Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Etsuko Nakai

Dai Shintani

Takeo Hoda

Hiromu Mukai

Yoshihiro Tanaka

Sadafusa Tsuji

Toshio Yamaki

A still camera for recording a still image by making use of an electronic signal has a taking lens system incorporated in a camera body in such a manner that one end portion thereof is directed to an object to be photographed for making an image of the object to obtain the electronic signal; a light emitting portion of an electronic flash device incorporated in the camera body in such a manner that one end portion thereof is directed to the object for emitting a flash light toward the object; and a recording medium containing portion arranged between the light emitting portion and taking lens system.

An arrangement of a recording medium in a still camera

A viewfinder optical system, separate from a photographing optical system, for picture taking. The viewfinder optical system includes an objective lens, an eyepiece, and a compensation lens. The compensation lens is capable of being positioned in an optical path of the viewfinder optical system at object distances closer than a predetermined distance for simultaneously compensating for any variance in parallax and diopter between the viewfinder optical system and the photographing optical system in the macro mode.

Viewfinder optical system compensated in macrophotographic or parallox

A still camera for recording an object image by making use of an electronic signal such as a still video camera is so constructed that a recording medium is positioned nearly in parallel with an optical axis of a taking lens system and also in the lateral direction to the taking lens system. Therefore, the camera body thereof can be formed in a flat shape, and additionally a red-eye phenomenon can be prevented from occurring by arranging a light emitting portion of an electronic flash device and the taking lens system sufficiently apart from each other.

Still video camera

A finder optical system comprises a first reflecting surface disposed at an image side of an objective lens to reflect light flux passing through the objective lens obliquely upward on the exit pupil side, a roof surface consisting of two reflecting surfaces orthogonally intersecting each other which is disposed obliquely upward on the exit pupil side of the first reflecting surface to perform right-left inversion of the light flux reflected by the first reflecting surface and to reflect the light flux obliquely downward on the exit pupil side, and a second reflecting surface disposed obliquely downward on the exit pupil side of the roof surface to perform an up-down inversion of the light flux reflected obliquely downward on the exit pupil side by the roof surface and reflect the light flux toward an eyepiece, and wherein the finder optical system fulfills the following condition: 20.degree.&lt;.theta.&lt;40.degree. wherein, .theta. represents an angle made by the first reflecting surface and an optical axis of the objective lens. Thereby, an optical path length in an erecting system can be shortened, and the finder optical system itself becomes long in the direction of the objective lens, and therefore a finder image without eclipse can be obtained at high magnification.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Etsuko Nakai