Minolta Company, Ltd.

Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Keiji Tamai

Yoshihiro Hara

Tomonori Satoh

Masataka Hamada

Noriyuki Okisu

Kazuhiko Yukawa

Kazuchika Sato

Masahiro Kitamura

Mutsuhiro Yamanaka

Masatoshi Yoneyama

Kohtaro Hayashi

Junji Sato

Hiroaki Kubo

Shinichi Fujii

Takehiro Katoh

Toshihiro Hamamura

Yasuhiro Morimoto

Tetsuro Kanbara

Motohiro Nakanishi

Tatsuya Suzuki

Kazuki Akaho

Yuji Adachi

A camera is provided with: a detector for detecting a shake amount of the apparatus with respect to an object at an interval; a calculator for calculating a shake speed and a shake acceleration rate based on detected shake amounts, and calculates an estimative shake amount based on a calculated shake speed, a calculated shake acceleration rate, and a coefficient k (0&#x3c;k&#x3c;1) on an assumption that a shake is uniformly accelerated motion, the coefficient k being a multiplier for the calculated shake acceleration rate; and a corrector for executing a shake correction in accordance with a calculated estimative shake amount.

Apparatus capable of shake estimation

An image acquired by an image sensor is recorded, and the blur amount of the recorded image is changed in accordance with a blur amount determined beforehand.

Image capture device and method of controlling blur in captured images

An automatic focusing device capable of focus detection so that the in-focus state can be adequately realized, even if the magnification changes or a camera shake occurs. The sum total of the absolute values of the differences between two pixels in an evaluation area is calculated, the sum total of the square values of the differences between the two pixels in the evaluation area is calculated, and the evaluation value is obtained based on the sum total of the absolute values of the differences and the sum total of the square values of the differences to obtain the in-focus position of the taking lens.

Automatic focusing device, camera, and automatic focusing method

An image taking apparatus includes an image sensor which picks up an image of a photographic object and a selector which selects a first photographing mode or a second photographing mode and a controller. The second photographing mode is a mode for composing a plurality of picked-up images to create a composite image. The controller makes the image sensor pickup a photographic object image on the first photographing condition when the first photographing mode is selected by the selector, and makes the image sensor pick up a plurality of images of photographic objects on the second photographing condition different from said first photographing condition when the second photographing mode is selected by the selector.

Image taking apparatus

A camera having an image shift detecting function is provided with an optical system which forms a subject image, an image sensing device which converts light of the subject image into an electric signal, an image shift detecting sensor which detects a relative shift between the camera and the subject image based on an output of the image sensing device and a microcomputer which compensates for the relative shift between the camera and the subject image based on an image shift amount detected by the image shift detecting sensor. The microcomputer specifies an area of the image sensing device based on a direction of luminance variation of the subject image and the image shift detection is made by using only an output corresponding to the specified area.

Camera having an image shift detecting function

In an image detection system having within one-chip IC an area sensor, an area sensor driver for driving the area sensor and an area sensor output processing circuit for processing an output of the area sensor, the charges accumulated in necessary pixel areas of the area sensor are transferred at a transfer clock of a speed at which A/D conversion may be performed by an A/D converter incorporated in a microcomputer and are read out in image blur detection, and the charges accumulated in unnecessary pixel areas are transferred at a high-speed transfer clock and dumped.

Image detection system

A shake correcting device of a camera is provided with: a detector for detecting a shake of the camera relative to an object cyclically; a calculator for calculating a degree of variation of a plurality of detection results of the detector, and calculating a detection precision based on a calculated degree of variation; and a corrector for executing a shake correction of the camera based on a detection precision calculated by the calculator.

Shake detecting/correcting device for use in an optical apparatus and a

An optical apparatus is provided with a detector for detecting a shake of the apparatus relative to an object at a predetermined interval, a corrector for correcting a shake of the apparatus based on a detection result of the detector, a driver for driving the corrector, a calculator for calculating an estimative shake at a predetermined point of time in a next interval based on a detection result of the detector, and a controller for controlling the driver based on a calculation result of the calculator to drive the corrector to effect correction for the shake at the predetermined point of time in the next interval.

Apparatus capable of correcting object image displacement

A camera is provided with a photographing device for setting various photographing conditions which determine a state of a subject image to be obtained as a picture, the photograph device including an exposure device having a plurality of selectively settable exposure modes for automatically setting at least one exposure value based on brightness of a subject, a mode selector for selecting one of the plurality of exposure modes, a calculations unit for calculating an amount indicative of the state of the subject image in accordance with the photographing conditions set by the photography device, an estimation unit for estimating visual effects which the subject image provides based on the calculated state amount, and a display device for displaying the visual effect corresponding to the exposure mode selected by the mode selection means in accordance with the estimated visual effects. Accordingly, an operator of the camera is allowed to conceive before an exposing operation what the final picture will look like in accordance with the photographing conditions set in a variety of exposure modes.

Camera capable of displaying the level of visual effect

A mode setter 92 causes a shake sensor controller 43 and a shake amount detector 51 to execute a routine of low-speed control when the switch S1 is ON, and a routine of high-speed control when the switch S2 is ON. A display signal generator 121 generates a display signal based on the shake amounts obtained through a prescribed number of detections by the shake amount detector 51. A display 122 has multiple types of LEDs that illuminate in response to a display signal generated by the display signal generator 121 when the switch S1 is ON.

Apparatus having shake correction function

A camera capable of shake correction, and is provided with: a sensor for sensing a light image of an object to detect a camera shake; an exposure time setter for setting a first exposure time based on a brightness of an object and a second exposure time smaller than the first exposure time; and a controller for judging as to whether the shake correction is disable, and controlling exposure with reference to the second exposure time when the shake correction is judged to be disable.

Camera capable of shake correction

A camera having a substitute shake amount calculator 51e that, where flash light is emitted while integration is being performed by a shake sensor, seeks a substitute shake amount using past shake amounts stored in a memory 56 instead of the shake amount sought from the image data obtained during this integration period.

Camera

In the disclosed invention, a camera has a blur detecting device which detects a possible blurring of a photograph in plural areas of an objective field through the use of image sensors such as CCDs. One of the plural areas is selected for detecting a blur therein. With this approach, a possible blur can be precisely detected at whichever location the main object of the scene to be photographed may exist within an objective field.

Growing community of inventors

Suita, Japan

Keiji Tamai