West Electric Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Photo & Lighting Co., Ltd.

Katsuji Ishikawa

Hiroshi Iwata

Hajime Mitsui

Tsunemi Yoshino

Katsumi Horinishi

Katsunori Kawabata

Hirohiko Ina

Arata Sakamoto

Hisashi Ogura

Takashi Umehara

Mitsuo Fuke

Wataru Hasegawa

Katsushi Sumisaki

Shohei Uno

Toshinori Maki

Naoyuki Furutsuka

Kazue Nakagawa

Hiroshi Makino

The electronic flash unit disclosed comprises: a transformer () to vary voltages of a power supply; an accumulator () composed of a main capacitor () to charge an electric energy supplied from the transformer (); a lamp unit () provided with a flashlamp (), set inside of a reflector (), that flashes by discharging of energy storages in the main capacitor () upon applying a voltage on a trigger terminal (); and a trigger circuit () to generate the voltage to apply on the trigger terminal (), wherein at least the lamp unit () is coated with an insulation material.

Electronic flash unit and manufacturing method thereof

A drive device for a lens barrel and a diaphragm shutter is disclosed. The drive device of this invention comprises a stepping motor including a stator and rotors. The stator is constituted by a plurality of stator members disposed around a lens barrel, each having a bifurcate portion around which a conductor is wound, and the bifurcate portions are disposed in face-to-face relationship with each other with a predetermined space being interposed therebetween. The rotors are respectively disposed in the predetermined spaces. The driving forces of the rotors are independently transmitted at least to the lens barrel including a photographic lens element and to a diaphragm shutter.

Drive device for lens barrel and diaphragm shutter

Driving of camera lens (5) and driving of exposure mechanism (9) (shutter/aperture blades) are driven by a single motor (7) wherein a main body of exposure mechanism is affixed to the lens barrel, and a drive member (10) of the exposure mechanism (9) is slidably engaged to a sliding guide pin (11); and by selecting friction force between a hollow threaded driving member (1) and the threaded outer face of the lens burrel (4) appropriately, the exposure mechanism (9) can be driven through the friction force.

Drive apparatus of lens and exposure mechanism by motor

An automatic film winding system comprising in combination, a mechanical film winding or transport system including an electric motor and an optical film-advance sensing system comprising a light source and a light sensor for sensing the length of the film advanced in terms of one or more perforations of the film passed past a predetermined point. In response to the depression of a shutter button, a power supply is automatically connected to the light sensor and then to the electric motor and the light source when one exposure operation has been completed so that the film is advanced or wound. When a predetermined number of perforations has passed past the predetermined point and sensed by the optical sensing system; that is, after the film has been advanced by a predetermined length, the power supply is disconnected from the light sensor, the electric motor and the light source.

Automatic film winding system

A method and apparatus for automatically adjusting a focal point of a taking lens in an apparatus such as a video camera or the like designed for reproducing continuously a behavior of an object. Provided are a detection and recognition step for determining whether the object is in motion and a control step for controlling in dependence on the output of the detection and recognition step a time interval at which a distance measuring step for measuring a distance to the object is performed in such a manner that the time interval for the stationary object is longer as compared with the case where the object is moving, whereby energy consumption is suppressed to a minimum.

Method and apparatus for automatic focusing in video camera

An automatic focusing apparatus using an ultrasonic wave wherein the ultrasonic wave is used to measure the distance to an object by plural times, a plurality of distance data obtained through the plurality of distance measuring operations are compared to each other, each of the plurality of distance data is checked for its effectiveness on the basis of the result of the comparison to provide a single of highly trustworthy information indicative of the distance to the object, and the information is used for automatic focal point adjustment of a taking lens.

Automatic focusing apparatus using ultrasonic wave

There are video and sound recording devices such as movie cameras or video cameras with an automatic focusing system of the type for setting a photographic lens to a position at which an object can be sharply focused in response to the signal which is representative of a distance from the camera to the object and obtained by measuring the time interval from the time when the ultrasonic waves are transmitted at a predetermined repetition frequency to the object to the time when the echo from the object is received. Such devices have a common defect that a microphone picks up impulse-like noise generated from an ultrasonic transducer especially at the start point of ultrasonic waves. To overcome this problem, the present invention provides an audible noise elimination or suppression means or a control circuit which operates in synchronism with the ultrasonic wave transmission so that an audio signal processing system attenuates the audio output signal.

Video and sound recording device with automatic focusing system

An ultrasonic wave transmission apparatus built in an image producing apparatus with an auto-focusing apparatus has features that transmission timings are determined by processing a vertical synchronization signal produced in the video camera and that transmission operations are made within blank times of the vertical synchronization signal thereby eliminating noise troubles in image reproduction made in the video camera.

Apparatus and method for transmitting ultrasonic wave

In an electronic flash of the type having a main flash capacitor, a trigger circuit, a flash lamp which is ignited by a trigger voltage from the trigger circuit and flashed by the discharge of electrical energy stored in the main flash capacitor, a light reception circuit for integrating the amount of light reflected back from a subject and a flash duration control circuit or a flash interruption circuit actuable when the amount of light integrated by the light reception circuit reaches a predetermined level, a DC power source is connected to the light reception circuit through a switching means which is enabled or closed in response to the flashing of the flash lamp, whereby the erratic operation of the light reception circuit due to the integration of light other than the flash of light reflected from the subject may be avoided.

Electronic flash with automatic duration control

In an automatic film advancing system for a small sized camera, a breaking-off of undesirable overload current of a film advancing motor at the end of the film or at an accidental stop of the film advancing can be made by providing in the system:

Automatic film advancing system

The aperture setting blades, which are drivingly coupled to a step-motor, have main openings which define the main aperture through which a subject is focused upon the photosensitive recording medium, and incident light control means adapted to control the quantity of light from the subject incident upon a photosensitive transducer. In response to the output from the photosensitive transducer, the transmission of clock pulses from a pulse generator to a step-motor control circuit is controlled so that the main aperture may be opened to the optimum opening area depending upon the brightness of the subject. Light control means consists of an auxiliary aperture defined by auxiliary openings cut through the shutter blades and adapted to change its opening area in proportion to that of the main aperture or an electro-optical element such as a liquid crystal or Kerr cell whose light transmissibility changes when subjected to the electric field which is changed in response to the opening area of the main aperture.

Aperture setting device for use with exposure control device

The invention discloses a programme-controlled shutter of the type in which a control circuit controls an exposure control mechanism consisting of a stepping motor and a plurality of shutter blades which also function as aperture setting blades in such a way that the exposure control mechanism sets the optimum aperture for the optimum time interval in response to the brightness of a subject, whereby the optimum exposure is ensured.

Programme-controlled shutter

The invention discloses a camera with an automatic flash exposure system of the type in which depending upon the distance to a subject, the brightness thereof and the light flux to be produced by a flash tube or bulb, an f-number and exposure time are automatically and electrically selected by an exposure control mechanism comprising a plurality of shutter blades which also function as the aperture blades and a stepping motor for opening and closing stepwise the shutter blades. The focusing ring of the camera is operatively coupled to a variable resistor so that the distance to a subject may be converted into a resistance value, and the opening pulse signal consisting of one or a plurality of pulses the number of which is dependent upon this resistance value and hence the distance to the subject is applied to the step motor so that the shutter blades steps down the camera lens to a suitable f-number depending upon the distance to the subject. The exposure time is determined by an integrator including a photocell for detecting the brightness of the subject.

Camera with automatic flash exposure system

In exposure means comprising, in combination, two shutter blades which also function as the aperture setting blades, a step-motor for displacing the shutter blades stepwise in response to the driving pulse or pulses, and a driving circuit for the step-motor. Slits are cut through the shutter blades so that the relative displacement between the shutter blades may be optically detected in order to control the stepwise rotation of the step-motor, thereby displacing the shutter blades to define the main aperture stepwise; and when the light from a subject reaches a predetermined level, detecting means causes the step-motor to reverse its rotation, thereby closing the shutter blades. The program-controlled shutter in accordance with the present invention is very simple in construction and is free from any erratic operations.

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Daito, Japan

Katsuji Ishikawa