Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Olympus Corporation

Olympus Imaging Corporation

Hiroshi Terada

Atsushi Maruyama

Yoichiro Okumura

Keiichi Tsuchida

Michio Nagai

Naohiro Tsuchida

Takashi Suzuki

Tatsuo Takanashi

Yukihiko Sugita

Kazuyuki Iwasa

Kazuo Mikami

Yutaka Maeda

Koji Kato

Takeshi Ito

Sumio Kawai

Shinya Takahashi

Takao Nishida

Shigeru Kato

Tetsuya Takagi

Masayu Higuchi

Tokuo Shimizu

Yuichi Torikoshi

Yuji Kobayashi

Shigeru Iwase

Takaaki Ue

Yoshiyuki Kitahara

Yoichi Washizu

Hiroaki Furuya

A camera capable of displaying a live view is disclosed, which has a movable reflecting mirror movable between a viewing position for reflecting a light beam from a photographing lens to guide the light beam to a finder optical system, and a position retracted from an area through which the light beam from the photographing lens passes, and which is configured such that, upon focusing the photographing lens from the state of the live view display, the movable reflecting mirror is driven without charging a shutter.

Camera capable of displaying live view

A digital camera is disclosed, which has a still image shooting mode and a moving image shooting mode, and performs different focusing operations between the still image shooting mode and the moving image shooting mode. According to present invention, the range of focusing tolerance or the driving speed of a focusing optical system can vary between the still image shooting mode and the moving image shooting mode such as to set the range of focusing tolerance wider or the driving speed of the focusing optical system slower in the moving image shooting mode.

Digital camera

The present invention discloses a digital camera having a live view mode for continuously capturing and displaying a series of subject images, in which when the live view mode is selected, a computation part initializes an aperture mechanism based on photographing lens-specific information. Since the aperture mechanism is controlled based on the photographing lens-specific information in a live-view initialization process, the possibility of damaging an imager while a photographer is framing a picture can be reduced. The photographing lens-specific information includes, for example, focal length information and maximum aperture value information. The computation part can be configured, for example, to initialize the aperture mechanism in such a manner that the amount of light from the sun per unit area, or the total amount of light from the sun, will always become almost equal regardless of the kind of photographing lens.

According to the present invention, light from a taking lens is reflected by a quick return mirror in a lateral direction of a body unit. Then, after passing through a screen, the light is reflected toward an upper side of the body unit by a second mirror except part of the light. The light reflected by the second mirror is reflected by a third mirror in a direction opposite to a direction in which the light is reflected by the quick return mirror, and is further reflected by a fourth mirror toward an eyepiece located on a back side of the body unit. Part of the light which passing though the screen is taken by an AF sensor unit provided in rear of the second mirror, and an image formation position of an optical image is detected.

Camera provided with optical finder

In a camera according to the present invention, an edge portion of a lens barrel unit is projected and arranged from a front cover. The lens barrel unit is covered with a front cover cylindrical member connected to the front cover, and a front exposed portion of the front cover cylindrical member is covered with an exterior cylindrical member as a detachable (before-attaching) metal cylindrical member. The exterior cylindrical member is positioned and is fixed by an stop claw on the front-cover side. A C-shaped stop portion cover having flexibility is made flexible and is attached around the stop claw portion, and is fixed by a screw. The restriction on design is reduced on the appearance for covering the lens barrel unit of the camera, and a camera exterior portion can be made of metal.

Camera and photographing lens barrel

A strobe apparatus includes a xenon tube, which is a discharge tube, having a discharge light emitting portion and a light emitting portion terminal. Light is emitted from the xenon tube and is reflected in a predetermined direction by a reflection umbrella. A transparent electrode is coated on the external surface of the xenon tube from the discharge light emitting portion to the terminal. When trigger voltage is applied to the xenon tube through the transparent electrode, strobe light is emitted by the discharge light emitting portion. By using the strobe apparatus, the orientation characteristic of the discharge tube can be improved without uneven light distribution and a shortage of a light amount.

Strobe light emitting apparatus and camera

A prism unit has transmitting/totally-reflecting surfaces which cross each other, formed using at least one prism. Light emanating from a light source falls on the prism unit. The light is transmitted or totally reflected from the surfaces according to an angle of incidence at which the light falls on the prism unit. Transmitted light is radiated forwards, while totally-reflected light is directed laterally. A reflecting member is located laterally in order to cover the prism unit, whereby light totally reflected laterally by the prism unit is reflected forwards. In order to constitute the transmitting/totally&mdash;reflecting surfaces, a first air layer and a second air layer are formed in the prism unit so to have a substantially uniform width and oppose each other with a plane, which contains a glowing member of the light source and extends forwards, between them.

Prism structure for flash illumination devices

A lens barrier device is provided which includes an adaptor body capable of being removably attached on a taking lens frame, a lens barrier member capale of movement between a closed position covering a taking lens and an open position withdrawn from the front of the taking lens, and an engagement member capable of engagement with a filter screwthread of the lens frame. If the lens barrier member in the open position is rotated excessively by wrong manual operation, the edge of the lens barrier member presses on the engagement member, releasing the engagement with the filter screwthread and so separating the adaptor body from the lens frame, thereby protecting the lens barrier device.

Lens barrier device

A strobe device in which a damper device is built has a light-emitting portion main unit containing a flash-emitting tube and other members therein supported by a rotational supporting mechanism having rotational damper functions. The rotational supporting mechanism includes a rotational shaft fixed to the light-emitting portion main unit and a bearing tube fixed to the camera main unit to which the rotational shaft is fit with a slight gap therebetween. Grease is filled and sealed in the gap between the rotational shaft and the bearing, thus configuring the rotational supporting mechanism. When the light-emitting portion main unit rotates toward a pop-up position due to the pressing force of a spring, friction torque of the rotational supporting mechanism acts to suppress the moving speed, and bouncing at the pop-up position is prevented.

Damper device for camera

A flash apparatus is provided with a flash tube of the point light source type, a reflector, and a diffuser panel. The reflector reflects light flux from the flash tube forward. The diffuser panel is placed in a light flux passing position in front of the flash tube and the reflector and diffuses the light flux from the flash tube. The diffuser panel is so formed that diffusion angles of the light flux can vary with positions between a center corresponding to a light-emitting axis of the flash tube to a periphery concerning an area where the light flux from the flash tube passes.

Flash apparatus and camera using the same

A camera body constructed in such a manner that a front board unit, a shutter unit, and a main body unit are attached to a body plate unit from a rear face of the body plate unit. The body plate unit is a rigid board in a plane substantially perpendicular to an optical axis of a taking lens unit, which taking lens unit is attached to the body plate unit from a front face of the body plate unit.

Camera

A clutch unit according to the present invention includes a driving sleeve fixed to a driving shaft and a driven sleeve fixed to a driven shaft. A coil-like clutch spring is received on the driven sleeve, and a clutch sleeve is received on the driving sleeve. When the driving shaft is rotated normally or reversely, the driving sleeve abuts one of the arm portions of the clutch spring. Consequently, the clutch spring engages the driven sleeve. Torque producing rotation in either direction is transmitted to the driven shaft. The clutch unit also can operate as an overrunning clutch. When the clutch unit is adapted to a film feeding and driving system in a camera, the clutch unit can be positioned to utilize what had been dead spaces in a camera body, thus promoting compact camera design.

Growing community of inventors

Mitaka, Japan

Hiroshi Terada