JP2005269374A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic camera for continuing an operation even when a battery is exchanged. <P>SOLUTION: The digital camera 1 having a stroboscopic light emission device comprises: a battery attachment/detachment detecting part 22 for detecting the attachment/detachment of the battery 21 to be freely attached/detached to the body of the digital camera 1, which supplies power to the respective parts of the digital camera 1; a main capacitor C1 for storing light emission energy to perform light emission in the stroboscopic light emission device; a DC/DC-converter 26 for supplying the light emission energy stored in the main capacitor C1 by power supply from the battery 21 to the respective parts of the digital camera 1; and a control part 23 for performing control to start the DC/DC-converter 26 when the battery attachment/detachment detecting part 22 detects the detachment of the battery 21 from the main body of the digital camera 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera having a strobe light emitting device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Digital cameras that form a subject image on a solid-state image sensor such as a CCD image sensor using an optical system and convert it into an electrical signal and record the obtained image data on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory are widely used. Since this digital camera is a product that is assumed to be carried by a user, it is naturally configured to be driven by a built-in battery.

  A digital camera consumes a lot of power to drive a liquid crystal display, strobe light, and optical system, so the camera suddenly runs out of power during shooting, making it inoperable and you have to pause shooting. Things can happen.

  Also, when replacing the battery as the battery runs out, it is necessary to turn off the power by operating the power switch, turn on the power after restarting the system after installing a new battery, which is cumbersome At the same time, the camera may miss a photo opportunity while waiting for the digital camera to restart.

  In order to cope with these, a spare battery is built in the digital camera body, and when the battery is consumed, it is possible to keep the operating state by switching the power supply to the spare battery. The main body becomes large, which is contrary to the remarkable trend toward downsizing of digital cameras in recent years.

  Conventionally, when battery performance deteriorates, there is an example in which a motor built in a camera is driven using energy stored in a capacitor to emit a strobe (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).

JP 7-199270 A

  However, the camera described in Patent Document 1 does not supply power from the battery when driving a motor that requires more current than in a steady state, but does not supply power from a capacitor that stores energy for strobe light emission. However, the conventional problems that occur when replacing the battery cannot be solved.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an electronic camera capable of continuing the operation even when the battery is replaced.

  The electronic camera of the present invention is an electronic camera having a strobe light emitting device, and includes battery attachment / detachment detection means for detecting attachment / detachment of a battery detachably attached to the electronic camera main body for supplying power to each part of the electronic camera, and the strobe. Storage means for storing light emission energy for causing the light emitting device to emit light, light emission energy supply means for supplying the light emission energy stored in the storage means by power supply from the battery to each part of the electronic camera, and Control means for performing control to activate the light emission energy supply means when the battery attachment / detachment detection means detects that the battery has been removed from the electronic camera body.

  With this configuration, when the battery is removed, light emission energy for causing the strobe light emitting device to emit light is supplied to each part of the electronic camera, so that the electronic camera can be continuously activated even when the battery is replaced. For this reason, it is not necessary to restart the electronic camera when replacing the battery, and it is possible to prevent a photo opportunity from being missed while waiting for the electronic camera to start.

  In the electronic camera of the present invention, when it is detected by the battery attachment / detachment detection means that the battery is removed from the electronic camera body, the operation mode of the electronic camera is set to a standby mode for reducing power consumption, When the battery attachment / detachment detection unit detects that the battery is attached to the electronic camera body, the electronic camera body includes an operation mode control unit that cancels the standby mode.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic camera capable of continuing the operation even when the battery is replaced.

1A and 1B are external perspective views showing a schematic configuration of a digital camera according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1A is a view seen from the front, and FIG. 1B is a view seen from the back.
The digital camera 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a strobe light emitting device 2 that emits auxiliary light during photographing, a release switch 3, an LCD panel 4, an optical viewfinder 5, a power / mode selection switch 6, and a photographing lens 12. And a lens barrel portion 13 for accommodating the zoom lens, and a CCD image sensor as an imaging means is mounted inside the main body of the digital camera 1 behind the lens barrel portion 13.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the digital camera according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the digital camera 1 includes a battery 21 that is detachable from the digital camera 1 body, a battery attachment / detachment detection unit 22 that detects attachment / detachment of the battery 21, a central processing unit (CPU), and a predetermined program. A control unit 23 having a peripheral circuit such as a flash ROM to be stored, a DC / DC converter 24 controlled by the control unit 23 and provided between the battery 21 and the control unit 23, and emission of auxiliary light at the time of photographing And a DC / DC converter 26 provided between the battery 21 and the main capacitor C1.

  The battery 21 supplies power necessary for the operation of the digital camera 1 to each part of the digital camera 1 (such as a circuit that requires power supply). Examples of each unit include a DC / DC converter 24, a control unit 23, and a charging unit 27.

  The battery attachment / detachment detection unit 22 detects removal and attachment of the battery 21 with respect to the main body of the digital camera 1, and includes, for example, a switch that is turned on / off in conjunction with opening / closing of the battery cover of the battery 21. Is input to the control unit 23.

  The strobe unit 25 is controlled to start and stop charging by a main capacitor C1 that accumulates light emission energy (charge) for causing the strobe light emitting device 2 to emit light, and the control unit 23. A charging unit 27 that charges the capacitor C1, a xenon discharge tube X1, and an insulated gate bipolar transistor Q1 that connects the cathode of the xenon discharge tube X1 to a ground line according to a light emission signal sent from the control unit 23 are provided. The xenon discharge tube X1 and the insulated gate bipolar transistor Q1 constitute a strobe light emitting device 2.

  The start / stop of the DC / DC converter 26 is controlled by the control unit 23. At startup, the DC / DC converter 26 converts the light emission energy accumulated in the main capacitor C1 into a voltage corresponding to the output voltage of the battery 21 and supplies the converted voltage to each part of the digital camera 1. Power supply.

  The control unit 23 performs overall control of the entire digital camera 1.

Next, the operation of the digital camera 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the digital camera of this embodiment.
First, when the power switch 6 is turned on by the user (step S101), the CPU and flash ROM included in the control unit 23 are activated, and the control unit 23 starts the start-up operation of the digital camera 1 according to the stored program. To do. Next, when the operation mode of the digital camera 1 is set to the shooting mode, the control unit 23 determines whether or not the charge amount of the main capacitor C1 is sufficient (step S102). As a result, when the amount of charge is insufficient (step S102: NO), the control unit 23 controls the charging unit 27 to start the charging operation of the main capacitor C1 (step S103).

  On the other hand, when the main capacitor C1 has a sufficient amount of charge (step S102: YES), the digital camera 1 is ready for a photographing operation (step S104). In this state, when the battery attachment / detachment detection unit 22 detects that the battery 21 has been removed by the user (step S105: YES), the control unit 23 changes the operation mode of the digital camera 1 to a power saving mode in which power consumption is reduced. The mode is switched to a standby mode (for example, a mode in which the power of the LCD 4 or the like is turned off while maintaining the working state) (step S106), and the DC / DC converter 26 is started (step S107). When the DC / DC converter 26 is activated, the electric charge stored in the main capacitor C1 is converted into a voltage corresponding to the steady state of the battery 21, and electric power is supplied to each part of the digital camera 1 based on this voltage. Continues operation in the standby mode (step S108).

  Since the power consumed in the standby mode is sufficiently small compared to the amount of charge stored in the main capacitor C1, this charge is discharged and converted into a voltage corresponding to the steady state of the battery 21 by the DC / DC converter 26. By supplying power to each part of the digital camera 1, the digital camera 1 can continue to operate for ten seconds when the user replaces the battery 21.

  When the battery attachment / detachment detection unit 22 detects that the battery 21 is attached to the main body of the digital camera 1 (step S109: YES), the control unit 23 cancels the standby mode (step S110), returns to step S104, and continues. Maintain the shooting operation enabled state.

  As described above, according to the digital camera 1, when the battery 21 is removed during startup, power is supplied to each part of the digital camera 1 by the DC / DC converter 26. For this reason, even when the battery 21 is replaced, the digital camera 1 can be kept activated. Therefore, when the user replaces the battery 21, it is not necessary to restart the digital camera 1, and the labor required for battery replacement can be reduced. In addition, time until the digital camera 1 is restarted is not wasted, and it is possible to prevent a shutter chance from being missed.

  In the above description, the present invention is applied to a digital camera. However, the present invention is applicable to any electronic camera (including a camera that prints an image on a silver salt film) having a strobe light emitting device that emits auxiliary light.

1 is an external view showing a schematic configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. Circuit block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a digital camera according to the present embodiment A flowchart for explaining the operation of the digital camera according to the present embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital camera 21 Battery 22 Battery attachment / detachment detection part 23 Control part 25 Strobe unit 26 DC / DC converter C1 Strobe light emission capacitor

Claims (2)

An electronic camera having a strobe light emitting device,
Battery attachment / detachment detection means for detecting attachment / detachment of a battery detachably attached to the electronic camera body for supplying power to each part of the electronic camera;
Storage means for storing emission energy for causing the strobe light emitting device to emit light;
Luminescence energy supply means for supplying the luminescence energy accumulated in the accumulation means by power supply from the battery to each part of the electronic camera;
An electronic camera comprising: control means for performing control to activate the light emission energy supply means when the battery attachment / detachment detection means detects that the battery has been removed from the electronic camera body. The electronic camera according to claim 1,
When the battery attachment / detachment detecting means detects that the battery has been removed from the electronic camera body, the operation mode of the electronic camera is set to a standby mode to reduce power consumption, and the battery is attached to the electronic camera body. An electronic camera comprising an operation mode control means for canceling the standby mode when the battery attachment / detachment detection means detects this.

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