JPH043130A - Photographic mode selector of camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To necessitate one piece of an input part for photographing mode selection so that the photographing mode can be easily selected not only manually but by a card as well by selecting and pushing plural switches, thereby arbitrarily changing over the photographing mode of a camera. CONSTITUTION:A printed circuit board 20 is provided below a card housing chamber 13 and the button switch 16 is mounted on the printed circuit board 20. This button switch 16 consists of a pressing piece 21 molded of rubber having elasticity, a contact piece 22 made of conductive rubber fixed to the base in the central part thereof and contacts 20a, 20b provided on the printed circuit board 20. The photographing mode can be manually selected by properly pressing and operating the button switches 16a to 16e in this case. The photographing mode selector of the low cost is easily obtd. in this way.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a photographing mode selection device for a camera.

[Conventional technology]

Modern cameras with built-in microcomputers have many shooting modes stored in them according to the situation of the subject, and the photographer can take pictures with professional-like shooting techniques by simply selecting one of the shooting modes.

Such cameras are provided with a plurality of button switches for selecting photographing modes, and the user selects an arbitrary photographing mode by appropriately operating these button switches. These button switches are often small and arranged in a narrow space due to space constraints for installation, making them difficult for inexperienced users to operate. For example, it is possible to select a shooting mode based on the number of times a single button switch is pressed, but in this case, there are many types of shooting modes (the number of operations increases, and operability deteriorates).

For this reason, recently, IC cards are prepared for each shooting mode, and when one of the IC cards is loaded into the camera, the shooting mode written in the ROM built into that IC card is automatically set. There is something that can be selected.

[Question B to be Solved by the Invention] However, even cameras that use an IC card to automatically select a shooting mode have a manual operation section so that any shooting mode can be selected when the IC card is not carried. Is required. Providing two types of input sections for selecting the photographing mode in this manner is disadvantageous in terms of cost and space when manufacturing a camera. Furthermore, when selecting a shooting mode using an IC card, it is costly for the user to prepare an IC card with a built-in ROM or CPU for each shooting mode.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has a single input section for selecting a shooting mode.
To provide a photographing mode selection device for a camera which allows photographing modes to be easily selected using a card.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a plurality of switches that are arranged on a camera body and are selectively pressed when manually inputting a shooting mode, and a description corresponding to the shooting mode is displayed. In order to selectively press the switch, a card having a convex portion or a concave portion formed on one side corresponding to the switch, and a card holding means for pressing and holding the card so that the one side is pressed against the switch. It was established.

[Effect]

According to the above configuration, the photographing mode of the camera can be arbitrarily switched by selecting and pressing the plurality of switches with a finger or the like. Further, it is also possible to select a photographing mode by pressing the plurality of switches using a card in which concave portions or convex portions are arranged for each photographing mode.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained according to the illustrated embodiments.

[Embodiment] FIG. 6 shows a camera using the present invention, in which a photographic lens 4. Finder objective window 5, strobe 6
, a photometric window 7 is provided. A grip 8 is formed on the left side of the camera 3, and a release button 9 is incorporated into this grip 8. Further, an operation panel 10 is provided on the top surface of the camera 3, and an operation panel 11 for switching the shooting mode and a liquid crystal display section 12 for displaying the shooting mode of the camera 3 and the number of remaining films are arranged on the operation panel 10. There is.

FIG. 1 shows the operation panel 10, in which a card storage chamber 13 is formed. This card storage chamber 13 contains an input card 14, which will be described in detail later.
is loaded from the direction of the arrow in the figure. Although the card storage chamber 13 is formed on the top surface of the camera 3, it may be formed on the front surface or back cover of the camera 3. This card storage room 1
3 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and protrusions 15 are formed at one of its four corners to prevent incorrect loading. This protrusion 1
A button switch 15a for setting and resetting the shooting mode is provided on the top surface of the card storage chamber 13. When the lid 17 covering the card storage chamber 13 is opened, a button switch 15a is provided, and a button switch 15a outputs a button switch 15a for setting and resetting the shooting mode.
When closed, outputs a set signal.

The bottom of the card storage chamber 13 is the operating section 11, and there are 5
button switches 16a to 16e are arranged in a row. In this embodiment, the operation unit 11 is composed of five button switches 16a to 16e arranged in a row, but it is also possible to increase the number of button switches 16 or arrange them in multiple rows. It is.

The lid 17 is transparent, and comments on the input card 14 loaded in the card storage chamber 13 can be read even when the lid is closed. This lid 17 is normally closed to prevent the button switches 16a to 16e from being operated erroneously. Further, the operation panel 10 is provided with a locking member 18 that locks the lid 17 in the closed position.

As shown in FIG. 2, a printed circuit board 20 is provided below the card storage chamber 13, and the button switch 16 is placed on this printed circuit board 20. This button switch 16 includes a pressing piece 21 made of elastic rubber, a contact piece 22 made of conductive rubber fixed to the bottom of the center part, and a contact 20a provided on a printed circuit board 20.
, 20b, and under normal conditions, the contact piece 22 is separated from the contacts 20a and 20b due to the elasticity of the legs of the pressing piece 22. When the pressing piece 21 is pressed, its leg portion deforms against elasticity, and the contact piece 22 is moved between the contacts 20a and 20.
b to establish continuity between them.

FIG. 7 shows the electrical configuration of a photographing mode selection device for a camera according to the present invention. The contacts 20a are at ground potential, and the contacts 20b are each connected to the CPU 25 via an inverter 26. Therefore, when the button switch 16 is pressed, a high level signal (binary signal "1") is output to the CPU 25, and when the button switch 16 is not pressed, a low level signal (binary signal "1") is output to the CPU 25.
A value signal of "0") can be output.

When the lid 17 is opened, the CPU 25 activates the button switch 15.
After the reset signal is output from a, and until the set signal is output from the button switch 15a due to the closing of the lid 17, the signals input from the button switches 16a to 16e (rl, rO) are read. The thus read combination of signals rl, .

Furthermore, when the lid 17 is opened to change the shooting mode, the shooting mode data written in the RAM 27 is cleared by the reset signal obtained via the signal generator 32, and the shooting mode data is rewritten to new shooting mode data. becomes possible.

Note that when a shooting mode is set by manually operating the button switches 16a to 16e, it is inconvenient if the shooting mode is held forever. When the tally reset operation is not performed, the CPU 25 uses the RAM
After clearing the shooting mode data of No. 27 to "00000", press button switches 16a to 16e again to "1".
.

A signal of “0” is read and written to the RAM 27.

However, when the button switches 16a to 16e are not operated, the photographing mode data in the RAM 27 becomes '0OOOOJ' and the camera automatically returns to the standard mode. In addition, in order to return to the standard mode with one shirt release without waiting for 5 minutes, it is sufficient to open and close M17.

The CPU 25 reads the shooting mode data in the RAM 27 in response to the half-press signal of the release button 9, reads out the corresponding exposure control program from the ROM 28, and refers to subject brightness information, film anger information, etc. obtained from the photometry section 29. Then, the shutter speed and aperture value suitable for the selected exposure control program are determined, and these data are sent to the shutter control section 30. The respective signals are sent to the aperture control section 31. Then, when the release button 9 is fully pressed, the shank is released according to the selected shooting mode.

The aperture is activated and the picture is taken.

According to the above configuration, the photographing mode can be manually selected by pressing the button switches 16a to 16e as appropriate. When the camera's power switch is turned on, the shooting mode data in RAM 27 is rooo.
oo", and you can shoot in standard mode as is. However, for example, when taking a portrait photo with an aggressively blurred background, you can save the shooting mode data of rooollJ, which represents portrait mode, to the RAM 27.
You can set it to . To do this, open the lid 17 to enter the shooting mode input standby state, and then press the button switch 1.
It is sufficient to close the lid 17 after pressing 6d and 16e. When the lid 17 is closed, the CPU 25 receives the set signal from the button switch 15a and writes the shooting mode data of ``ROOOLL'' into the RAM 27, so when the release button 9 is operated, an exposure control program suitable for portrait mode, In other words, photography is performed using aperture priority with a larger aperture.

In order to freely select a shooting mode by manual operation, the user must know the combination of button switches 16a to 16e to press for each shooting mode. Of course, it is possible to select the shooting mode while referring to the instruction manual, but in order to avoid such trouble, it is possible to perform the input operations for each shooting mode, such as those shown in Figures 3 to 5. A card is prepared, and by loading the card into the card storage chamber 13, the photographing mode can be automatically selected.

Figures 3 to 5 show input cards 14a, 14b, and 14c used when selecting standard mode, sports mode, and portrait mode, respectively, and (A) in each figure
(B) represents the front surface, and (B) represents the back surface. These powers ~ Do 1
4a to 14c are made of rectangular plates molded from plastic, and cutouts are formed at one of the four corners to prevent incorrect loading. A comment 23a and an illustration 23b are written on the front side of the input card I4a so that the standard mode can be easily identified, and five recesses 35a to 35e are arranged on the back side corresponding to the button switches 16a to 16e. . This input card 14a is loaded into the card storage chamber 13 and 1117
In the process of closing the cover 17, the back of the input card 14a is pressed against the button switches 16a to 16e4, but since the button switches 16a to 16e enter the recesses 35a to 35e, the button switches 15
Even if the set signal is output from a, '0O' is stored in RAM27.
OOOJ shooting mode data is written. Therefore, when this input card 14a is used, photography will be performed in the standard mode.

On the front side of the sports mode input card 14b, comments and illustrations representing the mode are written, and on the back side, recesses 35a and 35e are provided. Therefore, when this input card 14a is loaded into the card storage chamber 13 and 117 is closed, the button switches 16b, 16c, and 16d are pressed on the back of the input card 14b, so the shooting mode data of rollloJ is stored in the RAM 27. written. Then, the exposure control program corresponding to the shooting mode data of '0IIIOJ is executed by the CPU2.
5, shooting is performed with priority given to a high shutter speed.

The input card 14c is for portrait mode, and by loading it into the card storage chamber 13,
o 11J shooting mode can be automatically selected. Note that the comments and illustrations written on the surfaces of these cards 14a to 14c can be identified through the transparent 1117 even when they are loaded in the card storage chamber 13, so the complicated shooting mode display on the liquid crystal display 12 is The user can easily know the current shooting mode without having to do so. Furthermore, even if the shooting mode is selected using the input card 14, if no release operation is performed for 5 minutes or more, the shooting mode data in the RAM 27 is cleared to "rooooO", but immediately after that, the shooting mode data is cleared to "rooooO". The pressed states of the button switches 16a=16e are read again by the CPU 25 and written to the RAM 27 again, so as long as the input card 14a is loaded,
Photography will now be performed under that photography mode.

In this embodiment, in order to return to the standard mode with a single shirt release without waiting 5 minutes for the manually input shooting mode, the lid 17 was opened. An input selection switch for output may be provided and the input selection switch may be used to perform the output. In this case, the button switch 15a is made to output only the cent signal.

A photographing mode selection operation in such a configuration will be briefly described. For manual input, after switching the input selection switch to manual input, the button switches 16a to 16e may be selected and pressed to close the lid 17. Furthermore, when performing card input, the input selection switch may be switched to card input and the input card 14 may be loaded into the card storage chamber 13.

8A and 8B show the front and back sides of a thin input card 40, in which a circular opening 4I is formed in place of the recess 35 of the input card 14 described above. In addition,
This input card 40 can also be made of a metal plate or cardboard. Comments and illustrations indicating the shooting mode are displayed on the front side of the input card 40, and a confirmation mark 42 with a constant reflectance is provided at a certain position on the back side. When this input card 40 is loaded into the card storage chamber 13, the confirmation mark 42 is detected by the reflective photo sensor on the camera side, and it is confirmed that it is a proper input card! Automatic selection of the shooting mode is performed only when approved. In such a thin input card 40, the button switch 1
Since deformation may occur when pressing 6 to 16e, a button switch 16a is attached to the lid 17 as shown in FIG.
It is preferable to form a protrusion 43 that surrounds 16e.

In the embodiments described above, the button switch 16 is pressed with the flat surface of the input card 14 or the input card 40, but a convex portion is formed on the input card 14 or the input card 40, and the button switch 16 is pressed with the flat surface of the input card 14 or the input card 40. 16 may be pressed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above in detail, in the shooting mode selection device of the present invention, the plurality of switches that are manually operated when selecting a shooting mode can also be pressed with a card. There is no need to incorporate an IC into the card, and there is no need for a contact mechanism or circuit for reading out electrical signals from the card, making it possible to realize a low-cost photographing mode selection device. In addition, the cards themselves have become cheaper,
The shooting mode can be clearly displayed on the front of the card.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing essential parts of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the card storage chamber shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an input card for standard mode. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an input card for sports mode. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an input card for portrait mode. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a camera embodying the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input card. FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a main part of the card storage chamber into which the input card shown in FIG. 8 is loaded. Figure 1 3 ・ ・ ・ l 3 ・ ・ 14, 4 16 ・ ・ 17 ・ ・ Camera/card storage chamber 0... Input card, button switch, lid. Figure 2 Figure 14a 23a / / 14q (input card) / Figure Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a camera shooting mode selection device that selects a specific shooting mode from among multiple shooting modes, a plurality of switches arranged on the camera body and selectively pressed when manually inputting the shooting mode, and A card is provided with an explanatory display corresponding to the mode, and in order to selectively press the plurality of switches, a convex portion or a concave portion is formed on one side corresponding to the switch; 1. A photographing mode selection device for a camera, comprising a card holding means for pressing and holding a card so as to press the card into contact with a switch.