JPH06339083A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] An imaging device having electronic zoom processing, comprising:
To provide an imaging device that can obtain a high-resolution image even if the enlargement ratio is increased. An image pickup apparatus according to the present invention comprises a solid-state image pickup device for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, an optical system for forming an image on the solid-state image pickup device, and an image formed by the optical system. A relative image forming position changing means for shifting the relative position with respect to the solid-state image sensor, and an interpolation processing section for compensating pixel information between the pixel signals obtained from the solid-state image sensor by digital signal processing. When performing interpolation processing at an arbitrary enlargement ratio in the interpolation processing unit, a relative position changing direction of the relative image forming position changing means suitable for performing the interpolation processing and a relative connection in this direction. And a relative image forming position changing unit that selects the number of times of changing the image position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup device.

[0002]

[Prior art]

(1) In video cameras that capture moving images, the zoom function is widely used from home video movie cameras to commercial video cameras. In a commercial video camera, the optical system is the main method in terms of resolution, whereas in a home video movie camera, in addition to the lens, the optical system zoom and the video signal output from the image sensor are used. There is one that uses together with an electronic zoom that performs digital signal processing. With the lens zoom, a good image can be obtained during zooming, but a large lens is required as the magnification increases, and it is difficult to downsize the device. On the other hand, since enlargement by electronic processing is realized by an electronic circuit without modifying the camera lens, a compact and lightweight imaging device such as a video camera can be obtained.

In the electronic image enlargement processing, since the input pixels to the image pickup device are spatially sampled in the image pickup device, it is necessary to compensate between the sample pixels according to the enlargement ratio. In order to realize interpolation between pixels,
A general method is to create interpolated pixel data by interpolation using sample pixel data obtained by an image sensor. In the video camera, since the pixel interpolation processing must be performed in real time, a method such as a two-point interpolation method, which has a relatively small circuit scale and a high processing speed, is widely used. However, since this method has a problem in image quality, the upper limit of the electronic zoom magnification is generally limited to about 2 times.

The functions of the video movie camera include still image recording and continuous shooting recording modes. These are when the still image or continuous shooting is selected by the photographer's operation,
The image at that time is temporarily recorded in the frame memory,
This is read out as a video signal and recorded on a recording medium such as a video tape. When using the zoom function in this function, the zoomed image is recorded on a recording medium such as a videotape, which has been subjected to zooming either by using the same optical, electronic, or combination of optical system and electronic circuit as during normal moving image input. However, no special processing for still image input is performed.

As an example of the digital still image pickup device,
The electronic still camera is raised. As an electronic still camera having a zoom function, a camera that performs zooming using an optical system has already been commercialized. However, if the size of the electronic still camera is reduced, it is considered effective to use the electronic zoom. Further, in such a small-sized image pickup device, a view for displaying an image zoomed to by the photographer in combination with the optical system and the electronic zoom function in cooperation with the zoom magnification selected by the photographer. A finder or monitor built-in type is also conceivable.

In the still image recording / storing, which is the basic performance of the electronic still camera, a high image quality process is required for all signal processing because of the still image, and the same applies to the electronic zoom process. This requirement is satisfied by complicated processing such as high-order interpolation and recursive processing, but it is difficult to realize real-time processing using these. On the other hand, the electronic viewfinder requires an electronic zoom process executed in real time, but it is used only for confirming the angle of view and the image quality is not particularly limited.

As described above, there has been no image pickup apparatus using electronic zoom having an electronic zoom processing function including two processing modes such as a high image quality mode and a real-time operation mode.

Here, in order to obtain a high-resolution still image while using the low-resolution image sensor, the relative image-position changing device is used to shift the relative position of the input image in the image sensor, and the shifted position. A method is conceivable in which an image is captured for each image, and the image data is subjected to digital processing and spatially combined. To shift the relative position of the input image, move the image sensor by half the pixel pitch of the image sensor or insert an optical filter between the lens and the image sensor and drive it. There is a method of moving the input image.

When recording a high resolution still image using such an image pickup mechanism, it takes time to obtain one frame or field image because the optical filter and the image pickup element are mechanically driven. Takes. For this reason, in order to monitor or record a moving image in the moving image mode at the time of shooting a still image, the image is temporarily stored in a frame memory or the like, and an interpolation image at a pixel position required by the interpolation process is created.

In an image pickup apparatus having such an image pickup mechanism, it has never been possible to obtain a high-quality still image and a low-resolution moving image at the same time, and in order to obtain a high-resolution still image, real-time property is required. Until now, there has never been a zoom mechanism that uses both neglected digital image processing and a relative image-position changing device that impairs real-time performance.

In addition, there has been no zoom mechanism using an electronic zoom and a relative image-forming position changing device together.

(2) In video cameras for picking up moving images, the zoom function is widely used from home video movie cameras to commercial video cameras. In a commercial video camera, the optical system is the main method in terms of resolution, whereas in a home video movie camera, in addition to the lens, the optical system zoom and the video signal output from the image sensor are used. There is one that uses together with an electronic zoom that performs digital signal processing. With the lens zoom, a good image can be obtained during zooming, but a large lens is required as the magnification increases, and it is difficult to downsize the device. On the other hand, since enlargement by electronic processing is realized by an electronic circuit without modifying the camera lens, a compact and lightweight imaging device such as a video camera can be obtained.

In the electronic image enlargement process, since the input pixels to the image pickup device are spatially sampled in the image pickup device, it is necessary to compensate between the sample pixels according to the enlargement ratio. In order to realize interpolation between pixels,
A general method is to perform interpolation processing on sample pixel data obtained by an image sensor to create interpolated pixel data. In the video camera, since the pixel interpolation processing must be performed in real time, a method such as a two-point interpolation method, which has a relatively small circuit scale and a high processing speed, is widely used. However, since this method has a problem in image quality, the upper limit of the electronic zoom magnification is generally limited to about 2 times.

The functions of the video movie camera include still image recording and continuous shooting recording modes. When still image recording or continuous recording is selected by the photographer's operation,
These functions are to temporarily record the image at that point in a frame memory, read it as an image signal, and record it in a recording medium such as a video tape. When using the zoom function in these functions, a zoomed image is recorded on a recording medium such as a videotape, which has been subjected to zooming either by using the same optical, electronic, or combination of optical system and electronic circuit as during normal moving image input. It is recorded and no special processing for still image input is performed.

As an example of the digital still image pickup device,
The electronic still camera is raised. As an electronic still camera having a zoom function, a camera that performs zooming using an optical system has already been commercialized. However, if the size of the electronic still camera is reduced, it is considered effective to use the electronic zoom.

Further, in such a small electronic camera, an electronic view for displaying to the photographer an image zoomed by a combination of the optical system and the electronic zoom or electronic zoom, which is interlocked with the zoom magnification selected by the photographer. A finder or built-in monitor type is also conceivable.

In the still image recording / storing, which is the basic performance of the electronic still camera, a high image quality process is required for all signal processing because of the still image, and the same applies to the electronic zoom process. This demand is satisfied by complicated processing such as high-order interpolation and recursive processing, but in order to realize this in real time, the processing circuit must be speeded up, and a dedicated high speed processor is required. I will end up. On the other hand, in the electronic viewfinder, it is necessary to perform electronic zoom processing that is executed in real time.
It is used only for confirming the angle of view, and the image quality is not particularly limited.

As described above, in the image pickup apparatus using the electronic zoom, the image pickup having the electronic zoom processing function having the two processing modes such as the non-real time high image quality mode and the real time simple operation mode is provided. No device ever existed.

(3) In recent years, various devices such as a movie camera for recording a moving image and an electronic still camera for recording a still image have been developed and commercialized as an image input device for recording an image using a solid-state image sensor. .

Among them, in an optical system of a device mainly for movie cameras for recording moving images, a zoom lens is used as a photographing lens, and a method of recording while confirming a photographed image with an electronic viewfinder is adopted. With this method, the recorded image can be directly checked, so no optical parallax occurs.
It realizes high-magnification photography, but power consumption is high by operating the electronic viewfinder during photography, and the optical system is also large due to high magnification.

On the other hand, electronic still cameras and the like for recording still images include a single-lens reflex type that employs an optical finder and a compact type in which a taking lens and a finder are separately provided. The structure of the single-lens reflex type is the same as that of the 35 mm film camera, and a zoom lens is mounted to increase the magnification. If this is not the power consumption in and viewfinder without parallax equipped with zoom lens for essentially mechanism for splitting the incident light to the solid-state imaging device and the viewfinder inevitably becomes large because it requires, and high magnification Further increases the size of the optical system. Further, the compact type has a simple structure by separating the taking lens and the finder, but there is a problem that the parallax becomes large depending on the taking distance.

(4) In recent years, various devices such as movie cameras have been developed and commercialized as imaging devices for recording images using a solid-state imaging device. These devices are required to have a zoom function, small size and light weight, and low power consumption as their main functions.

In an optical system of a device for recording a moving picture represented by a movie camera, a zoom lens is used as a photographing lens and a photographed image is recorded while being confirmed by an electronic viewfinder. FIG. 66 shows a configuration example of a conventional video movie. As shown in the figure, since the recorded image can be directly confirmed by the electronic viewfinder 1020, optical parallax does not occur at all and high-magnification shooting is realized. However, the electronic viewfinder 1020 is operated during shooting. As a result, the power consumption is large, and the optical system is also large due to the high magnification.

On the other hand, an electronic still camera or the like for recording a still image has the same structure as a silver halide film camera, and the zoom function is provided by an optical zoom lens.
Electronic still cameras include a single-lens reflex type that employs an optical viewfinder and a compact type that separately includes a taking lens and a viewfinder. 67 and 68, a configuration example of a conventional single-lens reflex electronic still camera is shown in FIG.
9 and 70 show a configuration example of a conventional compact type electronic still camera. The single-lens reflex type is equipped with a zoom lens like the 35mm film camera,
This type does not have parallax and consumes no power in the optical finder 1005, but has a problem that the optical system becomes large in size for high magnification. On the other hand, the compact type has a low-power zoom lens 1001 and an optical viewfinder 103.
2 and 2 are arranged independently. Although this configuration is simplified and suitable for reduction in size and weight and power consumption, it is difficult to realize a high-magnification zoom function.

[0025]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

(1) The above-described conventional image pickup apparatus uses the finite information obtained by the image pickup element, although it can be realized to some extent by processing such as high-order interpolation in order to obtain a high-resolution zoom image by electronic zoom. Since this process is performed, there is a problem that the degree of image deterioration increases as the enlargement ratio increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image pickup apparatus having an electronic zoom process, which is capable of obtaining a high-resolution image even if the enlargement ratio is increased. And

On the other hand, it is difficult to realize a small-sized image pickup apparatus having a zoom function by using an optical system, and using the electronic zoom is an effective means for downsizing. However, since the electronic zoom is a process using finite information, in order to obtain a high-quality interpolated image, a method that requires a long processing time such as high-order interpolation or recursive filtering is often used. Furthermore, in the relative image-position changing device for obtaining a high-resolution still image, the shutter is released several times to obtain one frame or field image, which requires a considerable amount of time. On the other hand, in recording video signals from electronic viewfinders and video cameras,
It is required to operate in real time regardless of whether or not the relative imaging position changing device is driven. Conventionally, an imaging device having these contradictory functions has not been provided.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic zoom function suitable for an image pickup system using a relative image forming position changing device for electronic zoom and operating in real time, and a high image quality type electronic zoom function. An object is to provide an image pickup apparatus having an electronic zoom function.

(2) It is difficult to realize a compact image pickup apparatus having a zoom function by using an optical system, and using the electronic zoom is an effective means for downsizing. However, since electronic zoom is processing using finite pixel information, complicated processing such as high-order interpolation is necessary to obtain a high-quality electronic zoom image, but it does not have to be real time. . On the other hand, in the electronic zoom of recording an image signal of an electronic viewfinder or a video camera, simple processing is sufficient, but real-time processing is required. Conventionally, an imaging device having these contradictory functions has not been provided.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and provides an image pickup apparatus which realizes two processing functions of real-time electronic zoom and high image quality electronic zoom using a simple processing circuit. The purpose is to provide.

(3) As described above, in the conventional image pickup device, in the case of the single-lens reflex type, there is no parallax, but the optical system is structurally large, and in the case of the compact type,
The optical system itself can be simplified, but parallax cannot be eliminated.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the structure of the optical system is the same as that of the compact type.
An object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized image pickup apparatus in which a taking lens and a finder are independently arranged to reduce the size of an optical system, and which has a parallax eliminated by electronic correction.

(4) In the above-described conventional image pickup apparatus, in a movie camera or the like, when recording is performed while confirming a photographed image at a high magnification, the optical system becomes large and power consumption becomes large, and the viewfinder is also large. In a still image recording device such as an electronic camera that consumes less power by using an optical viewfinder, the optical system becomes large in order to achieve high magnification, and a high-magnification zoom function is realized in order to achieve miniaturization. Is difficult.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus having a high magnification, a small size, and low power consumption.

[0035]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the following measures were taken.

(1) In the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention (Claim 1), in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the relative image forming position changing unit driving method according to the zoom magnification in the relative image forming position changing unit. Is to be selected.

That is, the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention is a solid-state image pickup device for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, an optical system for forming an image on the solid-state image pickup device, and a connection formed by the optical system. Relative imaging position changing means for shifting the relative position between the image and the solid-state image sensor, and an interpolation processing unit for compensating pixel information between pixel signals obtained from the solid-state image sensor by digital signal processing. And when performing interpolation processing of an arbitrary enlargement ratio in the interpolation processing unit,
A relative image forming position changing unit that selects a relative position changing direction of the relative image forming position changing unit suitable for performing the interpolation process and a number of times of changing the relative image forming position in this direction. And

On the other hand, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention (Claim 2) is suitable for an image pickup system using a relative image forming position changing apparatus in the electronic zoom function and operates in real time. There are provided two processing modes, namely, an electronic zoom that enables the digital zoom and a high-quality electronic zoom.

That is, in the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention, a solid-state image pickup device for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, an optical system for forming an image on the solid-state image pickup device, and a connection formed by the optical system. Relative imaging position changing means for shifting the relative position between the image and the solid-state image sensor, and an interpolation processing unit for compensating pixel information between pixel signals obtained from the solid-state image sensor by digital signal processing. And an interpolation processing unit including a real-time interpolation processing unit that operates in real-time and a non-real-time interpolation processing unit that operates in non-real-time processing, and for confirming a captured image or a captured image. And an image output section.

(2) In the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention (claim 3), in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a simple real-time electronic zoom and a high image quality non-real-time electronic zoom are used in the electronic zoom function. The above two processing functions are provided.

That is, the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention can be obtained from the solid-state image pickup element for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, an optical system for forming an image on the solid-state image pickup element, and the solid-state image pickup element. An electronic zoom processing unit that compensates pixel information between pixel signals by digital signal processing, that is, a simple electronic zoom processing unit that operates in real time and a high-quality electronic zoom processing that uses non-real time processing. An electronic zoom processing unit including a high-quality electronic zoom processing unit for performing the above, and an image output unit for confirming a captured image or a captured image are characterized by being provided.

(3) In the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention (claim 4), in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the object distance obtained by the distance measuring means for measuring the distance from the photographing lens to the object is used. By performing signal processing to match the image pickup area of the optical finder and the image obtained by the solid-state image pickup element, a small-sized image pickup apparatus without parallax is realized.

That is, in the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention, a solid-state image pickup element for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, a photographing lens for forming an optical image on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup element, and the photographing operation. An optical finder arranged independently of the lens, a distance measuring means for measuring a subject distance, and a means for extracting only a portion of an output signal corresponding to a visual field area of the optical finder from an output signal of an imaging area of the solid-state image sensor. And signal processing means for taking out an output signal corresponding to the visual field region, and a recording medium for recording the signal taken out by the signal processing means.

Further, preferably, a zoom finder is used as the optical finder, and only the output signal of the field of view of the zoom finder is taken out from the output signal of the shooting area of the solid-state image pickup device according to the optical finder magnification and the object distance, and the enlargement processing You may go.

An electronic zoom function may be used for the magnified signal processing means.

Further, warning means may be further provided for issuing a warning when the field of view of the optical finder and the image obtained by the solid-state image pickup device cannot be matched by the signal processing means.

Further, a solid-state image sensor having an aspect ratio larger than the field of view of the optical finder is used as the solid-state image sensor, and only the output signal of the field of view of the optical finder is output from the output signal of the image field of the solid-state image sensor. May be recorded.

An image in which the aspect ratio is changed according to the subject distance measured by the distance measuring means may be recorded.

(4) In the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention (Claim 5), in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the photographing area is determined by the optical zoom finder, and the photographing magnification at this time is detected by the magnification detecting means. Then, a value obtained by multiplying the magnification of the photographing lens that forms an optical image on the imaging surface of the solid-state image sensor and the magnification of the electronic zoom that electronically magnifies the image signal output from the solid-state image sensor is the magnification of the optical zoom finder. Control to match. As a result, the magnification of the taking lens can be reduced and the taking optical system can be downsized.

That is, in the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention, a solid-state image pickup element for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, a zoom photographing lens for forming an optical image on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup element, and a photographing operation. An optical zoom finder that determines an area, a magnification detection unit that detects a magnification of the optical zoom finder, an electronic zoom unit that electronically magnifies an image signal output from the solid-state image sensor, and a magnification of the zoom photographing lens. And a magnification of the zoom photographing lens, a magnification of the electronic zooming means or a magnification of the zoom photographing lens and a magnification of the electronic zooming means such that a value obtained by multiplying the magnification of the electronic zooming means matches the magnification of the optical zoom finder. And a magnification control means for controlling both of them, and for recording the signal enlarged by the electronic zoom means. Characterized by comprising a recording medium.

Further, preferably, a moving image may be recorded on the recording medium.

Still images may be recorded on the recording medium.

Further, the electronic zoom means may switch signal processing between still image recording and moving image recording and record both still images and moving images on the recording medium.

Further, the first lens group on the object side of the optical zoom finder may be shared with the taking lens, and focus adjustment may be performed by this lens group.

Further, the magnification control means stores the photographing lens magnification control means linked with a change in the magnification of the optical zoom finder and a value obtained by dividing the magnification of the optical zoom finder by the photographing lens magnification in the semiconductor memory as an electronic zoom magnification. The electronic zoom magnification control means for controlling the electronic zoom magnification may be stored in the semiconductor memory and sent to the electronic zoom means after the recording start switch is turned on.

Further, the incident light from the subject may be branched into two and then led to the optical zoom finder and the taking lens.

On the other hand, in the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention (Claim 6), in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a bifocal lens is used as the image pickup lens for forming an image on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup element, and the image pickup optical system is formed. The electronic zoom function is used to enlarge an image for an arbitrary zoom magnification between the two focal lengths. The finder is composed of an optical zoom finder, and the focal length of the photographing lens and the magnification of the electronic zoom finder are controlled so as to match the magnification set by the zoom finder. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to realize a compact, lightweight, and low power consumption solid-state imaging device in which the optical system is downsized.

That is, in the image pickup apparatus according to the present invention, a solid-state image pickup element for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal,
From the solid-state image sensor, a bifocal photographing lens that forms an optical image on the image-capturing surface of the solid-state image sensor, an optical zoom finder that determines a photographing region, a magnification detection unit that detects a magnification of the optical zoom finder, An electronic zoom means for electronically enlarging the output image signal, and the focus so that the photographing magnification determined by the focal length of the bifocal photographing lens and the magnification by the electronic zoom means matches the magnification of the optical zoom finder. And a magnification control means for controlling the distance and the magnification by the electronic zoom means.

Further, preferably, the two focal lengths of the bifocal photographing lens may be set to have the same distance between conjugate points by moving a specific lens group.

Further, the bifocal photographing lens may be realized by switching two fixed focus lenses each having a different focal length.

Further, the maximum variable magnification range of the optical zoom finder is an electronic range between the shorter focal length of the two focal lengths of the photographing lens and the minimum enlargement magnification determined by the minimum magnification of the electronic zoom to the longer focal length of the photographing lens. It is also possible to set the range up to the maximum enlargement magnification determined by the maximum zoom magnification and limit the magnification variable range of the optical zoom finder depending on the focal length of the photographing lens.

Further, a variable power optical system for changing the magnification in response to a change in the focal length of the photographing lens may be provided in the optical zoom finder independently of the zoom variable power system.

[0063]

As a result of taking the above-mentioned means, the following effects occur.

(1) In the present invention (claim 1), the relative image-forming position changing section for selecting the relative image-forming position changing method according to the selected zoom magnification is provided. As a result, when the user or the system side selects an arbitrary enlargement magnification, the relative image formation position changing unit selects a driving method of the relative image formation position changing means suitable for the arbitrary magnification, and the electronic zoom is performed. Since high-density image information can be pseudo-passed to, a high-quality interpolated image can be obtained.

On the other hand, according to the present invention (Claim 2), there are two processing modes, that is, a high image quality electronic zoom and a simple electronic zoom suitable for an image pickup system using a relative image forming position changing means and operating at high speed. have. Thus, in the high image quality electronic zoom, a high quality interpolated still image can be obtained from the pixel information sampled by the image sensor by using complicated processing such as high-order interpolation or recursive filtering.
Further, in the simple electronic zoom, when the relative image forming position changing means is driven, it corresponds to the pixel position before using the relative image forming position changing means from the input image displaced by the relative image forming position changing means. In the moving image mode, high-speed processing is performed in the zoom processing when the electronic zoom function is selected, and in any case, real-time operation can be provided. That is, by providing the image pickup apparatus with an electronic zoom function having such two processing modes, high-speed processing and high-quality processing can be provided according to the processing content.

(2) The image pickup apparatus according to the present invention (claim 3) has two processing functions, that is, a high image quality type non-real time electronic zoom and a simple type real time electronic zoom. As a result, the high image quality electronic zoom can obtain a high quality zoom image from the pixel information sampled by the image sensor by a complicated process such as high-order interpolation, and the simple electronic zoom is fast. By processing, real-time images can be provided to electronic viewfinders. By thus providing the image pickup apparatus with the electronic zoom function having the above-described two processing functions, high-speed processing and high-quality processing can be provided by a simple circuit.

(3) According to the present invention (claim 4), the structure of the optical system is simplified and downsized by disposing the optical finder and the taking lens independently, and the distance from the taking lens to the subject is measured. A distance measuring means is provided. Then, based on the measurement result of the subject distance by the distance measuring means,
The signal processing means is controlled so that the field of view of the optical finder and the image obtained by the solid-state image pickup device match. By such operation, it is possible to electronically correct the parallax that is always generated when the viewfinder and the taking lens are separately configured, and to realize a compact and portable imaging device.

(4) In the present invention (claim 5), the photographing area is determined using the optical zoom finder, the photographing magnification is detected, and the product of the magnification of the photographing lens and the electronic zoom magnification is the magnification of the optical zoom finder. It is controlled by the magnification control means so as to agree with. This reduces the magnification of the photographic optical system by sharing the magnification of the optical zoom finder with the magnification of the photographic lens and the electronic zoom magnification, and solves the problems of large size of the optical system and increase of power consumption, which have been problems in the past. It is possible to realize a small-sized image pickup apparatus that can obtain an image with low power consumption and relatively high magnification and little deterioration in image quality.

On the other hand, in the present invention (claim 6), the photographing area is set by using a small optical zoom finder, and the focal length corresponding to the set magnification is multiplied by the focal length of the photographing lens and the enlargement magnification of the electronic zoom. Are controlled so that
As a result, it becomes possible to record an image at an arbitrary enlargement magnification, as in the case of shooting with the optical zoom finder. Further, in the present invention, the zoom magnification is divided into the focal length of the photographing lens and the electronic zoom magnification, so that the magnification taken by the optical system is reduced and the focal length of the photographing lens is set to a different fixed focal length. This eliminates the need for a compensating mechanism for defocusing that accompanies the zoom operation, which is required for optical zoom lenses. It also reduces the number of lenses and the lens drive system, resulting in a significantly smaller size than before. An imaging device can be realized. Further, since an optical zoom finder is used as the finder, low power consumption can be realized.

[0070]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same numbers are given to corresponding parts,
Detailed description is omitted.

(1) <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of a so-called electronic camera system for digitally recording a still image according to a first embodiment of the present invention (claim 1). is there. As shown in the figure, this electronic camera system includes an image pickup unit 101, an analog signal processing unit 2, an A / D converter 3, a digital signal processing unit 4, an image reconstructing unit 41, an electronic zoom processing unit 5, and a relative image formation. The imaging unit 101 includes a position changing unit 13, an image compression unit 7, and a recording medium 8. The imaging unit 101 photoelectrically converts an optical system including a lens 6, a shutter (not shown), and an image formed by the optical system. It has a relative position changing means 11 for shifting the relative positional relationship with the surface of the photoelectric conversion element such as the solid-state image sensor 1.

First, the outline of the operation in this configuration will be described.

The image signal output from the solid-state image pickup device 1 of the image pickup unit 101 is passed to the analog signal processing unit 2 and is subjected to γ correction and white balance adjustment. The output of the analog signal processing unit 2 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 3 and input to the digital signal processing unit 4,
Next, the image is input to the image reconstructing unit 41, subjected to predetermined signal processing, and then passed to the electronic zoom processing unit 5.

The relative image forming position changing section 13 drives the relative position changing means 11 a predetermined number of times based on a predetermined condition as described later. Then, the image signal is input as described above at each of the changed image forming positions. The input image signals at the respective imaging positions are combined into one image signal having a higher resolution than the original resolution of the solid-state image sensor 1.

The signal output from the electronic zoom processing section 5 is image-compressed by the image compression section 7 and recorded on the recording medium 8.

Next, the operation of the relative position changing means 11 will be described in detail. The relative position changing means 11 is a device for obtaining a high-resolution image by using the low-resolution solid-state image pickup device 1. For example, if the resolution is four times as many as the number of pixels of the solid-state image pickup device, FIG. The input image is shifted between pixels by some method as shown in, and the shutter is released at each position.
By spatially synthesizing two images using digital processing, an image with four times the resolution can be obtained.

As a method of shifting the relative position of the input image on the solid-state image sensor 1, an optical filter 103 is inserted in parallel between the lens 6 and the solid-state image sensor 1 as shown in FIG. There are a method of shifting the optical path by tilting 103 with respect to the solid-state image sensor 1, and a method of shifting the position of the input image by moving the position of the solid-state image sensor 1 itself as shown in FIG. This method has an advantage that an apparently high-resolution image can be obtained by using a low-resolution solid-state image pickup device, but has a drawback that it takes a long processing time to perform mechanical displacement.

When the zoom function is selected, in the system in which the zoom function is realized only by the electronic zoom, the number of drives of the relative image forming position changing means 11 suitable for the arbitrary enlargement magnification selected by the user is selected. In the case of the combined use of the optical system and the electronic zoom, the number of drives suitable for the electronic zoom magnification selected on the system side is selected. For example, when the image forming position is moved between the sides of the square lattice formed by the pixels, that is, when the image forming position is horizontally or vertically shifted, it is selected by the system or the like in this drive number selection method. The appropriate number is the number of times the existing multiplying factor is rounded up to an integer. At this time, when the magnification is in the range of more than 1 and up to 2, the number of times of driving the relative imaging position changing means 11 is 2 times, and in the range of more than 2 and up to 3 times, it is 3 times. An arbitrary magnification image selected by digital interpolation processing is created based on the image information of several times the density obtained by driving in this way. In this way, since the interpolation processing is performed using high-density pixel information, a high-resolution digital interpolation image can be obtained.

FIG. 5 shows a zoom image when the magnification is 1.5 times. The pixel information as shown in FIG. 5 is obtained by selecting the number of times of driving at the time of 1.5 times as twice. A is a pixel position when the relative image forming position changing means 11 is not used,
B is a position of pixel information obtained by using the relative image forming position changing means 11. Image C zoomed 1.5 times by digital interpolation processing based on the pixels of 4 times density
A high-resolution image can be obtained by creating.

As an example raised here, the same number of times of movement is performed in the horizontal and vertical directions, but the structure of the image pickup device, the arrangement of color filters when using a single plate image pickup device, the pattern to be photographed, and the object to be photographed The ratio of the number of times of movement in each of the horizontal and vertical directions may be changed according to a request, for example, to capture an oblique component with high accuracy. Further, of course, the movement of the image forming position is not limited to the horizontal / vertical direction, but may be moved in an oblique direction.

Here, since the image acquisition method using the relative image forming position changing means 11 requires time as described above, it is necessary that the object to be photographed and the photographing device are stationary. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when an external vibration such as a camera shake is detected by the vibration detector 180 before or during shooting, a detection signal is transmitted to the control unit 43, and before the shooting, the monitor is displayed. The user is informed that the image is vibrating by displaying it on a display (not shown) or sounding a warning sound, and when the vibration is detected during shooting, a command is issued to the relative image forming position change 13 It is also possible to stop the driving of the dynamic image forming position changing means 11 and to notify the user of the stop by displaying it on a monitor or sounding an alarm sound.

Further, in order to simplify the system, the detecting means 170 for detecting whether or not the image pickup apparatus is fixed to a tripod or the like as shown in FIG. 7 without performing the above-described vibration detecting process. May be provided, and the relative image forming position changing means 11 may be driven when the detection means 170 detects the fixation.

For one of the subjects, the image reconstructing section 41 examines whether or not the subject has moved during photographing using the relative image forming position changing means 11, and if the movement is recognized, the motion has occurred. The subsequent data may not be used in the interpolation process. Alternatively, the image data obtained by the relative image forming position changing means 11 may not be used, or the image obtained by this series of processing after the user is warned that there is a movement is displayed. It may be configured to be discarded.

For the detection of this movement, the pixel information at each position changed by the relative image forming position changing means 11 is used to perform digital interpolation processing to create an image corrected to the actual pixel position, and the correlation is obtained. It is preferable to carry out the method.

Regarding the number of times of driving the relative image forming position changing means 11, when it is desired to obtain an image of N pixels or more from an image pickup device of N pixels, for example, an image pickup device of 500,000 pixels is used.
If electronic zoom is further used to obtain information of ten thousand pixels, the number of drive selections of the relative image forming position changing means 11 must be made larger than the number of times of electronic zoom or high-density image acquisition. For example, 4N from the image sensor of N pixels
If electronic zoom is also used when an image corresponding to pixels is to be obtained, the number of times selected in the process of electronic zoom only ((4n / n) ^1/2 ) is set. However,
The maximum number of driving times is limited by the control capability of the relative image forming position changing means 11 and the structure of the pixel shape of the CCD.

Further, the relative image forming position changing means 11 has a CC
Very precise driving of less than half the D pixel pitch is required, but both the CCD driving method and the optical filter driving method described above are mechanically driven and are easily affected by external vibration. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 8A, it is conceivable that the drive of the relative image forming position changing means 11 to be controlled to the actual pixel position c is deviated to the pixel position b. If you use this misaligned information,
The resolution of the reconstructed image depends on the relative image forming position changing means 1.
However, it will be considerably inferior to the resolution that should be obtained by 1.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the actual control amount is detected by the detecting means 12 using an optical sensor or the like,
It is also possible to create a high-resolution image by obtaining the difference from the required control amount and correcting the positional deviation using the electronic zoom function in the image reconstruction unit 41.

On the other hand, when the electronic zoom is also used, there are two methods, and the processing is selected by the interpolation method. When four peripheral pixels surrounding the coordinate position to be interpolated, such as linear linear interpolation, are used, the information of the pixel position whose position is displaced as shown in FIG. Should be reflected and interpolated.

In the second-order or higher-order interpolation and the interpolation using the general digital signal processing method, since the processing is performed on the assumption that the sampling interval is constant, the coordinate position of the sample point is unchanged as described above. It cannot be used.
Therefore, it is first necessary to correct the coordinate position of the sample point. Using the information of b in FIG. 8B, the value at the position of c is obtained by linear primary interpolation, and the position is corrected. After this process, if a high-order interpolation is performed, a preferable image can be obtained.

When the electronic zoom is used, the CCD is read out by using the information of a part 1501 of the image area on the CCD as shown in FIG. 10, and the other area 1502 is unnecessary. Therefore, the area 1502 is skipped at high speed, and conversely, the area 1501 can be read at low speed. By doing so, it is possible to read at a lower driving frequency, and the frequency band of the signal to be read is narrowed by this, so the effect of 1 / f noise of the FET, which is noise in the CCD, is reduced, and noise reduction is achieved. Can be achieved. Regarding the above-mentioned area 1501, when the second or higher-order interpolation is used in the interpolation processing, the required area is not the area 1503 in FIG.
Will be 04.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a compact and high-quality image pickup device which can record a high-quality still image by using the relative image-forming position changing means and the high-quality interpolation processing together.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of a so-called electronic camera system for digitally recording a still image according to a second embodiment of the present invention (claim 2). As shown in the figure, this electronic camera system includes an image pickup unit 101, an analog signal processing unit 2, an A / D converter 3,
First digital signal processing unit 4, first electronic zoom processing unit 5
1, a picture output IF section 9, a monitor 100, a second electronic zoom processing section 52 at a subsequent stage of the first digital signal processing section 4, a second digital signal processing section 53, an image compression section 7, a recording medium 8
The image pickup unit 101 includes a lens 6, a shutter (not shown), and the like, and an optical system that includes a lens 6 and a shutter (not shown), and a photoelectric conversion element surface such as a solid-state image pickup element 1 that photoelectrically converts an image formed by the optical system. It has relative position changing means 11 for shifting the physical positional relationship. Here, the first electronic zoom processing unit 51 is a circuit that performs electronic zoom processing in real time, and the second electronic zoom processing unit 52 is a circuit that performs high-quality electronic zoom processing.

The image signal output from the CCD 1 of the image pickup section 101 is passed to the analog signal processing section 2 and subjected to γ correction and white balance adjustment. The output of the analog signal processing unit 2 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 3 and input to the digital signal processing unit 4. The signal provided to the first electronic zoom processing unit 51 is subjected to predetermined processing and displayed on the monitor 100, while the signal provided to the second electronic zoom processing unit 52 is subjected to predetermined processing and recorded. It is recorded on the medium 8.

Here, the relative position changing means 11 is a device for obtaining pixel information equal to or larger than the number of pixels of the solid-state image pickup device 1. For example, in order to obtain a resolution four times as many as the number of pixels of the solid-state image sensor, the input image is shifted to four positions as shown in FIG. 2 by some method, the shutter is released at each position, and thus obtained. By spatially combining the four images using digital processing,
It is possible to obtain an image with double the resolution.

As a method of displacing the relative position of the input image on the solid-state image sensor 1, as described above with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, an optical filter is provided in parallel between the lens and the solid-state image sensor. A method of shifting the optical path by tilting the optical filter with respect to the solid-state image sensor, and a method of shifting the position of the input image by moving the position of the solid-state image sensor itself. Although this method can obtain an apparently high-resolution image using a low-resolution solid-state image sensor, it takes time to process because it mechanically shifts the position to input a plurality of images.

When the zoom function is selected by operating the zoom magnification setting unit 140 (see FIG. 12), in the zoom method using only the electronic zoom as shown in FIG. 12, the interpolation processing of the zoom magnification selected by the user is performed. 1. The electronic zoom processing unit 51 performs high-speed interpolation processing in real time and outputs an image to the finder 100 or the moving image recording unit. When the photographer selects recording of an image with the shutter button 130 at a certain zoom magnification, the image is once input to the frame memory 120. At this time, the second electronic zoom processing unit 52 that performs high-quality interpolation processing performs interpolation processing such as high-order interpolation to obtain a high-quality image and electronically enlarges the image.

Further, in the zoom system using both the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom as shown in FIG. 13, it is determined whether the zoom function selecting section 141 uses only the optical system zoom or the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom together. select. When the zoom function selection unit 141 selects the latter, the electronic zoom function selection unit 141 further selects the magnification of each of the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom. In such a combined type, the first electronic zoom processing unit 5 that performs the high-speed interpolation processing on the view angle information corresponding to the zoom magnification determined here by performing the distribution of the magnification selected by the user by the zoom function selection unit 141.
1 to perform the electronic zoom in real time, or the angle of view information to the second electronic zoom processing unit 52 to perform high-quality electronic zoom as described above.

The image enlarged as described above is input to the image compression section 7. Here, high-efficiency compression is performed by color still image encoding. The compressed video is a digital image recording medium 8 such as a memory pack that is detachably / removably stored / connected to the electronic camera body, such as an IC card.
Recorded in.

Regarding the interpolation processing, since real-time processing is required in the interpolation processing of a video movie,
In many cases, simple interpolation such as linear linear interpolation is performed. However, this processing has a low-pass type characteristic, which results in a blurred image. Further, since it is a still image, such simple processing causes not only blurring in the interpolated image but also jaggedness at the edges. In order to improve this, a high-order interpolation method such as a cubic convolution interpolation method can be considered. The cubic convolution interpolation method is a method in which a sampling function is polynomial approximated and convolved with an original data series. In order to perform two-dimensional cubic convolution interpolation on a two-dimensional image, 16 sample points are required. is there. Compared with the one-dimensional two-dimensional linear primary interpolation that uses four sample points, the amount of calculation is at least four times as large.

Furthermore, a process for correcting the jagged edges of the interpolated image may be performed. In such a process, it is possible to use a recursive process, and at this time, the calculation amount becomes enormous and the real-time property is impaired.

On the other hand, in the electronic viewfinder for the photographer to confirm the angle of view of the zoom image, the presence or absence of high-resolution still image shooting and high-quality interpolation processing using the relative image forming position changing means 11 described above. Regardless, an electronic zoom circuit that operates in real time is required.

Therefore, by using the electronic zoom having two processing modes as in the present invention, the presence or absence of high resolution still image shooting and high image quality interpolation processing using the relative image forming position changing means in the electronic viewfinder. Regardless, high-speed processing can be provided, and high-quality processing can be provided for storage and storage.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a so-called video movie camera having a digital still recording mode according to the third embodiment of the present invention (claim 2).

As shown in FIG. 14, this movie camera system has an image pickup section including a lens 6, a solid-state image pickup element 1 and a relative position changing means 11, an analog signal processing section 2, an A / D.
Converter 3, digital signal processor 4, switching device 11
0, the first electronic zoom processing unit 51 connected to the switching device 110, the image output IF unit 9, the monitor 100, the frame memory 12 connected to the switching device 110
0, the pre-processing unit 96, the second electronic zoom processing unit 52,
Post process unit 98, the first electronic zoom processing unit 51
And a zoom still image mixing circuit 150 for inputting signals from the second electronic zoom processing unit 52, a video recording unit 81, and a control unit 4.
3, relative imaging position changing unit 13, shutter button 13
0, still / continuous shooting setting unit 131, zoom function selecting unit 14
1. The zoom magnification setting unit 140. Here, the first electronic zoom processing unit 51 is a circuit that performs electronic zoom processing in real time, and the second electronic zoom processing unit 52 is a circuit that performs high-quality electronic zoom processing.

The image signal output from the CCD 1 of the image pickup section is passed to the analog signal processing section 2 and subjected to γ correction and white balance adjustment. This analog signal processing unit 2
The output of is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 3 and input to the digital signal processing unit 4 to be subjected to predetermined processing.

At the time of photographing, the zoom magnification setting unit 14 of the photographer
When the enlarged shooting mode is selected by the operation 0, the zoom function selection unit 141 uses only the optical system zoom,
Alternatively, whether to use the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom together is selected. When the zoom function selection unit selects the latter, the zoom function selection unit further selects the magnification of each of the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom.

When the electronic zoom is selected, the first electronic zoom processing section 51 performs the interpolation processing of the magnification selected by the zoom function selecting section 141 in real time, and the interpolated image is displayed on the video recording section 81 and the electronic viewfinder 100. Is output.

Further, when the still image recording / storing of the image is selected by the photographer's operation of the still / continuous shooting setting section 131 while the electronic zoom is operating, the image is once input to the frame memory 120. Second interpolation processing
In order to obtain a high quality image, the electronic zoom processing unit 52 electronically enlarges the image by performing interpolation processing such as high-order interpolation.

Moving images and still images are stored in the video movie camera via the zoom still image mixing circuit 150 and the image recording section 81 as shown in FIG.
A method of serially recording a moving image and a still image on a connected video recording medium such as a video tape / digital tape or an optical disk can be considered.

Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the moving image is recorded on the video tape through the moving image recording IF 160 and the image recording section 81.
A configuration is adopted in which the image is recorded on a video recording medium such as a digital tape or an optical disc, and the still image is recorded on an image recording medium such as an IC card 82 separately from the moving image recording video tape via the still image recording IF 161. You may.

In the method of recording a still image on another image recording medium such as an IC card, the relative image forming position changing means 11 is driven to obtain a high resolution still image. However, since the relative image forming position changing means 11 is mechanically driven, it takes time to obtain one still image. To record a moving image on a video recording medium during shooting using the relative image forming position changing means 11,
An image is stored in a frame memory, a line memory or the like at each moving position of the relative image forming position changing means 11,
The moving image processing can be continued by using the high-speed electronic zoom for the moving image mode at each position and generating the image at the required pixel position.

FIG. 16 shows the flow of processing for obtaining one still image. T is one operation period of the relative image forming position changing unit, R is a reading period from the CCD and the frame memory, M is a moving period of the relative image forming position changing unit, W is a writing period to the frame memory, and P is The processing period in each processing unit, O is the image output period.

In the still image processing section, for example, when the relative image forming position is shifted between the sides of the square lattice formed by the pixels, the relative image forming position changing means 11 is used to obtain this relative position.
Should be shifted in the horizontal / vertical directions so that the relative image formation position changing unit 13 first moves in the horizontal direction to obtain data between horizontal pixels and then in the vertical direction to obtain data between vertical pixels. Move to. At this time, the horizontal processing can be started after the end of the period W2, and after this processing, if the period of W3 has already ended, the vertical processing can be subsequently performed. If the period of W3 has not ended yet, the process in the vertical direction is performed after waiting for the end. After this, overall processing such as density conversion, noise removal or feature extraction, and recognition is performed, and then a still image is output.

In this processing, in order to reconstruct the still image obtained by the relative image forming position changing means 11, a plurality of obtained still images are once pooled in the frame memory and then non-real time processing is performed. . Therefore, even if the electronic zoom is further selected at this time, the processing may be performed in this frame memory, and therefore, there is no need to perform high-speed processing, and the processing circuit can be simplified.

When a still image record is printed by a video printer or the like, the still image part must be searched for in the conventional recording method because the still image part is mixed in the moving image. By recording the image on another medium in this manner, it is possible to easily search for a video image to be printed, and since each image file is an independent image file, it is easy to handle on another medium.

It is also possible to perform image compression before recording and saving in order to save the recording and storage medium. If the moving image / still image is serially recorded on the video tape or the like in the record storage as described above, if the moving image encoding is used as the compression method and the moving image / still image is separately recorded, Encoding may be performed on each of the moving image and the still image.

(2) <Fourth Embodiment> FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of a so-called electronic camera system for digitally recording a still image according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention (claim 3). is there. As shown in the figure, this electronic camera system includes an image pickup unit 201, an analog signal processing unit 202, an A / D converter 203, and a digital signal processing unit 2.
04, a switching device 209, a simple electronic zoom processing unit 251, connected to the switching device 209, a video display circuit 216, a viewfinder 208, the video display circuit 2
16 output terminals, a frame memory 210 connected to the switching device 209, a preprocessing unit 214, a high image quality electronic zoom processing unit 252, a post processing unit 215, an image compression unit 206, an image recording unit 207, and a shutter button 2.
13, a zoom magnification selection unit 212, and the imaging unit 2
Reference numeral 01 denotes an optical system including a lens, a shutter (not shown), and C for photoelectrically converting an image formed by this optical system.
It has a photoelectric conversion element such as a CD.

The image signal output from the CCD of the image pickup section 201 is passed to the analog signal processing section 202, and γ correction and white balance adjustment are performed. The output of the analog signal processing unit 202 is then analog-digital converted by the A / D converter 203 and input to the digital signal processing unit 204.

When the electronic zoom is selected using the zoom magnification selecting section 212, the simple electronic zoom processing section 251 performs the zoom processing of the zoom magnification selected by the user in the electronic zoom independent type as shown in FIG. The image is displayed on the viewfinder 208 in real time.

Further, when recording of an image is selected by the shutter button 213 at a certain zoom magnification by the photographer, the switching device 209 is switched, the image is once input to the frame memory 210, and the high image quality electronic zoom processing section is selected. At this time, 252 electronically enlarges the image by performing electronic zoom processing such as high-order interpolation in order to obtain a high quality image.

It should be noted that in the electronic still camera in which the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom are used together as shown in FIG.
The zoom function selection unit 211 may be further provided in the configuration of No. 7, and the zoom function selection unit 211 may be configured to select whether to use only the optical system zoom or to use both the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom. . Zoom function selector 2
When 11 selects the latter, the zoom function selection unit 211 further selects the magnifications of the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom. The magnification selected by the user is distributed, and the view angle information corresponding to the zoom magnification determined here is displayed from the simple electronic zoom processing unit 251 to the viewfinder 20.
Sent to 8.

The pre-processing unit 214 in FIG. 17 (and FIG. 18) is a process for effectively performing the electronic zoom process, and as an example of this process, a high-pass process performed to supplement the low-pass characteristic of the interpolation process. There is emphasis processing. The post-process unit 215 is an auxiliary process of the electronic zoom process, and as one example, there is a process of smoothing the jagged edges of the zoom image.

The enlarged image is input to the image compression unit 206. Here, high-efficiency compression is performed by color still image encoding. The compressed image is detached from the electronic camera body.
The data is recorded on a digital image recording medium 207 such as a memory pack that is exchangeably accommodated and connected, for example, an IC card.

Since the real-time property is required in the zoom process of the video movie, simple interpolation such as linear primary interpolation is often performed. However, this processing has a low-pass type characteristic as shown in FIG. 19B, which results in an image with conspicuous blur. Further, since it is a still image, such a simple process causes not only blurring in the zoom image but also jaggedness at the edges.

In order to improve this, a high-order interpolation method such as a cubic convolution interpolation method can be considered. The third-order convolution interpolation method is a method in which a sampling function is polynomial-approximated and convolved with an original data series, and 16 sample points are required to perform two-dimensional three-dimensional convolution interpolation in a two-dimensional image. . On the other hand, the amount of calculation is at least four times that of the case where two-dimensional linear primary interpolation uses four sample points.

In order to provide the photographer with confirmation of the angle of view of the zoomed image using the electronic viewfinder that does not use an optical system, an electronic zoom circuit that operates in real time is required.
However, in order to perform the electronic zoom in a process with a large amount of calculation such as high-order interpolation, the processing circuit has to be speeded up, and a dedicated high speed processor is required. However, if the processing is performed at a low speed in a non-real time, the configuration of the processing circuit becomes simple.

Therefore, by providing two electronic zoom processing functions as in the present invention, it is possible to select a simple and high-speed processing in real time and a non-real-time high-quality processing for accumulation and storage. It is possible to perform processing that also satisfies the requirements of.

Further, as shown in FIG. 20, instead of the simple electronic zoom processing unit 251 and the high image quality electronic zoom processing unit 252 of FIG. 17, an electronic zoom circuit 205 sharing them is provided, and by using this, the above two types of processing are performed. Can be prevented from increasing the circuit scale. For example, when the third-order convolutional interpolation method is used, four line memories 304 to 306 are used as the electronic zoom processing unit 205 as shown in FIG. 21, and the first and second coefficient determination is performed on 16 sample pixels. The interpolation values are determined by multiplying the weights using the units 308 and 309 and the multipliers and adders. In the moving image mode, linear primary interpolation may be performed using two of the four line memories.

Unlike the conventional film type camera, the electronic still camera does not require a mechanical operation such as film winding, and thus high-speed continuous shooting is possible. In this high-speed continuous shooting, there is a possibility that digital signal processing, such as electronic zoom or pre / post processing of electronic zoom, which requires a large amount of calculation and takes a long processing time, cannot support continuous shooting. Therefore, when the processing speed cannot keep up, the internal memory 217 is used as shown in FIG. 22, or the removable image recording medium 207 such as an IC card or a combination type of the internal memory and the image recording medium is used as shown in FIG. A buffering method using a buffer memory can be considered.

Further, as shown in FIG. 24, the frame memory 21
The buffer memory 312 may be provided in the preceding stage of 0, and when the continuous shooting mode is selected, the digital signal processing output may be temporarily stored in one block of the buffer memory 312 in the form of a frame image. These blocks are managed by the system, and the continuously shot images are stored in the buffer memory 312.
It is stored in the form of a continuous shooting sequence in which image blocks are arranged. The image at the beginning of this continuous shooting sequence is loaded into the frame memory 210, or data is directly sent to the electronic zoom circuit to perform processing such as electronic zoom. The buffer memory 312 is divided into blocks for each image file. When the image is loaded into the frame memory 210, an empty flag is set to notify the system that this block is empty. This allows this block to be used again in the next continuous shooting sequence. When the processing of the previous continuous shooting sequence is not completed and remains in the buffer memory 312, the system secures an area in the buffer memory 312 that avoids a block for which an empty flag is not set. At this time, the system limits the continuous shooting sequence length based on the remaining capacity of the buffer memory 312. When the photographer attempts to shoot continuously beyond this limit, the system locks the shutter button 213 to prevent overwriting.

After the zoom image is compressed, it is stored in a recording medium such as an IC memory card. An example of the image file is shown in FIG. Thus, the header is provided in the image file, and the size of the image, the date and time, the shooting condition, and the like are recorded in this portion, and the fact that the image has already been zoomed by the electronic zoom and its magnification are recorded. When the user uses the electronic zoom function built into the electronic still camera as a zoom engine for the image shot using the electronic zoom or performs the electronic zoom process again with the electronic zoom function of the external image processing device. In addition, the user is warned that the original image has already been zoomed by the electronic zoom, and the image quality will be further degraded by this process, and the product is output from the product of the electronic zoom magnification recorded in the header and the electronic zoom magnification to be performed. The user is also warned of the degree of image quality deterioration.

<Fifth Embodiment> FIG. 26 shows the fifth embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a so-called video movie camera having a digital still recording mode according to the embodiment of FIG. The electronic camera system includes an image pickup unit 201,
The analog signal processing unit 202, the A / D converter 203, the digital signal processing unit 204, the first switching device 209, the simple electronic zoom processing unit 251, which is connected to the switching device 209, the video display circuit 216, the viewfinder 20.
8. Output terminal of the video display circuit 216, DL219 at the latter stage of the video display circuit 216, frame memory 210 connected to the first switching device 209, pre-processing unit 214, high-quality electronic zoom processing unit 252, post-process Part 215, DL 219 and post-process part 21
The second switching device 220, the video recording unit 218, the shutter button 213, the still / continuous shooting setting unit 332, the zoom function selecting unit 211, and the zoom magnification setting unit 212 are included.

The image signal output from the CCD of the image pickup unit 201 is passed to the analog signal processing unit 202, and γ correction and white balance adjustment are performed. The output of the analog signal processing unit 202 is then analog-digital converted by the A / D converter 203 and input to the digital signal processing unit 204.

At the time of photographing, the photographer sets the zoom magnification setting unit 21.
When 2 is selected to select the magnified photographing mode, the zoom function selection unit 211 selects whether to use only the optical system zoom or to use both the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom. When the zoom function selecting unit 211 selects the latter, the zoom function selecting unit 211 further selects the magnifications of the optical system zoom and the electronic zoom.

When the electronic zoom is selected, the simple electronic zoom processing section 251 performs the electronic zoom processing of the magnification selected by the zoom function selecting section 211 in real time,
The zoom image is output to the video recording unit 218 and the electronic viewfinder 208.

In the state where the electronic zoom is operating,
When the photographer operates the shutter button 213 to select the still image recording / saving of the image, the image is once input to the frame memory 210. Then, in order to obtain a high-quality image, the high-quality electronic zoom processing unit 252 performs electronic zoom processing such as high-order interpolation and electronically enlarges the image.

Moving images and still images are stored by serially storing them on a video recording medium such as a video tape, digital tape, or optical disc that is detachably attached / removably housed / connected to the video movie camera as shown in FIG. The method of recording in

Further, as shown in FIG. 27, a method of recording a still image on an image recording medium 207 such as an IC card separately from the moving image recording video tape can be considered.

In this processing, since the still image is once pooled in the frame memory 210, the non-real time processing is performed.
There is no need to perform high-speed processing, and the processing circuit becomes simple. The time lag between the moving image and the moving image is recorded on another medium, so that there is no problem. Conventionally, still image recording was printed by a video printer or the like, but in the conventional recording method, it was difficult to retrieve the still image portion because the still image portion was mixed in the moving image. By recording the image on another medium in this way, it is possible to easily search for the image to be printed, and since each is an independent image file, it is easy to handle on another medium.

In a video camera having a continuous shooting function, when the electronic zoom is selected as the zoom function, the high image quality electronic zoom for still images is used. At this time, when the processing speed of the electronic zoom circuit cannot catch up, a buffer is provided in a removable image recording medium such as an internal memory or an IC card or a buffer memory of a combination type of an internal memory and an IC card as in the fourth embodiment. Ring and perform high image quality electronic zoom processing.

In the still image recording mode in which moving images and still images are stored in different media, there are two types of recording methods for moving image recording media: still image recording mode and moving image recording mode. In the still image recording mode, still images are also recorded on the moving image recording medium, and the image output from the electronic zoom circuit including the electronic zoom magnification of 1 time is temporarily stored in the frame memory and the still image is recorded on the moving image recording medium. The moving image recording green mode records a moving image output in parallel from the simple electronic zoom processing unit 251 onto the moving image recording medium even when the still image recording / storing process is being performed.

It is also possible to perform image compression before recording and saving in order to save the recording and storage medium. If the moving image / still image is serially recorded on the video tape or the like in the record storage as described above, if the moving image encoding is used as the compression method and the moving image / still image is separately recorded, Coding is performed on both moving images and still images.

(3) <Sixth Embodiment> FIG. 28 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention (claim 4). This image pickup apparatus includes an optical viewfinder 401, a solid-state image pickup element 403, and this solid-state image pickup element 403.
A photographing lens 402 for forming an optical image on the optical system, a distance measuring circuit 407 for measuring the subject distance, a signal processing circuit 404 for performing a predetermined signal processing based on the measurement result of the subject distance, a recording circuit 405, and a recording medium 406. To be done.

First, in this structure, although the optical finder 401 and the taking lens 402 are separately arranged to simplify the optical system, parallax occurs due to the structure. Therefore, the field of view set by the optical finder 401 and the solid-state imaging device 40
It does not match the image obtained from No. 3. Here, the occurrence state of parallax will be described with reference to FIG. In this figure, it is assumed that the image pickup device 413 is provided with the taking lens 402 and the optical finder 401 in the positional relationship shown in FIG. In the following description, it is assumed that the taking lens and the optical finder are independently arranged in the horizontal direction as shown in this figure, the left side is the taking lens and the right side is the optical finder when viewed from the subject side. According to this arrangement, parallax occurs in the horizontal direction. First, in this arrangement, as shown in (b), the subject distance 1 is the closest photographing distance l1, and the right end of the optical finder 401 and that of the taking lens 402 when viewed from the subject side respectively match. Set the angle of view of. In this case, when the subject distance l is sufficiently larger than the shortest distance l1, the recordable area y1 of the taking lens and the field of view y2 of the finder almost coincide with each other as shown in (c). Here, a region 417 is a recordable region of the photographing lens, and a region 418 is a region on the solid-state image pickup device in which the fields of view of the viewfinder are the same, and both are appearances when viewed from the subject side. Therefore, parallax hardly causes a problem, and the visual field of the optical viewfinder 401 can be recorded as it is. On the other hand, when the subject distance 1 becomes the shortest distance l1, or in the vicinity thereof, as shown in (d),
The area (420) where the field of view 420 of the viewfinder coincides with the recordable area 419 of the taking lens is significantly different. This phenomenon is exactly the same as a compact camera with a silver salt film.In the case of a compact camera, a short distance correction frame is provided in the viewfinder to indicate that the recording area is limited. The area other than the area is also displayed, making it difficult to confirm the composition to be recorded. In addition, there is a problem that the subject to be photographed is accidentally missed.

In order to solve such a problem, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 28, a distance measuring circuit 407 for measuring the object distance is provided, and the field of view of the optical finder 401 and the photographing lens at a close range where photographing is possible. In order to correct the shift due to parallax of the recording area of 402, the field of view of the finder 401 is selected from the electric signals formed by the photographing lens 402 and output from the solid-state image sensor 403 according to the subject distance measured by the distance measuring circuit 407. The signal processing circuit 404 performs enlargement processing by extracting only the signal in the area that coincides with.
For example, in parallax correction at the shortest distance as shown in FIG. 29, a region 4 on the solid-state image sensor that matches the viewfinder field.
20 may be expanded to y1 / y2 times.

As described above, electronic parallax correction makes it possible to record an image without parallax even at a close-up shooting distance where parallax has conventionally been a problem.

FIG. 30 shows an example in which a reproducing circuit 427 is further incorporated in a device having the same structure as that of FIG. As described above, this image pickup apparatus can record an image with no parallax even at a close range, and can be reproduced immediately by connecting an external monitor by incorporating a reproduction circuit.

FIG. 31 shows an example in which a reproducing circuit 427 and a small reproducing monitor 438 are further incorporated in the device having the same structure as that of FIG. As a result, it is possible to check the recorded image immediately after shooting, and it is possible to record an image without parallax as in the above example, and in addition, it is possible to reduce shooting failures.

<Seventh Embodiment> FIG. 32 shows a seventh embodiment of the present invention.
3 shows a configuration of an image pickup apparatus according to the embodiment. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 441, a photographing lens 402,
The solid-state image sensor 403, the magnification selection circuit 442, the signal processing circuit 404a, the recording circuit 405, the recording medium 406, and the distance measuring circuit 407. That is, the basic configuration is similar to that of the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 28, but this example is characterized in that the zoom finder 441 is used as the optical finder.

In this structure, the zoom finder 44
The zoom magnification set in 1 is input to the magnification selection circuit 442, and the subject distance measured by the distance measuring unit 407 is also input to the magnification selection circuit 442. A magnification selection circuit 442 for performing enlargement control compares the enlargement magnification calculated from the subject distance with the zoom magnification and selects the larger magnification, and the signal processing circuit 404a selects the solid-state image sensor 403 in the area that matches the field of view of the finder 441. Take the output of and expand it.
The image signal enlarged by the signal processing circuit 404a is recorded on the recording medium 406 via the recording circuit 405.

FIG. 33 shows the relationship between the regions in this operation. Here, a region 451 is a region in which the solid-state image sensor can record, a region 452 is a region that matches the field of view of the optical viewfinder on the solid-state image sensor, a region 453 is a zoom region by a zoom operation, and a region 454 is on the solid-state image sensor. The area 452 corresponding to the field of view of the optical finder is enlarged to fill the recording area (451). In this example,
The case where the zoom magnification is larger than the enlargement magnification determined by the subject distance is shown.

On the other hand, when the zoom magnification is smaller than the enlargement magnification for parallax correction, the image signal of the solid-state image pickup element is enlarged by the enlargement magnification for parallax correction, contrary to FIG.

Here, if the parallax correction and the zoom operation are performed independently, enlargement for parallax correction is performed according to the object distance by the distance measuring circuit, and then the enlargement operation is performed corresponding to the magnification of the zoom finder. This necessitates a two-step process, resulting in a complicated process and an increase in processing time. On the other hand, according to the present invention,
By selecting two higher magnifications before performing the enlargement processing, the enlargement area specified by them can be parallax corrected and zoomed with a single enlargement operation, which simplifies the processing and reduces the processing time. Can be shortened.

<Eighth Embodiment> FIG. 34 shows an eighth embodiment of the present invention.
3 shows a configuration of an image pickup apparatus according to the embodiment. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 441, a photographing lens 402,
Solid-state image sensor 403, magnification selection circuit 442, electronic zoom processing circuit 466, signal processing circuit 467, recording circuit 40
5, a recording medium 406, and a distance measuring circuit 407. That is, the basic configuration is similar to that of the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 32, but in this example, a processing circuit 466 for performing electronic zoom as enlargement processing is provided. The signal processing circuit 467 is a circuit that performs other predetermined signal processing.

With this arrangement, the optical zoom finder 44
An image equal to the field of view of the zoom finder 441 is obtained by the electronic zoom processing circuit 466 that electronically enlarges the output signal of the solid-state image sensor 403 corresponding to the magnification of 1, and then recorded on the recording medium 406 via the recording circuit 405. .

In order to perform parallax correction in photographing at a close range, the distance measuring means 407 measures the object distance,
The magnifying power resulting therefrom is input to the magnification setting circuit 442 together with the zoom magnification of the zoom finder 441. The magnification setting circuit 442 sets the zoom magnification and the magnification for electronic parallax correction to perform electronic zoom processing. With such a configuration, the processing circuit for zoom operation and the processing circuit for parallax correction can be shared, and the circuit can be simplified and the power consumption can be reduced.

<Ninth Embodiment> FIG. 35 shows a ninth embodiment of the present invention.
3 shows a configuration of an image pickup apparatus according to the embodiment. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical viewfinder 401, a photographing lens 402, a solid-state image pickup element 403, a distance measuring circuit 407, a photographing warning circuit 478,
Signal processing circuit 404c, recording circuit 405, recording medium 40
It is composed of 6. That is, the basic configuration is shown in FIG.
The imaging device is similar to the imaging device of No. 8 but is characterized in that an imaging warning circuit 478 is provided in this example.

In this embodiment, when the subject distance measured by the distance measuring means 407 is shorter than the closest possible shooting distance, the shooting warning circuit 478 indicates that shooting is impossible. As a result, it is possible to detect the occurrence of significant parallax between the optical viewfinder field at the time of shooting and the image recorded by the solid-state image sensor 403 and the deterioration of the optical characteristics of the shooting lens, and to always shoot in a good shooting situation. Is possible.

<Tenth Embodiment> FIG. 36 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the tenth embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical finder 401, a photographing lens 402, a solid-state image pickup element 483, a distance measuring circuit 407, and a signal processing circuit 404.
d, a recording circuit 405, and a recording medium 406. That is, the basic configuration is the same as that of the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 28, but the difference is that the optical viewfinder 4 is different in the example of FIG.
Although the solid-state image sensor 403 having the same aspect ratio as 01 is used, the solid-state image sensor 483 having an aspect ratio larger than the aspect ratio of the finder field is employed here.

As the basic operation, the distance measuring circuit 407 measures the subject distance, and the area corresponding to the visual field of the optical finder 401 on the solid-state image pickup device 483 is taken out by the distance and the signal processing circuit 404d performs enlargement processing. . The enlarged image signal passes through the recording circuit 405 and the recording medium 40.
Record at 6.

Here, FIG. 37 shows the relationship between the field of view of the finder and the area on the solid-state image pickup device which coincides with the field of view.
(A) shows a case where an image is taken by a solid-state image sensor having an aspect ratio substantially equal to that of the viewfinder field, and (b) shows a case where an image is taken by a solid-state image sensor element having an aspect ratio larger than that of the viewfinder field. First, a description will be given using (a). It is assumed that the taking lens 491, the optical finder 492, and the image pickup surface 493 of the solid-state image pickup element are arranged as shown in the figure, and the subject is at the closest distance l1. Assuming that the horizontal length of the subject is y1, an image of y2 is formed on the imaging surface correspondingly. On the other hand, if the length of the image pickup surface is y3 when the subject distance is sufficiently larger than the maximum distance, an area corresponding to the viewfinder field on the solid-state image pickup element is extracted at the shortest distance and enlarged by y3 / y2 times. It will be. At this time, the number of pixels assigned to this enlargement region is smaller than the total number of pixels, and if the number of pixels of the solid-state image sensor is relatively small due to enlargement, there is a problem that the image is significantly deteriorated.

In order to solve this problem, this embodiment solves this problem by using a solid-state image pickup device having an aspect ratio larger than that of the finder field. This will be described in (b). It is assumed that the taking lens 501, the optical finder 502, and the image pickup surface 503 of the solid-state image pickup element are arranged as illustrated. As in (a), the shortest distance is l1, the horizontal length of the subject is y1, and the corresponding length on the imaging surface is y.
2 ', and the length of the imaging surface when the subject distance is sufficiently larger than the closest distance is y3'. Increasing the aspect ratio of the solid-state image sensor increases the angle of view of the taking lens. If this angle of view is set so as to sufficiently cover the viewfinder field even at the shortest distance, the lengths y2 'and y3' on the photographing surface can be made substantially the same. Therefore, the number of pixels assigned to this area is also the same.

FIG. 38 shows how the area corresponding to the field of view of the finder changes depending on the aspect ratio of the solid-state image sensor. (A) shows the case where the field of view of the finder and the aspect ratio of the solid-state image sensor are the same, and (b) shows the case where the solid-state image sensor has a larger aspect ratio than the finder. In the figure, areas 511 and 514 are areas that can be recorded by the solid-state image sensor, areas 512 and 515 are areas that match the viewfinder field when the subject distance is sufficiently larger than the closest distance, and areas 513 and 516 are at the closest distance. This is the area that matches the view of the finder.

As described above, the magnifying power y3 '/ y2' of the area on the solid-state image pickup device that matches the field of view of the finder is approximately 1 depending on the subject distance, and recording and shooting can be performed with almost no enlarging processing. Image quality does not deteriorate.

<Eleventh Embodiment> FIG. 39 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the eleventh embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup device includes an optical finder 422, a solid-state image pickup element 483, a taking lens 402, a distance measuring circuit 407, a wide / standard switching circuit 421, a signal processing circuit 404e, and a recording circuit 40.
5, a recording medium 406. That is, the basic configuration is the same as that of the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 36, but here, an optical viewfinder having a field angle of view is used, and a wide / standard switching circuit 421 for performing the switching control is provided. .

In this embodiment, an image is recorded using the solid-state image pickup device 483 having a large aspect ratio.
Regarding the basic operation, the subject distance is measured by the distance measuring circuit 407, and the recording area on the solid-state image sensor 483 is made to coincide with the visual field of the finder 422 by the same, but the shooting distance at which parallax can be ignored. In the above, a wide image can be recorded by utilizing the entire imageable area on the solid-state image sensor 483. When recording a wide image, the field angle of view of the optical finder is adjusted to the wide angle by the wide / standard switching circuit 421 of FIG. 39 by the photographer. Here, the standard refers to a case where the aspect ratio is reduced and the angle of view is narrowed. In this case, since the entire surface of the solid-state image sensor is used for recording, whether the parallax with the finder field can be ignored or not is determined by the subject distance obtained by the distance measuring circuit 407. As a result, when the parallax is a subject distance that can be ignored, wide image recording can be performed as it is. If the parallax is a subject distance that cannot be ignored, the angle of view of the optical finder 422 is switched to the standard. At this time, the field of view of the finder 422 is limited by the light shielding frame. Then, by taking out the recording area on the solid-state imaging surface 483 so as to match the field of view of the finder depending on the subject distance, it is possible to record an image for which parallax correction has been performed without image quality deterioration. Further, the shooting at the standard angle of view can be recorded by the photographer's setting at a subject distance where parallax can be ignored.

FIG. 40 shows the recording area on the solid-state image sensor 483 and the field of view of the finder 422 in the photographing state.
(A) is a recording area 532 on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup element at the time of widescreen image pickup, (b) is a viewfinder field of view at the time of widescreen image pickup, (c) is a recording area on the image pickup surface at the time of reducing the aspect ratio, (D) is a viewfinder field when the aspect ratio is reduced, (e) is a recording area on the imaging surface in close-up shooting, and (f) is a viewfinder field at a close-up distance. Further, in the figure, areas 531, 533, 535 are recordable areas on the imaging surface, areas 537, 539, 543 are visual field frames, and areas 538, 540, 541, 543 are light-shielding for limiting the visual field frame in order to reduce the aspect ratio. It is a frame.

By providing such a function, parallax correction without deterioration of image quality can be performed and stable image recording can be always performed even when the angle of view is selected according to the subject and photographing at a close range is performed.

(4) <Twelfth Embodiment> FIG. 41 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the twelfth embodiment of the present invention (claim 5). This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 601, a solid-state image pickup element 605, a photographing lens 604 for forming an optical image on the solid-state image pickup element 605, a magnification detection means 602, a magnification control means 603, an electronic zoom processing circuit 606, a recording circuit 607. , A recording medium 608.

In this structure, the magnification detecting means 6 determines the photographing magnification of the optical zoom finder 601 which determines the photographing area.
02, the magnification control means 60 so that the value obtained by multiplying the magnification of the taking lens 604 and the magnification of the electronic zoom processing circuit 606 matches the magnification of the optical zoom finder 601.
Controlled by 3. At this time, the magnification is set by the taking lens 6
The magnification of 04 is given priority, and the electronic zoom magnification is set to a value obtained by dividing the magnification of the optical zoom finder by the magnification of the photographing lens.
By setting in this way, the image signal incident from the taking lens 604 and photoelectrically converted by the solid-state image sensor 605 is enlarged by the electronic zoom processing circuit 606, and an image signal having the same magnification as that of the optical zoom finder 601 can be obtained. I can. This image signal is then recorded by the recording circuit 607.
And is recorded on the recording medium 608.

Conventionally, when a high zoom magnification is used, a problem arises in that the photographic optical system becomes large. However, in the present invention, the zoom magnification is shared by the photographic lens magnification and the electronic zoom magnification, so that the optical system is made compact. The optimum electronic zoom process enables recording of image quality with little deterioration in image quality even at high magnification. Further, by confirming the shooting area with the optical zoom finder, the power consumption can be reduced as compared with the case of using the electronic finder.

FIG. 42 shows an example in which a reproducing circuit 619 is further incorporated in the device shown in FIG. The above-described image pickup apparatus of FIG. 41 is suitable for downsizing because the configuration is simple because only recording is performed, but a reproducing apparatus is separately required for reproducing. Therefore, in order to confirm and reproduce the recorded image after photographing, it is necessary to carry a reproducing device, which is complicated. Here, by incorporating the reproducing circuit 619 in the main body of the image pickup apparatus, the complexity in use is eliminated, and the recorded image can be immediately reproduced by connecting the reproduction output to the external monitor.

FIG. 43 shows a monitor 6 in addition to the apparatus of FIG.
This is an example of the configuration including 30. With the configuration of FIG. 42, it is possible to play back the image pickup device alone, but since a monitor is required externally, it is necessary to play back at a place with a monitor or prepare a separate monitor. This is inconvenient when checking. Here, in order to solve this problem, a small monitor 630 is mounted on the main body of the image pickup apparatus, and an image reproduced by the reproducing circuit 619 is displayed on the monitor 630.
Play with. The image reproduced here is not for viewing, but for confirming whether the shooting area and the image are normally recorded. Therefore, the characteristics such as resolution are not so severe, and it is realized by using a monitor such as a liquid crystal or the like which is small in size and has low power consumption. With such a configuration, it is easy to check the image immediately after shooting, and troubles such as shooting failure can be prevented.

In FIG. 44, a luminance signal reproducing circuit 640 is further added to the image pickup apparatus of FIG. 43 so that only the luminance signal of the image signal can be reproduced and displayed on the built-in monitor 630, and a switching device 642 is provided. , Playback circuit 61
9 and the built-in monitor 630 can be switched and used.

That is, although the embodiment of FIG. 43 makes it easy to confirm a photographed image, it is so constructed that normal reproduction output signals (luminance signal and color signal) are inputted to the built-in monitor. Therefore, the power consumption of the entire image pickup apparatus is higher than that in the case where it does not have a built-in monitor, which is a problem when driven by a battery. Here, a luminance signal reproducing circuit 640 whose power consumption is lower than that of the reproducing circuit 619 is provided for image confirmation separately from the reproducing circuit 619 for performing normal reproduction, and the luminance signal reproducing circuit 640 is used to display on the built-in monitor 630. Here, the luminance signal reproduction circuit 640
The regeneration circuit 619 is selected by the changeover switch 42, and the circuit not selected also turns off the power supply. By doing so, an imaging device with reduced power consumption can be realized.

<Thirteenth Embodiment> FIG. 45 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the thirteenth embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 601 and a taking lens 60.
4, solid-state image sensor 605, magnification detection means 602, magnification control means 603, electronic zoom processing circuit 606, recording circuit 6
07, magnetic tape 658, reproducing circuit 619, monitor 63
It is composed of 0. That is, the basic configuration is shown in FIG.
The apparatus is the same as the apparatus of No. 3, but here, the recording medium is configured to be able to record a moving image by using the magnetic tape 608.

In this apparatus, the optical zoom finder 60
Although the shooting is performed while the shooting area is determined by 1, the magnification of the optical zoom finder 601 is the magnification detection means 602.
Then, the magnification control means 603 controls the photographing lens magnification and the electronic zoom magnification. The magnification setting at this time preferentially determines the photographing lens magnification. That is,
The magnification of the optical zoom finder 601 is the taking lens 604.
If it is within the maximum magnification of, the electronic zoom magnification is fixed at 1 and controlled only by the magnification of the taking lens. On the other hand, when the magnification of the zoom finder 601 exceeds the magnification of the taking lens 604, the taking lens magnification is maximized and the shortage is compensated by the electronic zoom magnification. The image signal thus magnified to the same magnification as the optical zoom finder 601 is converted into a form recordable on the magnetic tape 658 by the recording circuit 607 and then recorded on the magnetic tape 658.

The recorded image is reproduced by the reproducing circuit 619 and can be confirmed and viewed on the built-in monitor 630 or the external monitor.

In the present embodiment, the structure in which the reproducing circuit 619 and the small monitor 630 are incorporated is shown. However, in any structure using a magnetic tape as a storage medium in the same structure as in FIGS. 41, 42 and 44 described above. It is possible to record moving pictures. Further, although the magnetic tape is used as the recording medium in the present embodiment, the recording medium is not limited to the magnetic tape, and may be constituted by an optical disk, a magnetic disk or the like used for recording a moving image.

<Fourteenth Embodiment> FIG. 46 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the fourteenth embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 601 and a taking lens 60.
4, solid-state image sensor 605, magnification detection means 602, magnification control means 603, electronic zoom processing circuit 606, recording circuit 6
07, semiconductor memory 668, reproducing circuit 619, monitor 6
It is composed of 30. That is, the basic configuration is similar to that of the apparatus of FIG. 43, but here, the semiconductor memory 668 is used as a recording medium so that a still image can be recorded.

In this embodiment as well, the operation of controlling the magnification of the optical zoom finder 601 to control the magnification of the taking lens 604 and the electronic zoom processing circuit 606 is the same as in the case of moving picture recording described above. In the embodiment, the enlarged image is recorded in the semiconductor memory 668 via the signal recording circuit 607. The image recorded in the semiconductor memory 668 is reproduced by the reproducing circuit 619, and the built-in monitor 6
30 or an external monitor.

Here, since the image signal is recorded as digital data in the semiconductor memory 668, there is no deterioration in image quality even if repeated reproduction and dubbing are performed, and no mechanical mechanism is used at the time of recording / reproduction, which is extremely stable. Images can be obtained.

In the present embodiment, the structure in which the reproducing circuit 619 and the small monitor 630 are incorporated is shown. However, in any structure using a semiconductor memory as a storage medium in the same structure as in FIGS. 41, 42 and 44 described above. Still image recording is possible.

The still picture recording apparatus can be constructed by using a medium other than a semiconductor memory such as a prop disc, a magnetic tape or an optical disc as the recording medium.

<Fifteenth Embodiment> FIG. 47 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the fifteenth embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 601 and a taking lens 60.
4, solid-state image sensor 605, magnification detection means 602, magnification control means 603a, electronic zoom processing circuit 1 for moving image processing
(676), electronic zoom processing circuit 2 (67) for still images
7), video / still image switching 678, switching device 67
9, recording circuit 607, magnetic tape 658, reproduction circuit 61
9 and a monitor 630. That is, the basic configuration is the same as that of the apparatus of FIG. 43, but here, two electronic zoom processing circuits 676 and 677 are provided to switch the electronic zoom signal processing between moving image recording and still image recording. The magnetic tape 658 is configured to record both moving images and still images.

The magnification of the optical zoom finder 601 is detected by the magnification detection means 602, and the magnification control means 603 controls the magnification of the taking lens 604 and the electronic zoom. In this embodiment, the electronic zoom means is composed of two electronic zoom processing circuits 1 (676) for moving image processing and electronic zoom processing circuit 2 (677) for still image processing. Moving picture / still picture recording is switched by the moving picture / still picture switching means 678 and the changeover switch 679, and then the recording circuit 6 is operated.
The data is recorded on the magnetic tape 658 from the position 07. The image reproduced by the reproducing circuit 619 is displayed on the monitor. Here, the electronic zoom processing circuit 1 (67 for moving image processing)
Since the processing time of the processing of 6) is limited by the field frequency, the optimum processing within that time is selected. On the other hand, in the case of a still image, since the processing time is not particularly limited, the electronic zoom processing circuit 2 (677) can achieve higher image quality and can perform a considerably complicated process. By switching between these two modes, optimal zoom processing can be performed for both moving images and still images, and high-quality images can be obtained.

<Sixteenth Embodiment> FIG. 48 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the sixteenth embodiment of the present invention. This solid-state imaging device includes a focus adjustment unit 698, a half mirror 700.
And an optical zoom finder 699 including a variable power unit 701,
A mirror 691, a photographing lens including a variable power imaging unit 692, a solid-state image sensor 605, a magnification detection unit 602, a magnification control unit 603, an electronic zoom processing circuit 606, a recording circuit 607,
It is composed of a recording medium 608, a reproducing circuit 619, and a confirmation circuit 704.

In FIG. 48, the optical zoom finder 6
The incident light that has passed through the focus adjusting unit 698 shared by the 99 and the taking lens is branched by the half mirror 700, and the zooming unit 701 and the mirror 69 of the optical zoom finder 699 are split.
It is guided to the variable magnification image forming unit 692 of the photographing lens by 1.
The optical image obtained from the zooming unit 701 of the optical zoom finder 699 is used for confirmation of the photographing area, and the optical image formed on the solid-state image sensor 605 by the photographing lens is subjected to photoelectric conversion and then subjected to electronic zoom processing.

Since the subsequent operation is the same as that of the above-mentioned embodiment, the explanation is omitted for simplification.

Generally, an optical system including a video movie and a still camera is designed to be optimal at an object distance of infinity. This is based on the fact that in normal photography, the subject distance is sufficiently larger than the inter-image distance of the optical system, and there is almost no problem even assuming infinity. In the case of a finite distance, which is a problem here, a characteristic including a focus shift is normally corrected by using a macro lens or the like. Deterioration of characteristics when the subject distance is finite is a major problem of image quality deterioration. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the optical zoom finder 699 and the first lens group of the photographing lens are shared in order to correct the focus shift, which is a particularly large factor in the characteristic deterioration, and the focus shift depending on the object distance is provided by providing the focus adjustment function. It is configured so that the focus of the viewfinder image can be optimized in any condition. Since the resolution of an image pickup device is determined by the number of pixels of the solid-state image pickup element and the resolution is insufficient compared to silver salt film, it is much closer than a still camera in order to accurately record detailed information including characters. Need to shoot at. Therefore, by adjusting the focus of the finder and the photographing optical system at the same time as shown in this embodiment, it is possible to obtain a high quality image in any photographing condition.

FIG. 49 shows another structural example of the image pickup apparatus according to the 16th embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder including a focus adjustment unit 698, a half mirror 716, and a zooming unit 712, a mirror 691, and a zooming unit 6.
Photographing lens including 92, photometric circuit 718, half mirror drive means 717, solid-state image sensor 605, magnification detection means 6
02, magnification control means 603, electronic zoom processing circuit 60
6, recording circuit 607, recording medium 608, reproduction circuit 61
9 and confirmation circuit 704.

Incident light that has passed through the focus adjusting unit 698 is branched by the half mirror 716 and guided to the variable power unit 712 of the optical zoom finder by the variable power image forming unit 692 and the mirror 691 of the photographing lens, respectively. Therefore, the amount of light reaching the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup device 605 through the taking lens is considerably smaller than the amount of incident light. Therefore, when the shooting situation becomes dark, it is expected that the S / N of the shot image will be significantly deteriorated due to the insufficient amount of light reaching the image sensor.

In order to solve this problem, in this embodiment,
In the case where the amount of light of the shooting condition is measured in advance by the photometering circuit 718 before recording and the amount of light can be converted into the amount of light reaching the image sensor after passing through the half mirror to obtain the necessary S / N ratio. The half mirror is fixed to the camera regardless of whether the shooting area is set or the recording is performed. On the other hand, when the photometric circuit detects a shortage of the amount of light, the half mirror 716 performs normal spectrum when the photographing area is set, and is repelled by the half mirror drive circuit 717 during recording. The incident light is not attenuated by the splashing operation and reaches the solid-state image sensor 605 through the taking lens, so that the S / N of the recorded image can be improved. With such a configuration, when the amount of incident light is sufficient for outdoor shooting during the daytime, there is no moving part at all, and recording can be performed while checking the subject. In addition, it is possible to maintain the same level of sensitivity as in the past even under dark shooting conditions. Of course, as in all the embodiments, by adjusting the focus of the finder and the photographing optical system at the same time, a high quality image can be obtained in any photographing condition.

FIG. 50 shows still another configuration example of the image pickup apparatus according to the 16th embodiment of the present invention. This imaging device
Focus adjusting unit 698, half mirror 736, zooming unit 71
2, an optical zoom finder including 2, a taking lens including a mirror 691, a variable-magnification image forming unit 692, and a mirror flipping mechanism 73.
7, solid-state image sensor 692, magnification detection means 602, magnification control means 603, electronic zoom processing circuit 606, recording circuit 6
07, a recording medium 608, and a reproducing circuit 619.

FIG. 50 shows an embodiment in which the half mirrors 700 and 716 are replaced with a mirror 736 in a configuration similar to that shown in FIGS. In this case, when setting the shooting area, the mirror 7
The incident light is guided to the variable power section 712 of the optical zoom finder by the reference numeral 36, and at the time of recording, the mirror flip-up mechanism 737 causes the mirror 736 to flip the incident light to the variable power imaging section 692 of the photographing lens, and the solid-state image sensor 605 takes an image. .
The subsequent operation is the same as that of the above-mentioned embodiment, and the explanation is omitted for simplification.

Even in this case, by adjusting the focus of the finder and the photographing optical system at the same time without lowering the sensitivity, a high quality image can be obtained in any photographing condition.

<Seventeenth Embodiment> FIG. 51 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the seventeenth embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 601 and a taking lens 60.
4, solid-state image sensor 605, lens driving means 1 (75
2), lens driving means 2 (753), zoom setting 75
5, magnification detection means 759, semiconductor memory 758, magnification control means 603, electronic zoom processing circuit 606b, recording circuit 607, recording medium 608, and reproduction circuit 619.

First, in the case of photographing using the zoom function, by operating the zoom setting means 755, the lens group constituting the variable power portion of the optical zoom finder 601 is driven by the lens driving means 2 (753) to obtain a desired value. Set to the zoom ratio. When the zoom ratio is set, the zoom ratio is detected by the magnification detecting means 759, and the result is 1
52 to the lens driving means 1 and the semiconductor memory 758. The lens driving means 1 (752) is a magnification detecting means 75.
The lens group of the magnification varying portion of the taking lens 604 is moved by the magnification obtained in 9 to set the magnification. As a setting method, when the magnification of the zoom finder 601 is less than or equal to the maximum magnification of the taking lens, the magnification of the taking lens 604 is controlled to match the magnification of the zoom finder 601. In addition, the magnification of the zoom finder 601 is set to the taking lens 604.
If it is larger than the maximum magnification of, the magnification of the taking lens 601 is fixed to the maximum. On the other hand, the electronic zoom magnification is 75
8 and stores it in the electronic zoom processing circuit 606b at the time of recording.
Send a control signal to.

Here, the magnification to be stored in the memory 758 is determined as follows. First, if the magnification of the optical zoom finder 601 is less than or equal to the maximum magnification of the taking lens 604, the magnification is stored as 1. On the contrary, when the magnification of the zoom finder 601 is larger than the maximum magnification of the taking lens 604, the value obtained by dividing the zoom finder magnification by the maximum magnification of the taking lens is stored in the memory as the electronic zoom magnification.

Thus, by preferentially using the magnification of the taking lens 604 to set the magnification, it is possible to realize recording with little deterioration in image quality. Further, since the electronic zoom magnification is stored in the memory 758 and a control signal is sent to the electronic zoom processing circuit 606b at the time of recording, the power of the signal processing after the electronic zoom processing circuit 606b can be turned off at the time of setting the photographing area, so that power consumption is also reduced. it can.

<Eighteenth Embodiment> FIG. 52 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the eighteenth embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup device includes a half mirror 775, a mirror 771, an optical zoom finder 601, a taking lens 604, and a solid-state image pickup device 6.
05, magnification detection means 602, magnification control means 603, electronic zoom processing circuit 606, recording circuit 607, recording medium 60
8 and a reproducing circuit 619.

In this image pickup device, after the incident light from the subject is split into two by the half mirror 775, the light is guided to the optical zoom finder 601 through the taking lens 604 and the mirror 771. In the subsequent operation, the magnification set by the optical zoom finder 601 is detected and the photographing lens magnification and the electronic zoom magnification are controlled so as to match the magnification as in the above-described embodiment.

With this configuration, the same incident light from the subject is branched, so parallax does not occur as in the single-lens reflex type.
Also, in the case of a normal single-lens reflex type, after the light is made to enter the shooting lens once and then guided to the viewfinder by the mirror, the back focus of the shooting lens must always have a space larger than the space for placing the mirror. There is no. In general lenses, the back focus is generally shorter than the focal length.

Since the solid-state image pickup device has a small image pickup area, the focal length becomes considerably short (about 6 to 10 mm at a standard angle of view) in order to obtain an angle of view comparable to that of a silver salt film. It's quite difficult to get enough back focus. For this reason, it is unavoidable to limit the lens type that makes the back focus longer than the focal length,
Sufficient optical characteristics are not always obtained. In this embodiment, by eliminating the physical limitation of the back focus, it is possible to capture a high quality image by selecting a photographic lens from many optically excellent lens types.

<Nineteenth Embodiment> An image pickup apparatus according to a nineteenth embodiment of the present invention (claim 6) will be described below. FIG. 53 shows the configuration of the image pickup apparatus according to the present embodiment.
This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 901, a magnification detection circuit 902 for detecting the magnification of the optical zoom finder 901, and a bifocal taking lens 90 having two focal lengths.
5, a focal length switching circuit 903 for switching the focal length of the photographing lens 905, a magnification control circuit 904 for dividing the detected finder magnification into an electronic zoom magnification and a focal length of the photographing lens, a solid-state image sensor 906 for extracting an image signal, A signal processing circuit 907 that processes an output signal from the solid-state imaging device 906, an electronic zoom circuit 909 that performs electronic zoom processing, a magnification setting circuit 908 that sets an enlargement ratio of electronic zoom, and a drive circuit 911 that drives the solid-state imaging device 906. , And a recording circuit 910.

In this structure, the finder magnification detected by the magnification detection circuit 902 after the photographing area is determined by the optical zoom finder 901 is given to the magnification control circuit 4. The magnification control circuit 4 selects the focal length of the taking lens 5 according to the finder magnification and calculates the electronic zoom magnification according to the selection. That is, the product of the magnification corresponding to the focal length of the photographing lens and the electronic zoom magnification is made equal to the magnification of the optical zoom finder 901. The determined focal length and magnification are
The signals are given to the focal length switching circuit 903 and the magnification setting circuit 8, respectively, and are set for imaging.

After the above setting, the image signal incident from the bifocal photographing lens 905 and obtained from the solid-state image pickup device 906 is further subjected to electronic zoom processing by the electronic zoom circuit 909. As a result, Zoom finder 9
An image signal having a magnification equal to 01 can be obtained. The image captured at this desired photographing magnification is recorded by the recording circuit 9
Record through 10.

As described above, in this embodiment, the zoom magnification is divided into the focal length of the photographing lens and the electronic zoom magnification to reduce the magnification carried by the optical system, and in addition, the focal length of the photographing lens is changed to a fixed focus. By setting the distance,
The optical system can be made much smaller than before by eliminating the need for a compensating mechanism for defocus caused by zooming, which is required for an optical zoom lens, and reducing the number of lenses and the lens drive system. It becomes possible. This makes it possible to realize a high-magnification small-sized imaging device. In addition, since an optical zoom finder is used as the finder, low power consumption can be realized.

Here, in FIG. 53, various devices which can be connected to the latter stage of the recording circuit 910 are omitted. However, for example, a desired recording medium is connected as shown in FIG. 41 of the twelfth embodiment and the recording is performed. Images can be recorded on the medium. Also,
A reproducing circuit may be further incorporated as shown in FIG. 42, or a monitor may be incorporated on the reproducing circuit as shown in FIG. Also, as shown in FIG. 44, a playback circuit and a monitor are built in,
You may switch and use. Further, a moving image may be recorded on a recording medium by using a magnetic tape as shown in FIG. 45 of the thirteenth embodiment, or a semiconductor memory may be used as a recording medium as shown in FIG. The image quality may not be deteriorated even if the recording / reproducing is repeated.
Further, as shown in FIG. 47 of the fourteenth embodiment, a high-speed processing type electronic zoom circuit for recording a moving image and a high image quality type electronic zoom circuit for recording a still image are provided and can be switched and used. Target.

The image pickup apparatus shown in FIG. 54 is obtained by adding a moving state detection circuit 913 for detecting the moving state of a variable magnification lens (not shown) of the bifocal lens 905 to the image pickup apparatus shown in FIG. The bifocal imaging lens 905 switches the focal length depending on the magnification of the optical zoom finder 901, but during the switching, since the imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device 906 is out of focus, a normal image cannot be recorded. . In order to prevent this, after the movement state detection circuit 913 detects that the focal length of the taking lens has been switched, the recording switch 912 is turned on to stably record a normal image.

Accordingly, in the case of moving image recording, it is possible to prevent continuous recording of out-of-focus images during focal length switching. Further, in the case of still image recording, it is possible to prevent shooting mistakes caused by pressing the record button while switching the focal length.

The image pickup apparatus of FIG. 55 is obtained by adding a recording control circuit 915 and a frame memory 916 for recording one screen to the apparatus of FIG. 54, and replacing the recording switch 912 with a recording changeover switch 914. Here, the switching signal output from the magnification control circuit 904 is also input to the recording control circuit 915. Based on this switching signal
The recording control circuit 915 controls the recording changeover switch 914 to turn on the switch s1 and connect the switch s2 to the t ₄ side. By this operation, the image signal of the magnification just before switching the focal length is stored in the frame memory 916 for one screen, and the image in the frame memory 916 is recorded by the recording circuit 910 until the switching operation is completed. And
After the focal length switchover completion, returns the switch s1 OFF, the normal recording state by connecting the switch s2 to t _3.

With this arrangement, continuous images can be recorded without interruption even during focal length switching. At this time, it is preferable that the electronic zoom magnification after switching is set by a signal from the recording control circuit 915 during the switching period so that the enlargement magnifications before and after the switching match.

The image pickup apparatus shown in FIG. 56 is obtained by adding a magnification display circuit 917 to the apparatus shown in FIG. When the focal length of the bifocal photographing lens 905 is switched, the magnification temporarily becomes discontinuous due to its configuration. Therefore, it may be necessary to monitor the photographing magnification and avoid the switching point for photographing. Also, in grasping the photographing situation, it is important to constantly grasp at which position in the variable range the magnification during photographing is. Here, the magnification detected by the magnification detection circuit 902 is displayed by the magnification display circuit 917 in real time optically or electrically in a portion other than the photographing area in the optical zoom finder 901.

As a result, the photographer can always monitor the photographing magnification, the magnification can be easily selected depending on the photographing situation, and in the case of recording a moving image, a discontinuous recording portion due to switching of the photographing lens can be avoided in advance. It will be possible.

<Twentieth Embodiment> This embodiment relates to the bifocal lens 905 in the nineteenth embodiment described above.
As shown in FIG. 57, the taking lenses are set to have focal lengths having the same conjugate distance. The lens configuration shown here is a general two-group zoom lens. 9 in the figure
Reference numerals 21 and 923 are concave lenses, and reference numerals 922 and 924 are convex lenses. In this case, the light incident parallel to the concave lens diverges as if emitted from the front focal point (P ') of the concave lens. The divergent light is condensed by a convex lens to form an inverted real image at point P. Here, the magnification (m) is determined by the position of the convex lens, and the magnification is the ratio m between the principal point and the conjugate point distance (s, s').
= S '/ s, and if the distance between conjugate points s + s' is made constant, the image formation point can be kept constant. From this, in (a) of FIG. 57, s = a and s ′ = b, the magnification is m = b / a,
The distance between conjugate points is a + b. On the other hand, in (b), the distance between conjugate points (a + b) is constant, and s = b and s ′ = a.
This is a case where only the magnification is changed to m = a / b and the image plane is kept constant.

Here, the distance between conjugate points is constant only at these two points, and in order to keep the position of the image formation point constant at any point between them, the convex lens is used as shown in FIG. It is necessary to compensate the focus movement due to the zooming operation of (926, 928, 930) by the movement of the concave lenses (925, 927, 929). This mechanism is used in optical zoom lenses, but it requires a focus compensation mechanism in addition to the variable power mechanism. Further, the number of lenses is increased due to the correction of the optical characteristics at each focal length, and the optical system becomes large. In contrast to this, in FIG. 57, two focal lengths are set so that the distances between conjugate points are equal to each other, and an arbitrary focal length between them is set by electronic zoom.

In this way, the optical system can be downsized and the power consumption can be reduced. In this embodiment, the two-group zoom lens has been described, but the same applies to other zoom configurations.

<Twenty-first Embodiment> FIG. 59 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the twenty-first embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 901, a magnification detection circuit 902 for detecting the magnification of the optical zoom finder 901,
A first fixed focus lens 931 having a short focal length, a second fixed focus lens 932 having a long focal length, and a first mirror 93.
4, a second mirror 935, a mirror driving unit 933, a focal length switching circuit 903, a magnification control circuit 904 that divides the detected finder magnification into an electronic zoom magnification and a focal length of a photographing lens, and a solid-state image sensor 90 that extracts an image signal.
6, a signal processing circuit 907 that processes an output signal from the solid-state image sensor 906, an electronic zoom circuit 909 that performs electronic zoom, a magnification setting circuit 908 that sets an enlargement ratio of the electronic zoom, and a drive circuit that drives the solid-state image sensor 906. 91
1 and a recording circuit 910.

In this embodiment, the bifocal photographing lens 901 is used.
Is a fixed focus lens 93 having two different focal lengths.
1, 932, and as can be seen from the figure, the mirror drive unit 933 is responsive to a signal from the focal length switching circuit 903.
By moving the first mirror 934, the first fixed focus mirror 931 or the second fixed focus mirror 932
Select one of

According to this method, an optimum design can be made at each focal length, so that a higher quality image can be recorded.
Further, there is an advantage that the length of the taking lens in the optical axis direction can be made more compact.

The image pickup apparatus shown in FIG. 60 uses a primary imaging type finder as the optical zoom finder 901 in the configuration shown in FIG. Here, this finder includes a variable power unit 941, an erecting unit 942 using a prism,
And an eyepiece section 943. This type of finder has an advantage that the optical path can be bent and the length of the finder in the optical axis direction can be shortened because a prism is used for the erecting portion 942.

In this structure, the first mirror 934
When a lens 931 having a short focal length is selected, it is avoided at a position that does not affect the image formation by the lens 931 as indicated by p1 in the figure, and the image plane of the solid-state image sensor 906 is short. An image with a magnification corresponding to the focal length is generated. On the other hand, when the magnification of the optical zoom finder is set high and the lens 932 having a long focal length is selected,
As indicated by p2 in the figure, the first mirror 934 is set at a position that blocks the optical path of the fixed focus lens 931. And
The fixed second mirror 935 reflects the light beam from the fixed focus lens 932 having a long focal length and guides it to the mirror 934, where it is further reflected and an image is formed on the solid-state image sensor 906.

As shown here, if a primary imaging finder is used for the optical zoom finder and the bifocal taking lens is realized by switching between two fixed focus lenses having different focal lengths, the length in the optical axis direction can be increased. A compact and thin imaging device can be realized.

<Twenty-second Embodiment> FIG. 61 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the twenty-second embodiment of the present invention. This apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 901 and a magnification detection circuit 902, 2 for detecting the magnification of the optical zoom finder 901.
A photographing lens 905 having two focal lengths, and a focal length switching circuit 903 for switching the focal length of the photographing lens 5.
b, a magnification range limiting circuit 951, a solid-state image sensor 906 for extracting an image signal, a signal processing circuit 907 for processing an output signal from the solid-state image sensor 906, an electronic zoom circuit 909 for electronic zoom, and an enlargement ratio for electronic zoom are set. A magnification setting circuit 908, a drive circuit 911 that drives the solid-state image sensor 906, and a recording circuit 910.

The operation of the image pickup apparatus of this embodiment will be described below. The maximum magnification variable range of the optical zoom finder 901 is from the minimum value determined by the short focal length of the bifocal shooting lens 905 and the minimum magnification of the electronic zoom to the maximum value determined by the long focal length of the bifocal shooting lens 905 and the maximum magnification of the electronic zoom. It is a range up to the value. The focal length switching circuit 903b selects either of the bifocal photographing lenses 905 as the focal length of the photographing lens. At the same time, the magnification range limiting circuit 951 limits the magnification range of the optical zoom finder 901 in accordance with the focal length of the bifocal lens 905. As a result, an arbitrary magnification within the limited range is detected by the magnification detection circuit 9
02, and the electronic zoom magnification is set by the magnification setting circuit 908.

In this method, the magnification of the finder cannot be continuously changed in a wide range, but the photographer intentionally sets the magnification range, so that the switching operation can be performed swiftly, and still image recording is possible. This is especially effective in the case.
Moreover, if the electronic zoom function is used for each focal length, the zoom function is similar to that of a film-type compact camera with a normal zoom function, the zoom range will be wider and the usability will be significantly improved compared to the current bifocal camera. improves.

<Twenty-third Embodiment> FIG. 62 shows the arrangement of an image pickup apparatus according to the twenty-third embodiment of the present invention. This image pickup apparatus includes an optical zoom finder 901, a magnification detection circuit 902 for detecting the magnification of the optical zoom finder 901,
A zoom magnification setting circuit 964, a focal length switching circuit 903 for switching the focal length of the photographing lens 5, a photographing lens 905 having two focal lengths, a solid-state image sensor 906 for extracting an image signal, and an output signal from the solid-state image sensor 906. A signal processing circuit 907 for processing, an electronic zoom circuit 909 for performing electronic zoom, a magnification setting circuit 908 for setting an enlargement magnification of the electronic zoom, a drive circuit 911 for driving the solid-state image sensor 906, and a recording circuit 910.

In this embodiment, the optical zoom finder 90 is used.
A major feature is that, in addition to the zoom variable magnification section 962, a constant variable magnification section 962 having a magnification corresponding to the switching of the focal length of the taking lens 905 is provided in the unit 1.

The operation of the image pickup apparatus of this embodiment will be described below. The magnification of the zoom magnification changing unit 961 and the magnification of the constant magnification changing unit 962 are set according to the magnification set by the zoom magnification setting circuit 964. The zoom scaling unit 961 set here
The magnification of becomes the electronic zoom magnification through the magnification detection circuit 902 and the magnification setting circuit 908. On the other hand, the magnification of the constant magnification changing unit 962 becomes a focus switching signal of the bifocal imaging lens 905 via the focal length switching circuit 903.

This constant variable magnification operation is set so that the ratio between the two focal lengths of the photographing lens is equal to the distance between conjugate points to be constant, similarly to the variable magnification mechanism of the bifocal photographing lens described in FIG. By doing so, defocusing due to the zooming operation does not occur at all, and the total length is constant. Further, the zoom variable power unit only needs to cover the variable range of the electronic zoom magnification, and the viewfinder itself can be downsized.

The image pickup apparatus of FIG. 63 is configured such that the photographer sets a variable range of the magnification by the focal length switching circuit 903c by slightly changing the configuration of FIG. The bifocal photographing lens 905 is used by the focal length switching circuit 903c.
The focal length of the optical zoom finder 901 is selected, and the magnification of the constant-magnification unit 962 of the optical zoom finder 901 is also switched.
On the other hand, the zoom magnification changing unit 96 of the optical zoom finder 901
The magnification of 2 is the magnification detection circuit 902 and the magnification setting circuit 9
08, it is input to the electronic zoom circuit 906 to determine the electronic zoom magnification. With this configuration, the zoom magnification changing unit 961 of the optical zoom finder 901 only needs to cover the magnification of the electronic zoom, and the magnification can be reduced, so that the finder itself can be downsized.

The image pickup apparatus shown in FIG. 64 is an embodiment in which the optical zoom finder 901 is a real image type secondary imaging type finder, and the taking lens 905 is a bifocal lens set so that the conjugate point distance is constant. Show. In this example, the erecting portion of the finder 901 is the constant variable magnification portion 962. In the figure, 974 and 977 respectively indicate the position of the zoom lens of the zoom finder 901 and the position of the zoom lens of the shooting lens 905 when the long focus side of the shooting lens is selected. Reference numerals 975 and 978 indicate the positions of the variable power lenses when the short focus side is selected. Here, like the bifocal lens of the taking lens, the erecting portion 962 of the finder does not move the focal position due to the switching operation if the variable lens position is set to a position where the distance between conjugate points is kept constant. ,
It can be compactly constructed with the total length remaining constant.

<Twenty-fourth Embodiment> FIG. 65 shows an optical zoom finder 9 according to the nineteenth to twenty-third embodiments.
Two examples of the relationship between the variable range 01 and the variable magnification range set by the bifocal imaging lens 905 and the electronic zoom circuit 909 will be described. In the figure, focal length 1 is
The shorter focal length of the two focal lengths and the focal length 2 is the longer focal length. (A) shows a case where the difference between the two focal lengths is relatively small and an arbitrary focal length between the focal lengths can be covered by the magnification of the electronic zoom, and (b) shows a case where the difference between the focal lengths is large.

In (a), the focal length obtained by multiplying the short focal length by the electronic zoom magnification is set within a range in which the image quality deterioration due to the electronic zoom is tolerable so as to cover a longer focal length than the longer focal length. . As a result, it is possible to cover the entire magnification range near the focal length switching of the photographing lens.

On the other hand, when the focal length difference is large as shown in (b), the magnification variable range of the optical zoom finder is limited to a range in which deterioration of image quality due to electronic zoom is allowable. By doing so, it is possible to always record a high quality image.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be carried out without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0238]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be expected.

(1) According to the present invention (Claim 1), it is possible to realize a compact and high-quality image pickup device capable of high-quality still image recording using both the relative image forming position changing means and the high-quality interpolation processing. .

On the other hand, according to the present invention (Claim 2), high quality still image recording using the relative image forming position changing means and high image quality interpolation processing, and moving image recording at the time of still image recording are also possible. An image pickup device with high image quality can be realized.

(2) According to the present invention (Claim 3), a high-quality electronic zoom process for recording a still image and a high-speed electronic zoom process for moving images can be obtained, and a compact image pickup apparatus can be realized. .

(3) In the present invention (Claim 4), the optical system is simplified by disposing the photographing lens for forming an optical image on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup element and the optical finder independent of this. It is possible to realize a small and lightweight image pickup device with low power consumption by electronically correcting the parallax that occurs due to the configuration and the configuration.

(4) In the present invention (claim 5), the magnification of the image signal is realized by controlling the zoom magnification set by the optical zoom finder with the magnification of the taking lens and the electronic zoom magnification. By adopting this configuration, in order to realize high magnification, the image pickup apparatus itself has become large in accordance with the enlargement of the optical system, but according to the present invention, the zoom is compact and has a relatively high magnification with little deterioration in image quality. An image pickup apparatus with reduced power consumption can be realized by incorporating a function and using an optical zoom finder.

On the other hand, in the present invention (Claim 6), the zoom function is made high in magnification by the taking lens having two fixed focal lengths and the electronic zoom function for electronically enlarging the output signal from the solid-state image pickup device. Realize by combination. As a result, as compared with the conventional zoom method using an optical zoom lens, a mechanism for compensating for a defocus caused by a zoom operation is not necessary, and the optical magnification can be reduced to downsize the optical system. Further, since the finder uses an optical zoom finder, low power consumption can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a change in relative position.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining one method of shifting the relative position of an input image.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining another method of shifting the relative position of the input image.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a zoom image at a magnification of 1.5 times.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a positional deviation of image formation due to external vibration or the like.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a third modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a readout area of a CCD when an electronic zoom is used.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a modification of the third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a flow of processing for obtaining a moving image and a still image.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a video signal band characteristic and a band characteristic of a signal obtained by a two-point interpolation method.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electronic zoom circuit sharing a moving image mode and a still image mode.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a third modification of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a fourth modification of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a configuration of a continuous shooting buffer memory.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of an image file.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a modification of the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing a sixth embodiment.

[Fig. 29] Fig. 29 is a diagram for describing the occurrence state of parallax.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a block diagram showing a seventh embodiment.

FIG. 33 is a diagram for explaining an enlarging operation.

FIG. 34 is a block diagram showing an eighth embodiment.

FIG. 35 is a block diagram showing a ninth embodiment.

FIG. 36 is a block diagram showing a tenth embodiment.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing the relationship between the field of view of the finder and the area on the solid-state image sensor that matches the field of view.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing how the area corresponding to the field of view of the finder changes depending on the aspect ratio of the solid-state image sensor.

FIG. 39 is a block diagram showing an eleventh embodiment.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing a recording area on a solid-state image sensor and a view field of a finder in a photographing state.

FIG. 41 is a block diagram showing a twelfth embodiment.

FIG. 42 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the twelfth embodiment.

FIG. 43 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the twelfth embodiment.

FIG. 44 is a block diagram showing a third modification of the twelfth embodiment.

FIG. 45 is a block diagram showing a thirteenth embodiment.

FIG. 46 is a block diagram showing a fourteenth embodiment.

FIG. 47 is a block diagram showing a fifteenth embodiment.

FIG. 48 is a block diagram showing a sixteenth embodiment.

FIG. 49 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the sixteenth embodiment.

FIG. 50 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the sixteenth embodiment.

FIG. 51 is a block diagram showing a seventeenth embodiment.

FIG. 52 is a block diagram showing an eighteenth embodiment.

FIG. 53 is a block diagram showing a nineteenth embodiment.

FIG. 54 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the nineteenth embodiment.

FIG. 55 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the nineteenth embodiment.

FIG. 56 is a block diagram showing a third modification of the nineteenth embodiment.

FIG. 57 is a block diagram showing a twentieth embodiment.

FIG. 58 is a diagram for explaining focus movement due to a zooming operation of a convex lens.

FIG. 59 is a block diagram showing a twenty-first embodiment.

FIG. 60 is a block diagram showing an embodiment in which a primary imaging finder is used as the optical zoom finder of FIG. 59.

FIG. 61 is a block diagram showing a twenty-second embodiment.

FIG. 62 is a block diagram showing a twenty-third embodiment.

FIG. 63 is a block diagram showing a first modification of the 23rd embodiment.

FIG. 64 is a block diagram showing a second modification of the 23rd embodiment.

FIG. 65 is a block diagram showing a twenty-fourth embodiment.

FIG. 66 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional video movie.

FIG. 67 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional single-lens reflex electronic still camera.

FIG. 68 is a diagram showing another configuration example of a conventional single-lens reflex electronic still camera.

FIG. 69 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional compact type electronic still camera.

FIG. 70 is a diagram showing another configuration example of a conventional compact type electronic still camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CCD 2 ... Analog signal processing unit 3 ... A / D converter 4 ... Digital signal processing unit 5 ... Electronic zoom unit 6 ... Lens 7 ... Image compression unit 8 ... Recording medium 11 ... Relative position changing means 13 ... Relative Position changing unit 101 ... Imaging unit 201 ... Imaging unit 202 ... Analog signal processing unit 203 ... A / D
Converter 204 ... Digital signal processing unit 206 ... Image compression circuit 207 ... Image recording means 208 ... Viewfinder 209 ... Switching device 210 ... Frame memory 213 ... Shutter button 214 ... Pre-process 215 ... Post-process 216 ... Video display circuit 251 ... Simple Electronic zoom processing unit 252 ... High image quality electronic zoom processing unit 312 ... Zoom magnification selection 401 ... Optical finder 402 ... Photographing lens 403 ... CCD 404 ... Signal processing unit 405 ... Recording circuit 406 ... Recording medium 407 ... Distance measuring circuit 601 ... Zoom finder Reference numeral 602 ... Magnification detection unit 603 ... Magnification control unit 604 ... Photographing lens 605 ... Solid-state image sensor 606 ... Electronic zoom 607 ... Recording circuit 608 ... Recording medium 901 ... Optical zoom finder 901 902 ... Magnification detection circuit 903 ... Focal length switching Circuit 904 ... Magnification control circuit 905 ... Bifocal imaging lens 906 ... Solid-state image sensor 907 ... Signal processing circuit 908 ... Magnification setting circuit 909 ... Electronic zoom circuit 910 ... Recording circuit 911 ... Drive circuit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A solid-state image sensor for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, an optical system for forming an image on the solid-state image sensor, an image formed by the optical system, and the solid-state image sensor. A relative image forming position changing means for shifting the relative position; an interpolation processing unit for compensating pixel information between the pixel signals obtained from the solid-state imaging device by digital signal processing; and the interpolation processing unit. When performing interpolation processing at an arbitrary enlargement factor, select the relative position changing direction of the relative image forming position changing means and the number of times of relative image forming position change in this direction suitable for performing the interpolation processing. And a relative image forming position changing unit. 2. A solid-state image sensor for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, an optical system for forming an image on the solid-state image sensor, an image formed by the optical system, and the solid-state image sensor. A relative image forming position changing means for shifting the relative position, and an interpolation processing unit for compensating pixel information between the pixel signals obtained from the solid-state imaging device by digital signal processing, and in real time. An interpolation processing unit including a real-time interpolation processing unit that operates and a non-real-time interpolation processing unit that operates in non-real-time processing, and an image output unit for confirming an image to be captured or a captured image. An imaging device characterized by. 3. A solid-state imaging device for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, an optical system for forming an image on the solid-state imaging device, and a pixel signal obtained from the solid-state imaging device. An electronic zoom processing unit that supplements pixel information with digital signal processing, that is, a simple electronic zoom processing unit that operates in real time and a high image quality electronic zoom processing unit that performs high image quality electronic zoom processing in non-real time processing An image pickup apparatus, comprising: an electronic zoom processing unit including the image pickup unit; and an image output unit for confirming an image to be captured or a captured image. 4. A solid-state imaging device for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, a taking lens for forming an optical image on an imaging surface of the solid-state imaging device, and the taking lens are arranged independently of each other. An optical finder, a distance measuring unit for measuring a subject distance, a unit for extracting only a portion of an output signal corresponding to a visual field region of the optical viewfinder from an output signal of an imaging region of the solid-state image sensor, and a unit corresponding to the visual field region. An image pickup apparatus comprising: a signal processing unit that extracts an output signal; and a recording medium that records the signal extracted by the signal processing unit. 5. A solid-state image pickup device for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, a zoom photographing lens for forming an optical image on an image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup device, and an optical zoom finder for determining a photographing region. A magnification detection unit that detects a magnification of the optical zoom finder; an electronic zoom unit that electronically magnifies an image signal output from the solid-state image sensor; a magnification of the zoom photographing lens and a magnification of the electronic zoom unit. Magnification control means for controlling the magnification of the zoom photographing lens, the magnification by the electronic zoom means, or both the magnification of the zoom photographing lens and the magnification by the electronic zoom means so that the multiplied value matches the magnification of the optical zoom finder. And a recording medium for recording the signal enlarged by the electronic zoom means. That the image pickup apparatus. 6. A solid-state image pickup device for converting a subject image into a corresponding electric signal, a bifocal photographing lens for forming an optical image on an image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup device, and an optical zoom finder for determining a photographing region. A magnification detecting means for detecting a magnification of the optical zoom finder, an electronic zooming means for electronically enlarging an image signal output from the solid-state imaging device, a focal length of the bifocal photographing lens and the electronic zooming means. An image pickup apparatus comprising: a magnification control unit that controls the focal length and the magnification by the electronic zoom unit so that a shooting magnification determined by the magnification matches the magnification of the optical zoom finder.