JPH11305296A - Studio camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a studio camera system capable of accurately identifying a difference in an effect in the formation of an image by enabling the on and off control of the supply of power to photographing auxiliary equipments with an operation at hand, while a photographer need not be away from a camera, at the time of changing the environment of an object. SOLUTION: The studio camera system is provided with a studio camera 1, one or plural photographing auxiliary equipments (3a-3d and 4) capable of obtaining the environment of the object at the time of taking a photograph by the camera 1 and a power source controller 2 capable of individually controlling the on and off of the supply of the power to the photographing auxiliary equipments. It is constituted so that a power source control instruction part is provided in the camera 1 and at the time of controlling the on and off of the supply of the power to the arbitrary photographing auxiliary equipments, a power source control signal corresponding to the relevant photographing auxiliary equipments can be transmitted to the power source controller 2 from the camera side by the operation of the power source control instruction part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a studio camera system applied to various studios such as a television broadcasting room, a movie or photo studio, or an atelier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in a studio of this kind, various photographing auxiliary equipment such as a lighting camera and a background screen are mainly arranged around a camera for a studio, and the auxiliary equipment for the photographing auxiliary equipment is arranged. Power cables are crawling everywhere. This state is inevitable in order to freely move the position of the camera or the photographing auxiliary device to perform an effective effect. However, in order to perform the power on / off operation of the photographing auxiliary device in order to change the subject environment, the staff must move to the location of the photographing auxiliary device and perform the operation each time. In such a case, there is a possibility that the power cable may be caught by a foot or the like, and in this case, there is a possibility that a power cut-off state may be caused or a fall accident may occur.

For this reason, there is already a studio camera system in which a power supply controller is arranged in a studio, and the power supply controller can individually control ON / OFF of power supply to all photographing auxiliary devices in one place of the studio. Proposed. In this system, the power supply to the photographing auxiliary equipment can be controlled on / off at one place in the studio via the power supply controller. It is less likely to occur and shooting can proceed smoothly.

[0004]

However, in a system equipped with the above-mentioned power supply controller, it is only necessary to have a staff member in addition to the photographer. When the user wants to perform on / off control of the power supply to the photographing auxiliary device in order to change the environment, the photographer interrupts the operation of the camera for the time being, moves to the place of the power supply controller, and moves to the power supply controller. Forced to operate. For this reason, there is a problem that it is not possible to accurately grasp the difference in the effect of drawing due to the on / off control of the power supply to the photographing auxiliary device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and enables a photographer to control on / off of a power supply to a photographing auxiliary device by a manual operation without changing the environment of a subject, without leaving a camera. It is an object of the present invention to provide a studio camera system capable of accurately identifying a difference in drawing effect.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a studio camera system according to the present invention comprises a studio camera and one or more photographing auxiliary devices for creating a subject environment when photographing with the camera. And a power supply controller capable of individually controlling on / off of power supply to the photographing auxiliary equipment, wherein the camera is provided with a power supply control instruction unit, and power supply to any photographing auxiliary equipment is provided. When on / off control of supply is performed, a power control signal corresponding to the imaging auxiliary device can be transmitted from the camera to the power controller by operating the power control instruction unit. .

In the studio camera system of the present invention,
A power control signal is transmitted to a power controller by operating a power control instruction unit provided in the camera, and power supply to an arbitrary photographing auxiliary device is turned on / off via the power controller.
Can be turned off. Therefore, even if there is no staff other than the photographer, if the photographer wants to change the subject environment, the photographer simply operates the power control instruction unit at hand without changing his / her eyes from the viewfinder of the camera. It is possible to accurately know the difference in effects such as drawing associated with.

Further, in the studio camera system according to the second aspect, since the studio camera is a digital camera, it is easy to confirm, edit, and process a captured image.

[0009]

1 and 2 show a studio camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a digital camera as a studio camera, 2 denotes a power supply controller, and 3a to 3a.
Reference numerals d and 4 denote an illumination light and a photographing background screen as photographing auxiliary devices for changing a subject environment, respectively.

The camera can be a camera other than the digital camera 1, and the photographing auxiliary equipment is not limited to the above.

The power supply controller 2 is shared by all of the photographing auxiliary devices 3a to 3d and the drive unit 5 of the photographing background screen 4. For example, the power supply controller 2 is connected to a 100 V commercial AC power supply ACS via a power cable 6a. I have. The power supply to the drive unit 5 of the illumination lights 3 a to 3 d and the photographing background screen 4 can be individually controlled to be turned on / off via the power supply controller 2.

The digital camera 1 is supplied with power via a power cable 6b. The digital camera 1 and the power supply controller 2 are electrically connected via a signal cable 7, and the power supply controller 2 can be controlled by the digital camera 1 as described later.

The digital camera 1 and the power supply controller 2 may be configured to transmit signals wirelessly.

FIG. 3 shows the external appearance of the digital camera 1.

In FIG. 3, an image pickup section (not shown) having an image pickup lens 301 (FIG. 4) such as a zoom lens for forming an optical image of a subject is provided in front of the camera body 1A. I have.

For example, a liquid crystal display (hereinafter, referred to as a display unit) is provided on the back of the camera body 1A as a display unit for displaying a captured image on a monitor (corresponding to a viewfinder) and reproducing and displaying a recorded image. LCD 10).

The display unit is not limited to the LCD 10, and other display means can be adopted. Further, on the side surface of the camera body 1A, a connection terminal AC of the power cable 6b and the like are provided in addition to a connection terminal 13 of a personal computer (not shown) as an external device.

The connection terminal 13 is, for example, a USB
Those conforming to the standards are used.

Further, a memory card 8 as a recording medium for recording a photographed image is detachably held in the camera body 1A.

In addition to the power switch PS, a photographing / playback mode setting switch 14 for switching between a "photographing mode" and a "playback mode" is provided on the upper rear surface of the camera body 1A. The “shooting mode” is a mode for photographing, and the “reproducing mode” is a mode for reproducing and displaying a photographed image recorded on the memory card 8 on the LCD 10. The photographing / playback mode setting switch 14 includes a two-contact slide switch. For example, when the switch is slid to the right,
"Playback mode" is set and slide to the left,
“Shooting mode” is set.

Since the photographing / playback mode setting switch 14 is operated relatively frequently, the mode setting state can be easily understood at a glance with the slide switch.

An erase switch D and a shutter button 19 are provided on the upper surface of the camera body 1A.

The shutter of the camera 1 is normally released by operating the shutter button 19, but can also be released by emitting an infrared signal with the remote release 216 shown in FIG. It is possible.

On the back of the camera body 1A, the L
A plurality of power control switches a to e, each of which is a push button switch and constitutes a power control instructing unit 11 for the power controller 2, are arranged in tandem with the CD 10. These power control switches a, b, c, d
Corresponds to the illumination lights 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, respectively, and the power control switch e corresponds to the drive unit 5 of the screen 4 for the photographing background.

FIG. 4 shows an electrical configuration of the digital camera 1.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 211 denotes an overall control unit, which comprises, for example, a microcomputer and constitutes means for organically controlling the operation of each component in the camera body 1A and the image pickup unit (not shown). doing.

Reference numeral 303 denotes a charge-coupled device (hereinafter, referred to as a CCD) as a photoelectric conversion unit.
Is arranged on the rear side of the lens 301 in the optical path direction in the image pickup unit, and is configured as a color area sensor. The optical image formed by the lens 301 is represented by R (red),
The image is photoelectrically converted into an image of G (green) and B (blue) color components, that is, a signal composed of a signal sequence of image signals received by each pixel.

A signal processing circuit 313 performs predetermined analog signal processing on an image signal, which is an analog signal from the CCD 303, and is a correlated double sampling circuit (hereinafter, referred to as a correlated double sampling circuit).
CDS) and an automatic gain control circuit (hereinafter referred to as AG).
C), the noise of the image signal is reduced by the CDS, and the level of the image signal is automatically adjusted by the AGC.

Reference numeral 202 denotes a timing control circuit which is controlled by the overall control unit 211 to generate a reference clock;
Reference numeral 4 denotes a timing generator that receives a reference clock from the timing control circuit 202 and sends a drive control signal to the CCD 303. In other words, the timing generator 314 outputs, for example, a timing signal of integration start / end (exposure start / end) and a read control signal (horizontal synchronization signal, vertical synchronization signal, transfer signal, etc.) for reading a light receiving signal for each pixel. A timing pulse is generated and sent to the CCD 303.

The exposure control in the image pickup unit is performed by adjusting the exposure amount of the CCD 303, that is, the charge accumulation time of the CCD 303 corresponding to the shutter speed since the aperture is fixed. If the brightness of the subject is too low to set an appropriate shutter speed,
By adjusting the level of the image signal output from the CCD 303 by the signal processing circuit 313, improper exposure due to insufficient exposure is corrected. That is, when the brightness of the subject is low, the exposure control is performed by combining the shutter speed and the gain adjustment.

The image signal from the signal processing circuit 313 is input to the A / D converter 205 and is converted into, for example, a 10-bit digital signal.

Reference numeral 206 denotes a black level correction circuit for correcting the black level of the A / D converted image signal (hereinafter, referred to as image data) to a reference level, and reference numeral 207 denotes a white balance circuit (hereinafter, referred to as a WB circuit). . This WB circuit 2
07 converts the level of the pixel data of each of the R, G, and B color components using the conversion table input from the overall control unit 211, thereby automatically adjusting the white balance after gamma (γ) correction. Adjusted.

The conversion coefficient (characteristic slope) of each color component in the level conversion table is set by the overall control unit 211 for each captured image.

A gamma correction circuit 208 corrects the gamma characteristics of the image data.
For example, there are six types of gamma correction tables, and the gamma characteristics of image data are corrected by a predetermined gamma correction table according to a shooting scene and shooting conditions.

The image data output from the gamma correction circuit 208 is stored in the image memory 209. The image memory 209 has a storage capacity for one frame.
That is, the image memory 209 stores the n
When pixels are provided in rows and m columns, the storage capacity of pixel data for n × m pixels is provided, and each pixel data is stored in a corresponding pixel position.

Reference numeral 210 denotes a VRAM (video RAM) which constitutes a buffer memory for image data reproduced and displayed on the LCD 10, and has a storage capacity for image data corresponding to the number of pixels of the LCD 10.

Reference numeral 212 denotes a card interface circuit for transmitting and receiving image data to and from the memory card 8, and 213 denotes a communication interface circuit for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the power supply controller.

Reference numeral 250 denotes an operation unit serving as an input / output device for the overall control unit 211.
It includes a shooting / playback mode setting switch 14, an erase switch D, a power switch PS, and the like.

In the above configuration, in the photographing standby state, each pixel data of the image picked up by the image pickup unit every 1/30 second is sent from the A / D converter 205 to the gamma correction circuit 208.
After performing predetermined signal processing in each of the circuits described above, the image data is stored in the image memory 209, transferred to the VRAM 210 via the overall control unit 211, and displayed as an image on the LCD 10. The photographer can visually recognize the subject image from the image displayed on the LCD 10.

In the "reproduction mode", the image read from the memory card 8 is transferred to the overall control unit 211.
Are subjected to predetermined signal processing, and are transferred to the image memory 209 and displayed on the LCD 10 as reproduced images.

In the "photographing mode", when the shutter button 14 is operated to give a photographing instruction, the overall control unit 211 then stores a thumbnail image fetched into the image memory 209 and a compression ratio setting switch (not shown). A compressed image compressed based on the JPEG method is generated based on the compression ratio set in (b), and the image is recorded on the memory card 8.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the power supply controller 2.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 21 denotes a power controller 2
Communication interface circuit (hereinafter, communication I / F)
), And is connected to the digital camera 1 via a signal cable 7.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) for receiving switch signals from the power control switches a to e of the digital camera 1 via the communication I / F 21. Each time a signal is input, the state of a parallel input / output circuit (hereinafter, referred to as PIO) 23 is changed. That is,
Each time the switches a to e are pressed, the state of the PIO 23 switches between on-off-on.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a switching circuit, which is connected to the power output terminals 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d connected to the illumination lights 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, respectively, and to the drive unit 5 of the screen 4 for photographing background. Power output terminal 2
e, and supplies 100 V power to the power supply output terminals 2a to 2e according to the state of the PIO 23.

The power output terminals 2a, 2b, 2
c, 2d, 2e are the control switches a, b, c, d,
e respectively.

In the above configuration, when it is desired to change the environment of the subject during photographing by the digital camera 1, if the power control switches a to e of the digital camera 1 are selected and operated, the switch signal is changed to the C signal of the power controller 2 side.
Recognized by the PU 22, the CPU 22 changes the state of the PIO 23.

The switching circuit 24 includes the PIO 23
The power supply of 100 V is switched to the power supply output terminals 2a to 2e in accordance with the state change of the power supply output terminals 2a to 2e. That is, the power supply output terminals 2a to 2e are linked with the operation of the power control switches a to e.
Changes the output state of the illumination light 3
On / off control of each power supply to the driving unit 5 of the screens 4a to 3d and the photographing background 4 can be individually performed.

Therefore, for example, the illumination light 3a
In order to change the subject environment from all the lighting states of 3d to 3d, it is necessary to eliminate the illumination by the illumination light 3a.
Even if there is no staff other than the photographer in the studio, the photographer looks into the viewfinder of the digital camera 1
By operating the power control switch a, the desired illumination light 3a can be turned off. For this reason, the photographer can immediately identify the difference in the effect of the effect such as the drawing condition while continuing the photographing operation, and the photographing can be smoothly performed.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, a power supply control instruction unit is provided in a studio camera, and a power supply controller capable of individually controlling ON / OFF of power supply to a photographing auxiliary device is provided by the power supply instruction unit. Since the control signal is sent, if you want to change the environment of the subject, even if there is no staff other than the photographer, the photographer can operate the power control instruction unit while looking through the viewfinder of the camera,
Power supply to an arbitrary photographing auxiliary device can be controlled on / off via the power supply controller, and therefore, a difference in effects such as drawing can be quickly and accurately grasped.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the digital camera is used as the camera, so that the photographed image can be easily confirmed and processed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a studio camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the same system.

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing the digital camera used in the system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the digital camera.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a power supply controller used in the system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital camera 2 Power supply controller 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 4 Photographing auxiliary equipment 11 Power supply control instruction part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A camera for a studio, one or a plurality of photographing auxiliary devices for creating a subject environment when photographing with the camera, and a power supply capable of individually controlling on / off of power supply to the photographing auxiliary devices. A studio camera system comprising: a controller; and a power control instruction unit provided in the camera, and when turning on / off power supply to an arbitrary photographing auxiliary device, the power control instruction unit is operated by operating the power control instruction unit. A studio camera system characterized in that a power control signal corresponding to a photographing auxiliary device can be transmitted from the camera to the power controller. 2. The studio camera system according to claim 1, wherein the studio camera is a digital camera.