JPH0263038A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is directed to a silver halide still camera using a silver halide film as a recording medium or a magnetic recording medium, which has means for detecting insufficient battery capacity and prohibiting re-release. This invention relates to cameras such as electronic still cameras. This will be explained below using an electronic still camera.

Electronic still cameras have a single-shot mode in which only one image can be taken when the shutter button is pressed, and a continuous-shot mode in which images can be taken only while the shutter button is pressed. Below, single shooting mode is "S mode", continuous shooting mode is "C mode"
It is abbreviated as.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in electronic still cameras, the following methods are known as means for detecting and warning of insufficient battery capacity.

The camera detects a lack of battery capacity and issues a warning to the photographer, but it is possible to continue shooting even after the battery capacity alert has been issued; the warning is simply a means of prompting the photographer to replace the battery.

Some devices stopped the shooting operation when a lack of battery capacity was detected.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the former of the conventional techniques, even if a warning of insufficient battery capacity is issued, it is possible to perform an I-maximum image.
The photographer may continue shooting. As a result, the camera malfunctioned or stopped in the middle of the photographing operation, causing problems in photographing. This is because the amount of photographing that can be done from the time the warning is issued until the time when photographing is actually disabled varies depending on various conditions. Therefore, if photography is continued after the warning, it is impossible to predict when photography will become impossible, resulting in a disadvantage that photography will suddenly become impossible.

Furthermore, if the latter of the above-mentioned conventional techniques is configured to stop the shooting operation when insufficient battery capacity is detected, the battery capacity may still be insufficient during shooting in C mode. There was a problem in that even though there was some margin, the operation would stop and the opportunity to take pictures would be missed.

The purpose of the present invention is to prevent malfunctions caused by insufficient battery capacity.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic still camera that does not stop during a photographing operation.

[Means to solve problems]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an electronic still camera that is equipped with a recording means for recording video signals on a magnetic disk, an S mode and a C mode, and is capable of detecting insufficient battery capacity. 1), (7), (1o
), (13), detecting means (2), (9), (11), (14) for detecting the capacity of the battery, and the detecting means (
2), (9), (11), and (14), a capacity shortage warning means (1) warns of capacity shortage based on the capacity information detected in (14).
9), a re-release prohibition means (19) for prohibiting another photographing operation, and the detection means (2), (9), (11),
(14) storage means (15) for storing detected capacity information when a capacity shortage is detected during continuous shooting mode operation;
(17), and the means for solving the problem is to operate the re-release prohibition means (19) after the operation of the continuous shooting mode is completed by the output of the storage means (15) and (17). It is.

[For production]

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, block (2), block (9), block (11), and block (14) are provided with a pantry check, which is a means for detecting insufficient battery capacity. , block (9), and block (11) detect a capacity shortage, the capacity shortage warning in block (19) immediately issues a warning and the camera operation stops. In addition, if insufficient capacity is detected in the battery check in block (14), block (15) sets a flag to issue a warning of insufficient capacity after a series of operations in the C mode. Check whether the release SW is pressed in (16), and if it continues to be pressed,
Since it is a continuous shooting sequence, the process returns to block (13) and performs the shooting operation, and from here on, if the SW is kept pressed, the I-most shadow capacity of the disc reaches the maximum shootable capacity.
Repeat the operations of blocks (13) to (16). The C mode ends when the release SW is released or the recording capacity of the disc reaches the maximum capacity. Therefore, the flag set in block (15) to determine whether there is insufficient capacity during C mode operation is set in block (17). ), when the check flag is set in the flag check, that is, if there is insufficient capacity during C mode operation, the insufficient capacity warning and re-release prohibition in block (19) will immediately issue a warning and prevent the re-release. prohibit.

With the above configuration, there are no inconveniences like in the past, such as malfunctions due to insufficient capacity or stopping in the middle of the photographing operation.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the present invention, which is equipped with a battery (21) as a power source, and a sequence controller for controlling the photographing operation, recording operation, and warning operation of this device.
PU (23), battery check circuit (22) that monitors battery capacity, and shooting and recording operation circuit (24).
).

An example of the battery check circuit (22) is shown in FIG. The battery power (31) is divided by a resistor (35), and the divided voltage and reference voltage (36) are input to a comparator (34) and compared, and the output terminal (33)
It is output from

The sequence CPU (23) monitors the signal from the battery check circuit (22), and if the battery capacity is not insufficient after the shutter button is pressed, sends a signal to the shooting operation and recording operation circuit. In addition, if the battery capacity is insufficient, the shooting and recording operations are stopped depending on the situation.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one embodiment according to the present invention. When the shutter button is pressed halfway, the half-press switch in block (1) turns ON and checks the battery in block (2). There, it is checked to see if there is enough capacity to shoot, and if it is determined that there is insufficient capacity, it is immediately activated. block (19)
) will issue a capacity shortage warning and re-release will be prohibited.

If a battery check is performed and it is determined that there is sufficient capacity for shooting, preparatory operations for shooting are performed.

Thereafter, when the shutter button is pressed all the way and the release SW in block (3) is turned on, the photographing mode is checked in block (4) and it is determined whether it is S mode or C mode.

If the mode is S, the presence or absence of a disc is checked in block (6), and if the disc is present, the photographing operation in block (7) is performed. If there is no disk, block (8)
After completing each of the operations in block (7) and block (8), which performs diskless operation (operation in which the shutter is released but does not record an image, i.e., mirror up/down, shutter charging, etc.), block (9) ) and if it is determined that the battery capacity is insufficient, a battery insufficient warning is issued in block (19) and re-release is prohibited. If it is determined that the capacity is not insufficient, the block (18
) is considered to have completed normally. The photographing mode is checked in block (4), and if it is C mode, the presence or absence of a disc is determined in block (5).

If there is a disk, perform the shooting operation in block (13). After the shooting operation is completed, check the battery in block (14). If the capacity is insufficient, check block (15) to check for insufficient capacity after completing a series of operations in C mode. Set or turn a flag to issue a warning.

If there is no shortage of capacity, do not set the flag.

Next, in block (16), it is checked whether the release SW is pressed, and if it continues to be pressed, it is a continuous shooting sequence, so the process returns to block 13 to perform the shooting operation, and if the release SW continues to be pressed, then the disc Blocks (13) to (1) until the shooting capacity reaches the maximum shooting capacity.
Repeat 6).

If the release switch is released or the recording capacity of the disc reaches the maximum recording capacity, C mode ends, so block whether there is insufficient capacity during C mode operation (15)
Check the flag set in block (17) by flag check, and if the flag is set, that is, if there is insufficient capacity during C mode operation, check block (19).
A warning of insufficient capacity will be issued and re-release will be prohibited. Also, if the flag is not set, the process ends normally.

If there is no disk in C mode, the diskless operation of block (10) is performed. After the diskless operation is completed, a battery check is performed in block 11, and if it is determined that the capacity is insufficient, a warning is immediately issued and re-release is prohibited. The difference between C mode and when there is a disc is this part. If there is no disc, no recording is being performed, so if you judge that there is insufficient space even when operating in C mode, you should immediately prohibit re-release. I have to. Block (11
), if it is determined that the capacity is not insufficient, check the state of the release SW in block (12), and if the release SW continues to be pressed, perform the diskless operation in block (10), and repeat blocks 10 to 12.
Unlike in the C mode with a disc, there is no disc, so if you keep pressing the release button, it will continue until the battery runs out of capacity. When the capacity becomes insufficient, a block (19) capacity insufficient warning is issued and re-release is prohibited.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another embodiment of the present invention, in which blocks (1) to (19) are configured the same as the flowchart of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. This is a newly configured warning. Therefore, functions that overlap with those of the previous embodiment will be omitted.

If there is a disk in C mode, after the shooting operation in block (13) is completed, a battery check is performed in block (14), and if there is insufficient capacity, a flag is set in block (15), and the battery is checked in block (20). Next, block (16) checks to see if the release SW is pressed. If it continues to be pressed, it is a continuous shooting sequence, so the process returns to block (13) and performs a bridge motion, and then releases the button. If the SW was kept pressed,
The operations of blocks (13) to (16) are repeated until the excess capacity of the disk reaches the maximum capacity that can be photographed. If the release switch is released or the recording capacity of the disc reaches the maximum recording capacity, the C mode ends, so block whether there is insufficient capacity while operating in the C mode (15)
The flag set in block (17) is checked once, and when the flag is set, that is, C
If there is insufficient capacity during mode operation, block (19
) will issue a capacity shortage warning and re-release will be prohibited.

Although the present invention has been described above using an electronic still camera, as mentioned above, the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to a silver halide still camera.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, when shooting in C mode, a battery check is performed in the middle of excess battery capacity, but even if insufficient capacity is detected, a capacity detection method with some margin is used. This prevents the camera from stopping during shooting.It also has the effect of making it possible to use the battery more efficiently.

Note that the S mode also has the advantage of being able to check the battery twice, once before taking a picture and once after taking a picture, to ensure that there is no problem with taking pictures.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a battery check circuit, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a battery check circuit of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of another Example. [Explanation of symbols of main parts] 21...Battery 22...Battery check circuit 23...
...Sequence CPU

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a camera having a single shooting mode and a continuous shooting mode, a detection means for detecting the battery capacity after a shooting operation;
Based on the capacity information detected by the detection means, a capacity insufficient warning means warns of a capacity shortage, a re-release prohibition means prohibits another shooting operation, and the detection means detects a capacity shortage during operation in a continuous shooting mode. a storage means for storing the detected capacity information when the camera is activated, and the re-release inhibiting means is operated after the continuous shooting mode is completed based on the output of the storage means.