JPH11344746A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make obtainable an image as viewing through a finder like a TTL finder even by using a compact and inexpensive finder. SOLUTION: Trimming information (for instance, parallax correction values (x and y) for executing trimming so that a photographing range A photographed by an image pickup means is equal to a finder visual field B by the finder is acquired. The image of the photographing range A picked up by the image pickup means is automatically trimmed based on the trimming information, that is, an extra part (a hatched part shown by (A)) other than the finder visual field B in the photographing range A is deleted and the photographed image after being trimmed is recorded on a recording medium or outputted outside.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly to a camera irrespective of parallax between a finder and an image pickup means.
The present invention relates to a camera capable of shooting an object in a finder visual field.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A finder having an optical system different from a photographic optical system is smaller than a TTL finder and does not require electric power unlike an electronic finder such as a liquid crystal monitor, so that it is most suitable for a compact camera. . However, the above finder has a problem that accurate framing cannot be performed because parallax occurs in principle.

As a method of correcting such parallax, there are a method of moving a field frame of a finder and a method of moving a part of a lens of a finder optical system.
These parallax correction methods have a problem that the structure of the finder becomes complicated. Therefore, without using a finder capable of parallax correction, as shown in FIG. 3, the finder visual field B is made smaller than the photographing range A (that is, the field ratio is lowered), and the finder field is reduced regardless of the parallax. There is a camera that can shoot a subject in a field of view. FIG. 3A shows a photographing range A and a finder visual field B in the case of a reference subject distance without parallax, and FIG. 3B shows a photographing range A in a case where the subject distance in which the parallax becomes large is short. The viewfinder visual field B is shown.

[0004]

However, when the field of view is reduced as shown in FIG. 3, extraneous objects that are not intended by the photographer appear, or when the parallax is large, the person is shifted from the center. Problem. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera that can obtain an image as viewed through a finder similarly to a TTL finder while using a compact and inexpensive finder.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application relates to a finder having an optical system different from a photographing optical system and an image pickup device including the photographing optical system. Regardless of parallax, in a camera capable of photographing at least a subject within a finder field of view of the finder when a subject distance is within a certain range, a photographing range photographed by the imaging means is determined by a finder field of view of the finder. Trimming information obtaining means for obtaining trimming information for trimming so as to be in the same range as, and automatic trimming means for trimming a captured image captured by the imaging means based on the trimming information obtained by the trimming information obtaining means. The photographed image trimmed by the automatic trimming means It is characterized by comprising a recording means for recording the recording medium.

That is, an extra portion other than the viewfinder field of view in the photographing range is automatically deleted by trimming, and the trimmed photographed image is recorded on a recording medium. The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is configured such that regardless of the parallax between the finder having an optical system different from the photographing optical system and the imaging unit including the photographing optical system, at least when the subject distance is within a certain range, In a camera capable of photographing a subject in a finder field of view of a finder, trimming for obtaining trimming information for trimming so that a photographing range photographed by the imaging means is the same as the finder field of view in the finder. Information obtaining means, automatic trimming means for trimming a captured image captured by the imaging means based on the trimming information obtained by the trimming information obtaining means; The captured image trimmed by the trimming means An output switching means for outputting Te Rikae, is characterized by comprising a.

That is, an extra portion other than the viewfinder field of view in the photographing range is automatically deleted by trimming, and the trimmed photographed image and all photographed images without trimming can be switched and output. For example, when an image is to be taken into a personal computer for processing, the entire captured image is output, and when directly printed by a printer or the like, a trimmed image without parallax is output.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided recording means for recording, on a recording medium, trimming information obtained by the trimming information obtaining means, together with the entire photographic image of the photographic range taken by the imaging means. The entire captured image read from the recording medium may be output as it is, or the reproduced image may be automatically trimmed and output based on the trimming information read together with the entire captured image.

Further, the trimming information acquiring means acquires the subject distance as trimming information as described in claim 4 of the present application, or, in the case of a photographing lens having a variable focal length, the subject distance and the focal length of the photographing lens. Is obtained as trimming information. Further, the trimming information acquiring unit may be configured to determine the subject distance,
Alternatively, instead of the subject distance and the focal length, the parallax correction amount calculated based on these may be acquired as the trimming information.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the camera according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a camera according to the present invention. This camera is a digital camera that records a still image in a memory 20 (for example, a flash memory built in the camera) or a removable external memory card by operating a release button (not shown), and a photographing lens (zoom lens). A finder (zoom finder) 12 composed of an optical system different from 10 is provided.

The zoom lens 10 has two lenses 1
The focal length can be varied (zoomed) by moving 0A and 10B in a predetermined relationship.
The zoom finder 12 includes lenses 12A and 12A.
B, a porro prism 12C, and an eyepiece lens 12D. The finder magnification can be changed by moving the lenses 12A and 12B in a predetermined relationship. The zoom operation of the zoom lens 10 and the zoom finder 12 can be linked manually or electrically.

At the time of photographing with the digital camera, the subject image formed on the light receiving surface of the solid-state image pickup device (CCD) 14 via the zoom lens 10 is photoelectrically converted here and converted to CC.
The signals are sequentially read out as D signals and applied to the image signal processing circuit 16. The image signal processing circuit 16 includes a white balance adjustment circuit, a gamma correction circuit, and a YC processing circuit, and outputs image data processed by these circuits to the image recording / reproducing device 18. The image recording / reproducing device 18 has a compression circuit and the like, and when a release button is operated, receives a YC signal (luminance signal Y and chroma signal C) from the YC processing circuit of the image signal processing circuit 16 and The YC signal is compressed, and the compressed image data is recorded in the memory 20.

On the other hand, the focal length detector 22 detects the focal length of the zoom lens 10 from the zoom position of the zoom lens 10, and outputs data indicating the focal length to the parallax correction amount calculation circuit 24. The object distance detector 2
6 detects a subject distance by, for example, a triangulation method, and outputs data indicating the subject distance to the parallax correction amount calculation circuit 24. Note that automatic focusing (AF) is also performed based on the subject distance detected by the subject distance detector 26.

Further, instead of the AF based on the subject distance detected by the subject distance detector 26, the contrast AF may be performed based on the luminance signal Y generated by the image signal processing circuit 16. That is, the luminance signal Y
Then, an evaluation value indicating the in-focus state of the photographing frame is obtained by integrating the high-frequency component of the above, and the lens position is controlled so that the evaluation value becomes maximum. In this case, the subject distance can be detected by detecting the lens position at the time of focusing.

The parallax correction amount calculation circuit 24 calculates a parallax correction amount based on data indicating the focal length and the subject distance. This parallax correction amount is shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the center shift (x, y) between the photographing range A and the viewfinder field A due to parallax, and there are three positional relationships between the zoom lens 10 and the zoom finder 12, the focal length, and the subject distance. Can be calculated from still,
Since the positional relationship between the zoom lens 10 and the zoom finder 12 is known, the parallax correction amount is determined based on the data indicating the focal length from the focal length detector 22 and the data indicating the subject distance from the subject distance detector 26. (X, y) can be calculated.

The parallax correction amount calculation circuit 24 outputs to the image recording / reproducing device 18 data indicating the parallax correction amount (x, y) calculated based on the data indicating the focal length and the subject distance. When the field ratio changes due to the focal length or the like, data indicating the field ratio is also output. The image recording / reproducing device 18 also records in the memory 20 the data indicating the parallax correction amount (x, y) and the field of view added from the parallax correction amount calculation circuit 24 together with the image data indicating the entire image of the photographing range A. .

The output range determination circuit 28 outputs the captured or reproduced image data to a personal computer, a printer, or the like as it is or after trimming the image data. The output image data shown in FIG.
2 (A) when the trimming image output is selected by
The image data indicating the finder visual field B from which the hatched portion is deleted is output (FIG. 2C). The image data indicating the finder visual field B is based on the parallax correction amount (x,
It is created by trimming the image data representing all images in the shooting range A based on y) and the field rate.

Next, the operation of the digital camera having the above configuration will be described. First, framing is performed while looking at the zoom finder 12, and then the release button is pressed.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 2A, the image data of all images in the photographing range A is recorded in the memory 20, and the parallax correction amount (x, y) calculated by the parallax correction amount calculation circuit 24. And data indicating the field of view are recorded in the memory 20.

On the other hand, when reproducing image data recorded in the memory 20 and outputting the reproduced image data to a personal computer or the like, first, a full image output or a trimmed image output is selected by the changeover switch 30. Here, when the entire image output is selected by the changeover switch 30, the output range determination circuit 28 outputs the image data read from the memory 20 via the image recording / reproducing device 18 without trimming (FIG. 8). 2
(B)). When the trimming image output is selected by the changeover switch 30, the output range determination circuit 28
Trims the image data read out from the memory 20 via the image recording / reproducing device 18 based on the parallax correction amount (x, y) and the data indicating the field of view, which are read out at the same time. Is output (that is, image data indicating an image as viewed by the zoom finder 12 at the time of shooting) (see FIG. 2C).

In this embodiment, the changeover switch 3
0 is used to switch between full image output and trimmed image output. However, the present invention is not limited to this. When a printer output mode in which a digital camera is connected to a printer and printing is selected, or a printer output cable connection is detected. In this case, the output may be automatically switched to the trimming image output. Further, when it is detected that a connection has been made to a personal computer, it may be automatically switched to full image output.

In this embodiment, the case where the zoom lens 10 and the zoom finder 12 are used has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to a case where the photographing magnification and the finder magnification are fixed. No detection is required. Further, the parallax correction amount and the field ratio are recorded in the memory 20 as trimming information.
If the change in the field of view is small, only the parallax correction amount may be used. Furthermore, instead of the parallax correction amount,
The subject distance and the focal length may be recorded as trimming information.

Further, in this embodiment, all the image data of the photographing range and the trimming information are recorded in the memory 20, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the trimmed image data is recorded to the image as seen through the finder. You may make it. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to a camera with a built-in monitor such as a liquid crystal monitor. In this case, the output to the monitor is an image signal indicating the entire image in the shooting range. Since no framing can be performed, trimming information is not recorded.

[0023]

As described above, according to the camera of the present invention, an extra portion other than the finder field of view in the shooting range is automatically deleted by trimming, so that a compact and inexpensive finder is used. While TT
As with the L finder, an image as viewed through the finder can be obtained.

In addition, a trimmed image as viewed through the viewfinder and all untrimmed images can be switched and output, so that an image suitable for an output target such as a printer or a personal computer can be output. Furthermore, since appropriate framing can be performed by the viewfinder, when applied to a camera with a built-in monitor, the monitor can be turned off to save power.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram used for explaining selection of a photographing range, a finder visual field, and an output image.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams respectively showing a relationship between a photographing range and a viewfinder visual field at a reference subject distance without parallax and a close subject distance at which parallax increases.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Photography lens (zoom lens) 12 ... Finder (zoom finder) 14 ... Solid-state image sensor (CCD) 16 ... Image signal processing circuit 18 ... Image recording / reproducing apparatus 20 ... Memory 22 ... Focal length detector 24 ... Parallax correction amount Arithmetic circuit 26 subject distance detector 28 output range determination circuit 30 changeover switch

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A viewfinder having at least a finder visual field when a subject distance is within a certain range regardless of a parallax between a finder having an optical system different from a photographic optical system and imaging means including the photographic optical system. A camera capable of photographing a subject within, wherein a photographing range photographed by the photographing means is trimming information acquiring means for acquiring trimming information for trimming so as to be in the same range as a finder field of view in the finder. An automatic trimming unit that trims a captured image captured by the imaging unit based on the trimming information obtained by the trimming information obtaining unit; a recording unit that records a captured image trimmed by the automatic trimming unit on a recording medium; A camera comprising: 2. A viewfinder having at least a finder field of view when a subject distance is within a certain range regardless of a parallax between a finder having an optical system different from a photographic optical system and an imaging unit including the photographic optical system. A camera capable of photographing a subject within, wherein a photographing range photographed by the photographing means is trimming information acquiring means for acquiring trimming information for trimming so as to be in the same range as a finder field of view in the finder. An automatic trimming unit for trimming a captured image captured by the image capturing unit based on the trimming information acquired by the trimming information acquiring unit; and a full captured image of an image capturing range captured by the image capturing unit and trimming by the automatic trimming unit. Switch to the shot image And a power output switching means. 3. A camera according to claim 2, further comprising recording means for recording, on a recording medium, trimming information obtained by said trimming information obtaining means, together with all the shot images of the shooting range shot by said imaging means. . 4. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the trimming information acquiring unit acquires at least a subject distance, or a subject distance and a focal length of a photographing lens, as trimming information. 5. A parallax correction means for calculating a parallax correction amount for correcting a shift between a photographing range and a finder visual field based on at least a subject distance or a subject distance and a focal length of a photographing lens. 3. The camera according to claim 1, further comprising a correction amount calculating unit, wherein the camera obtains the parallax correction amount as trimming information.