Nikon Corporation

Masao Owashi

Hidenori Miyamoto

Toshimi Watanabe

Shigemasa Sato

Tsutomu Narisawa

Yasuaki Ishiguro

Kenji Tazaki

Yosuke Kusaka

Hiroyuki Iwasaki

Masaaki Yanagisawa

Fumio Suzuki

Shoko Ryuen

Nobuo Matsukawa

Masaaki Tsukamoto

Ryuichi Mori

Kei Ikeda

Hitoshi Nishimura

Isao Kishikawa

To provide a driving mechanism with which a reduction in size is possible. A driving mechanism comprising: an optical component that is provided to be movable; a first driving member that is movable in a first direction; a second driving member that is movable in the first direction independently of the first driving member; and an abutting portion that is provided at the optical component and abuts against the first driving member and the second driving member, wherein, the optical component is moved by driving force of the first driving member and the second driving member abutting against the abutting portion.

Driving mechanism and optical equipment

A camera having a slide cover is disclosed. The camera is provided with the lens cover moving to a covering position where a photographing lens is covered, and to an opening position where the lens cover is opened from the front face of the photographing lens, and a guide member which guides the lens cover, the guide member having a step in an optical axis direction of the photographing lens between the covering position and the opening position.

Camera having a lens cover

A camera with a data recording device separates a connecting line of a magnetic recording device and a connecting line of a film frame detection device to reduce the transfer of electrical noise therebetween. The camera includes a magnetic head for transferring photographic information to and from photographic film and the photographic film includes a magnetic recording track which is capable of magnetic recording of photographic data. A pair of photo-reflectors detects a photographic frame in the photographic film, and a central processing unit is equipped with a frame detection terminal to electrically connect the photo-reflectors with a flexible printed circuit. A terminal for magnetic recording and readout electrically connects to a magnetic head with a pattern on a printed board and a connecting line. The terminal for magnetic recording and readout is physically separated from other high electrical noise terminals to reduce the transmission of electrical noise. Likewise, the flexible printed circuit and the connecting line and respective circuit patterns are physically separated to reduce the transmission of electrical noise.

Camera having a data recording device

A camera has a camera body, a sliding cover disposed on the front face of the camera body and movable between a position in which it covers a photo-taking lens and a position in which it does not cover the photo-taking lens, a film cartridge chamber which opens on a side of the camera body which is parallel to the direction of movement of the sliding cover and into and out of which a film cartridge is put through the opening, and a cartridge chamber lid for openably and closably covering the opening in the film cartridge chamber. A guide structure for guiding the sliding cover when the sliding cover is in the position in which it does not cover the photo-taking lens is provided on the outer surface of the cartridge chamber lid. In another mode, an opening preventing portion for preventing the cartridge chamber lid from being opened when the sliding cover is in the position in which it does not cover the photo-taking lens is provided on the sliding cover.

Camera

A camera comprises a camera main body, a taking lens provided at the camera main body and a sliding cover which is capable of sliding between a closed position at which the sliding cover covers the front surface of the taking lens and an open position at which the sliding cover withdraws from the front surface of the taking lens, along the front surface of the camera main body. The camera main body is provided with an outer cover and a groove forming member which is positioned on the inside of the outer cover, where a guide groove extending in the sliding direction of the sliding cover is formed. The sliding cover is provided with a through portion which passes through the outer cover. And a guide projection formed at the through portion is connected with the guide groove in such a manner that they can slide to guide the sliding movement of the sliding cover.

Camera provided with a sliding cover

A camera having a line of sight detecting device, includes a line of sight detection portion for detecting the line of sight position of a photographer, a portion of selection of a line of sight mode for selecting one of a single mode for locking a line of sight position obtained when a plurality of previous detection results of the line of sight detection portion satisfy a predetermined eye-gazing condition and a continuous mode for renewing the line of sight position on the basis of the latest line of sight position from the line of sight detection portion, a control mode setting portion for selecting a control mode for setting a camera phototaking condition, and a phototaking control for setting the camera phototaking condition in accordance with the line of sight position of the photographer when the control mode is selected, wherein when the control mode is selected by the control mode setting portion, the continuous mode is selected by the portion of selection of a line of sight mode, and the camera phototaking condition is set by the phototaking control in accordance with the line of sight position in the continuous mode.

Camera having line of sight detecting device

A variable time lag camera includes a release signal generation mechanism that generates a release signal, for example, after a user presses a release button, a shutter mechanism for limiting the time of exposure of a recording medium, and a time lag adjusting mechanism that sets the time lag between the generation of the release signal and the starting of the shutter mechanism from a plurality of available release time lags. Additionally, when in a single frame mode, the time lag corresponds to a time lag selected by the camera user. When in a continuous photography mode, the camera automatically selects the shortest possible time lag so that plural photographs can be taken at the highest possible rate.

Variable time lag camera

A photometric value compensating device corrects the influence on the photometric value of a mark or character superimposed in the finder field of a camera when the finder field is finely divided for photo metering and makes it possible to always obtain the proper exposure value. The photometric value compensating device includes a finely divided photo metering device that divides the photographic field into multiple areas and measures the light intensity or brightness in each area and transmits information based on the measured light intensity as a photometric brightness value. A photographic information display device superimposes photographic information inside the finder field. A correction area determining device determines the photometric areas for which photometric value correction is necessary based on the brightness of the photographic information displayed in the photometric areas of the finely divided photo metering device. A correction device calculates a corrected brightness value based on the photometric brightness values obtained from photometric areas determined by the correction area determining device.

Camera equipped with a photometric value compensating device

A camera device comprises an eye-gaze position detecting for detecting a photographer's eye-gaze position in a photographing image field, a starting device responsive to the satisfaction of a predetermined condition indicative of a situation in which the detection of the eye-gaze position should be started to start the operation of the eye-gaze position detecting device, a timer device responsive to the counting of a predetermined time from after the power source of the camera is turned on to stop the operation of the eye-gaze position detecting device, a timer resetting device responsive to the satisfaction of the predetermined condition to initialize the time counting by the timer device.

Camera with an eye-gaze position detecting device

An eye-gaze detecting apparatus is constructed as an independent adapter component, which is detachably mounted onto a camera body and which has information reflecting individual differences among observers for proper eye-gaze detection. An eye-gaze detecting adapter has an illuminating device for illuminating an eyeball of observer, an illumination drive device for driving the illumination device, an observing device for observing the eyeball of observer illuminated by the illuminating device, an observation drive device for driving the observing device, a ROM having information necessary for eye-gaze detection, a CPU for calculating an eye-gaze direction of observer with reference to the information from ROM, and a communication device for transmitting the information of eye-gaze direction obtained by the CPU to a camera body.

Eye-gaze detecting adapter

A camera with an automatic bracketing device for permitting photographing of a plurality of frames in group while exposure is stepwise changed under a certain exposure condition solves a problem which is caused when the number of frames to be photographed in a bracketing photographing mode is set larger than the number of remaining available frames of a film. The camera comprises means for calculating the number of remaining available frames based on the number of available frames of the film loaded and the number of photographed frames, means for calculating a proper exposure, means for setting the number of frames to be photographed in a bracketing photographing mode in which a plurality of frames are photographed with changing exposures, and means for setting the number of steps of exposure to be changed in the bracketing photographing mode. When the set number of frames to be photographed is larger than the number of remaining available frames, the set number of frames to be photographed is automatically changed to a number which is no larger than the number of remaining available frames so that a frame with the proper exposure is photographed.

Camera with automatic bracketing device

An automatic focusing apparatus of a camera includes a detecting unit, a lens driving unit, an instruction output unit, and a control unit. The detecting unit forms pieces of information concerning focus conditions of a photographic lens with respect to at least three areas in a field. The lens driving unit drives the photographic lens in order to perform focusing. The instruction output unit outputs an instruction for changing the position of the photographic lens. On the basis of the information from the detecting unit, the control unit controls the lens driving unit such that the photographic lens is focused on one of the areas in response to a release operation and the instruction and then sequentially focused on the remaining areas in accordance with a predetermined sequence.

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Yokohama, Japan

Masao Owashi