JPH0537834A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To record a still picture without provision of a trigger switch for a still picture to the video camera able to record a moving picture and a still picture. CONSTITUTION:A trigger switch 48 is provided to a grip section at the side of a lens and a trigger switch 50 is provided to a grip section at the side of a body or to an opposite side face. In the case of recording a still picture, a switch 54 is connected to the position of a contact (b) by a mode setting circuit 52 and a memory control circuit 42 fetches an image pickup picture data (output of A/D converter circuit 38) to a memory 40 in response to the switch 50. The picture data in the picture memory 40 is subjected to PCM modulation by a PCM processing circuit 44 and recorded on a magnetic tape of an electromagnetic conversion system 36.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to video cameras.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a video camera having a function of recording still images as well as moving images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some conventional video tape recorders (VTRs) with a built-in camera are provided with a plurality of trigger switches for instructing the start and stop of recording a moving image in consideration of the shooting posture. FIG. 4 is a left side view of the conventional example, and FIG. 5 is a right side view. Figure 4 shows the electronic viewfinder (EV
It is a general use state in which F) is almost horizontal, and the main trigger switch 10 is provided in the grip portion. On the other hand, in the low-angle shooting posture, the lens optical axis is set at a lower position, the EVF is set in the vertical direction, and shooting is performed while looking into the EVF from above. In this posture, it is difficult to operate the switch 10 while gripping the grip portion, so as shown in FIG. 5, the auxiliary trigger switch 12 is provided at a position where it can be operated by the hand attached to the bottom of the camera.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of a camera-integrated video tape recorder having a main trigger switch 10 and a sub-trigger switch. The image captured by the camera 14 is recorded on the magnetic tape by the VTR 18 while being confirmed by the display device 16 such as an EVF. The outputs of the switches 10 and 12 instructing the start and stop of the recording are applied to the VTR 18 via the OR circuit 20.
Thus, the recording start and stop can be instructed to the VTR 16 by operating either the switch 10 or the switch 12.

[0004]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
With the spread of tape recorders, there has been an increasing demand for taking snapshots of still images, as in the case of a silver salt film type still camera.

In order to meet this demand, in the 8 mm system,
Studies have begun to digitally record still images in a PCM data recording area for voice.

For such selective recording of moving images and still images, it may be easy to understand by providing a dedicated switch for still image recording separately from the viewpoint of operability. It is difficult to place.

It is an object of the present invention to present a video camera which solves such problems.

[0008]

A video camera according to the present invention is a video camera having a plurality of trigger switch means for starting and stopping recording, and at least one of the plurality of trigger switch means. A switching means for switching one of them to a still image recording instruction is provided, and the photographed image is temporarily stored as a still image in the image memory according to the operation of the still image recording instruction trigger switch means, and is recorded in the recording medium. It is characterized by having done.

[0009]

By the above means, at least one of the plurality of trigger switch means for starting and stopping the recording of the moving image can be used also for recording the still image. As a result, still images and moving images can be recorded in many shooting postures without difficulty.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 30 denotes an image pickup circuit for outputting an analog video signal of a photographed image, 32 is a display device as a view finder, 34 is a video processing circuit for recording the output video signal of the image pickup circuit 30, and 36 is a magnetic tape as a recording medium, It is an electromagnetic conversion system composed of a magnetic head for recording and reproduction. Three
Reference numeral 8 is A for digitizing the output video signal of the image pickup circuit 30.
/ D conversion circuit, 40 is an image memory for storing the output image of the A / D conversion circuit 38, 42 is a memory control circuit for controlling the image memory 40, 44 is PCM for PCM-modulating the image data stored in the image memory 40 The processing circuit, 46 is a system control circuit that controls the video processing circuit 34 and the PCM processing circuit 44.

Reference numeral 48 is a first trigger switch arranged at the same position as the trigger switch 10, 50 is a second trigger switch arranged at the same position as the trigger switch 12, and 52 is a moving image recording or a still image recording. It is a mode setting circuit for setting. Reference numeral 54 denotes a switch which is switched by the mode setting circuit 52, and is connected to an a contact for moving image recording and the second trigger switch 50 is connected to an OR circuit 56, and is connected to a b contact for still image recording. Connect to connect the second trigger switch 50 to the memory control circuit 42.
The OR circuit 56 takes the logical sum of the output of the first trigger switch 48 and the output of the second trigger switch 50 via the switch 54 and applies it to the system control circuit 46. The setting information of the mode setting circuit 52 is the system control circuit 46.
And the display device 32.

First, the operation in the moving image recording mode will be described. At this time, moving image recording is set by the mode setting circuit 52. In response to this, the switch 54 is connected to the a contact. This allows the first and second trigger switches 48,
The output of 50 is transmitted via the OR circuit 56 to the system control circuit 4
6 and the first and second trigger switches 48, 5
Either of 0 can instruct the system control circuit 46 to start and stop recording. The system control circuit 46 operates the video processing circuit 34 as usual to record the video signal captured by the imaging circuit 30 and record it on the magnetic tape of the electromagnetic conversion system 36.

Next, the operation in the still image recording mode will be described. When still image recording is set by the mode setting circuit 52, the switch 54 is connected to the b contact, and the output of the second trigger switch 50 is connected to the memory control circuit 42.
The memory control circuit 42 causes the image memory 40 to capture the output image data of the A / D conversion circuit 38 in response to the operation of the second trigger switch 50. The image data captured in the image memory 40 is read out and then read by the PCM processing circuit 44.
Applied to. The signal PCM-modulated by the PCM processing circuit 44 is digitally recorded on the magnetic tape of the electromagnetic conversion system 36, for example, the overlap portion in the 8 mm video system.

During the still image recording, a moving image can be recorded by operating the first trigger switch 48. That is, the system control circuit 46 operates the video processing circuit 34 according to the operation of the switch 48, and the video processing circuit 3
Reference numeral 4 records the output of the image pickup circuit 30. This allows
The moving image is simultaneously recorded on the magnetic tape of the electromagnetic conversion system 36.

The display device 32 constantly displays the output image of the image pickup circuit 30. When recording a still image, the character "STILL" indicating a still image is output and displayed at the corner of the display screen according to the output of the mode setting circuit 52, for example, as shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows the first and second trigger switches 4
It is a side view which shows another example of arrangement of 8 and 50. Grips are provided on both the lens side and the body (VTR portion) side, the first trigger switch 48 is arranged on the lens side grip, and the second trigger switch 50 is arranged on the body side.

[0018]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, still images and moving images can be recorded without difficulty in many shooting postures.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an arrangement of first and second trigger switches 48 and 50.

FIG. 3 is a mode display example in the case of still image recording.

FIG. 4 is a left side view of a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a right side view of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a circuit configuration block diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: Main trigger switch 12: Sub trigger switch 14: Camera 16: Display device 18: VTR 2
0: OR circuit 30: Imaging circuit 32: Display device 34: Video processing circuit 36: Electromagnetic conversion system 38: A / D
Conversion circuit 40: Image memory 42: Memory control circuit
44: PCM processing circuit 46: System control circuit 48: First trigger switch 50: Second trigger switch 52: Mode setting circuit 54: Switch 56:
OR circuit

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A video camera comprising a plurality of trigger switch means for starting and stopping recording, wherein at least one of the plurality of trigger switch means is instructed to record a still image. A video is characterized in that a switching means for switching to a video image is provided, and a photographed image is temporarily stored as a still image in an image memory in accordance with an operation of the still image recording instruction trigger switch means and is recorded in a recording medium. ·camera.