JPH02154239A - Camera incorporating red-eye preventing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an undesirable photograph from being taken by providing an information means for informing a person to be photographed of the number of light emitting times of a light emitting device for preventing red-eye preceding the actuation of the light emitting device for preventing red-eye and making the person to be photographed watch a camera until completing photographing. CONSTITUTION:The light emitting device for preventing red-eye 11 is provided with a xenon tube Xe2 which emits light with which the pupils of man's eyes are made small, a capacitor 11a, a charging circuit 11b for the capacitor, and a light emission circuit 11c which controls the start of light emission. When an actuation signal is inputted in a light emission circuit 10c from a CPU 1, the xenon tube Xe2 emits the light to perform what is called pre-irradiation. At the time of photographing with flash light accompanied with the pre-irradiation for preventing red-eye, that the light is emitted twice by the half-depressing operation of a release button is displayed by LEDs 21 and 22. Since both a photographer and the person to be photographed can be informed that the light is emitted twice preceding photographing, the person to be photographed watches the camera and does not turn the face sideways or change the facial expression until the second light emission, that means, completing photographing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a camera incorporating a red-eye prevention device for preventing red-eye phenomenon during flash photography.

B. Prior Art The red-eye phenomenon refers to a phenomenon in which human eyes appear to glow red or gold when photographing in color using an electronic flash device. This phenomenon occurs when the flash of light from the light emitting unit of the electronic flash device passes through the pupil of the eye and is reflected by the #1 pancreas, and the reflected light is captured on film. There are many capillaries in the retina of the eye, and the hemoglobin in the blood is red, so the reflected light appears reddish.

It has been empirically determined that the red-eye phenomenon appears conspicuously in photographs under the following conditions.

1) When the photographing environment is dark The size of the pupil of the human eye changes depending on the surrounding brightness, and when it is dark, the diameter expands to about 7 to 8 square centimeters.

At this time, since the amount of light incident on the eye and the amount of reflected light increase, the red-eye phenomenon is naturally more noticeable.

2) When the distance between the light emitting part of the electronic flash device and the optical axis of the photographing lens is close, the retina of the eye has a fairly high reflectance and also has high reflection directionality. Therefore, if the light emitting part of the electronic flash device and the optical axis of the photographing lens are close to each other, and there are three elements (light emitting part, photographing lens, and eye) in a positional relationship where the light regularly reflected by the retina easily enters the photographing lens, red-eye occurs strongly. That is, when the angle at which the photographic lens and the light emitting part of the flash light source are viewed by the eyes of the person who is the subject is less than a certain small angle, red eye always occurs. Empirically, this angle is approximately 2-2.5 degrees. Therefore, red-eye can be prevented by moving the light emitting part of the electronic flash device away from the optical axis of the photographic lens, but there is a limit depending on the distance from the camera to the subject (hereinafter referred to as subject distance), and the subject distance is greater than a predetermined value. It is difficult to avoid red eyes.

Therefore, a technique for preventing the red-eye phenomenon has been proposed, for example, in 1952 of RPSA JOURNALJ.
The July 2016 issue discloses a method to prevent red-eye by letting your eyes get used to a bright environment before taking a photo, and then firing the flash while your pupils are reduced to less than 3 phoenixes. Moreover, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-48088, 11! A technique has been disclosed in which a light emitting section of an electronic flash device emits light to take a photograph when the hole has approximately the minimum diameter. Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-9130, two flash discharge tubes are provided, and after one discharge tube emits a flash of light to close the pupil, the second discharge tube emits the main light to perform the actual photographing. A method is disclosed. One more light emitted.

An apparatus that performs the above-mentioned pre-irradiation two or more times has also been proposed.

However, in a camera that performs such pre-irradiation,
Since the flash fires multiple times during flash photography, the subject may mistake the pre-flash for the main flash, thinking that the pre-flash is the end of the shot, and may turn to the side or change his/her facial expression during actual shooting. , Therefore, there is a possibility that a desired photograph may be taken.

A technical problem of the present invention is to notify the person to be photographed of the number of times of light emission in advance.

Means for Solving Problem D1 To explain with reference to FIG. 1, which is a diagram corresponding to the claims, the camera with a built-in red-eye prevention device according to the present invention has a main flash device 101 that emits illumination light for object illumination, and a human pupil. A red-eye prevention light-emitting device 102 that emits illumination light toward a subject that reduces the size of the image, a control means 103 that operates the red-eye prevention light-emitting device 102 one or more times before the main flash device 101 emits light, and a control means Prior to the activation of the red-eye prevention light-emitting device 102 under the control of the red-eye prevention light-emitting device 102, at least a notification means 104 is provided for notifying the person to be photographed of the number of times the red-eye prevention light-emitting device 102 emits light. solve.

The E1 effect notification means 104 notifies the person to be photographed of at least the number of times the red-eye prevention light-emitting device 102 emits light before the red-eye prevention light-emitting device 102 is activated. This allows the person to be photographed to know the number of times the light is emitted at the time of photographing, prior to photographing, and to pay attention to the camera until the photographing is completed.

F. Embodiment 1 First Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 2 to 10.

In FIG. 2 showing the overall configuration, the CPUI includes a lens drive circuit 2, a focus detection circuit 3, and a transmission line No. 43 BLI. at! Optical circuit 4. A camera control circuit 5 is connected. The focus detection circuit 3 has a pair of light receiving elements made of, for example, a CCD, and forms a pair of subject images on these light receiving elements via a photographing lens RE and a pair of lenses (not shown). A focus detection signal representing the amount and direction of deviation between the imaging plane of the subject and the planned imaging plane is output to the CPUI based on the electrical signals from the CPU.

The photometry circuit 4 has a light receiving element that receives light from a subject, and outputs the output of this light receiving element to the CPUI as photometry data.

The camera control circuit 5 is connected to an exposure control device 6 such as an aperture and a shutter, and a display device 7 such as a liquid crystal display. The camera control circuit 5 displays information related to photography, such as exposure value and shutter speed, on a display device 7 based on instructions from the CPU 1, and also drives an exposure control device 6 to perform photography.

A motor 9 that drives the focusing lens 8 is connected to the lens drive circuit 2, and the motor 9 is driven and controlled by a lens drive signal from the CPUI to drive the focusing lens 8.
Focusing is performed by driving the
The lens drive signal is based on the focus detection signal described above.
This is a signal generated by the UI.

Further, an external electronic flash device 10 and a red-eye prevention light emitting device 11 formed integrally with the electronic flash device 10 are connected to the CPUI.

The electronic flash device 10 includes a xenon tube Xs as a light emitting element.
1. This main capacitor 10a stores charging charge for this canon tube Xe1 light emission, this main capacitor 10a
It has a charging circuit 10b that charges the xenon tube Xsl, and a light emitting circuit 10c that controls the start and end of light emission of the xenon tube Xsl. The charging circuit 10b has completed charging the main capacitor loa,
When the xenon tube Xel becomes capable of emitting light, a charge completion signal is output to the CPU 1. When this charge completion signal is input, the CPUI outputs a light emission start signal to the light emission circuit 10c in response to turning on of the full-press switch SW2, which will be described later. In response to this, the light emitting circuit LOc supplies the charged charge of the main capacitor lOa to the cannon tube Xe1.
1 starts emitting light. Furthermore, when a light emission stop signal is input from the CPU to the light emission circuit 10c during light emission, the charging charge supplied to the cannon tube Xe1 is cut off and the cannon tube Xe1 is turned off.
stops emitting light. The amount of light emitted from the cannon tube Xal is measured by the light control circuit 12, and the CPU
is input and compared with the predetermined standard light emission amount for dimming,
When this value is exceeded, C:PUl outputs a light emission stop signal.

The red eye prevention light emitting device 11 includes a cannon tube Xa2 that emits light that shrinks the pupil of the human eye.

It has a capacitor lla, a charging circuit 11b thereof, and a light emitting circuit 11c that controls the start of one light emission.
emits light to perform so-called pre-irradiation, and this light emission is extremely short pulsed light emission.

Furthermore, switches SW1 to SW3 are connected to the CPUI. Switches SWI and SW2 are.

This is a switch that is linked to the operation of a release button (not shown).
Switch SW1 is turned on when the release button is pressed halfway, and switch SW2 is turned on when the release button is pressed fully. When the switch SWI is turned on, the CPU activates the above-mentioned focus detection circuit 3 and photometry circuit 4, and calculates the distance fllD (FIG. 8) to the subject based on the focus detection signal input from the focus detection circuit 3. A lens drive amount for guiding the focusing lens 8 to the in-focus position is calculated.Next, based on this lens drive amount, a lens drive signal is output to the lens drive circuit 2 in order to drive the focusing lens 8 to the in-focus position. Further, when the switch SWI is turned on, the subject brightness B is calculated based on the photometric data from the photometric circuit 4. Thereafter, when the switch SW2 is turned on, the exposure control device 6 is driven via the camera control circuit 5 to take a photograph, and at this time, the electronic flash device 10 and the red-eye prevention light emitting device 11 are activated as necessary.

The switch SW3 is a switch that is turned on in conjunction with the operation of a red-eye prevention release button (not shown), and when the switch SW3 is turned on, the CPU 1 prohibits the operation of the red-eye prevention light emitting device 11.

Furthermore, the display circuit 20 of the LEDs 21 and 22 is connected to the CPUI by the above-mentioned signal transmission line BLI. The LED 21 is provided on the front of the camera (a position that can be seen by the person being photographed), and the LED 22 is provided in the viewfinder,
That is, it is provided at a position where the photographer can confirm it.

As shown in FIG. 9, the display circuit 20 has input terminals I0.
I2. CLOCK, RESET and AND gate circuit 2
3, 24, 25, an OR gate circuit 26, and flip-flops FFI and FF2. Display switching signal input terminals I, , I, are AND game 1 to circuit 23, 24.2
5 input terminals, respectively, and the basic clock terminal C
LOCK is connected to the input terminals of AND gate circuits 24 and 25 and the terminal T of flip-flop FFI, respectively. A lock signal as shown in FIG. 10(d) is input from the CPU to the terminal CLOCK. In addition, the terminal RESET is connected to flip-flops FFI, FF
It is connected to the reset terminal R of 2, and the flip-flop FF
Terminal Q of I is connected to terminal T of flip-flop FF2. Terminal Q of each flip-flop FFI and FF2
are connected to the respective terminals.

The output terminal of A N D goo 8 circuit 23, 24.25 is O
are connected to the input terminals of the R gate circuit 26, and are connected to the input terminals of the R gate circuit 26.
The output terminal of gate circuit 26 is connected to the base of NPN transistor 27. The emitter of transistor 27 is grounded, and the collector is grounded.

It is connected to the power supply via the above-mentioned LEDs 21, 22 and resistors 28, 29. When the output of the OR gate circuit 26 becomes high level, the transistor 27 is turned on, thereby lighting up the LEDs 21 and 22. The CPUI has an input terminal 11. , I, and outputs a predetermined signal to L as described later.
Turn on or blink ED21 and 22.

Furthermore, when the switch SWI is turned on and the conditions for flash photography are established, the CPU determines whether or not the photography conditions are such that a red-eye phenomenon occurs, as will be described later, based on the calculated subject distance and subject brightness level.

If the shooting conditions are such that red-eye occurs and the switch SW3 is off, a red-eye determination signal is output to set the red-eye prevention mode, and the red-eye determination signal is output via the display circuit 20 as will be described in detail later. In this embodiment, the number of times of light emission is displayed by the LEDs 21 and 22, the number of times of light emission is displayed by the electronic flash device 10 and the red-eye prevention light emitting device l! ll
The total number of times of light emission is "2".

Thereafter, when the switch SW2 is turned on, the CPU outputs an activation signal to the red-eye prevention light emitting device 11 to perform flash illumination, and after 0.75 seconds has elapsed, the CPU transmits the red-eye prevention light emitting device 11 to the exposure control device via the camera control circuit 5. 6 and outputs a light emission start signal to the light emitting circuit 10c. In the configuration of the above embodiment, the electronic flash device 10 functions as the main flash device 101, the CPUI functions as the control means 103, and the display circuit 20 functions as the display device 1t104. Configure each.

Next, based on the flowcharts in FIGS. 3 to 7,
The control procedure using the UI will be explained.

When the half-press switch SWI is turned on, the program shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is started, and first, in step S1 of FIG. 3, the memory is reset to the initial value and each circuit is reset. As a result, the focus detection circuit 3 and the photometry circuit 4 convert the detection results of the respective light receiving elements into electrical signals and input them to the CPU 1.Next, in step S2, the focus detection signal from the focus detection circuit 3 is read, and in step S3
The subject ratio is i1! D is calculated and the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the focusing lens 8
In step S5, a lens drive signal is output to the lens drive circuit 2, and the motor 9 drives the focusing lens 8 to the focus position.

Next, in step S6, the photometric data from the photometric circuit 4 is read, and in step S7, the subject brightness B is calculated based on this photometric data, and in step S8 of FIG. Calculate speed and aperture value. These shutter speed and aperture value are output to the camera control circuit 5 in step S9.

The camera control circuit 5 displays these values on the display device 7.

Next, the process advances to step S10, and it is determined whether or not the electronic flash bag @10 is used for photographing. This is an example.

It is determined whether the use of the electronic flash device 10 is prohibited by an electronic flash device prohibition switch (not shown) or whether it is necessary to use the electronic flash device 10 based on the level of subject brightness B. If step S10 is affirmed, the charging circuit 10b is activated to start charging, and the process advances to step Sll. If step S10 is negative, the process proceeds to step S46, and the terminals 11. of the display circuit 20 are used to display the fact that flash photography will not be performed using the LEDs 21.22. I.

(Fig. 9) are both set to low level, and the process proceeds to step S14. As a result, the outputs of the AND gate circuits 23, 24, and 25 are both low level, and the output of the OR gate circuit 26 is low level, so the transistor 27 is not turned on. , L
Both EDs 21 and 22 remain off. Step S
In Step 14, the red-eye prevention mode is canceled and the process proceeds to Step S.
Return to 2.

In step Sll, it is determined whether or not charging of the main capacitor 10a of the electronic flash bag @10 is completed based on whether or not a charging completion signal is output from the charging circuit 10b. When a charging completion signal is output from the charging circuit 10b and step Sll is affirmed, the process proceeds to step s12.
If the charging completion signal has not been output and step Sll is negative, the process advances to step S45. In step S45, the terminal is set to high level and the terminal T is set to high level to indicate that charging is not completed.
2 is set as a low level and the process proceeds to step S14. As a result, the outputs of the AND gate circuits 23 and 25 become low level, and the output of the AND gate circuit 24 becomes the terminal CLOCK.
The clock signal (FIG. 10(d)) is intermittently set to high level by the input of the clock signal (FIG. 10(d)). Therefore, the output of the OR gate circuit 26 similarly becomes intermittently high level, and the transistor 27 turns on and off according to this output, causing the LED 2 to turn on and off.
1.22 flash together.

In step S12, it is determined whether the photographing conditions are such that red eye occurs. In this embodiment, the possibility of red eye occurrence can be determined based on the subject distance and subject brightness B as shown below.

As shown in FIG. 8, lI! When P is imprinted on a photograph, 1MP is the angle at which the taking lens RE and xenon tube Xel are viewed, that is, the straight line Q passing through the center of the pupil P and the taking lens RE, the center of llP and the xenon tube Xel of the electronic flash device 10. When the angle θ with the straight line Q2 that passes through is less than about 2 degrees, red eyes occur frequently. Now, assuming that the distance between the optical axes of the photographing lens RE and the xenon tube Xal is H,
Angle 0 is expressed as tanθ=H/D, and from this formula, the subject ratio HD is D=H/la
It can be expressed as nθ - (1). Therefore, for example, the photographing lens RE and the electronic flash bag @1
When the optical axis amount ratio JIH of the xenon tube Xa1 of
Red eyes.

The subject distance is approximately D=28.6X0. It can be considered that this occurs at lm=2.86m or more. therefore,(
The subject distance determined by formula 1) can be used as a reference value for determining the photographing conditions under which red eye occurs.

On the other hand, when the subject brightness B is so high as to exceed the predetermined reference value, the pupils are closed, so the red-eye phenomenon hardly occurs. In other words, it can be said that red eye occurs when the subject brightness is below a predetermined reference value at which the human pupil becomes large enough to cause red eye.

From the above, in this embodiment, if the detected subject distance is greater than or equal to the reference value of 2.86 m and the subject brightness B is less than or equal to the predetermined reference value, it is determined that red eye occurs, and step S12 If these conditions are met, the process proceeds to step S42; if not, the process proceeds to step S44.
Proceed to. Note that the above-mentioned distance H is, for example,
A signal corresponding to the height position of the xenon tube Xel is input to the camera side from the 0 side, and is calculated within the CPUI.

In step S44, terminals I, , and r are both set to high level in order to display that this is normal photography without red-eye prevention and that charging is complete, and then in step S44
Proceed to step 4. As a result, the output of the AND gate circuit 23 becomes high level and the output of the OR gate circuit 26 also becomes high level, so that the transistor 27 is turned on continuously and the transistor 87 is turned on.

In step S42, it is determined whether the switch SW3 is on or not. If the answer is yes, the process proceeds to step S44, and if the answer is negative, the red eye prevention mode is set in step S13. Thereafter, in step S43, the number of times of light emission is displayed.
As shown in Figures (b) and (c), the terminal is at low level,
Set terminal 1□ to high level and set terminal RESET
is set to high level (time T2) and returns to step S2.
Repeat the above process.

Here, FIG. 10 shows temporal changes in the No. 1 level of each terminal force, and 1 time point T1 is the time point when the half-press switch SW1 is turned on. Through the process of step S43, the outputs of the AND gate circuits 23 and 24 both become low level. on the other hand,
A clock signal from the terminal CLOCK is input to the terminal T of the flip-flop FF1, and the output from the terminal Q is as shown in FIG. 10(f). The output of this terminal Q is.

The signal is input to the terminal T of the flip-flop FF2, and the output from the terminal Q is as shown in FIG. 10(g). AN
The output of the terminal Q of this flip-flop FF2 and the clock signal from the terminal CLOCK are input to the D gate circuit 25, so that the output of the OR gate circuit 26 is output from time T2 to T3 as shown in FIG. 10(h). It becomes high level twice during that time, then becomes low level between time points T3 and T4, and becomes high level twice again between time points T4 and T5. This process is repeated while the switch SWI is on. The transistor 27 is an OR gate circuit 26
It turns on and off according to the output of the LE.
D21.22 repeats blinking twice at predetermined time intervals as shown in FIG. 10(i) while the switch SWI is on. These two times indicate the number of times the light is emitted during photographing.

When the fully pressed switch SW2 (Fig. 2) is turned on in this state, the interrupt routine shown in Figs. It is determined whether or not the prevention mode is set, and if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S24, and if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S22.In step S22, an activation signal is output to the red-eye prevention light emitting device 11. Flash the xenon tube Xe2.

That is, pre-irradiation is performed. As a result, the person who is the subject visually sees the flash of light from the canon tube Xe2, and the pupils of his eyes close.

Next, in step S23, after the cannon tube Xa2 emits light, the
．． It is determined whether 75 seconds have elapsed. This is timed by, for example, operating a timer at the same time as the light emission start command is given to the xenon tube Xe2. When the determination in step S23 is negative, the process remains in step S23 and waits for the above-mentioned delay time until the determination in step S23 is affirmative.

If an affirmative determination is made, the process advances to step S24. Step S2
4, the aperture is driven via the camera control circuit 5, the main mirror is raised in step S25, and the front shutter curtain is moved in step S26. Thereafter, in step S27 of FIG. 6, it is determined whether or not the electronic flash device [10] is used.

If step S27 is denied, proceed to step 831,
It is determined whether a predetermined shirt shutter opening time has elapsed. If step S31 is negative, the process remains in step 531 and waits for a predetermined shutter open time until the result is affirmative, and if the result is affirmative, the rear shutter curtain is moved in step S34 of FIG. 7, and the main mirror is lowered in step S35. Terminate the process.

If step S27 is affirmed, the process advances to step 828,
Determine whether the shutter is fully open.

If step 828 is negative, the process remains in step 828 and waits for the shutter to fully open until the result is affirmative. If step 828 is affirmative, a light emission start signal is output to the light emitting circuit 10c of the electronic flash device [10] and the cannon tube Xel is activated. Start emitting light. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S30, where it is determined whether or not the shutter open time has reached the synchro synchronization time, and if it is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S34.

If step S30 is negative, the process proceeds to step S32,
It is determined whether the amount of light emitted from the cannon tube Xel has reached a predetermined value. This is measured by the light control circuit 12 mentioned above.
This is done based on photometric data input to the PUI. If step S32 is negative, the process returns to step S30, and if positive, a light emission stop signal is output to the light emitting circuit 10c in step S33 to stop the light emission of the cannon tube Xal.

The process then proceeds to step S34. As a result, flash photography is performed when the pupil of the eye is at its minimum, thereby preventing the occurrence of red eye.

According to the above procedure, during flash photography with pre-irradiation to prevent red-eye, the LEDs 21 and 22 display a message that light emission will be performed twice by pressing the release button halfway. Then, pre-irradiation (first light emission) occurs when the release button is operated.
is performed, and then, after 0.75 seconds have elapsed, photographing with main flash (second flash) is performed. This allows both the photographer and the person to be photographed to know that the number of flashes will be fired twice prior to shooting, so the person to be photographed will keep their eyes on the camera until the second flash, that is, the end of the shooting. He never turns to the side or changes his expression.

Of the LEDs 21 and 22, the LED 21 on the camera surface
may also be used as, for example, an LED that indicates when a self-timer is measuring.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 11 to 14. In addition, FIGS. 4 and 5.

The same parts or steps as in FIG. 9 are given the same reference numerals, and only the differences will be explained.

In FIG. 11, the output terminal Q of the flip-flop FFI is connected to the terminal T of the flip-flop FF2, and is also connected to the input terminal of the OR gate circuit 31. Also, the output terminal Q of flip-flop FF2 is also O.
It is connected to an input terminal of an R gate circuit 31, and an output terminal of the OR gate circuit 31 is connected to an input terminal of an AND gate circuit 30.

Here, in order to more reliably prevent red-eye during flash photography, the camera of this embodiment performs pre-irradiation twice by the red-eye prevention light-emitting device 11 prior to the main flash by the electronic flash device 10 (FIG. 2). That is, light emission is performed three times in total including the main light emission.

FIG. 13 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4 of the first embodiment. If step S42 is negative, the red-eye prevention mode is set in step S13, and the display circuit 20 (see FIG. ) is set to low level and terminal I2 is set to high level. As a result, the outputs of the AND gate circuits 23 and 24 both become low level as described above. Since the outputs of the terminals Q of the flip-flops FFI and FF2 are as shown in FIGS. 12(f) and (g), respectively, as described above, the output of the OR gate circuit 31 is as shown in FIG. 12(j). Also.

A clock signal from the terminal CLOCK is input to the AND gate circuit 30, and therefore, the output of the OR gate circuit 26 is output at times T2 to T as shown in FIG. 12(h).
It becomes high level three times during 3, and then from time T3 to T
During 4, it becomes low level and at 1 point T, again at 3 from 4 to T5.
times will be at a high level. This process is repeated while the switch SWI is on. The transistor 27 is O
It is turned on and off according to the output of the R gate circuit 26, and as a result of its operation, the LEDs 21 and 22 repeat blinking three times at predetermined time intervals as shown in FIG. 12(i) while the switch SW1 is on. These three times indicate the number of times the light is emitted during photographing.

When the fully pressed switch SW2 (FIG. 2) is turned on in this state, the interrupt routine shown in FIG. 14 is activated. This FIG. 14 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 5 described above. First, in step S47, the LEDs 21 and 22 are turned off.Next, in step S21, it is determined whether or not the red-eye prevention mode is set, and if an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step S22, and an activation signal is output to the red-eye prevention light emitting device 11. to cause the xenon tube Xa2 to emit flash light. That is, the first pre-irradiation is performed. As a result, the person who is the subject visually sees the flash of light from the canon tube Xe2, and the pupils of his eyes close.

Next, in step S61, after the cannon tube Xe2 emits light, the
．． It is determined whether 4 seconds have elapsed. If a negative determination is made, the process remains in step S61 and waits for the above-mentioned delay time until a positive determination is made, and if a positive determination is made, the process proceeds to step S62. In step S62, an activation signal is again output to the red-eye prevention light emitting device 11 to cause the cannon tube Xa2 to emit light. That is, the second pre-irradiation is performed. As a result, the person who is the subject visually observes the flash of light from the xenon tube Xe2 again, so even if the pupil does not close during the first pre-irradiation, the pupil will surely close during the second pre-irradiation. Thereafter, steps S24 to S26 are performed, and the process proceeds to step S27 in FIG.

According to the above procedure, during flash photography with pre-irradiation to prevent red-eye, the LEDs 21 and 22 display a message indicating that light emission will be performed three times by pressing the release button halfway. When the release button is fully pressed, pre-irradiation is performed twice, and then photographing with main flashing is performed. As a result, the person being photographed.

Prior to photographing, it can be known that the number of times of light emission is three, and the same effect as described above can be obtained.

-Third Embodiment- Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 15 and 16.

In FIG. 15, the terminal ILI2 of the display circuit 40 is
It is connected to the input terminals of AND gate circuits 41, 42, and 43, respectively, and the terminal CLOCK is connected to the input terminal of AND gate circuit 42.

The outputs of the AND gate circuits 41, 42, and 43 are connected to the input terminals of the OR gate circuit 44, respectively, and
The output terminal of the ND gate circuit 43 is a transistor 46.4
7, the output terminal of the OR gate circuit 44 is connected to the transistor 4.
5, respectively. Transistors 45, 46
．． The emitter of 47 is grounded, and the collector is LED48a.
, 48b and 49a, 49b and 50a, 50b and resistor 51
and are respectively connected to the power supply via. Here, L
ED48a, 49a, 50a are provided on the front side of the camera (at a position visible to the person being photographed), and LED48b, 49
b, 50b are provided within the finder. Also, in this embodiment, pre-light emission is performed twice before the main light emission.

FIG. 16 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4 of the first embodiment.

If step SIO is denied, proceed to step S46,
Turn off all LEDs. Further, if step Sll is negative, the process proceeds to step S54, where terminal I is set to high level and terminal I is set to low level. This allows AND
Since the output of the gate circuit 42 becomes high level and the output of the AND gate circuits 43 and 45 becomes low level, only the transistor 45 is intermittently turned on and the LED 48a is turned on.

48b blinks, and LEDs 49a, 49b, 50a.

50b remains off. In other words, the photographer.

Both subjects can recognize that only one LED is blinking. This is a display indicating that charging is not completed.

Furthermore, if step S12 or S42 is negative, the process proceeds to step S56, where both terminals □ and 2 are set to high level. As a result, only the output of the AND gate circuit 41 becomes high level, so that only the transistor 45 is turned on continuously.

LEDs 48a and 48b light up. In other words, the photographer,
Both subjects can recognize that only one LED is lit. This is a display indicating that pre-irradiation is not performed and charging is complete.

Furthermore, if step S42 is affirmed, step S
13, the process proceeds to step S55, where the terminal 11 is set to low level and the terminal 2 is set to high level.

As a result, only the output of the AND gate circuit 43 becomes high, so all the transistors 45, 46, 47 are turned on continuously, and as a result, all the LEDs light up.

This allows both the photographer and the person being photographed to know that 3 LEDs are lit, that is, the light will be emitted 3 times! !
I can understand. Thereafter, when the switch SW2 is turned on, the program shown in FIG. 14 described above is executed.

In the above description, the number of times of light emission is displayed by lighting the LED, but the number of times of light emission may be displayed by blinking the LED.

1. Fourth Embodiment Next, based on FIGS. 17 and 18, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
An example will be explained.

In the camera of this embodiment, a 7-segment LED 60 as shown in Fig. 17 is provided on the camera surface (at a position visible to the photographed person) and in the viewfinder, which numerically indicates the number of times the light is emitted. . In this embodiment as well, pre-light emission is performed twice prior to the 5-light emission.

FIG. 18 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4 of the first embodiment. If step 810 is negative, step 860
All segments of the D60 are turned off, and a display indicating that flash photography will not be performed is displayed. Further, if step 811 is negative, all segments are made to blink in step S57 to indicate that charging is not completed, and furthermore, in step S12 or S
If 42 is negative, in step 859 only two segments are turned on or blinked, and a number indicating "1" is displayed, as shown in FIG. 17(a). This "1" indicates that the number of times of light emission is one and that charging is complete.

Furthermore, if step S42 is denied, step S
13, the process advances to step 858, where the three segments are lit or flashed as shown in FIG. 17(b), and r3
A number indicating J is displayed.

This "3" indicates that the number of times the light is emitted is three times (two pre-irradiations and the main light emission).

In the second to fourth embodiments described above, the pre-irradiation for red-eye prevention is performed twice before the main flash is emitted.
The present invention can also be applied to cases where the test is carried out three or more times. Further, the number of times of light emission during pre-irradiation may be made variable depending on the subject distance. In this case, the display of the number of times of light emission by the LED also needs to be changed according to the actual number of times of light emission.

Furthermore, in the first to fourth embodiments described above, the number of times of one light emission is L.
Although this is displayed in the ED, the number of times the light is emitted may be announced by voice.For example, a buzzer or the like may be used to generate an intermittent sound that is equal to the number of times the light is emitted. .

Furthermore, the LED inside the viewfinder and the LED on the outside of the camera
D, the number of times the light is emitted is displayed, but the display may be made only by the LED on the outside of the camera. That is, it is sufficient that at least the person to be photographed can confirm the number of times the light is emitted.

Further, although the total number of times of light emission for pre-irradiation and main light emission is notified, only the number of times of light emission for pre-irradiation may be notified.

Furthermore, although an example in which an external electronic flash device is attached has been shown, the present invention can also be applied to a camera having a built-in electronic flash device.

Furthermore, although an example has been shown in which the electronic flash device is automatically activated when the subject is dark, the main flash may be performed manually in conjunction with the release operation.

Furthermore, the camera side automatically determines red eye detection based on the subject distance and subject brightness B, and performs pre-irradiation by pressing the release button fully, but the camera does not determine whether red eye has occurred, and the photographer It may also be possible to operate an operation switch upon determining that the photographing conditions are such that red-eye occurs, and when a release operation is performed at this time, blurring illumination is performed.

G0 Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, before the red-eye prevention pre-irradiation that precedes the main flash, at least the number of flashes for this pre-irradiation is notified to the person to be photographed, so that the person to be photographed is aware of the number of flashes to be photographed. You can know the number of flashes in advance, and keep your eyes on the camera until the end of the shot. Therefore, it is possible to prevent undesired photographs from being taken.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The first @ is a complaint correspondence diagram. 2 to 10 show a first embodiment of the present invention, and a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
The figure is a block diagram of the control system of the camera according to the present invention, FIGS. 3 to 7 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure, respectively, FIG.
The figure is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of the light emitting circuit, and FIG. 10 is a time chart showing the signal level of each terminal. 11 to 14 show a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram of a light emitting circuit, FIG. 12 is a time chart showing (No. 8 level), and FIGS. 13 and 14 are FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 show a third embodiment of the present invention, and are a circuit diagram of a light emitting circuit and a flowchart of the processing procedure, respectively. FIGS. 1 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention, a diagram showing seven-segment LEDs, and a flowchart 1 of the processing procedure. 1: CPU 5: Camera control circuit 10
:Electronic flash device 11:Red eye prevention light emitting device 101:Main flash device 102:Red eye prevention light emitting device 103:Control means 104:Notification means Applicant: Nikon Corporation

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A main flash device that emits illumination light for illuminating a subject; a red-eye prevention light emitting device that emits light that shrinks human pupils toward the subject; and light emission of the main flash device. a control means for activating the red-eye prevention light-emitting device one or more times prior to activation of the red-eye prevention light-emitting device; What is claimed is: 1. A camera with a built-in red-eye prevention device, characterized in that the camera is equipped with a notification means for notifying a person to be photographed. 2) The notification means is a blinking display means that gives the notification by blinking, and the control means controls the blinking display means to repeatedly blink the same number of times as the number of times the light is emitted at predetermined intervals. The camera with a built-in red-eye prevention device according to claim 1. 3) The camera with a built-in red-eye prevention device according to claim 2, wherein the blinking display means is a self-timer display means for displaying that time is being counted during self-timer photography. 4) The notification means is constituted by a plurality of lighting display means, and the control means causes the plurality of lighting display means to turn on or blink the same number as the number of times of light emission. A camera with a built-in red-eye prevention device. 5) Claim 1, wherein the notification means is a number display means for displaying numbers, and the control means causes the number display means to display a number indicating the number of light-emitting eyes.
Cameras with a built-in red-eye prevention device as described in . 6) The notification means is a sounding means that generates a sound,
2. The camera with a built-in red-eye prevention device according to claim 1, wherein the control means causes the sound generation means to generate intermittent sounds corresponding to the number of times the light is emitted.