JPH05145810A - Camera capable of superimposing display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To observe a picture picked-up already and a picture going to be picked-up from now simultaneously through a finder. CONSTITUTION:A picture going to be picked up from now is formed on a focusing plate 13 via an image pickup lens 11 and a half mirror 12. A picture already picked-up is read from a picture memory 25 and displayed on a liquid crystal display device 16 through a processing circuit 22. The picture on the focusing plate 13 and the picture on the liquid crystal display device 16 are simultaneously observed from an eyepiece 15 and the pictures are observed while being synthesized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera capable of superimposing display, that is, a camera capable of observing a plurality of images through a finder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a still camera capable of performing multiple exposures for one frame, so-called multiple exposure. At the time of this multiple-exposure shooting, the photographer cannot see the already shot images in the second and subsequent shots, and relies on his intuition to perform shutter release.

[0003]

Therefore, such multiple-exposure photography has a problem in that the photographer's intention to draw an image cannot be fully accepted, and that considerable skill is required to obtain a desired photograph. Such a problem also occurs in continuous shooting with a movie camera. The present invention provides a camera capable of easily obtaining a desired shooting result in multiple exposure shooting or joint shooting by observing an already shot image and an image to be shot from the viewfinder at the same time. The purpose is to

[0004]

A camera capable of superimposing display according to the present invention comprises a display for displaying a first image already taken and a finder for observing a second image to be taken. It is characterized in that the display is observable through the finder, and the first and second images are simultaneously observed through the finder.

[0005]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows an electronic still camera 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Indicates. The image obtained through the taking lens 11 is formed on the image plane of the focusing screen 13 through the half mirror 12. The focusing screen 13 is arranged horizontally in the figure, and the focusing screen 1
A liquid crystal display 16 is provided in close contact with the upper surface of the liquid crystal display 3. The image plane of the finder including the focusing screen 13, the liquid crystal display 16, the pentaprism 14 and the eyepiece lens 15 is the upper surface of the focusing screen 13, that is, the liquid crystal display 1.
6 is the lower surface of the image plane, and the image on this image plane, namely the focusing screen 1
The image on 3 and the image on the liquid crystal display 16 are observed through the eyepiece lens 15.

As is well known, the half mirror 12 has a property of reflecting a part of light and allowing other light to pass through. As shown in the figure, the half mirror 12 is used for the focusing screen 13, the liquid crystal display 16 and the like. Is inclined. That is, in this state, the light reflected by the half mirror 12 reaches the focusing screen 13, and the light transmitted through the half mirror 12 is
It reaches the image pickup device 21 provided in the rear.

The image pickup device 21 is composed of, for example, a CCD, detects an optical signal corresponding to an image obtained through the taking lens 11, converts the optical signal into an electric signal, and outputs the electric signal. The processing circuit 22 is provided on the back side of the image sensor 21,
Predetermined processing is performed on the signal input from the image pickup device 21, and this is output to the liquid crystal display 16, the recording medium 23, and the synthesis circuit 24. The liquid crystal display 16
The image output from the processing circuit 22 is displayed. The recording medium 23 is, for example, a floppy disk, and the processing circuit 22
The image signal output from is recorded. The synthesis circuit 24 is
As will be described later, this is to create a multiple-exposed image.
The image memory 25 temporarily stores the photographed image, and outputs the image to the liquid crystal display 16 via the processing circuit 22 when the composition of the multiple-exposure photographing is determined as described later.

An image obtained from the taking lens 11, that is, the same image as the image on the focusing screen 13 is transmitted through the half mirror 12 and detected by the image pickup device 21 as described above. The electric signal output from the image pickup device 21 is processed by operating the shutter button (not shown).
2 performs a predetermined process. In this shutter button operation, the electric signal output from the processing circuit 22 is recorded as a video signal in the recording medium 23 during normal shooting, but passes through the combining circuit 24 during multiple exposure shooting. It is stored in the image memory 25.

Next, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, description will be given of multiple-exposure shooting by the electronic still camera 10 of this embodiment. FIG. 2 shows an example of double exposure photography. In this figure, the liquid crystal display 16 (FIG. 1) displays the first image A1 that has already been captured, and the focusing screen 13 (FIG. 1) displays the second image A2 to be captured.
Is imaged. On viewfinder, ie, eyepiece 1
5 (FIG. 1), these first and second images A1,
A third image A3 formed by superimposing A2 is observed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of triple-exposure shooting. In this example, the double-exposure shown in FIG. 2 is exposed once more. On the liquid crystal display 16, the third image A3 obtained by the double exposure of FIG.
A fourth image A4 to be photographed is formed on the image 3. From the eyepiece lens 15, a fifth image A5 obtained by superimposing the third and fourth images A3 and A4 is observed.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of multiple exposure photography. In step 101, the photographer determines the composition by observing the image formed on the focusing screen 13 from the eyepiece lens 15. That is, at this time, the finder functions as an optical finder, and the liquid crystal display 16 is not displaying an image. In step 102, the shutter button is operated and exposure is performed. As a result, the electric signal output from the image pickup device 21 is subjected to predetermined processing by the processing circuit 22, passes through the synthesizing circuit 24, and is stored in the image memory 25. At this time, the synthesis circuit 24
Has virtually no effect.

At step 103, the image already taken is displayed on the liquid crystal display 16. This image is read from the image memory 25 and is processed by the processing circuit 22 as shown by a dashed arrow in FIG.
The liquid crystal display 16 is subjected to a predetermined process, is input to the liquid crystal display 16, and is displayed. Next, at step 104, the photographer determines the composition of the next subject using the optical viewfinder. That is, at this time, the image already taken is displayed by the liquid crystal display 16 and the image to be taken is imaged on the focusing screen 13, and the photographer observes these through the eyepiece lens 15.
It is possible to observe two images in a superimposed state.

When the composition is determined in this way, in step 105, the shutter button is operated to perform exposure. As a result, as indicated by the solid line arrow in FIG. 1, the electric signal output from the image sensor 21 is subjected to predetermined processing by the processing circuit 22 and input to the synthesizing circuit 24 and stored in the image memory 25. An electric signal corresponding to the captured image is also input to the synthesis circuit 24. In this way, the image to be photographed and the photographed image are combined by the combining circuit 24.

The images synthesized by the synthesizing circuit 24 (image A3 in FIG. 2 and image A5 in FIG. 3), that is, the multiple-exposed image, are displayed on the liquid crystal display 16 in step 106. In step 107, it is determined whether or not this multiple-exposure shooting is completed based on the image of the liquid crystal display 16 (the multiple-exposure completed image) observed through the eyepiece lens 15. Here, when it is determined that the photographing is completed, in step 108, the operation switch (not shown) is operated, so that the multiple-exposed image is indicated by a double-lined arrow in FIG. Then, it is read from the image memory 25, subjected to a predetermined process in the processing circuit 22, and recorded in the recording medium 23.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 107 that the multiple-exposure shooting has not been completed, steps 103 to 107 are executed again, and the above-described operation is repeated.

As described above, in this embodiment, the taking lens 11 is used.
The image formed on the focusing screen 13 via the half mirror 12 and the image read out from the image memory 25 and displayed on the liquid crystal display 16 are superposed and observed simultaneously from the eyepiece 15. ing. Since the image on the focusing screen 13 and the image on the liquid crystal display 16 usually have different resolutions, it is easy to distinguish a photographed image and a non-photographed image on the finder, and a multiple exposure composition is determined. Easy to do. Further, since the image of the focusing screen 13 and the image of the liquid crystal display 16 can be seen at the same time when the composition is determined, the synthesizing circuit 24 does not operate, and the process in step 104 of FIG. 4 is simple. Moreover, since it is not necessary to input a signal from the image pickup device 21 when the composition is determined, the power consumption can be saved.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. The electronic still camera 10 of this embodiment does not have an optical finder as in the first embodiment, but has an electronic finder. Further, the structure of this embodiment is basically different from the first embodiment in the portion surrounded by broken lines B and C, and is the same as the first embodiment in the other portions.

The finder comprises first and second light emitting displays 31, 32 and a half mirror 33.
Within the finder housing 34, the first emissive display 31 is arranged horizontally and the second emissive display 32 extends vertically downward from the end of the first emissive display 31 (left end in FIG. 5). Half mirror 3
3 is provided between the first and second light emitting displays 31 and 32 and extends in a direction forming an angle of approximately 45 degrees with respect to these displays 31 and 32.

The eyepiece lens 15 is provided behind the half mirror 33, and images of both the first and second light emitting displays 31 and 32 are observed through the eyepiece lens 15. That is, the image of the first light emitting display 31 is reflected by the half mirror 33 and the eyepiece lens 15
The image on the second light emitting display 32 reaches the eyepiece lens 15 through the half mirror 33. Therefore, the eyepiece 15 allows the two light emitting displays 3
The images above 1 and 32 can be seen as a composite image.

Image sensor 21, processing circuit 22, recording medium 2
3, the composition circuit 24 and the image memory 25 have the first configuration.
Although basically the same as the embodiment, the display circuit 35 is connected to the image memory 25 in this embodiment. The display memory 35 performs a predetermined process on the image signal read from the image memory 25 when the composition of the multiple-exposure shooting is determined (corresponding to step 104 in FIG. 4), and the first light-emitting display 31. Is output to. That is, the display circuit 3
5 is the first light emitting display 31 for the already captured image.
Output to.

The second light emitting display 32 is the processing circuit 2
Connected to 2. That is, the second light emitting display 32
Includes a taking lens 11, an image sensor 21, and a processing circuit 2.
The image obtained through 2, that is, the image to be captured is displayed.

As described above, in this embodiment, the image to be photographed is displayed on the second light emitting display 32, and the image already photographed is displayed on the first light emitting display 31. Then, these images are simultaneously observed from the eyepiece lens 15 via the half mirror 33. Therefore, also in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to use a synthesizing circuit in determining the composition of multiple-exposure shooting, and the processing for observing a plurality of images is very simple.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. The electronic still camera 10 of this embodiment has an electronic viewfinder as in the second embodiment. A light emitting display 31 is provided in the finder, and an image on the light emitting display 31 is observed through the eyepiece lens 15. An image obtained from the taking lens 11 is detected by the image sensor 21, and an electric signal corresponding to the image is processed by the processing circuit 2.
Predetermined processing is performed by 2 and input to the synthesis circuit 24. During the multiple-exposure shooting, the synthesizing circuit 24 reads the shot image from the recording medium 23, synthesizes the shot image with the image to be shot, and outputs the synthesized image to the light emitting display 31.

Therefore, when the composition of the multiple-exposure photographing is decided, the photographed image (A1 in FIG. 2,
The image A3) shown in FIG. 3 and the image to be captured are displayed in an overlapping manner, and the desired multiple-exposure photograph can be reliably obtained by a simple operation.

FIG. 7 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a normal still camera 10 instead of an electronic still camera, but it has an electronic finder as in the second and third embodiments. That is, a light emitting display 31 is provided in this finder, and the image on the light emitting display 31 is observed through the eyepiece lens 15. The image pickup device 21 is horizontally arranged below the finder, and the half mirror 12 is provided below the image pickup device 21 while being inclined. The image sensor 21 detects the image reflected by the half mirror 12 and outputs an electric signal corresponding to this image to the processing circuit 22.
A film F is arranged behind the half mirror 12.

During multiple-exposure shooting, the synthesizing circuit 24 reads a shot image from a memory (not shown) provided in the processing circuit 22 and synthesizes the shot image with the image to be shot. And outputs it to the light emitting display 31.

Therefore, also in this embodiment, when the composition of the multiple-exposure photographing is determined, the photographed image and the image to be photographed are displayed on the light emitting display 31 in a superimposed manner, which is similar to the third embodiment. The effect is obtained.

In each of the above embodiments, the display 1
The images displayed on 6, 31, and 32 can be easily distinguished from other images by reversing the colors or performing mosaic processing, which makes it easier to determine the composition of multiple-exposure shooting. become.

Although each of the above embodiments is an example in which the present invention is applied to multiple-exposure shooting in an electronic still camera or an ordinary still camera, the present invention is not limited to this and, for example, in joint shooting in a movie camera. Is also applicable. That is, in the movie camera, a photographed image is displayed on the finder, and this image is observed together with the image to be photographed from the finder, so that a shift between the two images can be prevented.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously observe an already photographed image and an image to be photographed from the viewfinder, and obtain desired photographing in multiple exposure photographing or joint photographing. The result can be easily obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an electronic still camera to which a first embodiment of the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation of double exposure photography.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation of triple exposure photography.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of multiple exposure shooting in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an electronic still camera to which a second embodiment of the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an electronic still camera to which a third embodiment of the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a still camera to which a fourth embodiment of the present invention has been applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 13 Focus Plate 15 Eyepiece 16 Liquid Crystal Display 21 Imaging Device 31, 32 Light Emitting Display 33 Half Mirror

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display for displaying a first image that has already been photographed and a finder for observing a second image to be photographed, the display being observable through the finder. A camera capable of superimposing display, wherein the first and second images are simultaneously observed through a finder.