JP2001028699A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide an image pickup display device which can confirm the focus of a subject before photographing, and can easily confirm whether the image has been blurred during photographing after photographing. The purpose is to: An imaging device that captures a subject image using an imaging device, a storage medium that stores an image signal obtained from the imaging device, a display device that displays an image signal obtained from the imaging device, A first mode in which an image signal is displayed on the display device at a first resolution, and an image signal of a specific area automatically determined in the image signal having a second resolution higher in definition than the first mode. A display control unit for controlling a display mode to a second mode; and a switching unit for switching between the first mode and the second mode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic camera for capturing and displaying image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of photographing an object,
In addition to shooting movies and still images on silver halide film,
2. Description of the Related Art A method of electrically recording analog or digital data on a card medium such as a magnetic tape, a compact flash, and a smart media using an electronic camera is known. When taking a picture with these electronic cameras, an optical viewfinder provided with the camera or an electronic viewfinder made of a liquid crystal or the like is used in order to determine an angle of view and focus on the photographing. The image data recorded in this way can be played back on the LCD monitor on the back of the camera,
After importing the digital data into a personal computer, it is played back on a monitor.

In the electronic camera device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-244471, a method for easily adjusting the focus in an electronic viewfinder having a small number of pixels is disclosed. Specifically, move the frame manually to the area where you want to check the focus, operate the focus adjustment switch after deciding the area, an enlarged screen will be displayed on the LCD monitor, so adjust the focus there, and then adjust the focus A method is disclosed in which an operation switch is returned to a non-operation position, a screen is returned to an original display, and then the image is focused by releasing and photographing.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-244566, an enlarged image is displayed on an electronic viewer as necessary at the time of recording. However, a video tape recorder with a camera, which always records all pixels of an image sensor, is used. It has been disclosed.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional electronic camera, the optical viewfinder provided therein has only a function to determine the angle of view at the time of shooting, and it is not possible to confirm the focus. Almost impossible.
In order to solve this, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
According to the method proposed therein, a focus area is determined for each shooting, the focus is adjusted, and then the shutter is returned after returning to the original screen. As described above, the procedure is very complicated and it is not practical to actually perform such a procedure when taking a picture. Very few, it was often difficult to check the focus of the subject before shooting. This is the same after the shooting, and this time there is a blurring element at the time of shooting, but it was very difficult to confirm these as well.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-244566 discloses that the entire screen is recorded even when the image is photographed by zooming up, but there is no detailed description or display on zooming up. The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and confirms the focus of a subject before photographing. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image pickup display device that can be confirmed at a time.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 provides an image pickup apparatus for photographing a subject image using an image pickup device, and an image signal obtained from the image pickup apparatus. A storage medium for storing; a display device for displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging device; a first mode for displaying the image signal at a first resolution on the display device; The image signal of the determined specific area is converted to the first signal.
It is characterized by comprising display control means for controlling to a second mode for displaying at a second resolution higher than the mode, and switching means for switching between the first mode and the second mode.

[0008] With this, in a display device in which a part of this information is thinned out and full-screen display is performed in order to display output information from the image pickup device at high speed, a region to be focused is displayed with high definition. The focus can be easily checked. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in displaying the above-described high-definition display screen, the user can manually switch to the high-definition screen only when he / she wants to confirm the focus at the time of shooting. I can do it.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, most of the time, the main subject is usually located at the center of the screen.
Since a high-definition display can be immediately made to confirm the focus at the center, an electronic camera with excellent usability is provided. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic camera having the AF mechanism, the area including the AF area is configured to be displayed with high definition. Shooting can be prevented.

In the invention of claim 5, the display of the specific area is enlarged and displayed, so that the focus can be further secured. According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the resolution of the second mode is substantially equal to the resolution stored in the storage medium, that is, the same resolution as that in the storage state is displayed, and the focus is easily confirmed.

Also in the invention of claim 7, since the resolution of the second mode is substantially equal to the resolution of the image pickup device this time, the focus can be easily confirmed as described above. According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging apparatus for photographing a subject image using the first solid-state imaging device, and displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging apparatus or an image obtained from the second imaging apparatus. A flat panel display for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a medium on which a signal is recorded, and thinning out all the effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device or the effective pixels at a predetermined ratio on the recording medium. In the electronic camera for recording the image, the output signal from the first solid-state imaging device is automatically set in advance in the same number of pixels as the region represented by the predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device. And a display control means for controlling and switching to display only a predetermined range, and a confirmation button for operating the display control means.

In an electronic camera, usually, image signals of all effective pixels of a solid-state image sensor are recorded on a recording medium.
Also, some electronic cameras want to increase the number of images recorded on a recording medium, so that the output signals of the image sensor are thinned out at a predetermined ratio and recorded on the recording medium with a reduced number of recording pixels. is there. However, in any of these electronic cameras, at present, the number of pixels of the monitor display device provided in the electronic camera is considerably smaller than the number of pixels of the image sensor. In this case, since it is impossible to display all the pixels of the output signal from the image sensor, the angle of view for all the pixels of the image sensor is normally displayed by thinning out every one or two lines. I have. This makes it impossible to accurately check the focus of the subject to be photographed.

In the present invention, a part of the image sensor is depressed by pressing the confirmation button provided on the electronic camera of the present invention while the image signal from the image sensor is being displayed on the display device as in the prior art. The display control circuit starts to operate so that only the area of the image is displayed on the display element, and the same image as the image formation state on the image sensor can be confirmed on the monitor, so the focus can be easily and accurately confirmed on the monitor It can be performed.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging apparatus for photographing a subject image using the first solid-state imaging device, and displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging apparatus, or obtaining an image signal from the second imaging apparatus. A flat-panel display device for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a medium on which the image signal is recorded, and all of the effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device, or the effective pixels at a predetermined ratio, on the recording medium. Wherein the electronic camera is substantially the same as an area of the output signal from the first solid-state imaging device, which is represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device. Display control means for controlling and switching to display only a range automatically determined in advance by the number of pixels, a confirmation button for operating the display control means, and AF for automatically focusing on a subject. And a manual focus adjustment mechanism for manually adjusting the focus. When the confirmation button is pressed, an image using the AF mechanism is displayed on the flat panel display, and the manual focus adjustment is performed. It is characterized in that the focus can be adjusted manually by a mechanism.

In this electronic camera, when trying to shoot in the AF mode and checking the focus on the monitor by the above-described method, if the focus is out of focus, the focus is further adjusted manually by the manual operation. Therefore, even if a subject or the like that is not good at AF is photographed, it is not taken out of focus. The invention of claim 10 is
By using the method described above with an electronic camera, the desired still image is immediately recorded on the recording medium by pressing the shutter button without returning the monitor screen to the original full screen display when the focus is displayed on the monitor. Therefore, the operation is not bothersome, and quick shooting is possible.

In the eleventh aspect of the present invention, claims 8 to
Reference is made to the specific timings of the ten inventions.
That is, an electronic camera configured to display the subject image from the image sensor on the monitor immediately after the power is turned on, or the subject image from the image sensor on the monitor after the shutter is half-pressed. When a subject image is displayed on a configured electronic camera, that is, a monitor provided in the camera before shooting, by checking the focus by the above-described method, an image without failure is stored in a recording medium. Becomes possible.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus for photographing a subject image using the first solid-state image pickup device, and an image signal obtained from the image pickup apparatus is displayed.
A flat-panel display device for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a medium on which an image signal obtained from the imaging device is recorded, and all or a predetermined number of effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device on the recording medium. In an electronic camera that records the effective pixels by thinning out at a ratio of, the output signal from the first solid-state imaging device is substantially equal to a region represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device. Display control means for controlling and displaying only a range of the same number of pixels,
A confirmation button for operating the display control means, and a buffer memory for at least one screen, wherein after the shutter button is fully pressed, an image signal from the first solid-state imaging device is temporarily stored in the buffer memory. And displaying the reproduction signal from the buffer memory on the display means, and when the confirmation button is pressed, is represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the display device by the control means. Only the range of the same number of pixels as the area is selected from the area of the buffer memory, controlled to be displayed, and switched.
It is characterized by having display control means.

In the electronic camera according to the present invention, after the release, the subject image from the image pickup device is once written into the buffer memory, and further reproduced on the monitor to confirm whether or not the desired subject image has been photographed. At this time, if it is desired to confirm the focus, if the control button is pressed in this state, the display on the monitor switches to a screen for confirming the focus. This display screen includes not only the focus but also the effects of blurring during shooting, so if the desired screen is not obtained, it is possible to immediately re-take the picture, which may lead to a failure to shoot important scenes. It can be avoided.

In the invention of claim 13, in any one of claims 8 to 12, the region corresponding to the preset number of pixels cut out from the solid-state image pickup device or the reproduction signal usually pays the most attention. It is characterized by the fact that it is often set at the center of the solid-state imaging device or the reproduced image, which eliminates the need for the user to set the focus confirmation area each time, and provides a convenient electronic camera. it can.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, after the image signal is once stored in the buffer memory, a confirmation screen displayed on the display device by pressing the confirmation button is displayed on the buffer. Since the screen is displayed immediately before the capture, there is no need to set an area for focus confirmation before shooting. In claim 15,
The electronic camera is provided with an area move button so that the user can move the above-mentioned area for focus confirmation to a position where the user wants to confirm, thereby confirming the focus at an arbitrary position. Becomes possible.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, the above-mentioned focus confirmation areas are set in advance to a total of five places, that is, upper left and right, lower left and right, and the center. As a result, the area can be moved quickly and the circuit configuration for the movement can be simplified. In claim 17, the plurality of specific areas are defined by A of the electronic camera.
The function of the AF can be easily confirmed because it is matched with the area for F.

According to the eighteenth aspect, of the pixels on the image pickup device, an area of pixels substantially equal to the number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the monitor is displayed on the monitor, so that the entire monitor screen is easy to see for focus confirmation. Screen. In the invention according to claim 19, of the pixels on the image sensor,
The monitor displays a smaller number of pixels on the monitor than the number of pixels on the monitor, so that only a part of the full-screen display on the monitor can be replaced with a confirmation display. Can be monitored simultaneously.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus for photographing a subject image using the first solid-state image pickup device, and an image signal obtained from the image pickup apparatus is displayed.
A flat-panel display device for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a medium on which an image signal obtained from the imaging device is recorded, and all or a predetermined number of effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device on the recording medium. In an electronic camera that records the effective pixels by thinning out at a ratio of, the output signal from the first solid-state imaging device is substantially equal to a region represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device. Control to display only the range automatically determined in advance with the same number of pixels,
Display control means for switching, and a confirmation button for operating the display control means, for displaying an area in the first solid-state imaging device or an area in the reproduced signal on the display device during photographing or recording. What is done is displayed on the display screen of the display device or on the imaging device. Thereby, the photographer can easily distinguish whether the screen on the monitor is the full screen display or the focus confirmation display.

According to the twenty-first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to superimpose on the current display screen which area of the entire angle of view the image is formed on the solid-state image pickup device or in the reproduced image. Therefore, at the time of shooting, the intention of the photographer can be easily confirmed, and at the time of playback, the in-focus position in the playback screen can be easily confirmed. Further, in claim 22, regarding the selected area,
Image quality information such as histograms, variances, contrast values and tables are superimposed and displayed on the current display screen, which is a very effective function especially when trying to manually check the focus. .

According to a twenty-third aspect, the area display frame or information superimposed on the display screen according to the twenty-first or twenty-second aspect can be turned on / off. In this case, it is possible to make the display screen easier to see.

[0026]

Next, a preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an electronic camera according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a photographing lens for capturing a subject image, and 2 denotes a CCD for converting the subject image into an electric signal.
The image sensor 3 is a signal processing circuit, which performs CDS processing, gamma processing, and the like on the signal from the CCD, and further converts the signal into digital image data. The converted digital data is then sent to buffer memory 4 and its output is
Is output to a display device such as an LCD.

The output of the buffer memory 4 is output for recording on a removable recording medium 6 (multimedia card, compact flash, smart media, etc.). Reference numeral 7 denotes a control circuit for controlling the sequence of the entire electronic camera. The control circuit 7 outputs the output from the buffer memory 4 to the display element 5 to display an area corresponding to almost all pixels of the CCD or to display the display element. And display control means 8 for controlling / switching whether to output an area equivalent to the number of pixels. The display control means 8 starts operation by pressing the confirmation button 9. Reference numeral 10 denotes an area move button for moving the partially enlarged position on the CCD up, down, left, and right. Reference numeral 11 denotes a shutter for starting photographing by the electronic camera.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the appearance of an actual electronic camera. 2, the same members as those in FIG. 1 are given the same numbers. Reference numeral 21 denotes an electronic camera according to the present invention;
Reference numeral 2 denotes a subject to be photographed. A shutter 11 is provided on the upper surface of the electronic camera, and a display device 5, a confirmation button 9, and an area moving button 10 are provided on the back. The current situation is a situation in which an electronic camera set to the AF mode wants to capture a whole body image of a subject.

First, when the power button (not shown) is turned on or the shutter 11 is further pressed halfway, the whole body image of the subject focused by the AF mechanism is normally displayed on the display device 5. After that, when the confirmation button 9 is pressed, the mode is changed from the AF mode to the manual mode, and the focus can be manually adjusted. In addition, the vicinity of the center of the screen, here, the vicinity of the center chest of the person is automatically displayed on the entire surface of the display device 5. Is displayed.

After that, the area moving button 10 is operated to display the vicinity of the face of the person on the display device 5. If it is determined that the focus of the face portion is insufficient, the focus can be finely adjusted by manually turning the distance ring of the lens. The change from the AF mode to the manual mode may be configured such that, when photographing in the AF mode, if the photographer rotates the distance ring of the lens, the manual mode is automatically changed accordingly. That is, the power button (not shown) is turned on or the shutter 11 is further pressed halfway, and the whole body image of the subject focused by the AF mechanism is displayed on the display device 5. Then, when the confirmation button 9 is pressed, the vicinity of the center of the screen is automatically displayed on the entire surface of the display device 5. Then, the user operates the area moving button 10 to display the display device 5.
Is displayed near the face of the person.

If it is determined that the focus of the face portion is insufficient, if the user manually rotates the distance ring of the lens, the lens and the camera are changed from the AF mode to the manual mode, and thereafter, the focus is manually adjusted. Can be fine-tuned. Further, when it is desired to switch to the manual mode and then switch to the AF mode again, the confirmation mode 9 can be pressed again to easily return to the AF mode. The method of this return may be separately set by pressing a release button (not shown), or may be reset by half-pressing the shutter 11 again.

When it is determined that there is no problem and the focus is achieved in this way, the photographed image is recorded on the recording medium 6 such as a compact flash card when the shutter is pressed further. At this time, the display screen on the display device 5 may keep the face displayed or the confirmation button 9 may be pressed again to display the whole body image of the subject. In addition,
FIG. 2 schematically shows that the actual recorded image 23 on the recording medium 6 which is inserted and removed from the side of the camera 21 is a whole body image. Of course, the actual recording state on the card is written in digital data.

Next, the number of pixels of the image pickup device 2, the number of pixels of the display device 5, and the number of recording pixels will be described in more detail. First, the image sensor and the number of pixels of a recorded image will be described. Since an electronic camera is required to have an image quality close to that of a silver halide camera, it is desirable to use an image sensor having as many pixels as possible. Recently, electronic cameras with more than 2 million pixels have appeared. However, when the number of pixels is increased, the speed of image processing, the recording time, and the capacity of the recording medium become problems.

Further, even with a single electronic camera, a high resolution and a high resolution may not be required depending on the purpose of use. As in the "mode", there is a configuration in which not all the image information from the image sensor is recorded, but only a part of the image information. One way to realize this is to obtain a desired number of pixels by thinning out the image information output from the image sensor in units of pixels in the horizontal direction and in units of lines in the vertical direction. As a second method, a method in which only necessary pixels are read from an image sensor, such as a MOS image sensor, is used. In the case of such a low-resolution mode, the focus may be determined in accordance with information from only pixels contributing to recording,
From among the pixels contributing to recording, a pixel substantially equal to the display pixel may be read and displayed. The image information read out in a different form depending on the camera or the photographing mode as described above is usually further subjected to a compression process on these signals at the time of recording.

On the other hand, in the display device, it is very difficult to increase the number of display pixels in the same manner in accordance with the image sensor. This is because, for display, it is usually necessary to display a moving image at a video rate, and as the number of display pixels increases, the speed of signal processing required for display needs to be extremely high. . Therefore, a display device having a number of pixels from 100,000 pixels to at most 200,000 pixels is generally used. As described above, in order to display a captured image on a display device having a far smaller number of pixels than the image sensor, the output from the image sensor is usually reduced to the number of pixels in the vertical and horizontal directions of the display device, as in the case of recording described above. This is achieved by thinning out correspondingly. For this reason, it is very difficult to confirm the focus on the display device. In order to solve this, it is the basis of the present invention to confirm the actual imaging state by displaying the same state as that formed on the image sensor on the display element.

Thus, in a normal electronic camera,
In addition to the fact that it is not possible to simultaneously display information for all angles of view on the display device, focus confirmation must be possible anywhere within the shooting screen. In the present invention, an area for focus confirmation can be selected on the screen so that focus can be confirmed at any position.

FIG. 3 shows a case where the area for focus confirmation selected by the area moving button 10 is set at a total of five places, that is, the top and bottom and the center of the screen. Normally, the center of the screen is set as a focus confirmation area. Of course, this area is not limited to five places as described above. For example, in a camera in which a plurality of AF area positions are displayed in the viewfinder, this position and the position of the focus confirmation area match. By doing so, a very convenient camera is provided. In addition, instead of such a discrete area setting, it is also possible to set the area position to move continuously.

FIG. 4 does not display the entire area of the image sensor corresponding to the number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the display device, but displays the area of the image sensor smaller than the actual number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the display device in one screen. This is an example in which a part is replaced and displayed. FIG.
Indicates that the image displayed when the confirmation button 9 is pressed is
Is an area position display frame indicating that it is near the center of the area.

FIG. 6 shows an example of information display relating to the image quality of the displayed image. Here, a histogram is displayed, and when the photographer turns the distance ring of the lens, the display changes. Even a change that is difficult to understand in an image is displayed as a numerical value or a graph. In addition, as an example of the information display, it is preferable to display a contrast value, a variance value, and the like. If the photographer deems unnecessary, the area position display frame and the image quality information display may not be displayed by pressing a display selection button (not shown).

When the number of display pixels of the display device is sufficiently close to the number of pixels of the image sensor, it is not necessary to perform enlarged display as described above, but the time required for display increases as the number of pixels increases. Will increase. As a countermeasure,
Although it is conceivable to increase the display speed by lowering the resolution of the display screen, it is naturally difficult to confirm the focus because the resolution is lowered. Even in such a case, the principle of the present invention of confirming the focus can be easily adapted by increasing the resolution of only a part of the display screen.

Next, the operation of the electronic camera of this system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 7, when the power of the electronic camera is turned on in step S511, it is determined in step S512 whether the camera is in the shooting recording mode or the reproduction mode. First, the case where the recording mode is set will be described. In this case, first, in step S513, a moving image passed through the lens 1 is displayed on the display device 5 on the back of the camera.

Next, in step S514, when the user wants to confirm the focus of the subject and presses the confirmation button 9, an enlarged screen of the subject is displayed on the display device 5 in step S515. At this stage, the manual focus fine adjustment, the movement of the area position display frame, the display of image quality information, and the like described above are performed as necessary. If the confirmation button 9 has not been pressed, the normal display is performed in step S516.

Next, in step S517, the card 6 is stored in the camera.
Is checked, and if it is not inserted, the flow returns to step S514 to continue the enlarged display or the normal display. If a card has been inserted, the flow advances to step S518 to determine whether the shutter button 11 has been pressed. If the shutter button 11 has not been pressed, the process returns to step S514, and the enlarged display or the normal display is continued. If it is confirmed that the shutter button 11 has been pressed, the subject image formed on the CCD 2 is converted into an electric signal, and is written to the buffer memory 4 via the processing circuit 3 in step S519.

Thereafter, in step S520, it is checked whether the current camera mode is the image checking mode. If the mode is not the image confirmation mode, an image is written on the card in step S526. If the mode is the image confirmation mode, the position of the enlarged area when enlarged is displayed in step S515. Then, the currently written image signal is read out, and an image signal thinned out at a predetermined ratio is displayed on the display element 5 so that an area corresponding to the full angle of view of the CCD 2 is displayed.

At this time, when the operator of the camera wants to confirm the image including the blur, and presses the confirmation button 9, the process proceeds to the step S523 via the step S522, and a partial area on the CCD is enlarged and displayed. Is stored in the camera,
The area where the photographer has confirmed the focus before writing to the buffer is automatically displayed first. On the other hand, step S524
When there is no need to display the confirmation, the normal display is performed.

Next, in step S525, if the operator of the camera wants to write this image on the card 6, the operator presses a write button (not shown) to execute step S525.
At 526, the information of the entire screen currently displayed and the enlarged area position information are written into the memory 6, and thereafter, at step S527, the power is turned off, and a series of photographing and recording sequences is terminated. If the power has not been turned off, the process returns to step S513 to prepare for the next photographing. Step S5
If it is determined at 25 that storage in the memory 6 is unnecessary, the process returns to step S513, and the series of shooting is completed by preparing for the next shooting.

Next, the case where the camera is set to the reproduction mode will be described. First, the presence or absence of the card 6 is confirmed in step S530, and if it is confirmed, an image signal is read from the card 6 in step S531, and a reproduced image is displayed on the display device 5. If the operator of the camera looks at this and wants to confirm the focus or the like, the user presses the confirmation button 9 via step S532 and enlarges the display on the display device 5 in step S533. At this time, since the enlarged area position information recorded together with the image is reproduced and decoded at the same time, the position where the photographer has confirmed the focus at the time of recording is automatically enlarged and displayed first.

If confirmation is not desired, step S5
At 34, the normal display is continued. Since the playback display for one screen is completed up to this point, the mode is confirmed in step S535, and if the camera has been switched to the photographing / recording mode, the process proceeds to step S513. If it has not been switched, the power is turned off via step S536, or if it is desired to reproduce the next screen, the process returns to step S530 via step S537, the next screen is read from the card 6, and the subsequent reproduction is performed. Is repeated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an imaging display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an embodiment in the case of the electronic camera of the invention of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an example in which a focus confirmation area is fixedly set.

FIG. 4 is an example in which a display for focus confirmation is partially replaced with a full-screen display.

FIG. 5 is a display example of a display device.

FIG. 6 is a display example of a display device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart when the embodiment is an electronic camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 shooting lens 2 imaging element 3 signal processing circuit 4 buffer memory 5 display device 6 recording medium 7 control circuit 8 display control means 9 confirmation button 10 area move button 11 shutter 21 electronic camera 22 subject 23 actual recorded image

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Naoshi Ishizaka 1-35-2, Futaba, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Nikon Technical Studio Co., Ltd. (72) Kenji Toyoda 1-35-2, Futaba, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo F term in Nikon Technology Studio (reference) 5C022 AA13 AB30 AB34 AC01 AC13 AC32 AC69 CA00

Claims (23)

[Claims] An imaging device for photographing a subject image using an imaging device; a storage medium for storing an image signal obtained from the imaging device; and a display device for displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging device. A first mode for displaying an image signal at a first resolution on the display device, and a second resolution having a higher definition than the first mode for displaying an image signal of a specific region automatically determined from the image signal. An electronic camera, comprising: display control means for controlling a second mode to be displayed by a switch; and switching means for switching between the first mode and the second mode. 2. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein said switching means operates manually. 3. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined area is an area including a center. 4. An AF mechanism for automatically focusing a subject image on the image sensor, wherein the specific area is the A
The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the electronic camera is an area including an AF area focused by an F mechanism. 5. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein when the display area is switched to the second mode, a display area of the display device with respect to the specific area is enlarged. 6. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the resolution of the image signal in the specific area in the second mode is substantially the same as the resolution of the image signal stored in the storage medium. 7. The electronic camera according to claim 1, wherein the resolution of the image signal in the specific area in the second mode is substantially the same as the resolution of the image sensor. 8. An imaging device for photographing a subject image using a first solid-state imaging device, and displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging device or recording an image signal obtained from a second imaging device. A flat-panel display for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a recorded medium, and recording on the recording medium all the effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device or thinning out the effective pixels at a predetermined ratio. In the electronic camera, among the output signals from the first solid-state imaging device, the output signal is automatically determined in advance by a pixel number substantially equal to the area represented by the predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device. An electronic camera, comprising: display control means for controlling and switching to display only a range in which the display control is performed; and a confirmation button for operating the display control means. 9. An imaging device for photographing a subject image using a first solid-state imaging device, and displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging device or recording an image signal obtained from a second imaging device. A flat-panel display for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a recorded medium, and recording on the recording medium all the effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device or thinning out the effective pixels at a predetermined ratio. In the electronic camera, the electronic camera is configured to output the output signal from the first solid-state imaging device with a pixel number substantially equal to a region represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device. A display control means for automatically controlling and displaying only a predetermined range, a confirmation button for operating the display control means, an AF mechanism for automatically focusing on a subject, and a manual operation. pin And a manual focus adjustment mechanism for adjusting the focus.When the confirmation button is pressed, an image using the AF mechanism is displayed on the flat panel display device, and the manual focus adjustment mechanism manually focuses. An electronic camera, which can be adjusted. 10. An imaging device for photographing a subject image using a first solid-state imaging device, and displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging device or recording an image signal obtained from a second imaging device. A flat-panel display for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a recorded medium, and recording on the recording medium all the effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device or thinning out the effective pixels at a predetermined ratio. In the electronic camera, of the output signal from the first solid-state imaging device, control is performed such that only a range of a pixel number substantially equal to a region represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device is displayed. Display control means for switching, and a confirmation button for operating the display control means, wherein the shutter is pressed while the confirmation button is pressed to display the range, so that the recording medium All effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device or an electronic camera and recording still images by thinning the effective pixel at a predetermined ratio. 11. The display control means according to claim 8, wherein the display control means is provided when the power of the electronic camera is turned on, or when the shutter button is half-pressed, and the display device is provided with the image pickup device. An electronic camera that operates by pressing the confirmation button while displaying a signal from the electronic camera. 12. An imaging device for photographing a subject image using a first solid-state imaging device, and displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging device or recording an image signal obtained from a second imaging device. A flat-panel display for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a recorded medium, and recording on the recording medium all the effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device or thinning out the effective pixels at a predetermined ratio. In the electronic camera, of the output signal from the first solid-state imaging device, control is performed such that only a range of a pixel number substantially equal to a region represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device is displayed. A display control unit for switching, a confirmation button for operating the display control unit, and a buffer memory for at least one screen, and after the shutter button is fully pressed, the buffer memory is temporarily stored in the buffer memory. In addition to recording an image signal from the solid-state image pickup device 1 and displaying a reproduction signal from the buffer memory on the display unit, if the confirmation button is pressed, a predetermined value of the display device is determined by the control unit. An electronic camera having display control means for selecting from the buffer memory area only a range having substantially the same number of pixels as the area represented by the number of vertical and horizontal pixels, and controlling and switching the display. 13. The solid-state imaging device or the reproduction signal according to claim 8, wherein an area in the solid-state imaging device or the reproduction signal in the same number as the number of pixels of the display device is set in advance. An electronic camera, wherein the electronic camera is set at the center of the electronic camera. 14. The display control means according to claim 12, wherein said display control means displays a reproduction signal from said buffer memory on said display means and, if said confirmation button is pressed, immediately before recording in said buffer memory. A range of the same number of pixels as an area represented by a predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the display device set is selected from the area of the buffer memory, and control is performed so as to display and switch. Electronic camera. 15. An electronic camera according to claim 8, wherein said display control means selects an arbitrary area in said first solid-state imaging device or in said reproduced signal. 16. An electronic camera according to claim 8, wherein said display control means selects a plurality of specific areas in said first solid-state image pickup device or in said reproduction signal. 17. The electronic camera according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of specific areas are positions of an AF area of the electronic camera. 18. The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device is substantially equal to all the vertical and horizontal effective display pixels of the flat panel display device. camera. 19. An electronic camera according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of said flat panel display device is smaller than the total number of effective vertical and horizontal pixels of said flat panel display device. . 20. An imaging device for photographing a subject image using a first solid-state imaging device, and displaying an image signal obtained from the imaging device or recording an image signal obtained from a second imaging device. A flat-panel display for reproducing and displaying an image signal from a recorded medium, and recording on the recording medium all the effective pixels of the first solid-state imaging device or thinning out the effective pixels at a predetermined ratio. In the electronic camera, among the output signals from the first solid-state imaging device, the output signal is automatically determined in advance by a pixel number substantially equal to the area represented by the predetermined number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the flat panel display device. Display control means for controlling and switching only the displayed area, and a confirmation button for operating the display control means, and when photographing or recording, an area in the first solid-state imaging device or the reproduction signal is provided. An electronic camera, wherein a region of the inner and displays that it is displayed on the display device on the display screen or the image pickup apparatus of the display device. 21. An electronic camera according to claim 20, wherein a position of an area in said first solid-state image sensor or an area in said reproduction signal is displayed on said display device. 22. An electronic camera according to claim 21, wherein information relating to image quality of an area in said first solid-state imaging device or an area in said reproduction signal is displayed on said display device. 23. The method according to claim 20, wherein
The display indicating that the area is being displayed and the information on the position of the area or the image quality of the area are both ON / OFF.
An electronic camera, which can be turned off.