HK1218819B - Panoramic-imaging digital camera, and panoramic imaging system - Google Patents

Description

Digital camera for panoramic photography and panoramic photography system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a digital camera for capturing a plurality of images used for generating a panoramic image and a capturing system thereof, and more particularly to a technique for preventing vignetting and easily achieving high-quality capturing at the time of capturing images.

Background

There is known a technique of capturing a plurality of images having different orientations by using a digital camera, and generating a panoramic image having a wider angle of view than one image by image processing of combining these image data. Such a panoramic image is not limited to image representation similar to a conventional overhead view, but can be used in a wide range of applications, such as a display for visually reproducing a space of a museum, as well as for making the interior and the periphery of an object clear when used as an advertisement for real estate.

In addition, with the widespread use of high-performance terminals including smartphones and having a digital photographing function, anyone can easily realize that images are captured and then distributed to the internet or the like, and the general demand for attractive contents is also very high.

An application program providing a function of capturing a panoramic image using a smartphone is "360 Panorama" manufactured by Occipital inc (see non-patent document 1). In this application program, a plurality of images adjacent in the vertical and horizontal directions are continuously captured by the digital imaging function, and they are pasted to the inner surface of the virtual sphere by image processing of the main body, whereby an image in an arbitrary direction from the imaging point can be reproduced.

On the other hand, such a simple panoramic image generation function is still considered to be interesting, but when used for commercial advertising or exhibition of a museum, there is a problem of low image quality. Therefore, when shooting for such applications, a digital single-lens reflex camera equipped with a wide-angle lens and a device incorporating a special pan/tilt head are generally used. For example, "Nodal Ninja 4" (non-patent document 2) manufactured by Fanotec corporation is a tripod head attached to a tripod, and holds a digital single-lens reflex camera at an arbitrary angle and can fix the digital single-lens reflex camera so that a Nodal point (Nodal points) of a lens becomes a center of rotation.

The following patent documents are disclosed as equipment for taking a panoramic image.

First, patent document 1 proposes a panoramic-photograph-taking camera in which a rotating jig having a rotation center is disposed at a first principal point position of a lens. The rotating jig is a technique for facilitating the shooting of a panoramic photograph, and the camera body is rotated by hand by rotating the rotating jig, thereby sequentially shooting the panoramic photograph. The rotation angle is determined by a rotation angle detector, a stopper for preventing the camera from rotating from a set rotation angle, or the like.

Patent document 2 proposes a technique in which a position of a tripod mounting screw hole provided in a camera itself is set as a node of a main lens. No special jig for aligning the node with the rotation center is required, and if a pan head and a tripod are provided, an accurate panoramic photograph material without parallax can be photographed.

As a prior art of a camera body, the following patent documents are disclosed.

Patent document 3 discloses an imaging apparatus for facilitating a composite editing operation for combining photographic images by ensuring an accurate photographic image of 360 degrees for each screen.

In addition, in panoramic photography, it is important to keep the vertical and horizontal positions of the camera body accurate, and therefore, patent document 4 discloses a digital camera including a liquid crystal display and a level gauge. As for the level, patent document 5 discloses mounting the level on a tripod.

Patent document 6 discloses an imaging device provided with a fisheye lens. This document discloses an imaging device main body in which a fisheye lens protrudes forward. In this apparatus, a mirror is disposed around the front of a fisheye lens in order to simultaneously capture images of a plurality of peripheral regions used for distance measurement. A circumferential fisheye image is displayed as a result of the photographing.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1 Japanese patent laid-open No. 5-188506

Patent document 2, Japanese patent laid-open No. 2006-178097

Patent document 3, Japanese patent laid-open No. 2004-101762

Patent document 4 Japanese patent laid-open No. 2010-151915

Patent document 5 Japanese patent laid-open No. H05-010496

Patent document 6 Japanese patent laid-open No. 2010-276433

Non-patent document

Non-patent document 1 Internet URL (http:// occipital. com/360/app) retrieval in 2013, 3 months, 9 days

Non-patent document 2 Internet URL (http:// shop. nodal. nonnal. com/nodal-ninja-4-1/)2013, 3 months and 9 days

Disclosure of Invention

Object of the Invention

In the above-mentioned prior art, a fixture for rotation on a perpendicular line to a nodal point of a lens is proposed, and a pan-tilt used for a digital single-lens reflex camera has a complicated structure and is difficult to handle. Further, although the configuration in which the position of the tripod mounting screw hole is positioned on the vertical line of the node is convenient to carry, there is a problem that the imaging cannot be performed while rotating if it is not provided on the tripod, and the use method is limited.

In order to capture highly accurate images such as commercial photographs, conventional large-sized devices and cameras are required for equipment used for panoramic photography, and the equipment cannot be easily captured by anyone. On the other hand, a general digital camera, a smartphone with a camera function, or the like can generate a panoramic image, but the image quality is poor, and at most, only images satisfying personal preference can be taken.

In particular, when an ultra-wide angle lens having an angle of view exceeding 180 degrees is used, there is a big problem that vignetting due to a jig, a tripod, a body of a photographer, or the like is generated if the shape and the photographing posture of the camera are not devised.

Therefore, there is a need for a device that can easily capture a high-quality panoramic image even if the device is not an expert.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a digital camera for panoramic photography for simply photographing a plurality of images having different orientations for generating a panoramic image without vignetting, and a photographing system using the same.

Technical scheme

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following means.

That is, the invention described in claim 1 is a digital camera for panoramic photography for capturing a plurality of images having different directions from a rotation center for generating a panoramic image, comprising: a wide-angle lens having an angle of view at least over 180 degrees; a camera body disposed on a rear side of the wide-angle lens and located at a position not to be within an angle of view; a digital imaging element built in the camera body; an image processing means for processing the image data photographed by the digital camera element and outputting or storing the processed image data in a specific image form; a level meter for confirming a level of the camera body; and a first connecting means connected to a stand provided for photographing.

Then, while the node of the wide-angle lens is located at the rotation center, the level provided on the upper face of the camera body and the first connecting means provided on the lower face of the camera body are arranged to be located on the same line passing through the rotation center when viewed from above.

The digital camera for panoramic photography described above is characterized in that the digital imaging element is a rectangular shape having one side with a first length and the other side with a relatively long second length, and is arranged such that: among the circular images incident from the wide-angle lens, an image having a diameter shorter than that of the first longitudinal direction circle is incident on the digital image pickup device, and an image having a diameter substantially the same as or longer than that of the second longitudinal direction circle is incident on the digital image pickup device.

In the above configuration, the wide-angle lens has an angle of view of 200 degrees or more, and the first longitudinal direction has an angle of view of 180 degrees or more obtained by the digital imaging device.

The invention described in claim 2 is the digital camera for panoramic photography described above, further comprising photography information generating means for generating photography information relating to a state at the time of photography, wherein the image processing means records the photography information as an image in a region other than the image on the outer periphery of the circular image.

The invention as claimed in claim 3, wherein said photographing information is recorded as an image in which a character symbol is readable.

The invention described in claim 4 is characterized in that the photographing information is recorded as an image in which the photographing information is bar-coded.

The invention described in claim 5 is characterized in that the imaging information includes information of a position and/or an orientation at the time of imaging.

The invention described in claim 6 is the digital camera for panoramic photography described above, wherein the grip portion gripped by the photographer is offset to the rear of the camera body up to a position where the fingers do not enter the angle of view in the gripped state.

The invention described in claim 7 is the digital camera for panoramic photography described above, wherein the camera body is provided with a level gauge on the upper surface thereof, and image display means for confirming a photographed image is provided on the side surface of the camera body.

The invention described in claim 8 is the digital camera for panoramic photography described above, which is provided with a function of photographing a moving image.

The present invention can also provide the following panoramic photography system.

That is, the invention recited in claim 9 is a panoramic imaging system for imaging a plurality of images having different orientations for generating a panoramic image, comprising: a digital camera capable of taking digital images; and a stand having a pan/tilt head connected to a lower surface of the camera body at an upper portion thereof.

The digital camera further includes: a wide-angle lens having an angle of view at least over 180 degrees; a camera body disposed on the rear side of the wide-angle lens and located at a position not to fall within an angle of view; a digital imaging element built in the camera body; an image processing means for processing the image data photographed by the digital camera element and outputting or storing the processed image data in a specific image form; a level meter for confirming a level of the camera body; and a first connecting means connected to a stand provided for photographing.

In this configuration, the pan/tilt head for panoramic photography is formed such that the rotation center of the foot stand is located vertically below the node of the wide-angle lens, and the level provided on the upper surface of the camera body is arranged so as to be located on the same line passing through the rotation center when viewed from above.

In the digital camera of the panoramic photography system, the digital imaging element has a rectangular shape having a first length on one side and a second length on the other side, and is arranged such that: among the circular images incident from the wide-angle lens, an image having a diameter shorter than that of the first longitudinal direction circle is incident on the digital image pickup device, and an image having a diameter substantially the same as or longer than that of the second longitudinal direction circle is incident on the digital image pickup device.

In the configuration in which the angle of view of the wide-angle lens is 200 degrees or more in the horizontal direction and the angle of view of the first longitudinal direction in the vertical direction obtained by the digital imaging device is 180 degrees or more, a panoramic imaging system can be provided in which a panoramic image of the entire circumferential direction is generated from two captured images that overlap at both ends.

The invention described in claim 10 is characterized in that the panoramic image in the entire circumferential direction is photographed as a moving image.

Advantageous effects

The present invention achieves the following effects by the above structure.

The present invention relates to a digital camera for panoramic photography, which is configured to: since the nodes of the wide-angle lens are positioned at the rotation center and the level and the first connecting means connected to the foot rest are positioned on the same line passing through the rotation center when viewed from above, continuous panoramic images can be appropriately captured without requiring special skills. In particular, by not only disposing the nodes on the rotation center but also positioning the levels on the same line, the horizontal and vertical alignment can be appropriately performed.

In addition, as a method of using digital photography, it is configured such that: in the case of a circular image incident from the wide-angle lens, an image having a diameter shorter than the diameter of the circle in the first longitudinal direction is incident on the digital imaging device, and an image having a diameter substantially the same as or longer than the diameter of the circle in the second longitudinal direction is incident on the digital imaging device, whereby the length of the digital imaging device in the horizontal direction can be effectively used, and the image incident from the wide-angle lens can be captured with high resolution.

In the wide-angle lens according to the present invention, when a circumferential fisheye image enters, shooting information is written in a portion that has conventionally been black, and thus, it is possible to view an image and confirm the shooting information. In addition, when data of a captured image is stored, captured information can be stored regardless of the storage format.

Further, by including the position and orientation at the time of shooting, processing using this information can be performed when generating a panoramic image.

The digital camera for panoramic photography includes a grip portion that is offset to the rear of the camera body to a position where a finger or the photographer himself does not enter the angle of view in the gripped state.

In the configuration in which the level is disposed on the upper surface and the image display means is disposed on the side surface, shooting can be facilitated by paying attention only to the level, particularly for a beginner, so that shooting that is kept natural vertical and horizontal is possible, and shooting of a panoramic image made from one shot image is also facilitated.

The digital camera according to the present invention has a function of converting a panoramic shot image into a panoramic shot image, and therefore can shoot a panoramic moving image. This makes it possible to view a video in an arbitrary direction while viewing a panoramic motion picture having a horizontal angle of 200 degrees or more, for example. Further, only the video recording of the circumferential fisheye image of 200 degrees or more may be performed.

Further, since the pan/tilt head for panoramic photography is used and the nodes and the rotation center are located on the vertical line, it is possible to easily photograph a plurality of images for generating a panoramic image with the nodes as the rotation center by simply combining the digital camera and the foot stand.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a digital camera for panoramic photography according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a left side view of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front view of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a right side view of fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a rear view of fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a top view and a bottom view of fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of generation of a panoramic image of the entire circumference by shooting at a view angle of 220 degrees.

Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an image incident on a general digital imaging device.

Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an image incident on the digital imaging device according to the present invention.

Fig. 10 is an example of recording photographic information in a black portion of the periphery of a circumferential fisheye image.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a panoramic imaging system according to the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a front view of fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is an experimental example of determining the length of the vignetting prevention extension body according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on examples shown in the drawings. In addition, the embodiments are not limited to the following.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a digital camera (1) for panoramic photography according to the present invention. Fig. 2 to 5 are a left side view, a front view, a right side view, and a rear view, respectively, and fig. 6 shows a top view and a bottom view.

The digital camera 1 is constituted by a wide-angle lens 11 having an angle of view at least exceeding 200 degrees, in this embodiment 220 degrees; and a camera body 10 disposed behind the wide-angle lens 11 and positioned so as not to enter the angle of view. The camera body 10 incorporates therein: a digital imaging element not shown; and an image processing circuit for processing image data captured by the digital imaging device and outputting or storing the processed image data in a specific image format. In addition, the image processing circuit that directly converts the image into the panorama can store the directly converted data in a specific file or file format.

Such a digital imaging device may be a well-known CCD imaging sensor or CMOS imaging sensor, and the type of the device is not limited in the present invention. The image processing circuit can be used in a well-known digital camera, a smartphone, or the like, and a well-known technique can be appropriately used.

The camera body 10 includes: a shutter button 100 for taking a photograph, and a level 101 for measuring the tilt of the camera body 10 by air bubbles. Instead of the level, an electronic level using liquid crystal or the like may be used.

An LED102 is disposed on the upper surface of the shutter button 100 to display the on/off state of the power supply; the operating state of an electronic device in a camera, such as a GPS, an electronic compass, a motion sensor, etc.

A wide-angle lens 11 having an angle of view of 220 degrees is disposed in front of the digital camera 1. When such a lens that extends the field of view to the front side when viewed from the direction of the photographer is used, if the photographer holds the camera as before, there is a problem that his or her finger may be taken down.

Therefore, in the present invention, the grip 103 is offset to the rear of the camera body 10 to a position where the fingers do not enter the angle of view in the gripped state. A vignetting prevention protrusion 104 protruding toward the wide-angle lens 11 is formed in front of the grip 103, and if a photographer places a finger on the vignetting prevention protrusion 104, the photographer feels a different feeling, and can naturally grip the correct position of the grip 103.

The camera body 10 includes, on the right side (fig. 4): a card slot 105 of a memory card storing captured image data, a USB interface 106 for connection to a PC, charging, or the like, and the like.

Further, on the rear side (fig. 5) of the camera body 10 are disposed: a liquid crystal monitor 107 as an image display means for checking a captured image, and an operation button 108 for operating each function of the camera.

The invention is configured as follows: the camera body 10 is provided with the level 101 on the upper surface thereof, and the liquid crystal monitor 107 is provided on the side surface, whereby the photographer can perform adjustment of the level 101 intensively.

By disposing the liquid crystal monitor 107 in this manner, confirmation of a captured image, operation of the camera, change of settings, and the like are facilitated.

In the camera according to the present invention, since images on the front side of the camera are all captured ranges, the liquid crystal monitor need not be mounted when confirmation, setting change, or the like is not necessary.

A first connecting means in the present invention is constituted by a mounting screw hole 109 for connecting a monopod or a tripod being recessed in the lower surface of the camera body 10. Although many attachment screw holes 109 are provided in the camera body 10, in the present invention, the positional relationship between the attachment screw holes 109 and the nodal points (nodal points)111 of the wide-angle lens 11 is an important element.

That is, the node 111 of the wide-angle lens 11 is located at: the center of rotation when images are taken in different orientations in relation to the mounting screw hole 109. In this regard, the structure of the engaging leg will be described later.

In the present invention, the level 101 and the mounting screw hole 109 are arranged on a straight line (C) passing through the node 111 when viewed from above the camera. Not only can the nodes be arranged on the rotation center, but also the levels can be aligned vertically and horizontally as appropriate by placing the levels on the same line.

Here, the wide-angle lens 11 and the digital imaging device of the digital camera 1 will be described in detail.

The wide-angle lens 11 of the present embodiment uses a super wide-angle lens having a 220-degree angle of view. Conventionally, a fisheye lens having a horizontal angle of view exceeding 180 degrees is practically used for a surveillance camera or the like, and in a general camera configuration, a horizontal angle of view of a camera used for panoramic photography is about 180 degrees in most cases.

In recent years, as technology has advanced, the angle of view has increased and high image quality has been achieved, but there is no digital camera that performs imaging for panoramic photography at an angle of view of 220 degrees or more.

In this embodiment, the angle of view is set to 220 degrees, which makes it possible to perform the photographing method shown in fig. 7. As shown, if two sheets are photographed in opposite orientations at an angle of view of 220 degrees, there is an overlap of 40 degrees and a panoramic image of a full circumference of 360 degrees can be obtained.

As is well known, in the panoramic image generation process, the matching of overlapping portions is detected, and then a plurality of images are combined. In this case, the more the overlap, the more accurate the synthesis can be performed.

In addition, when two images are generated, the center can be specified by using the level meter 101 before and after imaging with the node 111 as the center, and thus a more accurate node can be specified. If the accurate node is used as a reference, the occurrence probability of a problem that a tripod is inadvertently captured in each image can be minimized, and the need for correction during image processing can be suppressed.

When a panoramic image of the entire circumference is produced using a 180-degree view lens, since two images are not overlapped, at least three (three-direction) images need to be synthesized. If the number of sheets is large, if a dedicated pan/tilt head is not used, an orientation error is liable to occur, and difficulty due to overlapping, color tone, or distortion (circumferential difference) of images during composition is also high.

Therefore, the larger the angle of view, the more advantageous is the ease of generation of a panoramic image and the higher image quality.

On the other hand, when a lens having a viewing angle of 200 degrees or more is used, effective use of the digital imaging device is also problematic. In general, many digital imaging devices are rectangular, and if they are configured such that an image of 200 degrees or more is incident in the vertical direction similarly to fig. 8, the black portion around the circumferential fisheye image increases. There are problems that unused pixels in the digital imaging device become large and pixels used in an actual image portion become small.

In particular, even if an image of 200 degrees or more is acquired in the vertical direction, a foot frame or the like is often captured below and then cropped, and in many cases, it is meaningless for a panoramic image to be viewed horizontally long.

As shown in fig. 9, in the present invention, in the digital imaging device having a relatively short longitudinal direction (first length) and a relatively long lateral direction (second length), an image having a diameter smaller than the circular diameter of the circumferential fish-eye image is incident on the digital imaging device in the longitudinal direction, and an image having a diameter substantially the same as or longer than the circular diameter is incident on the digital imaging device in the lateral direction. In the illustrated example, the entire 220-degree viewing angle is incident in the lateral direction, and only 197 degrees is incident in the vertical direction.

The reason why 197 degrees are incident in the vertical direction is that, in panoramic synthesis, when a plurality of shots are taken, the shots are overlapped by retracting (setback) the upper shot. Therefore, depending on the photographer, if the photographing can be correctly performed, even 2 to 3 degrees of redundancy is sufficient. In this way, a 185-degree position is also possible, and more area of the sensor can be used more effectively.

As can be seen from comparison with fig. 8, this configuration enables the digital imaging device to be used without waste, and is advantageous for improving the quality of the captured image. Since the horizontal angle of view of the wide-angle lens 11 is completely incident, the overlap can be sufficiently obtained when generating a panoramic image.

The present invention is characterized in that an image having a diameter shorter than that of a circle is incident from the first longitudinal direction, and therefore, it is arbitrary to make the image incident at any angle, but it is necessary to make the image incident at 180 degrees or more in order to obtain all directions also in the vertical direction.

In such a use method, it is particularly preferable that the angle of view of the wide-angle lens 11 is 200 degrees or more.

In addition, the invention also provides a utilization method related to the black part at the periphery of the circumferential fisheye image.

The digital camera 1 includes a photographing information generating means for generating photographing information relating to a state during photographing. This means is known as means for generating imaging information of an exchangeable image file (Exif) recorded in, for example, jpeg-format image data in a general digital camera, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.

The generated photographing information is recorded at a position (black portion) outside the image as shown in fig. 10.

As the shooting information, for example, a position 120 located by a GPS or the like, an azimuth 121 acquired by an electronic compass or the like, and a shooting date 122 are recorded.

The photographic information may be recorded in readable characters or symbols, or may be recorded as a barcode image or the like.

When the readable character symbol is used for recording, the image can be read and the shooting information can be confirmed. In particular, when it is difficult for the subject to grasp the image content of the circumferential fisheye image, the photographic information is written in a portion other than the image, and the convenience in creating and viewing the panoramic image can be improved.

Further, since it is not necessary to extract information such as Exif information, if there is a viewing application corresponding to the image format, it is possible to easily confirm the photographing information.

When recording is performed using a barcode or the like, it is particularly suitable for automatically acquiring photographic information. That is, if information is recorded in an image, it is not text data, and therefore, when photographic information is used by automatic processing of a computer, it is necessary to obtain information by OCR (optical character recognition). If photographic information is recorded by a barcode or the like, a computer can easily read it.

As the barcode, any two-dimensional or three-dimensional barcode may be used. As for the three-dimensional barcode, for example, a QR code (registered trademark) enables writing of a large amount of data in a small space.

As the data stored as the photographing information, in addition to the above, the photographing information may include: manufacturer name, model of the camera; the resolution of the image as a whole; resolution per unit in horizontal and vertical directions; a shutter speed; aperture value (F value); ISO photosensibility; a photometric mode; whether a flash lamp is available or not; the exposure correction step value; a focal distance; color space (color space); thumbnail images, and the like.

Further, the imaging information may include motion information. The motion sensor for detecting the tilt of the digital camera 1 during shooting is built in, and the obtained motion information is recorded, thereby being used for generating a panoramic image. By combining the motion information and the above-described orientation information, it is advantageous to improve the accuracy of image synthesis.

In panoramic photography, since a plurality of images are combined and used, the photography information recorded as described above can be effectively used in generating a panoramic image. For example, it is possible to extract an image used to generate an image group having different orientations 121 using images captured at the same position 120. The information of the orientation 121 can also be used to detect which range overlaps in the composition processing of the respective images. For example, in the case of a monochrome stereoscopic image, the detection of the superimposition is difficult, but the use of this method enables highly accurate generation.

The digital camera according to the present invention may further include a moving image capturing function. Although the description of the digital camera is omitted because it is a known technique for capturing a moving image, a panoramic motion picture in the entire circumferential direction can be easily obtained by using a super-wide-angle lens similar to that of the present embodiment and setting the lens to face directly below or above.

The panoramic motion picture taken can be viewed from an arbitrary orientation with the passage of time by the function of viewing software, and therefore, an image having a sense of presence in a moving environment can be provided.

The imaging information according to the present invention is also useful when generating a panoramic motion picture. In particular, the inclination and direction of the animation can be corrected based on the positioning information by the GPS, the azimuth information by the electronic compass, and the motion information by the motion sensor, and a stable animation can be generated.

(other embodiments)

Next, a panoramic imaging system according to the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as the present system) will be described. Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing a part of the present system 201, and fig. 12 is a front view of fig. 11.

The present system has, in addition to the pan/tilt head 210: a super-wide-angle lens (a digital camera body (220) of a 221, and a monopod 230 connected to the lower surface of a pan/tilt head 210) having a specific angle of view, particularly an angle of view exceeding 180 degrees, are provided at the front end.

The structure of the unipod 230 is well known, and therefore, in the present embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

The first connecting means of the present invention is constituted by a mounting screw hole 223 recessed in the lower surface of the digital camera body 220 for connection to a monopod or a tripod.

The digital camera body 220 is disposed on the upper surface of the upper plate 211 of the pan/tilt head 210, and is screwed by a mounting screw 310 as a second coupling means. Similarly to the convex portions 110 provided on both sides of the mounting screw hole 109 in fig. 6(b), linear convex portions are provided on both sides of the mounting screw 310, and the pan/tilt head 210 is configured so that the directional relationship with the digital camera body 220 is fixed by fitting into a concave portion, not shown, provided on the lower surface of the digital camera body 220.

In the panoramic photography system, if both are inadvertently rotated, the images cannot be captured in the correct direction, and there is a possibility that the images at the required angle of view will be insufficient.

The upper plate 211 extends laterally toward the rear of the camera, and its rear end is bent downward. The vignetting prevention extension body 212 is extended while being slightly inclined forward from the bent portion 313.

This inclination makes it easy for the photographer to swing the digital camera body 220 upward when gripping the vignetting prevention extension 212, and there is no fear of hitting fingers or the like as long as the photographer grips the portion.

As described above, in the present invention, the vignetting prevention extension body 212 preferably functions as a handle portion.

The vignetting prevention extension body 212 ensures a specific distance between the upper plate body 211 and a lower plate body (213) connected to the lower end thereof, and prevents the lower plate body 213 or the monopod 230 from being shot into the panoramic image.

Fig. 13 shows an experimental example of the range of imaging when the pan/tilt head, the monopod, and the digital camera body having an angle of view of 180 degrees according to the present invention are used. When the distance from the upper end of the monopod to the upper end of the pan/tilt head is 60mm, the image of the connection portion of the monopod 230 and the lower plate 213 having a diameter of 31mm is taken, and the radius 137mm in the installation surface becomes vignetting. On the other hand, 200mm corresponds to a radius of 62mm, and the difference is a large difference when a 360-degree panoramic image is captured. In the present embodiment, based on the present experiment, the vignetting prevention extension 212 was set to a length of about 13 cm.

In the practice of the present invention, the length may be arbitrarily changed, and is in the range of 60mm to 200mm as a result of the above experiment. In addition, when functioning as the handle portion, it is preferably about 120mm to 200 mm.

The vignetting prevention extension body 212 is a plate body having substantially the same width as the upper plate body 211, and a reinforcing rib 320 is formed at the front from the lower portion to the lower plate body 213. The present rib 320 prevents the angle between the vignetting prevention extension body 212 and the lower plate body 213 from changing, and enables stable imaging.

The rib 320 of the vignetting prevention extension body 212 may not be formed according to strength.

A lower plate body 213 is formed from the lower end of the vignetting prevention extension body 212 to the substantially horizontal and forward direction. In this embodiment, a support plate 214 is provided integrally with the lower plate 213 and extending rearward of the vignetting prevention extension body 213.

A foot stool screw hole 330 is provided on the lower surface of the front end portion of the lower plate body 213, and is fixed by a foot stool screw protruding upward from the unipod 230 as a foot stool connecting means for connecting the unipod. Preferably, the stand connecting means is non-rotatably screwed to the stand, and the unipod does not have a freely rotatable pan/tilt head.

As the most important point in the present invention, in this connection state, the stand connection means is located vertically below the nodal point (224) of the lens 221 provided in the digital camera body.

In this embodiment, since a unipod is used, a spider screw and a spider screw hole 330 are disposed on the central axis thereof, and the upper plate 211 and the lower plate 213 are disposed so that the node is positioned on the extension line (L).

As is well known, by imaging while rotating the node 224 as the center, a high-quality panoramic image without distortion can be generated.

The nodes differ according to the lens 221, and therefore, in the practice of the present invention, the position of the mounting screw 310 needs to be determined according to the digital camera, or lens. Therefore, it is preferable that the pan/tilt head 210 is designed exclusively, and thus, can be used easily.

Alternatively, for example, in order to cope with two kinds of cameras, the mounting screw 310 is selectively mounted at two positions, and which hole is used for fixing may be selected according to the camera whose lens node is different.

The chain line in the drawing of fig. 12 is an example, and the screw mounting holes 223 ' of the other digital cameras 220 ' are connected by mounting screws 310 ' that are offset forward from the original mounting screws 310.

As another example, the upper plate 211 and the vignetting prevention extension body 212 may be detachably configured, and only the upper plate 211 may be replaced with a digital camera or a lens. At this moment, cooperate camera etc. only to change the upper plate body can, be favorable to providing the cloud platform of resources-conserving, low cost.

In this embodiment, the handle 215 is rotatably supported by the support plate body 214. The handle 215 is configured to have a sponge-like cover that is hard to slide on the surface, and can be stably held by the photographer.

Alternatively, the handle 215 may be fixed to the support plate without rotating.

A level 340 may be provided on the support plate 214. In photographing panoramic images, it is necessary for a camera to be kept at an accurate level, and conventionally, cameras, tripods, and the like provided with a level have been proposed.

However, it is often difficult to maintain a stable photographing posture while confirming the level, and similarly to the present embodiment, the use of the monopod causes the inclination and shaking of the camera.

In this embodiment, the level gauge is provided directly above the handle 215, so that intuitive horizontal alignment can be performed, which is advantageous for high-precision photography.

The position of the level may be the upper surface of the lower plate 213 or the rear surface of the vignetting prevention extension 212.

In the present invention, it is assumed that the digital camera body 220 uses the super-wide-angle lens 221 and has a structure for preventing vignetting by incident light from directly below the lens 221.

First, the corner portions 314 and 315 of the upper plate body 211 are formed as rounded corners. Thereby, the corners 314 and 315 are prevented from being photographed into an image, and incidence of reflected light on the upper surfaces of the corners 314 and 315 is prevented.

Second, the upper surface side of the lower plate body 213 is inclined in an outward and downward manner. As can be seen from fig. 1, inclined portions 331 and 332 similar to a hill are provided on the left and right sides from the front of the connection portion with the vignetting prevention extension 212, and an inclined portion 333 is provided toward the left and right front at the front end portion.

Accordingly, even if the sun or illumination enters the lower plate from above, the reflected light is reflected to the outside, and can be prevented from entering the lens 221.

Similarly, from the viewpoint of preventing reflection, it is preferable that the pan head is coated with a low-reflectivity paint or surface-processed, and the paint color is a color that is difficult to reflect, such as black.

Description of the reference numerals

1 digital camera for panoramic photography

10 Camera body

11 wide-angle lens

100 shutter button

101 level meter

102 LED

103 gripping part

104 raised portion

Claims (10)

1. A digital camera for panoramic photography for capturing a plurality of images having different directions from a rotation center for generating a panoramic image, comprising:

a wide-angle lens, the visual angle at least exceeds more than 200 degrees;

a camera body disposed on a rear side of the wide-angle lens and located at a position not to fall within the angle of view;

a digital image pickup element built in the camera body;

an image processing means for processing the image data captured by the digital imaging element and outputting or storing the processed image data in a specific image format;

a level meter for confirming a level of the camera body; and

a first connecting means connected to a stand provided for photographing,

while the node of the wide-angle lens is located at the rotation center,

the structure is as follows: the level provided on the upper face of the camera body and the first connecting means provided on the lower face of the camera body are arranged so as to be located on the same line passing through the center of rotation when viewed from above, wherein

The digital camera element is in a rectangular shape with one side having a first length and the other side having a relatively long second length,

is configured to: among the circular images incident from the wide-angle lens, an image having a diameter shorter than that of a circle in a first longitudinal direction is incident on the digital image pickup device, and an image having a diameter substantially the same as or longer than that of a circle in a second longitudinal direction is incident on the digital image pickup device, and the angle of view obtained by the digital image pickup device in the first longitudinal direction is 180 degrees or more.

2. The digital camera for panoramic photography according to claim 1,

the digital camera for panoramic photography is provided with a photography information generating means for generating photography information relating to the state during photography,

the image processing means records the imaging information as an image in a region other than the outer periphery of the circular image.

3. The digital camera for panoramic photography according to claim 2,

the photographic information is recorded as an image of a readable character symbol.

4. The digital camera for panoramic photography according to claim 2,

the photographic information is recorded as an image in which the photographic information is barcoded.

5. The digital camera for panoramic photography according to any one of claims 2 to 4,

the imaging information includes information of a position and/or orientation at the time of imaging.

6. The digital camera for panoramic photography according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

in the digital camera for panoramic photography,

the grip portion gripped by the photographer is offset to the rear of the camera body up to a position where the fingers do not enter the angle of view in the gripped state.

7. The digital camera for panoramic photography according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

in the digital camera for panoramic photography,

while the level gauge is provided on the upper surface of the camera body,

an image display means for confirming a captured image is provided on a side surface of the camera body.

8. The digital camera for panoramic photography according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

in the digital camera for panoramic photography,

the camera has a function of photographing a moving picture.

9. A panoramic imaging system for imaging a plurality of images having different orientations for generating a panoramic image, comprising:

a digital camera capable of taking digital images; and

a stand having a pan/tilt head connected to a lower surface of the camera body at an upper portion thereof, wherein,

the digital camera includes:

a wide-angle lens having an angle of view of at least 200 degrees;

a camera body disposed on a rear side of the wide-angle lens and located at a position not to fall within the angle of view;

a digital image pickup element built in the camera body;

an image processing means for processing the image data captured by the digital imaging element and outputting or storing the processed image data in a specific image format;

a level meter for confirming a level of the camera body; and

a first connecting means connected to a stand provided for photographing,

the pan/tilt head for panoramic photography is formed such that the rotational center of the foot stand is located vertically below the nodal point of the wide-angle lens,

the structure is as follows: the levels provided on the upper face of the camera body are arranged so as to be located on the same line passing through the rotation center when viewed from above, wherein,

the digital camera element is in a rectangular shape with one side having a first length and the other side having a relatively long second length,

is configured to: the method includes the steps of inputting an image having a diameter shorter than a diameter of a circle in a first longitudinal direction into the digital image pickup device, and inputting an image having a diameter substantially the same as or longer than a diameter of a circle in a second longitudinal direction into the digital image pickup device, out of the circular images inputted from the wide-angle lens, wherein a vertical viewing angle obtained by the digital image pickup device in the first longitudinal direction is 180 degrees or more, and generating a panoramic image of the entire circumferential direction from two photographed images overlapped at both ends.

10. The panoramic photography system of claim 9,

and shooting the panoramic image in the whole circumferential direction into animation.