JPH0348569Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a solid state photographic camera having a lens, a variable aperture setting diaphragm, a shutter, a film compartment, and a film transport means.

The object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved photographic camera of very simple and economical design, suitable for automatic or semi-automatic manufacture, which is suitable for automatic or semi-automatic manufacture, and which is suitable for automatic or semi-automatic manufacture, and which is suitable for automatic or semi-automatic manufacture. The present invention relates to a new and improved photographic camera that has significantly greater resistance to mechanical, chemical, and environmental influences.

According to the invention, a solid body comprising a part made of a material substantially transparent to light and forming the path of said camera and another part made of a material substantially opaque to light. an electrically controlled shutter configured as a variable aperture-setting diaphragm, a time-controlled shutter, or a time-controlled variable aperture-setting shutter, the solid body suitably defining the optical elements of the camera; A photographic camera according to solid state technology is provided, characterized in that it is provided with a region with a possible transmission.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the solid body portion defines at least one optical element of the photographic camera and/or includes an area with electrically controllable transmission.

Other features and advantages of the photographic camera according to the invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The camera shown in FIG.
and a transparent portion _41b1 . A transparent portion 41b ₁ is similarly provided at the front of the lens 42 between the lens 42 and the film. Diaphragm 43 and shutter 44 are of conventional mechanical construction. The diaphragm 43 is connected to a lever 43b provided on the outside of the camera by means of a rod-like operating connection 43a.
It is connected to the. The shutter 44 is connected to a release 44b provided on the outside of the camera by a motion coupling portion 44a. The loaded film cassette 48 is inserted into the camera through an opening (not shown). A viewfinder 45 with two lenses 46, 47 is an integral part of the solid body of the camera, with a transparent portion 41b ₂ being provided between the lenses 46 and 47. The dashed line 41c between the viewfinder 45 and the rest of the camera indicates that the demarcation line between the transparent portion _41b2 and the opaque portion 41a need not be a well-defined line.

Referring to FIG. 2, the camera in this example also includes a solid body having an opaque portion 51a and a transparent portion 51b. Objective lens 52 is removably held in mount 54. Within the solid body, approximately 45
A fixed mirror 53, partially transparent and partially reflective, is formed at an angle of 50 degrees. This mirror 53 is provided with a coating that reflects, for example, 50% of the incident light upwardly toward the viewfinder and transmits approximately 50% of the incident light toward an electrically controllable transparent portion 60 of the body portion. There is. The camera's viewfinder is generally designated by the reference numeral 55.
A light measurement element 56 is connected to the electronic circuit 57 . A roll of film 59 extends between two film transport means such as reels 58. The electrically controllable portion 60 is a solid body portion 51
It is an integral part of b.

1 and 2, the solid portion of the illustrated photographic camera may be made of a wide variety of suitable materials and compositions, such as metals, alloys, glass, plastic or synthetic materials, plastic foams, rubber, and many other materials. It can be made from. It goes without saying that the substantially transparent parts 41b ₁ , 41b ₂ and 51b are made of an optically transparent material, such as inorganic or organic glass, quartz or natural or artificial quartz.

Suitable materials for transparent portions 41b ₁ , 41b ₂ and 51b include, for example, polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, polycarbonate, unsaturated polyester, cellulose acetate, cellulose aceto butyrate, cellulose propionate, resin CR-39, Mention may be made of glass, quartz, quartz glass such as spectrosil, crystals such as sodium chloride, potassium bromide or potassium chloride. Needless to say, the material selected depends on the required transmission range and other factors. It will also be clear that in cameras in the ultraviolet or infrared spectral regions, transparent parts made from the materials mentioned later may be used.

The opaque portions 41a and 51a are made opaque to light by applying an opaque coating such as enamel, lacquer, or the like, or by coloring the transparent portion of the solid portion with a suitable dye. This can be achieved by

In the photographic camera according to the invention, the solid portion not only fills the spaces between the various optical and electronic elements or elements of the camera, but also provides a mount for these elements or elements.
That is, it also serves as a mounting part and can replace the entire conventional case of the camera.

In a preferred embodiment, the solid body defines at least one optical element of the photographic camera. That is, in the camera of FIG. 1, a fixed aperture, such as at the location of diaphragm 43, can be formed by an opaque portion. The transparent portion can also be colored to form a film medium as in the camera of FIG. 2, a mirror such as mirror 53, or a shutter such as controllable portion 60 of FIG.

An important and special feature of the invention is that a region of electrically controllable transmission in a solid body can be used instead of the conventional mechanically variable aperture diaphragm and mechanical shutter. It is in.

According to yet another special aspect of the invention, the functions of a variable aperture diaphragm and a shutter can be combined in the same electrically controllable area, and also these functions can be combined with a lens or shutter. The advantage is that it can be integrated into a lens system.

3 to 7 schematically illustrate various embodiments of electrically controllable transmission areas of the transparent portion of the solid body, and in FIG.
A combination of controllable transmittance region and lens system is shown.

Referring to FIG. 3, two substrates 63 and 64 are disposed between two polarizers 61 and 62, and each of these substrates 63 and 64 is coated with an electrode on the side surfaces facing each other. 65 and 66 are provided, and a controllable solid medium 67 is provided between these electrodes. The direction of the incident light is indicated by arrow 68. This structure can be referred to as a lateral cell structure.

In the example of FIG. 4, two polarizers 71 and 72
Between them, four electrodes 73 are arranged so as to extend along a plane parallel to the direction of incident light indicated by an arrow 74. A controllable solid medium 76 is arranged in the space between the electrode 73 and the polarizers 71 and 72. This structure can be referred to as a vertical cell structure. Each electrode 73 is connected to a lead wire, and among these lead wires, the uppermost lead wire and the lowermost lead wire are marked with "0", and the two middle lead wires are respectively marked with "0". Marked with plus and minus signs. These four electrodes 73 define three compartments.

The electrically controllable solid media 67, 76 are
Depending on the cell design, it can be formed from solid or liquid materials. The cell can be realized as a Kerr cell or Pockel cell or as a liquid crystal cell. A few materials that can be used in Kerr cells utilizing the Kerr effect (an effect discovered by J. Kerr in 1875) include, for example, nitrobenzene, carbon disulfide or chloroform. The Pockel cell (F. Pockel's cell, 1893) uses solid crystals. Liquid crystal cells use liquid crystals. In either case, the transmittance of the cell is changed dramatically by applying a voltage to electrode 73 to generate an electrolyte within the cell. While Kerr and Pockel cells require relatively high voltages in the kilovolt range, a bias of a few volts is sufficient for liquid crystals.

The operation of the electrically controllable transmittance region according to the present invention will be briefly described as follows. Referring to FIG. 4, the incident light is linearly, circularly, or elliptically polarized by the first polarizer 71. As shown in FIG. In the upper and lower cells to which no voltage is applied, the polarized light entering the medium 76 from the first polarizer 71 is further polarized within the medium. In the central cells to which voltage is applied, as represented by the leads marked with plus and minus signs, the polarization is not modified by the medium 76 within these central cells. The second polarizer 72 transmits no twice-polarized light to the first polarizer 71 in the upper and lower cells, and in the middle cell the
The light polarized only by the polarizer 71 is
At the rear of the central cell, as shown by an arrow 75, they are arranged so as to be transparent. Needless to say, this arrangement can also be reversed. That is, it can be reversed so that the cells that are not activated, ie, cells that have no voltage applied, transmit light and the activated cells block the passage of light.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a controlled transmittance region according to the present invention in which the functions of a shutter and a variable aperture setting diaphragm are combined. This embodiment has a vertical cell structure of the type shown in FIG.
Polarizers extending in a plane parallel to the plane of the drawing have been omitted for clarity. Also, the concentric annular circular electrode patterns shown are actually part of the transparent portion of the solid body. A controllable medium is disposed within the gap between the concentric electrodes, but this medium has also been omitted for clarity of illustration.

The eight concentric annular electrodes 80 are, for example, f/2.8
They are arranged to correspond to seven different aperture ratios of the objective lens, such as f/16 to f/16. Each electrode 80 is connected by a lead wire to an associated terminal, and these terminals have a "0" through "7" terminal.
is numbered. Each terminal is connected to an associated gate 81. Each of the gates 81 is connected to a microprocessor 82 and a power supply 83, respectively. A light measuring element 84, a film sensitivity controller 85 and a camera release 86 are connected to the input of the microprocessor 82. Reference numeral 87 represents the bus bar. Electronic element 81
85 are camera compartments 57 shown in FIG.
It could be housed inside.

The operation of the structure shown in FIG. 5 will be briefly described as follows. When you press the camera release 86,
Microprocessor 82 compares signals from element 84 and controller 85 to determine exposure time and/or diaphragm aperture setting, as is customary. In a novel manner, microprocessor 82 activates a certain number of gates during a certain exposure time. For example, when the aperture is set to f/8, the microprocessor 82 outputs terminals "0",
Gates 81 connected to "1", "2" and "3" are activated. Therefore, the power supply 83 is connected to the gate 81
Appropriate voltages of opposite polarity are applied to the adjacent terminals and electrodes through the 350 volts to activate the three inner annular cells for the selected exposure time. Exactly the same operation could be obtained with a horizontal cell structure of the type shown in FIG. 3 by properly arranging the cells.

As is clear from the above description, the present invention also provides a larger number of electrodes and cells than those mentioned above to achieve "half aperture", "one third aperture",
To easily make finer adjustments to the decimal point such as "quarter aperture".

FIG. 6 illustrates the controllable transmittance region according to the present invention, which can perform the function of a so-called focus plane shutter. Within the rectangular enclosure 92 extend several equally spaced electrodes 93 parallel to each other and between them several cells 94 for a solid medium (not shown). is defined. Each electrode has an associated terminal 9
5. The operation of this embodiment is similar to the following, except that the shutter can be controlled in several modes.
The operation is similar to that of the embodiment shown in FIG. That is, all cells can be energized or deenergized together, thereby avoiding certain undesirable effects known from focus plane shutters of conventional mechanical design. Not only can you move the shutter from right to left, left to right,
It can operate in the form of a "running optical slit" from the center to both ends or from both ends to the center. Surrounding wall 92 can be omitted. This area can also be realized as a horizontal cell structure, in which case the operation remains unchanged.

In the embodiment of the controllable transmittance region according to the invention shown in FIG. 7, several horizontal and vertical cells are combined in a stacked structure to achieve a high contrast ratio. In this structure, four cells are arranged between two polarizers 101 and 102, and these four cells are arranged on a substrate 10.
They are separated from each other by 3. Each cell contains a controllable medium 104. The first cell adjacent to the polarizer 101, that is, the cell on the left side, has a vertical cell structure of the type shown in FIGS.
Allows for selectively variable aperture settings. The second, third and fourth cells are in the form of vertical cells of the type shown in FIG. The electrodes of these various cells are connected to terminal 105. In this embodiment, the first cell with several concentric compartments has a variable aperture setting and all four cells are adapted to operate as shutters.

In all of the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 3-7, the polarizer properties and the alignment between the polarizers are such that the transmission properties are minimal in one mode and maximal in the other mode. They are selected to provide good transmission properties. Typically, in the unactivated mode, ie, when no voltage is applied, the structure is substantially opaque, and in the activated mode, when a voltage is applied, it exhibits maximum transmission. According to yet another significant feature, by varying the applied voltage,
"Chop" the exposure into many short "flash exposures" by changing the transmittance or transmittance.
can do. When using liquid crystals of the type used in liquid crystal display elements, conventional well-coordinated isotropic liquid crystal cells and tin-indium oxide electrodes can be used to reduce the thickness of a single cell for the medium. With a typical value of 12 microns,
A contrast ratio of 5000:1 can be obtained.
Therefore, to achieve virtually "absolute" opacity, such as that required for the shutter function in a photographic camera, it is necessary to move several cells one behind the other, as seen in the embodiment of FIG. You'll need to accumulate it. In this way, using a conventional ordinary liquid crystal cell, the transmittance can be reduced to about 10 ^-10 . Preferably, the electrodes are thin so as not to obstruct the light beam, and in the lateral cell configuration, the electrodes have negligible optical density and yet have neutral spectral transmission properties. The controllable region can be photolithographically formed directly in or on the solid body.
The somewhat slower response of liquid crystal cells can be compensated for by time-delayed activation and deenergization of stacked cells to achieve exposure times on the order of milliseconds or even shorter.

The Tessa type lens system, indicated generally by the reference numeral 130 in FIG. 8, includes a front lens group 131, an intermediate lens 132 and a rear lens 133. A transmittance control region in accordance with the present invention, designated by the reference numeral 134, is integrally incorporated into the lens system and replaces a conventional variable aperture diaphragm and a conventional lens shutter. This region 134 must not be flat, but may have the curvature of the lens member or be coated on one of the lenses, or alternatively, for example, along a flat or curved surface perpendicular to the optical axis. The lens can be assembled into the interior of the lens by dividing the lens to provide controllable regions, and then joining the two divided lens halves together again.
In this connection, it should be mentioned that the thickness of the entire controllable region, including the polarizer, cell and electrodes, is on the order of millimeters in the optical axis direction.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a simple solid-state photographic camera for cassette film according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a simplified cross-sectional view of a solid-state SLR camera with interchangeable lenses, and Fig. 3 is an electrically controllable solid-state SLR camera. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an electrically controllable region according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an electrically controllable transmittance region according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an electrically controllable transmittance region according to yet another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an electrically controllable transmittance region according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. Schematic representation of possible transmission regions and FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of a camera lens system with an integrated controllable transmission region according to the invention. 41a, 51a...opaque portion, 41b ₁ , 41
b ₂ , 51b...transparent part, 42, 46, 47...lens, 43...diaphragm, 43a...operation coupling part,
43b...Lever, 44...Shutter, 44b, 8
6... Release, 48... Film cassette, 45
...View index, 52...Objective lens, 54...
Mount, 53...Mirror, 60...Transparent part, 5
7... Electronic circuit, 56, 84... Optical measurement element, 58...
Reel, 59...Roll film, 61, 62,
71, 72, 101, 102...Polarizer, 65, 6
6... Electrode coating, 73, 80... Electrode, 67, 76...
medium, 81... gate, 82... microprocessor, 83... power supply, 85... film sensitivity controller, 86... camera release, 92... surrounding wall, 94
...Cell, 103...Substrate, 104...Medium, 130...
Tetsusa type lens system, 131... Lens group, 132...
Intermediate lens, 134...Transmittance control area.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A solid-state photographic camera having a lens, a variable aperture setting diaphragm, a shutter, a film compartment, and a film transport means, the portion being made of a material substantially transparent to light and forming the optical path of the camera. and another portion made of a material substantially opaque to light, the solid body selectively defining optical elements of the camera and having a variable aperture. CLAIMS 1. A solid-state photographic camera comprising a setting diaphragm, selectively comprising a region with electrically controllable transmission configured as a time-controlled shutter or a time-controlled variable aperture setting shutter.