JPS589131A - Electronic flash device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a photographing mode switching information suitable for cameras of various types, by providing a control signal circuit for supplying a control signal generated in a trigger signal terminal of an electronic flash device body, to a control signal terminal of a camera body. CONSTITUTION:A minus terminal 7a connected to an earth contact terminal (b) of a flash device body is connected to a minus terminal 8a, and also a repeating terminal 7c connected to a trigger contact terminal (a) is connected to a repeating terminal 8b through a diode 31. When voltage causing by the completion of electric charge of a capacitor 14 is generated in the terminal (a), a transistor 34 conducts, and a controlling circuit which is not shown in the figure, of a camera body is electrified through a control signal terminal 8c, and is switched to a flash photographing mode. When an adaptor provided with said trigger signal transferring circuit and control signal circuit is installed to the flash device body, it can be used so as to be suitable for cameras of various types.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic flash device that can be applied to cameras each having an automatic switching mechanism to various flash photography modes.

In recent years, electronic flash devices used as light sources for flash photography have become smaller and lighter, and as shown in FIG.
The so-called clip-on type, which can be attached to a so-called hot shoe with one touch, has become widely used.

On the other hand, the camera body 2 is an A E (Automotic
Expo@ure) technology has progressed, and many cameras have appeared that perform automatic exposure photography by controlling the aperture value or shutter speed.

However, even with a camera equipped with such an AE mechanism, when preliminary photography is performed using the electronic flash device 1,
In particular, if the camera body 2 is a four-force, lane-shutter type, the flash device 1
It is necessary to emit flash light, and it is necessary to switch the photographing mode from AE mode to flash photographing mode. This flash photography (EF') mode is generally switched by manually setting the shutter speed to a predetermined value.

However, in recent years, attempts have been made to automatically control this mode switching, and various companies have developed specialized electronic flash devices, which perform the above control integrally with the camera body. . For this reason, even if we look at the contact structure of Hot Seat-3, the examples are as shown in Figures 2 (,) to (d), where one end is bent into a U-shape. Negative terminals 3a and 1, sink o provided in the center via an insulating part
Although the configuration of the i1 point-child 3b is the same, the position of the control signal terminal 3c is determined differently. Moreover, not only the positions of the control signal terminal 3C are different, but also the signal formats sent and received through the same terminal Jat and the switching detection method are mutually KA, so there is no compatibility between them. Ta. Therefore, there is a great possibility that one of the sheep may malfunction due to incorrect connection of the electronic flash device 1, which has a different control method, and the camera body 2.

'-The invention was made in consideration of these circumstances,
The purpose of this is to provide the camera with a mechanism for switching various shooting modes, and to provide appropriate shooting mode switching information to the camera body when the flash is ready to fire. Jin and K offer electronic flash devices with a wide range of compatibility.

The outline of the electronic flash device according to the present invention is that the main body of the electronic flash device performs its functions by itself, and that an auxiliary mount is provided as an amageter that corresponds to the camera main body with a different control method. When used in combination, the above-mentioned purpose is effectively achieved by generating photographic mode switching information that is compatible with the control method of the camera body and providing this to the camera body.

Fig. 3 shows the concept, and the electronic flash device according to the present FliJK consists of an electronic flash device main body 1 and a cover separately equipped with electric circuits and contact structures suitable for camera bodies of various control methods. Auxiliary frame 6-t -6-2*
6-3 K: Well-structured. These auxiliary frames 6-1
e6-2tg-3 is the leg part of the flash device body 1.The mounting part 5 is provided with a pedestal part F, which fits into the part 5, and the mount part 7 is attached to the pedestal part 3 of the camera body 2 on the opposite side. The fittings that fit respectively are those with pedestals tt, tt, and s-, 1-21, and these mounts are 8-1 and 11-2.
The contact configurations of e8-5 correspond to the contact configurations of the mount 3 of the camera body 2 of various types, as shown in FIGS. It has become something that will be done. Also, the pedestal part 7-1 + 7-2
* The contact configuration of 7-3 corresponds to the mounting part 5 of the electronic flash device main body 1, and the auxiliary pedestal 6-
1+ 6-2 e6-B K Built-in 9 electrical circuit; Flash device main body 1 detected through the contact of the above mounting s5
The operating voltage is obtained, and in accordance with the control method of the camera body 2 side, a 95all signal is applied to the camera body 2 from the 1.8 contact point through the contact point of the mount 3. Upon receiving this control signal, the camera body 2 detects that the flash device body 1 is fully charged and ready to emit a flash, and performs controls such as switching the shooting mode to the flash photography mode. .

next! An embodiment of the invention device will be described.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the apparatus, in which numeral 1 indicates an electronic flash device main body, and 6i indicates an auxiliary pedestal mounted on the device main body 1 as an adapter.

The electronic flash device main body 1 shown here includes a nine-light emitting section 14 which has a built-in X-Futsushi Nezumi Rande, a battery chamber containing a battery, and a power supply section 1b which has a built-in electronic circuit for driving the flash 1 lamp. The light emitting section 1a
is rotatably provided with respect to the power supply section, ZbK, and is designed so that it can also be used for bounce photography on request.

Thus, the mounting hole 5 provided at the lower part of the housing of the power supply unit 1b has a groove 5a on the side that fits into the pedestal 3 of the camera body 2, and is grounded on this side.

A trigger contact terminal 5c is provided. Each of these contact terminals is connected to the ground contact terminal (minus terminal) 3 on the camera side when the camera body 92 is mounted on the mount jK.
a and synchro contact terminal 3b, respectively, and are electrically connected.

On the other hand, the pedestal part 7 of the auxiliary pedestal 6 has a fifth contact terminal, 1! shown in FIG.
1 is provided with a groove 7 on the auxiliary frame 6. When the auxiliary stand 6 is attached to the main body 1 of the device, these contacts are electrically connected to each other. Bend both sides of each into a U-shape and make this my
The eggplant terminal 1a is provided, and the edge area 7b is provided in the center of the metal plate.
As a result, the pedestal section 7 has a contact structure in which an electrically isolated tenth relay terminal 7e (corresponding to a synchro contact terminal) is provided.

The installation part 8 of this auxiliary frame 6 is shown in FIG.
- As shown in the horizontal configuration, K is provided with contacts corresponding to the grip type and contact configuration of the camera body 2. In this installation, the contact point of part 8 has a negative terminal Jta on the side.
, a second relay terminal 8b (corresponding to a trigger contact terminal) is located in the center of the terminal, and is electrically isolated from these terminals, and there are five terminals located at nine positions according to the specifications of the mount 3 of the camera body 2. The arrangement is such that a control signal terminal 8c is provided.

Here, the pedestal part IK of the auxiliary pedestal 6 is provided with a protrusion 9), and the flash device main body IK is
A recess 10 is provided that faces the protrusion 9 when the auxiliary pedestal C is attached. This protrusion 9 only allows attachment of the flash device main body 1 to the auxiliary pedestal 6 in a specified manner.
In addition to the flash device main body in which the recess 10 is not provided,
This device 1 prevents attachment of the auxiliary pedestal 6 to another flash device main body that does not allow electrical connection between the contacts by engaging the projection 9 with the device main body. This protrusion! and recess 1
0, the auxiliary stand 6 and flash device main body 1 are not compatible.
It is designed to mechanically prevent the attachment of the two to prevent accidents between the two due to incorrect attachment. This also creates a trap where incorrect use of the cope can simply be exploited mechanically.

Incidentally, the 1A of the flash device main body 1 and the auxiliary pedestal 46 is
-) Figure 7 (,) shows the structure that prevents the attachment of auxiliary,
Frame 6 The pedestal part 1 is formed into a deep groove shape with a depth, and the flash device main body j is attached by providing a notch 5e1 in the part 5 so that it comes into contact with the side wall of the deep groove and escapes from the groove. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7(b) (@) K, it is possible to create a structure that allows only the attachment of the dedicated flash device main body 1 and the auxiliary frame 6, and the above-mentioned side and A similar effect can be achieved.

The electrical circuit of such an electronic flash device is constructed as follows.

FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the internal electric circuit of the electronic flash device main body 1, FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of its dimming circuit, and FIGS. This is a block diagram of a typical flash device showing the configuration of a typical electric circuit.This is a direct current power supply driven dimming series control type flash device.

The electrical circuit of the flash device main body 1 is well known and will be briefly explained. A main capacitor 14 is charged with a direct current flowing from a direct current power source 11 via a main switch 12. The charging voltage of the main capacitor 14 with the 8 CRI J is flooded due to the charging voltage of the main capacitor 16
This charging voltage is supplied to the N-Lung circuit JFK. The N-Lanzo circuit 17 is designed to turn on and emit light when the charging voltage reaches a voltage high enough to cause flash discharge of the Flood Island lamp 16. Therefore, this N@Ranzo circuit 17 has S
A trigger circuit 18 including a CR is provided, and if the test switch 19 is short-circuited or the trigger contact terminal a and the ground terminal A are short-circuited, the SCR is rendered conductive, and the trigger voltage pulse generated at that time is It is applied via a pulse transformer 20 to the trigger electrode of the flood run 'f16. The fludge nose run f16 is triggered to emit a flash by this trigger signal, and emits a flash due to the charge in the capacitor 14. Incidentally, the light control circuit 21 is configured as shown in FIG. It is configured as follows. When the integrated charge of this dimming circuit 21 reaches a predetermined level, 8CRJ 4 becomes conductive, and due to the conduction, 8CRZ 5 is turned off, and the flash light emission of the 7-flash run 'f16 occurs in series. It is designed to stop under control.

By the way, the feature here is that the lead-out point of the trigger contact terminal a is provided at a point via a transistor 25 to which voltage is supplied from the power source 11 in a separate circuit. This transistor 25 is one whose conduction is controlled by the operating voltage of the N@Ranzo circuit 11, that is, the lighting of the N.Lande. When the lamp is turned on and the charging of the capacitor 14 is completed, the above-mentioned state is monitored from the terminal voltage of the Uemachi trigger contact terminal a.

The electrical circuit of the auxiliary mount 6 described above is configured to generate a control signal suitable for controlling the camera body 20 from the voltage generated at the trigger contact terminal a.

Figure 10(,)(b) shows an example of the configuration of the electric circuit of this auxiliary pedestal 6. FIG. 2B shows an example of a circuit suitable for a control system in which the camera body is operated by voltage supply.

That is, in the case shown in FIG. It is connected to the terminal 3c of the pedestal 3. Further, a first relay terminal 7c connected to the trigger contact terminal 5c (point a on the wall in FIG. 8) is connected to a second relay terminal 8b via a diode 31. The above terminal 7″
A resistor 12.82 is connected in series between e't'Jja, and the voltage generated between both ends thereof is divided and summed to be applied to the base of the transistor 34. This transistor 34 has its emitter connected to the terminal 8- and its collector connected to the control signal terminal 8cK via the resistor 36.
In c), when a voltage is generated upon completion of charging of the capacitor 14 of the electronic flash device main body 1, the transistor 34 is set to be conductive. Due to the conduction of the transistor 84, the illustrated control circuit on the Z side of the camera body conducts current through the control signal terminal 8c, and the photographing mode is switched to the flash photographing mode. The one shown in FIG. 6) K is configured to adjust the voltage level of the voltage divided by the resistor 82°380 through the Zener diode 36, and output the voltage level as a control signal through the control signal terminal 8c. The Zener diode 36 defines the control signal at a voltage level that conforms to the camera body 20 control signal specifications. Therefore, depending on the control method of the camera body 20, an auxiliary mount C incorporating an electric circuit having the circuit configuration shown in either of FIGS. 10(a) and 10(b) is attached to the electronic flash device body 1, If you regard this as an integrated electronic flash device and attach it to the mount 3 of the camera body 2, the device body 1
The trigger contact of the camera body 2 and the synchronization contact of the camera body 2 are electrically connected, and a control signal is sent to the shooting mode switching control mechanism of the camera body 2 when charging of the flash device body 1 is completed and preparation for flash emission is completed. is given in a form suitable for the control method t of the camera body 2.

In addition, in the electric circuit of the electronic flash device main body 1, ?
In order to generate a voltage at the contact terminal a upon completion of charging, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 12, K may be used to directly lead to the operating voltage of the N lamp. Further, the electronic flash device main body 1 may employ a dimming method based on parallel control ('bypass control), or it may of course be one that does not have such a dimming function.

As described above, this electronic flash device consists of an electronic device, an optical device main body 1, an auxiliary frame 6-4e 6-2 e6-s, which is attached to the flash device main body 1 and is used integrally.
The auxiliary mounts 6 e6 e6 are adapted to camera bodies having different control blades and types, and to the contact configuration of the mount 3. In addition, each auxiliary frame 6, ε
, 6-1 -2 -5 each have a pedestal structure that can be attached only to the electronic flash device body 1, which prevents incorrect attachment and combination with other electronic flash devices incorporating different electronic circuits. It's a trap so you can escape. .

Therefore, the electronic flash device main body 1 itself functions as an independent electronic flash device, and can be used by being directly attached to the mount 3 of the camera main body 2, and is compatible with the control method of the camera main body 2 used. Auxiliary frame 6-, , 6-2.6. ~
If this alternatively selected auxiliary stand ε is attached to the mounting section 5, it functions as an electronic flash device that satisfies other specifications. However, in this case,
The auxiliary mount 6 receives the charging completion signal detected via the trigger contact terminal 5c of the flash device main body 1, generates a control signal to be given to the camera main body 2, and sends the control signal terminal 8. This is supplied to the camera body 2 via e. Therefore, in the camera body 2, this control signal is obtained, for example.

It becomes possible to control automatic switching from automatic fog shooting mode to flash photography mode - and at this time, the camera body 2
Since the auxiliary pedestal 6 having a contact configuration compatible with the pedestal 3 is used, it goes without saying that electrical signals can be properly transmitted and received between the two.

In addition, the auxiliary frame 6 shown in FIG.
According to the electric circuit configuration, the trigger signal transmission circuit between the trigger terminal and the synchro contact terminal and the control signal generation circuit are electrically connected to each other by the diode 81, so that the lateral pressure on the camera body 2 is generated. Unexpected accidents such as an inadvertent voltage signal flowing into the electronic flash device main body 1% 4 and thereby causing a failure of the flash device main body 1 are prevented. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 10(b), since a control signal whose voltage level is limited (adjusted) is generated by the Zener diode 36, unintended voltage may be applied to the control circuit of the camera body 20, causing a malfunction. Problems like this can also be prevented.

When using the electronic flash device main body 1 alone,
By simply connecting the synchronizer contact, the flash light emission can be synchronized with the shirt release of the camera body 2. If the auxiliary mount 6 is also used, the control signal can be sent to the flash device body in accordance with the control method. When the flash light emission preparation of 1 is completed, the camera body jK is given, and after switching the shooting mode of the camera and 2 main body 2, it becomes possible to synchronize with the shirt tally rise through the synchronization contact and perform the flash light emission. . Therefore, by selectively using the auxiliary pedestal 6 according to the type of camera body 2 being used, the operability can be simplified, and when the auxiliary pedestal 6 is not required, the electronic flash device body 1 can be used independently. It can be used for a wide range of purposes.

In addition, as mentioned above, if the auxiliary stand 6 is not used properly, the protrusion 9
Since it is possible to prevent the occurrence of malfunctions and accidents due to incorrect usage, it is possible to effectively prevent malfunctions and accidents caused by incorrect usage.

Note that the present invention is not limited only to the above embodiments. For example, the attachment of the auxiliary frame 6 is the contact configuration in the part 8, 1) q! Even if the arrangement position of the iK control signal terminal 8@ is determined to be compatible with those other than those illustrated in FIG. 2, it is possible to set the AI! There is also a type of camera body, but in this case, for example, if the TTL automatic optical control signal terminal is ignored, its misuse can be prevented. That is, only the photographing mode switching control signal is generated when the flash device body 1 is ready for flash emission, and
By giving c, the number of camera body 2 models with control systems compatible with this can be increased. Furthermore, the structure of the auxiliary pedestal 6 and the structure for preventing connection with an electronic flash device other than the electronic flash device main body 1 having a different electric circuit can also be modified in various ways. It goes without saying that the electric circuits of the flash device main body 1 and the auxiliary pedestal C can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof.

As explained above, the present invention includes an auxiliary pedestal installed between the electronic flash device main body and the mount of the camera body, and the electronic flash device main body can of course be used alone. An auxiliary stand is attached to make it an integrated device, and the control method of the camera 2 body and the stand 11! It can function as an electronic flash device that can provide control signals that match the point configuration and satisfy its specifications. In addition, this makes it possible to adapt the auxiliary mount to the specifications of the camera used, allowing for a wide range of uses without being restricted by the camera being used. It has a tremendous effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the attachment of an electronic flash device to a camera body;
Figures 2 (,) to (d) are diagrams illustrating various different mouse contact configurations of the mount of the camera body, Figure tJX3 is a diagram showing an overview of the present invention, and Figure 4 is a diagram of an embodiment of the device of the present invention. Schematic configuration diagram,
Figure 5 is a perspective view of the auxiliary pedestal, Figure 6 is a diagram showing the contact configuration of the auxiliary pedestal, and Figure 7 0) to (-) are other structural examples of the auxiliary pedestal and their functions. Figure 8 is a block diagram showing an example of an electric circuit of an electronic flash device; Figure 9 is a block diagram showing an example of a dimming circuit included in the electric circuit shown in Figure 8;
FIG. 10(a) is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of each auxiliary frame for each air circuit. 1...Electronic flash device body, 2--Camera body, 3...
- Frame, 5... Installation is part, 6-- Auxiliary frame, 1...
Frame part, 8... Mounting part, 9... Protrusion, 10... Recess, 11... Power supply, IS... Inverter circuit, -1
4.-Capacitor, 15..BCB, xr;-..Flatsier lamp, 17..N.Lande circuit, 18..
・8CR, jJ-dimmer circuit, 24・-8CB, 11-diode, J 2 e 33 * J J ”・Resistance,
34...Transistor, 36...Zener diode. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Takeshi Suzue Syllable 1 Figure 3

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An electronic flash device main body equipped with a flash discharge tube and a power supply unit that drives the flash discharge tube, and a trigger signal terminal provided in the power supply section of the electronic flash device main body and a synchronization contact terminal of the camera body. The interconnected bird is a signal transmission circuit, and this bird obtains the operating voltage of the power supply section generated at the trigger signal terminal of the signal transmission circuit, generates a control signal, and converts this control signal into a control signal of the camera body. An electronic flash device characterized by being equipped with a control signal circuit that supplies the terminal! . (2)) The J signal transmission circuit has a diode interposed between the connection terminal of the trigger signal terminal and the connection terminal of the synchro contact terminal, and the control signal is transmitted once through the diode. 2. An electronic flash device according to claim 1, which is isolated from a light source. (3) The control signal circuit receives the operating voltage of the power supply unit generated at the connection terminal of the trigger signal terminal, and converts this operating voltage into a control signal of a voltage matching the control signal circuit level of the camera body via a constant voltage diode. An electronic flash device according to claim 1, which generates and outputs.