JPH0336532A - Camera with eyepiece detecting function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To start a zoom operation without special operation by a photographer by permitting a control means to perform the zoom operation according to both outputs of a grip hold detecting part and an eyepiece detecting part. CONSTITUTION:The grip hold detecting part 1 detects that the photographer is holding the grip of the camera; the eyepiece detecting part 2 is also provided as a means for detecting that the photographer is looking through a finder. An automatic program zoom (APZ) feasibility discriminating part 4 discriminates by means of signals outputted from the grip hold detecting part 1 and the eyepiece detecting part 2 whether APZ is feasible or not, and outputs a signal to a focal distance variable part 5 when discriminating that the APZ is feasible. In response to the signal, the focal distance variable part 5 drives a zoom motor so that a focal distance(f), which is an operation result, is set. Thus, the need for special operation is obviated, and in normal photographing the APZ operation can be started without making the photographer conscious of it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a camera with an eye-approach detection function, and more particularly to a camera with an eye-approach detection function that has an automatic program zoom function.

Conventional technology In recent years, automatic program zoom (Auto Progra
Cameras having the following functions (rAPZJ, hereinafter referred to as rAPZJ) have become known. This APZ function means that when the subject distance is determined, the photographing magnification is automatically calculated using a program line that shows the relationship between the subject distance and the photographing magnification β, and then f (focal path M) - β・D is used. This function calculates the focal length r and drives the zoom motor so that the obtained focal length r is achieved.

On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 52-110037 proposes a camera in which a temperature sensing element is provided in a part of the finder, and when a photographer looks through the finder, the temperature is detected and power is supplied to a focus detection circuit. Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-42639, distance measurement is started by detecting that the photographer has gripped the camera grip, and then autofocus is detected by detecting that the photographer has looked into the viewfinder. A camera is disclosed that initiates lens drive.

, ■ <”Let's go 9 The APZ function mentioned above was originally designed for camera beginners, but in order to use this function with a conventional camera, you must hold the release button halfway down. This requires a somewhat difficult operation, and is not necessarily easy to use for beginners.

In addition, in the camera proposed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 52-110037, the focus detection operation is started by detecting only the temperature sensing element, so even if you are not looking through the viewfinder, there is a temperature sensor behind the viewfinder. If something is detected by the element, there is a problem in that a focus detection operation is started. Furthermore, JP-A-64-4
In the camera disclosed in Publication No. 2639, the distance measurement operation is performed before the photographer looks into the finder, but the composition has not been determined at all before the photographer looks into the finder, so the viewfinder The distance measurement operation before looking into the camera is completely wasted, and even if you simply carry the camera around without intending to take pictures, distance measurement will be performed, which wastes the power supply.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable AP to be used without requiring any special operation and without the photographer being aware of it during normal shooting operations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera with an eye-approach detection function that does not cause a malfunction of starting a Z operation.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a first detection means provided on the grip section to detect that the photographer is holding the grip section, and a first detection means provided on the grip section to detect that the photographer is holding the grip section; and a control means that starts a zoom operation in response to output of both the detection output of the first detection means and the detection output of the second detection means. It is said that

The second detection means includes, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element that detects reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting element.

According to this configuration, when the photographer holds the grip part, the first detection means generates a detection output, and when the photographer looks through the finder, the second detection means generates a detection output. Since the control means starts the zoom operation in response to both the detection output of the first detection means and the detection output of the second detection means being output, the photographer does not need to perform any special operation and no malfunction occurs. .

Large 1L spot Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main parts of this embodiment having an APZ function. Further, FIGS. 6 and 7 are views of the camera of this embodiment viewed from the front left and rear left, respectively, as viewed from the photographer.

In FIG. 1, a grip holding detection section (1) detects that a photographer is holding a grip section (16) of the camera. When taking pictures, the photographer is considered to always hold the grip part (16) of the camera, except in special cases. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 6, a grip switch button (18) is provided on the grip part (16) of the camera, and when the photographer holds the grip part (16), the grip switch button (18) is pressed. It is configured to be pushed in and detected by the grip holding detection section (1).

Further, in this embodiment, an eye proximity detection section (2) is provided as means for detecting that the photographer is looking into the finder. As shown in FIG. 7, the eyepiece detection unit (2) includes a light emitting element (20) and a light receiving element (21) that detects reflected light emitted from the light emitting element (20). A light emitting diode (LED) or the like can be used as the light emitting element (20), and an SPC or the like can be used as the light receiving element (21).
), when the photographer looks through the finder (19), the light emitted from the light emitting section (20) is reflected by the photographer, and the light receiving section (21) is reflected at a reflected light level within a predetermined range.
) is configured to be detected by

The APZ possibility determination section (4) shown in FIG. 1 determines whether APZ is possible based on the signals output from the grip holding detection section (1) and the eye contact detection section (2). When it is determined that APZ is possible by the determination method described later, a signal is output from the APZTiI ability determination section (4) to the focal length variable section (5). Based on the signal, the focal length variable section (5) drives the zoom motor so that the focal length #f is the calculated result.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of this embodiment, and parts that perform the same operations as those described in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals and explanations will be omitted.

In Figure 2, CPU (microcomputer) (10)
controls the entire camera of this embodiment, and also performs APZ calculations and a timer operation to be described later.

The photometry section (It) measures the subject brightness, and the distance measurement section (12)
calculates the subject distance. The subject brightness and subject distance (D) respectively determined by the photometry section (11) and distance measurement section (12) are input to the CPU (10).

The exposure control section (13) performs a release operation and film winding in response to a control signal from the CPU (10).The focal length detection section (14) is configured so that the focal length variable section (5) operates within the CPU (10). When the focal length is changed by the APZ possibility determination unit (4), the current focal length is detected by a code plate, etc., and the value is sent to the CPU.
The zero-order switches output to (10) will be explained. The main switch (SM) is a switch for starting the camera. If the lock switch (S, ) is turned on during APZ operation, the zoom operation will be stopped and the measured distance value will be displayed.

Locks the metering value and shooting magnification. Lock switch (S
+) is turned on by pressing down the release button (17) shown in FIG. 6 one step. The exposure control switch (S) performs ONL and release operations by pressing down the release button (17) two steps. Therefore, when turning on the switch (Sl), press the switch (Sg).
) will also be turned on, so there is no need to keep the release in the halfway-pressed state.

The grip switch (SG) is turned on when the grip switch button (18) shown in FIG.
Do N.

Next, the processing performed within the CPU (10) of FIG. 2 will be explained based on the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 to 5.

When the power battery is installed, the CPU (10) executes the f-STARTJ routine shown in FIG.

First, in step (Ill), the main switch (S
When the switch (SM) is turned on, the camera is activated, and in step 02) it is determined whether the grip switch (SG) is on. After waiting for the switch (SG) to turn ON, the process moves to the APZ subroutine of step 03), which will be described later. In step 04), it is determined whether the switch (Sl) is ON or not, and if the switch (S,) is OFF, the above steps 01)~
Repeat the operation up to 03), switch (Sl) is ON
Then, if the switch (S8) is turned on in step (I5), the release operation is performed in step 06>, and the exposure control is performed by the exposure control section (13>).Then, the film is advanced in step 07 to capture one frame. After completing the photographing, return to step (m) and repeat the above operations.

Next, the subroutine of step (113) rA P Z J in FIG. 3 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the grip switch (SG) is pressed and the routine shifts to this routine, first, in step 011), the register C0 in the CPU (10) used for eye proximity detection is
Reset ND to 0 and start timer l with steno knob 012). This timer 1 is a timer set to generate an interrupt every predetermined time, and when the predetermined time 6 elapses, the CPU executes the eye proximity detection routine shown in FIG. 5 as an interrupt process. In FIG. 5, it is determined in step 041) whether the grip switch (SG) is ON or not, and
FF, that is, if the photographer is not holding the grip (in most cases, there is no intention to photograph), step 050
) and returns as register C0ND-0. Note that the same judgment is made in step 02) and step 041), but this is because the grip part (16) may be released or only the grip switch button (18) may be released between the steps. be. If the switch (SG) is ON (that is, if you are trying to take a picture), the process moves to step 042), and the light emitting element (for example, LED) (20) provided near the viewfinder (19) in FIG. 7 emits light. .

The light emitting element (20) emits light in a pulsed manner to save power consumption. Then, the reflected light is sent to a light receiving element such as SPC (
21), and in step (143) it is determined whether the reflected light level is equal to or higher than a predetermined value.

Here, the predetermined value is the distance between the viewfinder (19) and the photographer (mainly the photographer's eyes) of several sums (for example, 5 au+
), if it is above this predetermined value, it is determined that the photographer is looking through the finder (19), and if it is less than the predetermined value, the photographer is looking through the finder (19). This is the reference value for determining whether the

If the reflected light level is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, step 044
) and set the contents of register C0ND to CON D −
1-1 (COND=COND+1).

Next, it is determined whether the contents of the register C0ND obtained in step (144) are 2 or more. If C0ND≧2, the process returns as C0ND-2 in step 046), and if C0ND<2, the process returns with the contents of the register C0ND obtained in step 044). That is,
In order for the photographer to perform the shooting operation, the grip part (1
6) and look through the finder (19) in Figure 7, register C0N from step 011) in Figure 4.
Since the content of D is O, even if the reflected light level caused by the light emission of the first light emitting element (20) is higher than the predetermined value, the zero-order timer interrupt exits the eye proximity detection routine with C0ND=1 in step 044). If the reflected light level remains equal to or higher than the predetermined value even after the light emitting element (20) emits light, C0ND=2, and the process shifts to APZ operation according to the determination at step 013 in FIG. 4.

The reason why the camera does not shift to APZ operation by detecting the level of reflected light from the light emitted by the first light emitting element (20) is to prevent noise, and also to prevent the zoom operation from starting during framing. It is.

If the reflected light level is less than the predetermined value in step 043), the process moves to step 047), and the contents of register C0ND are set to C0ND-1 (C0ND=COND-1), and then in step 048>, the value is calculated in step 047). Determine whether the contents of the register C0ND obtained are less than or equal to O. If it is less than 0, set C0ND to O in step 049), and if it is greater than 0, return with the contents of the register C0ND obtained in step 047). Next, the processing of steps 043), (147), (148), and (149) will be explained based on an actual photographing operation. If you are not looking through the viewfinder (19) before shooting, register C.
Since the content of 0ND is O, APZ is not activated, but if the eye is moved away from the finder (19) while APZ is operating, the reflected light level will be determined to be below a predetermined value in step 043). However, the operation of the APZ does not stop even if the value of the reflected light level is below a predetermined value, and the operation of the APZ is stopped only when the reflected light level due to light emission from the next light emitting element (20) also becomes below the predetermined value. do. This is also for noise countermeasures as in steps 044) to 046).

In the flowchart of FIG. 4, in step 013) it is determined whether the contents of the register C0ND are 2 or not.

After waiting until C0ND=2 (that is, it is determined that the user is looking into the finder (19)), the process moves to step 014). In step 014), timer 2 is started (time t=0). This timer 2 and the above-mentioned timer 1 can both be built in a microcomputer constituting the CPU (10). Next, the distance measurement section (12) and the photometry section (11) perform known distance measurement and photometry operations.In step 016), focusing, that is, focus adjustment is performed, and in step 017), the subject distance HD is determined.

Next, in step 018), it is determined whether or not the counting operation of the timer 2 started in step 014) has elapsed for a predetermined time (0°5 seconds in this embodiment). 0.5
If within seconds, proceed to step 015) and step 0
The operations from 15> to 017) are repeated, and when 0.5 seconds have elapsed, it is determined in step 019> whether or not the next predetermined time (1 second in this embodiment) has elapsed. In other words, if 1 second has not elapsed (O85≦t<1), step 020
), it is determined whether the change in subject distance Mot is within a predetermined value. If it is not within the predetermined value, it is determined that the photographer is in the process of determining the subject (composition), and the process moves to Step 015), and the operations of Steps 015) to 020) are repeated, changing the subject path MDT. is within a predetermined value, it is determined that the subject (Figure 1) has been determined, or step (
When the count operation of timer 2 exceeds 1 second in step 1119), the zoom operation starting from step 021) is started.

To summarize the above operations related to timer 2, zoom operation is prohibited within 0.5 seconds after eye contact is detected, and from 0.5 to 1 second, zoom operation is performed only when the subject path M Dt is stable. If it is longer than seconds, the zoom operation will be performed regardless of the subject distance D□. Furthermore, step 0t4
) to 020), the timer 2 is operated by:
This is to prevent the zoom operation from starting during framing and to prevent noise.

When moving to zoom operation, first, in step 021>, the subject distance N Dt and APZ obtained in step 017) are
A focal path Mrt corresponding to a predetermined imaging magnification β□ determined by the program line is calculated. Once fo is determined, a zoom operation is started in step (1122).

During zoom operation, in step 023) register C0
It is determined whether or not ND-0, and if it is determined that C0ND=O1, that is, the photographer is not looking into the finder (19), the process moves to step (132), the zoom operation is stopped, and the process returns. If C0ND≠0, step 0
Step 24) determines whether the main switch (SM) is ON or not, and if the switch (SM) is OFF, step (
132), the zoom operation is stopped, and the process returns.

The reason for determining whether C0ND=0 in step 023) is as follows.

That is, C0ND exits the eye proximity detection routine in FIG.
= 2, and even while steps 014) to 022) are being executed, the interrupts at predetermined time intervals following the previous interrupt with C0ND=2 are being performed without stopping in parallel. Therefore, in step 023), it is necessary to determine whether C0ND=0 by interrupting every predetermined time thereafter.

Also, when steps 014) to 022) are being executed, step 043)
may be determined to be N (reflected light level less than a predetermined value). Since C0ND=2 was set by the previous interrupt process, C0ND=1 in step (147).
Therefore, in step 048) it is determined to be N and C0N.
Return with D=L. At this time, steps 014> to 022) are executed by the previous interrupt processing, and when step 023) is reached, C0ND-
Even if it is determined that the reflected light level is not 0 and the reflected light level is less than the predetermined value, the process proceeds to the next step 024). However, after returning with the content of C0ND=1, the C0ND
D=O, and the process returns via step (14B) (149). Therefore, step 024 due to the previous interrupt.
) even if the switch (Sl) is
Step 0 at step 031> to wait for N.
After returning to step 14), C0 is returned to step 023).
A determination is made as to whether it is ND-0 or not. As a result of C0ND=0, the return is made after step 032), so no malfunction occurs.If the switch (SM) is ON, step device 25) checks whether the switch (S, ) is ON or not. Determine. Switch (Sl) is not ON (OF
F), the current focal length rw is determined by the focal length detection unit (14) in FIG. 2, and the focal length f is determined in step (127).

Determine whether or not is equal to the focal path Nf obtained in step 026). If not, proceed to step 023> and repeat the operations of steps 023) to 027). During this time, the steering knob 025> If it is determined that the switch (Sl) is ON, the process moves to step 028) to lock the current photometry value, distance measurement value, photographic magnification, and focal length. Also, when fN=ft, the zoom operation is stopped in step 028) and distance measurement, m light and focusing are performed in step (12) for confirmation.
9) Zero-order step (113) performed in (130)
1) Determine whether the switch (S,) is ON or not,
Continuous A if switch (S,) is not ON
As PZ, the process moves to step 014) and the above operations are repeated. If the switch (Sl) is ON, the process returns and moves to the exposure operation of steps (I4) to (I7).Here, the same judgment is made twice in step (131) and step (I4). This is due to the following reason: Step 031) to Step 0
In the loop returning to 14), the OF of the switch (S,)
If the switch (St) is turned ON while the F state continues, the process proceeds to step 04), so step 04>
There is no case where the process returns to step (all), and only when the zoom is stopped in step 032), the process returns from step 04) to step (It). Further, when the zoom is stopped in step 032), there is no need to operate the switch (St), so there is no need to proceed from step 04) to step 05).Therefore, the same determination is made twice.

Note that in this embodiment, it is not necessary to hold the release button (17) in a half-pressed state;
7) is pushed so that the switch (I8) is turned on immediately after the switch (S, ) is turned on.

Therefore, compared to the conventional method of performing distance measurement, photometry, and focusing by pressing the release button (17) halfway, the time that the release button (17) is pressed halfway is extremely short, and the photographer can press the switch (St. ) There is no need to consciously turn on only the

In this embodiment, after the timer 1 and timer 2 count a predetermined time from the eye proximity detection by the eye proximity detection unit (2), the APZ operation including ranging, photometry, and zooming is performed, but the invention is not limited to this. The APZ operation may be performed after a predetermined time has elapsed using other delay means.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the control means starts the zoom operation in response to both the output of the first detection means and the output of the second detection means, so The user can start the zoom operation without performing any special operation and without being conscious of the shooting operation. Furthermore, since the operation will not start unless there is an output from at least one of the first detection means and the second detection means, malfunctions and unnecessary operations can be prevented, and unnecessary consumption of the power supply can be avoided. It can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a block diagram showing the concrete tllffl. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the CPU in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the CPU in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of Z. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of eye proximity detection. FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of a camera embodying the present invention when viewed from the front left. FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of a camera embodying the present invention viewed from the left rear. (1)--Grip holding detection section, (2)... Eyepiece detection section. (4)...-APZ possibility determination unit. (5)--focal length variable section, (10)--CPU. (11) --- Photometering section, (12) --- Distance measuring section. (13)...Exposure control section, (14)-focal length detection section. (I6) - Grip section, (17) - Release button. (18)--Grip switch button. (19)...Finder, (20)...Light emitting element. (21)... Light receiving element, (SM)... Main switch. (St)...-Lock switch. (I8)...-Exposure control switch. (SG)--Grip switch.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) a first detection means provided on the grip section that detects that the photographer is holding the grip section; a second detection means that detects that the photographer is looking into the finder;
A camera with an eye-approach detection function, comprising: a control means for starting a zoom operation in response to output of both the detection output of the first detection means and the detection output of the second detection means. (2) A camera with an eye proximity detection function according to claim 1, wherein the second detection means includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element that detects reflected light emitted from the light emitting element.