Nikon Corporation

Suga Weathering Technology Foundation

Kenji Isono

Takashi Shimizu

Natsuki Shirai

Tetsuro Goto

Takashi Saegusa

Keiji Ohsawa

Nagaichi Suga

Shinichi Katayanagi

Jutaro Kobayashi

Yoshio Sasyo

Takehiko Gonda

An interchangeable lens includes: a mount on which a camera body can be mounted; a communication device that performs communication with the camera body; a driven member; a controller that controls the driven member; and a storage device that stores lens data related to control of the driven member by the controller. The controller sends to the camera body via the communication device lens-side judgment data based on the lens data and a parameter relating to the driven member received from the camera body via the communication device and based on which whether the lens data is considered to be properly stored in the storage device or not can be judged at the camera body.

Interchangeable lens and camera body

An interchangeable lens includes: a mount unit on which a camera body can be mounted; a driven member; a drive unit that drives the driven member; a storage unit that stores lens data related to driving of the driven member by the drive unit; and a transmitter that sends lens-side judgment data, based on which whether the lens data is properly stored in the storage unit can be judged at the camera body, to the camera body.

There are disclosed a secondary battery detachably mountable on a camera body, a camera body on which such secondary battery is mountable, and a battery system including such secondary battery and such camera body. A system includes a battery pack equipped with a circuit for calculating the charge/discharge amount of the battery and a device for displaying the remaining capacity of the battery obtained from the calculation, the display device being so positioned as to be observable from the rear side of the camera. In another embodiment, a primary battery pack or a secondary battery pack is selectively mounted to the camera body, and a display device on the camera body indicates the remaining capacity of either pack mounted on the camera. In still another embodiment, the calculation of charge/discharge amount is made more precisely, by controlling the timing of calculation according to the on/off timing of loads in the camera such as motors. In another embodiment, the camera body is equipped with a circuit for calculating the charge/discharge amount of battery while the battery pack is provided with a memory for storing its remaining capacity, and information is exchanged between the calculating circuit and the memory. In this manner the remaining capacity can be exactly detected and displayed even when the battery pack is changed.

Battery system for camera

A camera comprises a penta-roof prism, a plurality of inclined sensors respectively disposed at positions opposed to corresponding inclined planes of the prism, and an attitude detector for detecting the attitude of the camera in response to outputs of the sensors. Each sensor is capable of producing either of two outputs, and the outputs of the sensors are combined to produce a number of pieces of attitude information. This information is classified to provide a smaller number of pieces of attitude information from which the attitude of the camera is determined.

Camera provided with an attitude detecting device

A snow generating and snowfall apparatus has a snowfall chamber having in a top wall thereof an opening, a vertically extending cooling tower having the bottom mounted on the top wall and surrounding the opening, a air first cooler connected to the tower for cooling the air in the tower, an inner cylinder positioned in the cooling tower and extending in the lengthwise direction thereof and having a bottom end opening connected to the opening in the top wall, a circulating passage connecting the top end of the inner cylinder and a lower end portion thereof to each other, a variable speed blower in an intermediate portion of the circulating passage, a humidifier connected to the lower portion of the inner cylinder for feeding water vapor into the inner cylinder in the vicinity of the lower end thereof, and a snow generating material feeder connected to the inner cylinder in the vicinity of the humidifer for feeding a snow-generating material consisting of ice crystals into the inner cylinder.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Kenji Isono