JP2011135374A - Three-dimensional digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

A three-dimensional digital camera capable of photographing a three-dimensional image having a vertical composition in a three-dimensional digital camera capable of photographing a three-dimensional image provided with two image pickup devices.
An image pickup system (2) including two image pickup elements (7a, 7b) for picking up a subject image and acquiring a horizontally long rectangular image is provided, and the image pickup elements (7a, 7a, 7b) are arranged in accordance with a user operation. 7b) and a change-over switch (12) that accepts the rotation operation, and an image pickup element with the optical axes (41a, 41b) of the image pickup system (2) as the axis center in response to the change-over switch (12) being operated by the user. An image sensor driving unit (28) that changes the effective imaging range of the image sensor (7a, 7b) by rotating (7a, 7b) by 90 degrees and acquires a vertically-long rectangular captured image.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a three-dimensional digital camera, and more particularly to a three-dimensional digital camera that can capture a three-dimensional image of a vertical composition.

  Recently, there is an increasing demand for digital cameras capable of taking 3D images. As a general three-dimensional digital camera capable of photographing a three-dimensional image, a three-dimensional digital camera including two imaging units including an imaging element and a photographing lens is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). . In order to obtain a three-dimensional photographed image with such a three-dimensional digital camera, it is necessary to photograph two photographed images simultaneously with two photographing lenses separated by a predetermined distance.

  The distance between the two photographic lenses needs to be close to the sense of the human eye. For this reason, when imaging 3D data representing a 3D image, the camera body is held in a horizontal direction, and two imaging lenses for imaging a subject and an object image formed by the imaging lens 2 are received. It is necessary to perform imaging in a state where two image sensors are separated from each other by a predetermined distance in a substantially horizontal direction.

JP 2008-252254 A

  In such a conventional three-dimensional digital camera, when a three-dimensional photographed image having a horizontally long rectangular shape is photographed, there is no particular problem because it is only necessary to photograph the camera body in a substantially horizontal direction. When observing an object that is horizontally distant, such as the human eye, with a photographic lens placed at a distance, a method of creating parallax by making each image look to the left and right eyes is used. it can.

  However, when capturing a three-dimensional image of a vertically long rectangular composition, even if the conventional digital camera 101 is captured in a substantially vertical direction as shown in FIG. Since the lens is in a state of being separated in a substantially vertical direction, the two captured images thus obtained are simply two captured images arranged in the vertical direction. A method for photographing an object that is separated in the horizontal direction, such as a human eye, does not hold in a vertical composition. That is, in order to capture a three-dimensional image of a vertical composition, the human eyes are separated in the vertical direction even if the left and right eyes are viewed with the two photographing lenses separated in a substantially vertical direction. Therefore, a correct parallax cannot be created, and thus an image that looks stereoscopically to the human eye cannot be generated from the two captured images thus captured.

  As described above, the conventional three-dimensional digital camera has a problem that a three-dimensional image having a vertical composition cannot be captured.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a three-dimensional digital camera that can capture a three-dimensional image having a vertical composition.

  The three-dimensional digital camera according to the first aspect of the present invention is a three-dimensional digital camera including an imaging system including two imaging elements that captures a subject image and acquires a captured image. The three-dimensional digital camera includes: According to the imaging effective range of the imaging element changed by the imaging effective range changing means, the imaging effective range changing means for changing the imaging effective range of the imaging element to either a horizontally long rectangular shape or a vertically long rectangular shape. The image pickup device acquires a captured image having any one of a horizontally long rectangular shape and a vertically long rectangular shape.

  In the three-dimensional digital camera according to the second aspect of the present invention, the effective photographing range changing means is a rotation operation means that receives a rotation operation of the image sensor in response to a user operation, and the rotation operation means is operated by a user. Accordingly, the imaging effective range of the imaging element is changed by rotating the imaging element by a predetermined angle about each optical axis of the imaging system as an axis center, and either the horizontally long rectangular shape or the vertically long rectangular shape is selected. Image pickup device rotation control means for acquiring a photographed image of the shape.

  A three-dimensional digital camera according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a blur detection unit that detects a blur amount generated in the three-dimensional digital camera, and the two imaging elements according to the blur amount detected by the blur detection unit. And a blur correction unit that corrects the blur of the subject image captured by each of the two image sensors.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the three-dimensional digital camera which can image | photograph the three-dimensional image provided with the two image pick-up elements, it can be made possible to image | photograph the stereographic image of a vertical composition.

It is a figure which shows the front and back surface of the digital camera which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the digital camera of FIG. It is a figure which shows schematic operation | movement of the image pick-up element which comprises the digital camera of FIG. It is a figure which shows the effective imaging range of the image pick-up element of FIG. It is a figure which shows a prior art example.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an external appearance of a digital camera 1 which is an embodiment of a three-dimensional digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (1) is a front view of the digital camera 1. (2) is a rear view of the digital camera 1.

  As shown in FIG. 1 (1), the digital camera 1 has two zoom lenses 3a and 3b (lens group) constituting the imaging system 2 (see FIG. 2) on the front side of the housing 10 of the digital camera 1. have. Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, on the back surface of the housing 10 of the digital camera 1, a display monitor 11, a changeover switch 12 constituting an operation unit 36 (see FIG. 2), and a camera shake correction function key 13 are provided. In addition, a mode setting dial 14 for determining shooting conditions, a cursor key 15, a zoom key 16 (W (wide angle) button 16a, T (telephoto) button 16b), and the like are provided. Also, a shutter key 17 and a power button 18 are provided on the top surface of the housing 10 of the digital camera 1, and a USB for connecting to an external device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer) or a modem on the side of the housing. A USB terminal connection unit used when connecting to a cable is provided.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the control circuit of the digital camera 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The digital camera 1 includes an imaging system 2, a shake detection unit 24, an image sensor driving unit 28, a timing generation unit 29, a signal processing unit 30, an image processing unit 31, a display processing unit 32, a display monitor 11, a recording unit 34, and an operation unit. 36 and a camera control unit 37. The operation unit 36 includes the changeover switch 12, and the camera control unit 37 includes an image sensor rotation control unit 26 and an image sensor blur correction processing unit 27.

  The imaging system 2 includes two focus lenses 4a and 4b, two imaging elements 7a and 7b, and two imaging elements 7a and 7b corresponding to the two zoom lenses 3a and 3b and the two zoom lenses 3a and 3b, respectively. There are two image sensor driving stages 8a and 8b, which are respectively disposed. The two zoom lenses 3a and 3b are arranged at a distance close to the distance between human eyes (about 60 mm), and are driven forward and backward in the directions of the optical axes 41a and 41b by a zoom control mechanism (not shown). The The angle of view changes as the zoom lenses 3a and 3b are driven forward and backward.

  The focus lenses 4a and 4b are driven back and forth in the direction of the optical axes 41a and 41b by the focus control mechanism. Focus adjustment of the imaging system 2 is performed by driving the focus lenses 4a and 4b forward and backward. The image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b are moved along the optical axes 41a and 41b with the two image sensors 7a and 7b arranged on the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b by an actuator provided in the image sensor drive unit 28. And rotate around the optical axes 41a and 41b. When performing camera shake correction, the two image sensors 7a and 7b arranged on the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b are integrally driven (moved) so as to cancel camera shake in a direction perpendicular to the optical axes 41a and 41b. )

  Each of the image sensor driving stages 8a and 8b is formed in a flat plate shape and will be described in detail later. As shown in FIG. 3, the image sensor driving stages 8a and 8b are driven and two image sensors 7a and 7b are driven. FIG. 3A shows the arrangement of the imaging elements 7a and 7b with respect to the two zoom lenses 3a and 3b and the focus lenses 4a and 4b by rotating 90 degrees about the optical axes 41a and 41b, respectively. It can be changed from a horizontally long rectangular shape to a vertically long rectangular shape as shown in FIG. As a result, the effective photographing range of the image sensors 7a and 7b changes from a horizontally long rectangular shape to a vertically long rectangular shape. In this way, since the two image pickup elements 7a and 7b whose effective shooting range has changed to a vertically long rectangular shape can each acquire a vertically long shot image, it is possible to take a shot image having a vertical composition.

  Further, when the image pickup device driving stages 8a and 8b are driven and the two image pickup devices 7a and 7b are moved, the subject image formed on the image pickup surface of the image pickup devices 7a and 7b is shifted. By driving the image pickup device driving stages 8a and 8b, for example, the image pickup devices 7a and 7b are canceled in the direction orthogonal to the optical axes 41a and 41b in accordance with the correction amount detected by the shake detection unit 24. It can be driven (moved). Accordingly, it is possible to perform camera shake correction by an image sensor shift method in which the two image sensors 7a and 7b arranged on the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b are shifted. Therefore, not only can the captured image of the vertical composition be acquired by the image sensor driving stages 8a and 8b, but also the camera shake correction by the image sensor shift method can be performed. It can be acquired.

  The two image sensors 7a and 7b are constituted by a CCD, a CMOS, or the like. The imaging elements 7a and 7b convert the subject image formed on the imaging surface and output an imaging signal. The signal processing unit 30 performs predetermined signal processing (for example, color interpolation processing, γ correction processing, white balance processing, shading correction processing, etc.) after converting the analog imaging signal into a digital signal. The timing generator 29 generates a readout timing signal of an imaging signal that is read out from the imaging elements 7a and 7b.

  The zoom lens 3a, the focus lens 4a, and the image pickup device 7a are arranged so that the optical axes 41a of the incident light are substantially coincident with each other. Similarly, the zoom lens 3b, the focus lens 4b, and the image sensor 7b are arranged so that the optical axes 41b of the light incident thereon are substantially coincident with each other.

  The change-over switch 12 outputs a rotation operation signal to the camera control unit 37 when detecting a user's pressing operation. The changeover switch 12 functions as a rotation operation unit that receives a rotation operation of the image sensors 7a and 7b in accordance with a user operation. When the user operates the changeover switch 12, the imaging elements 7 a and 7 b can be rotated to switch between the vertical composition photograph and the horizontal composition photograph.

  The image sensor rotation control unit 26 is provided in the camera control unit 37, and causes the image sensor drive unit 28 to rotationally drive the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b in response to the user operating the changeover switch 12. A rotation command signal is output, and the shape of the effective range of each image sensor 7a, 7b is changed. In other words, the camera control unit 37 constitutes a photographing effective range changing unit according to the present embodiment that changes the shape of the effective range of the image sensors 7a and 7b to obtain a vertically long rectangular photographed image.

  The image pickup device driving unit 28 is configured so that the image pickup devices 7 a and 7 b arranged on the image pickup device drive stages 8 a and 8 b are 90 around the optical axes 41 a and 41 b of the image pickup system 2 in accordance with a rotation command signal from the camera control unit 37. By rotating the image sensor 7 degrees, the imaging effective range of the image sensors 7a and 7b functions as an image sensor rotation control unit that can change from a horizontally long rectangular shape to a vertically long rectangular shape. That is, the image sensor drive unit 28 rotates the image sensors 7a and 7b arranged in the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b each time a rotation command signal output every time the user operates the changeover switch 12 is received. Thus, the effective photographing range of each of the image sensors 7a and 7b is alternately switched between a horizontally long rectangular shape and a vertically long rectangular shape.

  The blur detection unit 24 physically and directly detects the motion of the digital camera 1 and outputs a motion detection signal indicating the angular velocity to the camera control unit 37. The blur detection unit 24 functions as blur detection means such as a gyroscope or an angular velocity sensor, and detects the blur amount generated in the digital camera 1.

  The image sensor blur correction processing unit 27 is provided in the camera control unit 37 and has a conversion table that outputs a blur amount corresponding to the magnitude of the detection signal from the blur detection unit 24 as a correction amount. The blur detection unit 24 is activated upon receiving a correction start command from the camera control unit 37, and the camera control unit 37 calculates a correction amount according to the detection signal detected by the blur detection unit 24, and the calculated correction amount. Based on the above, signals for driving the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b are output to the image sensor drive unit 28.

  In addition, the image sensor driving unit 28 uses the image sensors 7a and 7b arranged on the image sensor driving stages 8a and 8b according to the correction amount from the camera control unit 37 for the zoom lenses 3a and 3b and the focus lenses 4a and 4b, respectively. It also functions as blur correction means for moving the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b in a direction orthogonal to the optical axes 41a and 41b. The moving amount of each of the image sensors 7a and 7b arranged on the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b is determined by the image sensor blur correction processor 27.

  The image processing unit 31 converts the format of the image data input from the signal processing unit 30 into a predetermined data format, or gives the image data to the display processing unit 32. The display processing unit 32 generates a video signal using the image data and sends it to the display monitor 11.

  The display monitor 11 is configured by a liquid crystal display panel or the like, and displays an image or the like based on a video signal input from the display processing unit 32. The display image includes a through image that is sequentially captured by the image sensors 7a and 7b before the still image shooting instruction, a still image that is captured by the image sensors 7a and 7b after the still image shooting instruction, a moving image at the time of moving image shooting, and a recording unit 34. There are playback images based on recorded image data. These images can be displayed on the display monitor 11 by electrically changing the display angle of view (electronic zoom) by operating the operation unit 36.

  The recording unit 34 is configured by a removable memory card or the like. In the shooting mode, the recording unit 34 records the image data whose format has been converted by the image processing unit 31. In the reproduction mode, the image data recorded in the recording unit 34 is read and sent to the image processing unit 31. The image processing unit 31 generates a video signal for displaying a reproduced image. Note that the digital camera 1 is configured to be able to select each of a still image shooting mode and a moving image shooting mode, and audio data may be recorded at the time of moving image shooting.

  The operation unit 36 includes a power button 18, a zoom key 16, a mode setting dial 14, a release (half-press switch, full-press switch) switch, and the like, and generates an operation signal based on an operation condition corresponding to each operation to generate a camera control unit. To 37. Thereby, for example, when the zoom key 16 is operated by the operator, a predetermined magnification (for example, 1 to 12 times) is set as the imaging condition.

  The camera control unit 37 is configured to include a CPU, a ROM storing a control program executed by the CPU, and a work RAM (not shown), and outputs a command to each block according to an operation signal input from the operation unit 36. And control the camera operation.

<Description of image sensor>
Referring to FIG. 3, in the digital camera 1 according to the present embodiment, the image sensors 7 a and 7 b arranged on the image sensor drive stages 8 a and 8 b rotate according to the operation of the changeover switch 12 by the user. The operation at the time will be described. FIG. 3 (1) shows a configuration when the image sensor 7a is arranged in a horizontally long rectangular shape, and FIG. 3 (2) shows a configuration when the image sensor 7a is rotated and arranged in a vertically long rectangular shape. Indicates.

  In the imaging system 2, a zoom lens 3a, a focus lens 4a (not shown), and an imaging element 7a are arranged in a line along an optical axis 41a facing an imaging target (not shown). However, in FIG. 3, components other than the zoom lens 3a, the image sensor 7a, and the image sensor drive stage 8a in the image pickup system 2 are omitted, and the zoom lens 3a is exaggerated and displayed. In FIG. 3, the optical axes 41a and 41b pass through the imaging system 2 with respect to the imaging system 2, and with respect to the optical axis imaging elements 7a and 7b and the imaging element drive stages 8a and 8b, respectively. The centers of the optical axis imaging devices 7a and 7b and the imaging device driving stages 8a and 8b are illustrated as extending in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface. The operations of the zoom lens 3a, the image sensor 7a, and the image sensor drive stage 8a will be described. The zoom lens 3b, the image sensor 7b, and the image sensor drive stage 8b operate in the same manner.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the image sensor 7a of the present embodiment is fixed to the image sensor drive stage 8a in a horizontally long rectangular state. When the shutter key is pressed while the image sensor 7a is in a horizontally long rectangular shape, the shutter is opened, and a subject image is formed at a substantially central position on the optical axis 41a of the image sensor 7a and extends in the horizontal direction. Can be obtained.

  When the user operates the changeover switch 12 with the image sensor 7a in the state of the horizontally long rectangle shown in FIG. 3A, the image sensor drive stage 8a is driven and the image sensor 7a fixed to the image sensor drive stage 8a is moved. Rotate approximately 90 degrees to the vertically long rectangular state shown in FIG.

  When the shutter key is pressed in a state where the image sensor 7a is in a vertically long rectangular shape, the shutter is opened, and a subject image is formed at a substantially central position on the optical axis 41a in the image sensor 7a and extends in the vertical direction. Can be obtained. Similarly, since the image sensor 7b can acquire a vertically-long rectangular photographed image, the two image sensors 7a and 7b can capture two images having a vertical composition separated by a predetermined interval in the horizontal direction. Thus, it is possible to obtain a stereoscopic image having a vertical composition. Also, since the user can easily take a shot image of the vertical composition simply by operating the change-over switch 12, the user can take a vertical composition by a method that is usually used by the user, who holds the digital camera 1 sideways. Therefore, there is no need to reposition the digital camera 1, and anyone can easily take a stereoscopic image.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this.

  The above embodiment has been described as a configuration in which the effective imaging range of the image sensors 7a and 7b is changed by physically rotating the image sensors 7a and 7b by 90 degrees to acquire a vertically long rectangular image. The present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, by changing the effective shooting range in the image pickup devices 7a and 7b, a horizontal elongated rectangular effective shooting range 42a as shown in FIG. It is also possible to obtain a vertically-long rectangular captured image by changing to the vertically-long rectangular effective shooting range 42b as shown in 2). As a result, it is possible to acquire a stereoscopic shot image of a vertical composition without providing a mechanical mechanism, so that it is possible to take a stereoscopic shot image of a vertical composition and measure cost reduction.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the image sensors 7a and 7b are arranged on the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b, and the image sensors 7a and 7b are rotated by driving and rotating the image sensor drive stages 8a and 8b. Although the effective ranges of the image sensors 7a and 7b are changed, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the image sensor 7a and 7b may be directly driven and rotated by the image sensor drive unit 28.

  In the above embodiment, the image sensors 7a and 7b are rotated by 90 degrees, but the present invention is not limited to this. The rotation angle may be any angle between 0 and 360 degrees. For example, the rotation angle may be 45 degrees so that a captured image whose length direction is inclined at 45 degrees may be acquired. The present invention can be modified in various ways other than those described above without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital camera 2 Imaging system 3a Zoom lens 3b Zoom lens 4a Focus lens 4b Focus lens 7a Image sensor 7b Image sensor 8a Image sensor drive stage 8b Image sensor drive stage 10 Case 11 Display monitor 12 Changeover switch 13 Camera shake correction function key 24 Blur detection unit 26 Image sensor rotation control unit 27 Image sensor blur correction processing unit 28 Image sensor drive unit 29 Timing generation unit 30 Signal processing unit 31 Image processing unit 32 Display processing unit 34 Recording unit 36 Operation unit 37 Camera control unit 41a Optical axis 41b Optical axis 42a Effective shooting range 42b Effective shooting range

Claims (3)

A three-dimensional digital camera including an imaging system including two imaging elements that capture a subject image and acquire a captured image,
The three-dimensional digital camera includes a photographing effective range changing unit that changes a photographing effective range of the image sensor to either a horizontally long rectangular shape or a vertically long rectangular shape,
The imaging device acquires a captured image having a horizontal rectangular shape or a vertical rectangular shape according to the imaging effective range of the imaging device changed by the imaging effective range changing unit. Dimensional digital camera. The photographing effective range changing means is
A rotation operation means for receiving a rotation operation of the image sensor in response to a user operation;
In response to the user operating the rotation operation means, the imaging effective range of the image pickup device is changed by rotating the image pickup device by a predetermined angle about each optical axis of the image pickup system as a center. 2. The three-dimensional digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising: an image sensor rotation control unit that acquires a captured image having a shape of any one of a rectangular shape and a vertically long rectangular shape. A blur detection means for detecting a blur amount generated in the three-dimensional digital camera;
According to the amount of blur detected by the blur detector, each of the two image sensors is moved in a predetermined direction, and blur correction is performed to correct the blur of the subject image captured by each of the two image sensors. The three-dimensional digital camera according to claim 1, further comprising means.

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