JP2001228530A - Camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To install a camera at a narrow space at a desired angle without using a tripod and to prevent the camera from falling down without taking a special countermeasure at the time of installing. SOLUTION: This camera possesses an inclined posture holding means (a seating means) 41 to hold a camera main body 1 in an inclined erecting posture on a supporting surface S. Also, it possesses a fall preventive member 6 to prevent the camera main body 1 from falling on a rear side. The fall preventive member 6 is formed so that an upper end part is freely turnably connected with the camera main body 1 and it is perpendicularly hung down by gravity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is widely used to determine the directional angle (angle) of a camera with respect to a subject by mounting the camera on a tripod. However, in this case, there is the inconvenience of having to carry the tripod in addition to the camera, and since the installation of the tripod requires a relatively large surface, when shooting with the camera installed in a narrow space. You may not be able to use a tripod.

[0003] On the other hand, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-11706 discloses a technique in which an arc-shaped piece is attached to a lens barrel of a camera body having a subject photographing function, and the camera body and the arc-shaped piece drawn downward from the lens barrel are used to ground. There is a description about supporting a camera on a supporting surface such as to maintain the camera at a predetermined angle. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-1
No. 57,635 discloses that a lens cover of a camera is pivotally supported at a lower portion of a tip of a photographing lens, and the camera is supported on a supporting surface such as the ground by a camera body and a lens cover detached from the photographing lens. There is a statement about keeping at an angle. Furthermore, the actual opening 64-
Japanese Patent No. 24797 discloses a camera in which a lever is attached to a side surface portion of a camera body, and the lever pulled out in front of the camera body is placed on a support surface to maintain the camera at a predetermined angle on the support surface. There is a statement about what to do.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned publications, the camera can be set at a predetermined angle without using a tripod. It is not something that can prevent the camera from being pushed down and falling behind. In particular, in the case of a camera having a short depth dimension, such as an electronic camera (digital camera) or an optical compact camera which has been rapidly spreading recently, the means proposed in the above publications is used. If you adjust the angle of the camera, you will not get enough installation stability,
The camera easily falls forward or backward due to wind pressure or the like. When the camera falls down in this way, the finder and monitor of the camera may be damaged, or when the camera installed in a high place falls down, the camera may fall from the installation location and be broken.

[0005] The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and a camera can be installed at a desired angle without using a tripod, and without taking special measures to prevent the camera from falling when installing the camera. It is an object of the present invention to prevent the camera from falling down due to the influence of wind pressure or the like. Another object of the present invention is to enable a camera to be installed at a desired angle even in a narrow space, and to prevent the camera from falling down. Still another object of the present invention is to prevent the size of the compact camera from being increased even when applied to the compact camera.

[0006]

A camera according to the present invention comprises:
There is provided a tilt posture holding means for keeping a camera body having a subject photographing function in a standing posture tilted on a support surface. Here, as the posture holding means, an arc-shaped piece, a lens cover, a lever, or the like described in each of the above publications can be employed. Further, the posture holding means may be formed by a seat member mounted on the lower surface side of the camera body so as to adjust the inclination angle with respect to the lower surface of the camera body, and placed on the support surface. It is.

In the camera according to the present invention, an upper end portion is rotatably connected to the camera body, and the camera body is maintained in an upright posture inclined on the support surface by the inclined posture holding means. Sometimes has a fall prevention member that hangs down by its own weight from a connection point with the camera body, and that prevents the camera body from falling down by hitting the support surface while the camera body is falling from the inclined standing posture to the falling posture. ing. Since the camera according to the present invention has this configuration, after being installed at a desired angle,
Even when the camera is pushed in the direction of falling due to wind or the like, the camera body will prevent the camera body from falling down due to the fall prevention member hanging down from the camera body due to its own weight hitting the support surface where the camera body is installed. The situation in which the finder and the monitor are damaged due to the fall of the finder is prevented.

[0008] In the present invention, it is preferable that a connecting portion between the upper end of the fall prevention member and the camera body is located at an upper edge of the camera body. According to this, when the fall prevention member hits the support surface to prevent the camera body from falling, the distance between the mounting position of the inclination posture holding means on the support surface and the abutting position of the fall prevention member with respect to the support surface is increased. As a result, a remarkable fall prevention effect is exhibited. In addition, since the vertical length of the fall prevention member can be increased, the fall prevention member becomes heavier, and as a result, the hanging state of the fall prevention member is reliably maintained.

[0009] An upper end portion of the falling prevention member may be rotatably connected to a rear side portion of the camera body.
According to this, the fall of the camera body to the back is prevented by the fall prevention member. The above-mentioned fall prevention member,
It can be formed by a rod-like member that is long in the height direction of the camera body. When the fall prevention member is configured in this way,
Since the structure of the fall prevention member is simplified and the price is low, the camera can be provided at low cost.

[0010] The fall prevention member has a length capable of preventing the camera body from falling backward by hitting the support surface before the camera body assumes an inclined posture in which the camera body falls down by its own weight. Is desirable. According to this, even when the camera body installed on the support surface at a desired angle tries to fall backward due to wind or the like during shooting, before the camera body falls down to the back posture by its own weight, Since the fall prevention member hits the support surface to prevent the camera body from falling backward, when the influence of wind or the like stops, the camera body naturally returns to the initial angle by its own weight. for that reason,
There is an advantage that shooting does not have to be stopped halfway.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view for explaining an embodiment of a camera according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a seating member 41 as an inclined posture holding unit, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view schematically illustrating a fall prevention member 6, and FIG.
FIG.

The camera shown in FIG. 1 is a camera having a relatively short depth, such as a digital camera, and its outer contour is substantially rectangular. The camera body 1 of the camera includes a lens (not shown) on the front side and a monitor unit 2 on the back side.
And has a viewfinder 3 at the top, and has built-in components necessary for exhibiting a subject photographing function.

The camera body 1 is provided with an inclined posture holding means 4 for keeping the camera body 1 in an upright posture inclined on a support surface (not shown in FIG. 1). The inclined posture holding means 4 in the illustrated example is provided with the flat seat member 41 shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. The seat member 41 is formed to have a width dimension substantially equal to the depth dimension of the lower surface of the camera body 1.
Shaft portions 42, 42 are provided on both left and right sides of the rear end, and these shaft portions 42, 42 are rotatably fitted into bearing holes (not shown) provided in the rear edge portion on the lower surface side of the camera body 1. Have been. Therefore, the seat member 41 is rotatable around the shaft portions 42, 42. In addition, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the one end of the rod 44 is rotatably attached to the seating member 41. Then, after the seat member 41 is opened, the rod 44 is lifted so that the tip 45 is engaged with a predetermined position of the concave-convex portion 43, whereby the inclination angle θ of the seat member 41 with respect to the lower surface of the camera body is determined. Therefore, the inclination angle of the seating member 41 with respect to the lower surface of the camera body is adjusted depending on which position of the concave / convex portion 43 is engaged with the tip 45 of the rod 44.

After adjusting the inclination angle of the seat member 41 with respect to the lower surface of the camera body as described above, the seat member 41 is moved to a supporting surface such as the ground or the upper surface of some table (not shown in FIG. 2). ), The camera body 1 is maintained in an inclined standing position by the weight of the camera body 1, and the angle of the camera is set to an angle corresponding to the inclination angle of the seating member 41 with respect to the lower surface of the camera body. Shooting is performed in this state.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, a fall prevention member 6 is attached to two positions on the left and right sides of the rear side of the camera body 1. The fall prevention member 6 in the illustrated example is formed by a U-shaped rod-like member that is long in the height direction of the camera body 1, and has a pair of upper end portions provided with horizontal shaft portions 61, 61. As shown in FIG. 2, the shaft portions 61 are rotatably fitted in a pair of bearing holes 12 provided in an upper edge portion of a rear surface portion of the camera body 1. The length of the fall prevention member 6 is slightly shorter than the height dimension of the rear surface side of the camera body 1. Then, when the camera body 1 is maintained in an upright posture inclined by its own weight on the support surface as described in FIG. 2, the camera body 1 as shown in FIG.
A gap a between the lower end 62 of the fall prevention member 6 and the support surface S, which vertically hangs down by its own weight from the connection point a, b
Is formed. Also, at this time,
The angle θ1 of the camera is determined to be an angle corresponding to the inclination angle of the seat member 41 with respect to the lower surface of the camera body. For this reason,
When the camera is pushed rearward due to the wind or the like and falls down as shown by the arrow R in FIG. 4, as shown by the phantom line in FIG. 4, the fall prevention member 6 hanging down from the camera body 1 by its own weight is used. The lower end 62 prevents the camera body 1 from falling down and falling into a lying posture by hitting the support surface S on which the camera body 1 is installed.
The situation that the monitor unit 2 is damaged or the like is prevented beforehand (see FIG. 1).

In this embodiment, before the camera body 1 is tilted backward by its own weight, that is, the camera body 1 has fallen backward and its center of gravity is positioned in the camera body 1.
Before moving backward beyond the vertical line passing through the fulcrum P, the lower end 62 of the fall prevention member 6 hits the support surface S to prevent the camera body 1 from falling backward. Therefore, even when the camera body 1 installed on the support surface S at the angle θ1 is about to fall back and fall down due to the influence of wind or the like during shooting, the camera body 1 is tilted backward by its own weight. Before the fall, the lower end 61 of the fall prevention member 6 hits the support surface S to prevent the camera body 1 from falling backward, so that when the influence of wind or the like stops, the camera body 1 is moved to its initial angle θ1 by its own weight. The camera will return to its original state, and it will not be necessary to stop shooting halfway.

As shown in the phantom line in FIG. 4, when the connection points (a) and (b) between the upper end of the fall prevention member 6 and the camera body 1 are located at the upper edge of the camera body 1 as in this embodiment. When the lower end 61 of the fall prevention member 6 comes into contact with the support surface S to prevent the camera body 1 from falling, the mounting position of the seat member 41 on the support surface S (in other words, the fulcrum P of the camera body 1)
And the horizontal distance between the support surface S and the abutting point of the fall prevention member 6 can be ensured to be long.
As a result, the function of preventing the fall is remarkably exhibited.
In addition, since the vertical length of the fall prevention member 6 is increased, the fall prevention member 6 is correspondingly heavier, and as a result, the hanging state of the fall prevention member 6 is reliably maintained.
If a cushioning material such as a rubber cylinder is provided at the lower end 12 of the fall prevention member 6, the impact when the lower end 12 of the fall prevention member 6 hits the support surface S is less likely to be transmitted to the camera body 1. This is useful for preventing the camera body 1 from being displaced.

In this embodiment, the camera body 1 is prevented from falling backward by the camera body prevention member 6. However, if the camera body 1 is provided on the front side of the camera body, for example. Further, the camera body is prevented from falling forward by the fall prevention member.
In addition, the fall prevention member may be provided on both the rear side portion and the front side portion of the camera body, and if this is done, both the fall of the camera body to the rear and the fall of the camera body to the front can be prevented. It is blocked by the fall prevention member.

In the present invention, the configurations of the inclined posture holding means and the fall prevention member are not limited to the embodiment, and it is needless to say that the configurations can be variously changed within the scope of the present invention.

[0020]

According to the present invention, the camera can be installed in a narrow space at a desired angle without using a tripod, and the camera body can be installed on the camera body without taking any special measures for preventing the camera from falling down. The function of the attached fall prevention member prevents the camera from falling down due to the influence of wind pressure or the like. for that reason,
It is particularly advantageous to apply the present invention to a camera having a camera body having a short depth and falling easily, such as a digital camera or a compact camera. Further, since the present invention has a configuration in which a fall prevention member which can be formed by a rod-shaped member or the like is simply attached to a camera body provided with a tilt posture holding means, the size of the camera is not increased and the price is low. It has the advantage of sticking.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view for explaining an embodiment of a camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a seating member as an inclined posture holding unit.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view schematically illustrating a fall prevention member.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera main body 4 Inclination posture holding means 6 Fall prevention member 41 Seating member i Connection part of a fall prevention member and a camera main body S Support surface θ The inclination angle of the inclination posture holding means with respect to the lower surface of the camera main body

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A camera provided with a tilt posture holding means for maintaining a camera main body having a subject photographing function in an upright posture tilted on a support surface, wherein an upper end portion is rotatably connected to the camera main body,
When the camera body is held in the upright posture inclined on the support surface by the inclined posture holding means, the camera body hangs down by its own weight from a connection point with the camera body, and the camera body falls down from the inclined upright posture. A camera having a fall prevention member for preventing the camera body from falling when hitting the support surface while falling down to a posture. 2. The camera according to claim 1, wherein a connection point between an upper end portion of the fall prevention member and the camera body is located at an upper edge of the camera body. 3. The camera according to claim 1, wherein an upper end portion of the fall prevention member is rotatably connected to a rear side portion of the camera body. 4. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the fall prevention member is a rod-shaped member that is long in a height direction of the camera body. 5. The fall prevention member has a length capable of preventing the camera body from falling backward by hitting the support surface before the camera body assumes an inclined posture in which the camera body falls backward by its own weight. The camera according to claim 3 or 4. 6. The camera according to claim 1, wherein the tilt posture holding means is formed by a seat member mounted on the lower surface of the camera body so as to adjust the tilt angle with respect to the lower surface of the camera body, and mounted on the support surface. The camera according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein