Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Minolta Camera K.k.

Masatake Niwa

Masaaki Nakai

Nobuyuki Taniguchi

Minoru Sekida

Takeo Hoda

Masayoshi Sahara

Akira Fujii

Kunio Kawamura

Hiroshi Ueda

Akihiko Fujino

Takanobu Omaki

Hiroshi Hosomizu

Toru Inoue

Takayoshi Miyamoto

Manabu Inoue

Shuji Izumi

Yukio Maekawa

Yuji Takarabe

Tokuji Ishida

Masatoshi Itoh

Toshiaki Matsumoto

Tsuneyo Metabi

Tatsuro Izumi

Toshihiko Taniguchi

Tetsuro Oya

Norio Beppu

Norihiro Inoue

Masaaki Kakai

A camera having a covering member which covers the upper side of the camera and having a projecting portion shaped as a pentagonal reflecting member; a first manually operable portion located at the covering member on one side of the projecting portion for designating one of a plurality of kinds of photographic data; a second manually operable portion located at the covering member on the other side of the projecting portion and adapted for commonly altering any of the plurality of kinds of photographing data to actually alter the designated one thereof in combination with the actual designation by the first manually operable portion; a light measuring device for measuring the luminance of the object to be photographed; a calculator for carrying out an exposure calculation based on the result of the light measuring; a display portion for displaying at least either one of shutter speed and aperture value obtained by the exposure calculation; and a display controller for controlling the display such that, when the first manually operable portion is operated, the display of at least either one of shutter speed and aperture value is turned off, and instead a designated photographing data is displayed.

Camera system

A display device for use in a camera comprises a central processing unit and display units to display exposure data and various control modes under the control of the CPU. The display units are arranged to display the exposure data with suitable marks or characters in rows so as to make the operator to read the display easily. The CPU provides control data to deenergize the display unit at the time of initial states of the camera such as at the time of loading a battery in the camera to prevent to display confusing information.

Display device for use in a camera

In a camera adapted to function with stored data, aperture value data is stored at a predetermined step in accordance with a manual operation of a manually operable member and digital data, showing a controllable range of an aperture diaphragm of an interchangeable lens, is transmitted from the interchangeable lens and read. The stored aperture value data is detected to determine whether such data is out of the controllable range and the aperture value data to be stored is set to a limited value within the controllable range when the detection of the stored aperture value data is out of the controllable range.

Camera system with means for varying exposure control data

A camera includes a cover for the upper side of the camera body and having a projecting portion shaped as a pentagonal prism with a first manual operable member located at the cover on a first side of the projecting portion for designating one of a plurality of kinds of photographic data. A second manually operable member is located at the cover on a second side of the projecting portion and alters any of the plurality of the kinds of photographic data in combination with the actual designation of the first manually operable member. The designated photographic data is indicated by a display located at the cover on the second side of the projecting portion. A third manually operable member, also located at the cover on the second side of the projecting portion, initiates exposure operation of the camera.

Camera with manually operable means for designating and altering the

A camera with circuitry, a main power source for supplying electric power to the circuitry, a back-up power source for supplying electric power to the circuitry independently from the main power source, a detector for detecting the condition of the back-up power source to produce a warning signal when the back-up power source can not supply sufficient electric power to the circuitry, starting the operation of the detector when the main power source has recovered, setting data to the circuitry in accordance with a manual operation and interrupting the operation of the warning signal when the data setting is operated.

Camera system with means for detecting the condition of back-up power

A camera has an automatic data reading arrangement for reading ISO data provided on a film cartridge. When a main battery is exchanged with an old battery while the film is still loaded in the camera, ISO data is maintained in a memory supported and powered by a back-up battery. If such an ISO data is not available after the exchange of the main battery, ISO data again read from the loaded film cartride is employed. If the film is not the type that can provide an ISO data, the most widely used ISO data will be automatically set for the further exposure calculation.

In a camera system having a camera body and at least one camera accessory attachable to the camera body, a plurality of circuit elements are provided in the camera body and in the camera accessory for performing predetermined respective operations. Circuitry in the camera controls the plurality of circuit elements and includes a data bus for connecting the control circuitry with the plurality of circuit elements. The data bus serially sends data from the control circuitry to the plurality of circuit elements and from the plurality of circuit elements to the control circuitry. At least one signal line connects the control circuitry with each of the circuit elements, respectively, for sending clock pulses utilized for synchronizing the data sent through the data bus. A plurality of selecting lines selects, by the control circuitry, which circuit element receives the data from the control circuitry and sends the data to the control circuitry. The control circuitry selects, in accordance with predetermined camera operation, the circuit element which operates through the selecting lines, with the control circuitry receiving data from the selected circuit element through the data bus with pulses through the signal line to calculate data sent to the circuit element according to the predetermined camera operation. The control circuitry sends the calculated data to the selected circuit element through the data bus with pulses through the signal line for operating the circuit element.

In a camera for setting photographic data, a first manually operable means for designating one of a plurality of kinds of photographing data and second manually operable means for adapted for commonly altering any of the plurality of kinds of photographing data to actually alter the designated photographing data in combination with the actual designation by the first manually operable means, and an indicator for indicating the designated one of the photographing data.

In a camera adapted to function with stored data, the exposure time data, aperture value data and override data are stored and the stored aperture value data is normally indicated with provision for indication of the stored override data in place of the aperture value data. The stored exposure time data may be indicated by additional indicating means which can be disabled while the stored override data is being indicated.

Camera system for alternately indicating exposure time data, aperture

A flash photography system which comprises a photographic camera and an electronic flash device; said photographic camera comprising

Flash photography system

This invention is directed to a camera which has an information setting device including an information setting member rotatable around a display device. The information setting member is provided with a window member which covers the display device and through which the indiciation displayed on the display device can be seen. The display device is supported on a frame which defines a camera body in association with a cover member surrounding the frame, while the information setting device is supported on the cover member. Accordingly, the size of both devices can be made large without necessity of enlarging the camera body in proportion to the size of the devices. Further, both devices can be assembled independently from each other. Namely, the information setting device is mounted on the cover member which is still separated from the frame. Meanwhile, the display device is mounted on the frame. Finally, the cover member with the information setting device and frame with the display device are assembled. Accordingly, the devices are easily assembled, inspected and adjusted.

Camera

A camera is adapted to operate with stored data by sensing the film speed data prepared on the surface of a film cartridge loaded in the camera to produce a data reading signal and reading the sensed film speed data in response to the data reading signal and detecting whether or not the the film loaded in the camera includes film speed data to provide a warning when a determination is made that the film speed data is not on the film cartridge. Film speed data may be loaded in the camera manually and the warning is interrupted in response to the manual setting of the film speed. At least one of the film speed data and the manually set film speed data is stored and the exposure data is calculated on the basis of the stored film speed data.

A mount arrangement for a photographic camera which is capable of automatic diaphragm control and automatic focusing includes electrical contacts for transmission of electrical signals between a camera body and an interchangeable lens unit, and mechanical transmission members for the automatic diaphragm control and the automatic focusing and positioning member and recess on and at inner periphery of mount members of the camera body and the lens unit so as not to interfere with each other during the start and the course of the mounting of the lens unit onto the camera body through a bayonet mount device.

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Sakai, Japan

Masatake Niwa