Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited

Fuji Photo Optical Co., Ltd.

Masao Shoji

Masayoshi Hirai

Osamu Inaba

Hiroshi Komatsuzaki

Kazuhiro Akiyama

Takao Koda

Katsuhiro Ohtake

Kiyotaka Kobayashi

Yoshihiro Fujita

Kazunori Ohno

Yasuhiko Tanaka

Toshio Yoshida

Yukio Noguchi

Masashi Takamura

Nobuhiro Aoki

Tetuo Nishizawa

Tetsuya Okumura

Masaya Nozawa

Toshio Yodhida

Syunji Nashimura

A taking lens of a camera includes first and second lens elements. A lens holding frame retains the first lens element on a lens base or a front surface of a shutter unit. In the lens holding frame, a holding frame body is disposed in front of the first lens element. Arm portions are formed to project from a periphery of the holding frame body, have a distance to the lens base when in a free state, are bent resiliently by a retention pin or screws, and are secured to the lens base. Thus, the first lens element is squeezed tightly between the lens base and the holding frame body.

Lens holding frame for securing lens element to lens base

It is an object of the present invention to provide a finder prism capable of forming some in-finder information such as an automatic focus target mark and a short distance correction mark by virtue of extremely narrow lines. In detail, the finder prism is provided between an objective lens and an ocular lens, and is adapted to transmit an object image to a camera user under a condition where an automatic focus target mark and an short distance correction mark are overlapped on a photographing object image. In particular, the prism is made of a resin, a shouldered portion is formed on one surface of the prism from which the object light is allowed to exit during a photographing process, thereby forming some in-finder information such as an automatic focus target mark and an short distance correction mark.

Finder prism

A finder device is disclosed wherein light from an objective optical system passes through a finder frame to an eyepiece. The finder frame includes two spaced-apart support pins, a screen format switchable mask mounted to the support pins so as to enable a particular screen format to be selected from among at least two alternative screen formats, and a mask pressure plate which is mounted to the support pins so as to retain the screen format switchable mask on said support pins. Markings, useful for taking photographs, are provided on the transparent region of the screen format switchable mask or on the mask pressure plate. In this manner, markings useful for taking photographs, which be viewed with an object to be photographed when looking through the eyepiece of the finder, can be manufactured with less expense and fewer defects than previously.

Finder device

A lens barrel comprises a first lens group and a second lens group. One of the first lens group and the second lens group is mounted on a lens barrel body with an adjusting mechanism for lens axis deviation intervening therebetween. The other set of lens is mounted on the lens barrel body with an adjusting mechanism for lens inclination intervening therebetween. Adjustments for axis deviation and inclination of the lenses are thereby facilitated.

Lens barrel

A zoom lens system shifts the position of front and rear lens groups relative to each other in the direction of the optical axis to change its focal length, by moving a lens barrel back and forth in the axial direction. The lens barrel is formed with cutouts in its rear portion for receiving therein parts and elements projecting forwardly from the plane in which an exposure aperture is located when the lens barrel is retracted, so as to reduce the thickness of the camera with the retracted zoom lens. A focal length changing mechanism comprises a fixed cam and a lever attached to the lens barrel which is turned by the cam when the lens barrel moves back and forth to shift one lens group, thereby changing the focal length of the zoom lens to desired focal lengths. To correct the changes in focus of the zoom lens caused by the change of focal length, an adjusting member is provided in the focal length changing mechanism. An encoder is provided in the camera to detect the shifted axial positions of the lens barrel.

Camera with zooming mechanism

A drive mechanism for a zoom lens system consisting of first and second lens groups has a movable lens barrel fixedly holding the first lens and cam structure consisting of a cam member provided on the second lens group and a cam follower member on the movable lens barrel. The movable lens barrel moves forward or rearward to shift the second lens group forward or rearward relative to the first lens group along the optical axis of the zoom lens system via the cam member so as to continuously change the focal length of the zoom lens system. The cam member is mounted on the movable lens barrel to change the curve of the cam surface relative to the cam follower member only in a middle focal length range.

Zoom lens drive mechanism of a camera

A camera having a viewfinder and a taking lens changeable in focal length between at least two different focal lengths: a relatively short focal length suitable for wide-angle photography and a relatively long focal length suitable for telephotography and that allows close-up photography when the taking lens is changed to have the long focal length. The viewfinder has at least one movable lens which is axially moved and shifted away from the optical axis of the finder with respect to the axis of the taking lens when the taking lens is changed in focal length, to deflect the optical axis of the finder in order to cancel parallax error, depending on object distance.

Viewfinder for a camera with changeable focal length

An automatic focusing camera which is equipped with a taking lens system changeable in focal length between at least two different focal lengths: a relatively short focal length suitable for wide-angle photography, and a relatively long focal length suitable for telephotography. When the taking lens system is changed to have the relatively short focal length, the taking lens is further changed to be able to take close-up photographs and the automatic focusing is simultaneously changed to cover a short subject distance range between, for example 0.1 and 1.0 m.

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Saitama, Japan

Masao Shoji