JPH09102893A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To keep the camera horizontally while confirming an image frame by detecting the deviation and the direction from an absolute horizontal plane and displaying the deviation and the direction on a view finder or its vicinity simultaneously when displaying a video signal. SOLUTION: A tilt sensor 20 is formed to be a doughnut and includes a conductor 21 moving the inside of the doughnut in the circumferential direction. Furthermore, plural electrodes 22-27 insulated with each other are arranged on the inner circumference and the outer circumference of the moving path of the conductor 21. The position of the conductor 21 in the tilt sensor 20 is detected by detecting each potential of the electrodes to detect the tilt of a video camera. Since the conductor 21 is placed in the direction of gravity, the electrode 23 is conductive when the video camera is set horizontally and the electrode 24 is conductive when the camera is tilted by nearly 45 deg.. Thus, the deviation and the direction of the tilt of the video camera with respect to the absolute horizontal plane are detected depending on the potential of the electrode 24 changing with the tilt. Then the information of the deviation and the direction to be detected is given to a display section, on which the information is displayed with the video signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera capable of correcting a posture during image pickup.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional video camera capable of correcting the posture at the time of image pickup, there is a method of displaying a horizontal line on a viewfinder and comparing the horizontal line with a subject to check the horizontal state and inclination of the video camera. It is used. However, this method has a problem that the screen cannot be horizontal when a subject having no horizontal portion is photographed.

In order to solve this problem, techniques disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-280581 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-119274 are disclosed.

A conventional video camera having a horizontal detection function will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a side view of a conventional video camera, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of the same. A lens adapter 68 to which a lens system (not shown) is attached is provided at the front of the video camera body 61.
The light that has entered the lens system travels along the optical axis 67 of the lens system and enters the CCD provided inside the video camera body 61.

A handle 62 is provided on the upper portion of the video camera body 61, and the handle 62 is fixed to the video camera body 61 as shown in FIG. A viewfinder support 70 is provided on the front of the handle 62, and the viewfinder is detachably attached to the viewfinder support 70. A connector 71 is provided at the rear of the handle 62.
By connecting 1 and a camera control unit (hereinafter referred to as CCU) with a cable, transmission and reception of video signals and control signals are performed between the video camera body 61 and the CCU.

Further, at the rear of the handle 62, there is provided a holding portion 63 constituted by a surface parallel to the optical axis 67 of the lens system. Then, means for indicating a deviation from an absolute horizontal plane, for example, a level level 64 into which the liquid is injected, is held in the holding portion 63.
Is detachably attached to the center of the lower part. This level 64 holds the video camera horizontally when the video camera main body 61 is tilted to the left or right or back and forth so that the bubble 65, which is an instruction means, is held at the center of the level 64. You can

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned structure, there is a problem that the image frame cannot be checked at the same time because the electronic level is always seen when the image is leveled. For this reason, a method is usually used in which a tripod is used to temporarily maintain the horizontal position and then the image frame is set. However, with this method, since the video camera is fixed on a tripod, it is difficult to move, so it is easy to miss a photo opportunity, such as when the subject moves outside the frame when the frame changes, such as when shooting a moving subject. There was a problem.

In view of the above point, the present invention has an object to provide a video camera capable of simultaneously maintaining the horizontal while checking the image frame.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, the video camera according to the present invention detects the deviation and direction of a plane horizontal or vertical to the optical axis of the video camera from an absolute horizontal plane. Then, the deviation and the direction are displayed on the viewfinder or in the vicinity thereof at the same time as the video signal.

Therefore, the video camera according to the present invention includes a horizontal state detecting section for detecting a deviation and a direction from a plane horizontal or vertical to the optical axis of the video camera and an absolute horizontal plane, and the detected deviation and the direction. Is provided at the same time as the video signal.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION According to the present invention, by providing the above means, the horizontal state is presented simultaneously on the viewfinder or at the same time as the video signal, so that the image frame can be checked and kept horizontal at the same time. it can.

An embodiment of the video camera of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video camera according to this embodiment. In FIG. 1, 1
Is a camera section for photographing a subject, 2 is a horizontal state detecting section for detecting a deviation and a direction from an absolute horizontal plane of one or both of horizontal and vertical planes with respect to the optical axis of the video camera 1, and 3 is a camera section. A display unit for inputting and displaying a video signal and horizontal state information detected by the horizontal state detection unit 2, for example, an electronic viewfinder.

The horizontal state detecting section 2 having the above structure will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the inside of a video camera.
The sectional view of the inclination sensor 20 for detecting the deviation and the direction is shown. The tilt sensor 20 includes a conductor 21 that is donut-shaped and is movable in the circumferential direction inside the tilt sensor 20. Further, a plurality of electrodes 22 to 27 insulated from each other are arranged on the inner circumference and the outer circumference of the moving path of the conductor 21. By detecting the potential of this electrode, the conductor 2 in the tilt sensor 20 is detected.
The position of 1 can be detected to detect the tilt of the video camera.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the arrangement position of the tilt sensor 20 on the video camera. When the video camera 35 is horizontal, that is, when the optical axis 30 is included in the absolute horizontal plane 34, a plane 31 perpendicular to the optical axis 30 and a horizontal plane 33 including the gravity direction 32 are shown. There is.

The tilt sensor 20 is arranged on the vertical plane 31 and the horizontal plane 33 so that the electrodes 23 are aligned with the direction of gravity.

FIG. 4A shows the state where the tilt sensor 20 is horizontal with respect to the absolute horizontal plane 34, and FIG. 4B shows the state where the tilt sensor 20 is inclined about 45 ° with respect to the absolute horizontal plane 34. ing. Since the conductor 21 is always positioned inside the inclination sensor 20 in the direction of gravity (downward), when the video camera is horizontal, the electrodes 23 are in a conductive state as shown in FIG. 4A, and FIG. When tilted by about 45 °, the electrode 24 becomes conductive. In this way, the potential and the deviation of the video camera with respect to the absolute horizontal plane 34 can be detected by the potential of the electrode 24 that moves according to the tilt of the video camera.

Information on the deviation and direction detected by the tilt sensor 20 is input to the display unit 3 and displayed together with the video signal as shown in FIG.

The display section 3 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a display state of the display unit. In FIG. 5, when the video camera is in the horizontal state, the central point 52a is blinked as in FIG. 5B, and when the video camera is tilted to the right, the right point 52b is blinked toward the right.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the horizontal state detecting section 2 for detecting the horizontal state of the video camera is provided, and the state is displayed on the display section 3 for displaying the video signal, so that the user can see the horizontal state. The horizontal state can be easily known.

Even if the horizontal state of the video camera is detected by using the angular velocity sensor, the same effect can be obtained. Further, the horizontal state is displayed near the screen displaying the video signal, or the tilt state is displayed by voice. It is obvious that the same effect can be obtained by outputting.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a video camera capable of presenting the horizontal state of the video camera at the same time as a video signal, and in order to shoot a moving subject in normal shooting, the image frame When applied to an imaging device such as a video camera in which a change occurs and the image frame tends to tilt at that time, the practical effect is large.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a deviation tilt sensor from an absolute horizontal plane in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an explanatory view of an arrangement position of a tilt sensor on a video camera in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a state where the tilt sensor in the embodiment is horizontal and tilted with respect to an absolute horizontal plane.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method of presenting a video signal, a detected deviation, and a direction in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a conventional video camera having a horizontal display.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a conventional video camera having a horizontal display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 camera section 2 horizontal state detection section 3 display section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Kunio Izumisawa 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A display section for outputting and displaying a video signal, and a horizontal state detection section for detecting a deviation and a direction from an absolute horizontal plane of one or both of planes horizontal and vertical to the optical axis of the video camera. A video camera, comprising: the detection output of the horizontal state detection unit and the display unit together with a video signal. 2. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein the horizontal state detecting section detects the deviation and the direction from the absolute horizontal plane by using an inclination sensor. 3. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein the horizontal state detecting unit detects the deviation and the direction from the absolute horizontal plane by using an angular velocity sensor. 4. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the detected deviation and direction on the video signal. 5. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the detected deviation and direction in the vicinity of a means for displaying a video signal such as a viewfinder. 6. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein the display section outputs the deviation and direction detected at the same time as the video signal by voice.