.

At time _t1 , when a signal as shown in Figure 2A is applied to terminal A, the first transistor 1 will be rendered conductive after _t1 , and therefore the second transistor 2 will be rendered conductive. .

When the second transistor 2 becomes conductive, power (not shown) is supplied to the controlled oscillator 5 via the terminal C, and the controlled oscillator 5 operates to produce an output signal as shown in FIG. is output after time t ₁ . Therefore, the operation of the third transistor 6 is controlled by the output signal of the control oscillator 5,
In other words, conduction and non-conduction are repeated.

It is clear from FIG. 1 that when the third transistor 6 becomes conductive, power is supplied to the reference oscillator 3. If the operation of the third transistor 6 is controlled as described above, the reference oscillator 3 is also supplied with power. Start operation synchronously.

The reference oscillator 3 outputs an output signal as shown in FIG. 2 (E) when power is supplied, and in this case, after time t ₁ , the third transistor 6 becomes conductive as shown in FIG. 2 (C). The operation of supplying the output signal to the sounding body 4 is started only during this period.

The sounding element 4 performs a sounding operation by being supplied with the output signal from the reference oscillator 3, that is, in this case, generates an intermittent sound to notify that the main capacitor etc. is charged to a state where it can emit light. .

On the other hand, in the state where the above-mentioned notification is being performed, when the flash discharge tube emits light and a dimming signal as shown in _FIG . Since the light is supplied to the base of the fourth transistor 7 through the dimming signal, the fourth transistor 7 is rendered conductive in response to the dimming signal.

When the fourth transistor 7 becomes conductive, power is supplied to the reference oscillator 3 via the fourth transistor 7. That is, during the width T of the pulse signal that is the dimming signal, the fourth transistor 7 is in a conductive state and power is supplied to the reference oscillator 3, so that the sounding body 5 also generates sound during the width T.
That is, unlike the previous case, a continuous sound of width T is generated. The dimming operation can be confirmed by this continuous sound of width T.

The conventional confirmation device shown in Fig. 1 operates as described above, so when looking at the notification of charging completion, the oscillation operation starts only after power is supplied to both the control oscillator 5 and the reference oscillator 3. Therefore, the sounding element 4 does not necessarily generate sound immediately at the time _t1 when charging is completed, and variations occur depending on the circuit state at that time. Depending on the timing of conduction in 7, it is possible that the intermittent sound notifying the completion of charging and the continuous sound notifying the dimming operation may overlap, and the duration of the sound is not constant and the sound may fade. In some cases, it may not be possible to clearly determine whether the sound is intermittent or continuous, and there is a risk that the user may misunderstand the sound.

There is Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 134824/1983, which clearly differentiates such sound indications, which bypasses the charging indication sound signal when the dimming completion sound is displayed, so that only the dimming indication signal is displayed. Although the sound display is clearly distinguished by the sound display, since the charging sound display is performed continuously after the dimming sound display ends, there is a risk of confusion between the dimming display and the charging display. If this happens, there is a risk of erroneous confirmation.

The present invention was created in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and it gives priority to the sounding operation of the sounding body.
That is, the dimming operation confirmation notification operation is given priority over the charging completion notification operation, and the charging completion notification operation is suspended for a predetermined period even if the charging is still in the completed state after the dimming notification operation is performed. This was done to make it clear that continuous sounds and intermittent sounds are different from each other.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The operation confirmation device for an automatic light control flash device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows an operation confirmation device according to the present invention,
In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a transistor including a first transistor 1 that becomes conductive at time t ₁ when charging of the main capacitor is completed, and a fifth transistor 9 that becomes conductive for a predetermined period of time due to the ON operation of a synchro contact of a camera (not shown). 1 is a signal detection section, 10 is a first signal detection section 8
11 is a reference oscillation section whose operation is controlled by the output signal of the controlled oscillation section 10 to start a predetermined oscillation operation, and which causes the sounding body 4 to generate sound. , 12 are the fourth lights which become conductive for a predetermined period due to the operation of the dimming circuit.
A second signal detection section including a transistor 7 and controlling the operation of the controlled oscillation section 10 is shown.

The operation of the operation confirmation device according to the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration is basically the same as the conventional device shown in Fig. 1, that is, there is no intermittent sound and dimming after the main capacitor etc. is fully charged. It is designed to generate a continuous sound when an action is performed. but,
This operation differs from that of conventional devices; once the continuous sound generation ends, the intermittent sound generation function always returns from the rest state, regardless of the timing of the continuous sound generation or the intermittent sound generation state. This was done just as it had begun.

Hereinafter, specific operations will be explained in detail with reference to the operation state diagram shown in FIG.

First, as mentioned earlier, the power switch (not shown) is turned on to charge the main capacitor, etc., and when the main capacitor, etc. reaches the charging completion state at time _t1 , the first transistor 1
becomes conductive. Therefore, the transistor 13, which had been in a conductive state due to the supply of power (not shown) through the terminal C, becomes non-conductive.
Power is supplied to the controlled oscillation unit 10 through the terminal C as shown in FIG.
starts the oscillation operation as shown in FIG. 4B.

When the controlled oscillation section 10 starts its oscillation operation, its output is supplied to the reference oscillation section 11, and the reference oscillation section 11 operates according to the oscillation output of the controlled oscillation section 10, as shown in FIG. 4C.

When the reference oscillator 11 operates, it goes without saying that the sound generator 4 generates a sound according to the output signal of the reference oscillator 11, that is, in this case, generates an intermittent sound to notify that charging of the main capacitor, etc. is completed. .

Next, a case will be described in which the flash discharge tube emits light in the above-described state and a dimming circuit (not shown) operates at time _t2 .

It is well known that when a flash discharge tube is activated, a synchro switch (not shown) forming a trigger circuit is closed.

Now, the operation confirmation device according to the present invention is configured such that when the synchro switch as described above is closed, the transistor 9 becomes conductive for a predetermined period of time, and the power supply from the terminal C to the controlled oscillator 10 is stopped for the period when the transistor 9 is conductive. being done.

On the other hand, when the dimming circuit operates at time _t2 after the above operation, the transistor 7 of the second signal detection section 12 becomes conductive for a predetermined period due to the dimming signal as shown in FIG. 4D. The X point in the controlled oscillator 10 is set to a low level.

Therefore, when the flash discharge tube emits light and dims, the output terminal Y point of the controlled oscillator 10 will be
It will be maintained at a high level. Therefore, the reference oscillation section 11 generates an oscillation output while the previous point Y is at a high level, and supplies it to the sounding body 4.

Needless to say, the sounding body 4 generates sound when the oscillation output of the reference oscillation section 11 is supplied, and in this case, since the oscillation output of the reference oscillation section 11 exists continuously while the transistor 7 is conductive, As shown at t2 _and later in Figure 4C, a continuous sound is generated to notify that the dimming operation has been performed.

Here, let us consider the relationship between the generation state of continuous sound and intermittent sound as described above.

First, regarding the relationship at time _t2 when the continuous sound is generated, it is unclear where the dimming circuit operates after the main capacitor has been charged and the sounding element 4 is generating the intermittent sound. Regarding the point of occurrence, although the intermittent sound is once stopped by closing the synchro switch, there are cases where the intermittent sound continues.

Next is the relationship at the end of the continuous sound,
As mentioned earlier, continuous sound is generated by maintaining the output terminal Y point of the controlled oscillator 10 at a high level, and at this time, the capacitor 14 in the controlled oscillator 10 naturally However, it will be charged by the high level signal at the Y point. Therefore, even if the Y point returns to a low level after a predetermined period of time and the sounding operation of the sounding body stops, that is, even if the generation of continuous sound ends, the operation of the controlled oscillator 10 will first be based on the charge charged in the capacitor 14. A release operation will be performed. That is, after the continuous sound stops, the Y point immediately returns to a high level, and the operation of generating the intermittent sound is not performed, and the operation of the controlled oscillator 10 is restarted from the rest state.

As described above, the operation confirmation device according to the present invention disconnects the reference oscillation section 11 from the control oscillation section 10 and forces it to operate when the dimming circuit operates, and must wait for a predetermined period after the notification operation is completed. It is constructed in such a way that the oscillation operation for sound generation is impossible, and the operation confirmation device can clearly distinguish between intermittent and continuous sounds compared to conventional devices.

FIG. 5 shows the main parts of another embodiment of the operation check device according to the present invention, that is, shows another embodiment of the configuration of the second signal detection section 12 and the output end Y point of the controlled oscillation section 10. There is.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is different from the previous embodiments in that it is possible to arbitrarily set the timing at which the intermittent sound occurs after the notification of the dimming operation is confirmed.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the start of sound generation after confirmation of notification of dimming operation is not described in detail, but it is clear that it is determined by the discharge time constant of the charge charged in the capacitor 14. Incidentally, the capacitor 14 constitutes a part of the controlled oscillation section 10, and it goes without saying that it determines the oscillation cycle of the oscillation output of the controlled oscillation section 10. That is, the pause period after the end of the continuous tone in the previous embodiment is determined to be equal to the pause period for forming the intermittent tone.

On the other hand, as is clear from the drawing, the embodiment shown in FIG. The structure is such that the capacitor 15 is fully charged in a stable state.

Therefore, if we consider the case where a continuous sound is generated while the dimming circuit is operating and the dimming signal is supplied to the transistor 7 and the transistor 7 remains conductive, the charge in the capacitor 15 is discharged. It will end up being put away.

By the way, if the main capacitor, etc. is still in a fully charged state even after one light emission and dimming operation, the intermittent sound will occur after a predetermined period of time, as in the previous example. However, if the charging of the capacitor 15 is not completed before the charge of the capacitor 14 is discharged as described in the previous embodiment, the intermittent sound generation operation is not performed. Not possible. That is, by setting the charging time constant of the capacitor 15 to an arbitrary value that takes into account the discharging time constant of the capacitor 14, the period during which the sound generation operation is suspended after the end of the continuous tone can be set appropriately.

As described above, the present invention enables an automatic light control strobe device to confirm the completion of charging and light control operation by using the same sounding body with an intermittent sound and a continuous sound. It is of high practical value and is characterized by an extremely clear distinction between the two.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an operation check device for a conventional automatic light control strobe device, Fig. 2 A to E are waveform diagrams illustrating the operating state of the device shown in Fig. A circuit diagram of an operation confirmation device for an automatic light control strobe device according to an embodiment, FIGS.
A waveform diagram illustrating the operating state of the embodiment shown in the figure,
FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a main part of another embodiment of the operation confirmation device according to the present invention. 4...Sounding body, 7,9,13...Transistor, 8...First signal detection section, 10...Control oscillation section, 11...Reference oscillation section, 12...Second signal detection section, 14 , 15... Capacitor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An operation confirmation device for an automatic light control flash device that notifies the completion of charging of the main capacitor and the operation of the automatic light control circuit by different sounds of a sounding body, the sounding body and an output for sounding the sounding body to the sounding body. a reference oscillator to supply; a first signal detection section having a switch circuit for detecting completion of charging of the main capacitor; and an output generated when the first signal detection section detects completion of charging of the main capacitor. a controlled oscillator that operates in oscillation and supplies an oscillation output to the reference oscillator to operate the reference oscillator; and a controlled oscillator that detects the dimming operation of the automatic dimming circuit and operates for a predetermined period of time. a second signal detection section that stops generation of an oscillation output of the control oscillation section, generates an output of a constant level from the controlled oscillation section, and supplies the output of the constant level to the reference oscillation section; An operation confirmation device for an automatic light control flash device, comprising: a sound generation pause circuit that temporarily pauses generation of the oscillation output from the controlled oscillation unit after a predetermined period of operation.