Nikon Corporation

Nippon Kogaku K.k.

Norikazu Yokonuma

Kazuyuki Kazami

Hideo Hibino

Youichi Yamazaki

Hisashi Okutsu

Nobuyoshi Hagiuda

Toshio Sosa

Hiroshi Sakamoto

Hideki Matsui

Masaharu Hara

Toru Fukuhara

Hidenori Miyamoto

Hideya Inoue

Hirotake Nozaki

Yoshikazu Iida

Hachiro Kanai

Toshio Dobashi

Seiichi Yasukawa

Kenji Toyoda

Nobuaki Sasagaki

Akira Ezawa

Tadashi Ohta

Tomoaki Kawamura

Ryotaro Takayanagi

Tetsuya Takano

Masahide Tanaka

Tadao Takagi

Tetsuro Goto

Osamu Ikeda

Akira Ohmura

Minoru Kato

Tsutomu Wakabayashi

Daiki Tsukahara

Takashi Saegusa

Satoshi Ejima

Noriyasu Kotani

Kiyosada Machida

Tatsuo Amanuma

Yoshinari Hamanishi

Yoshiaki Ohtsubo

Tadashi Otani

Toshiaki Kobayashi

Masaharu Itoh

Yoichi Yamazaki

Kenji Ishizuki

Takumi Kawahara

Junichi Yanai

Masaharuo Hara

A digital camera includes an insertion unit for inserting a storage medium, an image pickup unit, a control unit for storing an image picked up by the image pickup unit onto a storage medium inserted into the insertion unit, and a medium detection unit for detecting whether the storage medium inserted into the insertion unit is a storage medium in which rewrite is limited.

Digital camera

A video apparatus includes a memory in which image information denoting a moving image is recorded and a thumbnail creator that creates thumbnail information denoting thumbnails upon completion of recording of the image information in the memory. The apparatus also includes various types of user interfaces by which a user can designate frames of the moving image information for thumbnail creation.

Video apparatus and method

In a collaborating work, it is to provide a digital camera in which camera information about each camera is displayed on a monitor of a master camera and a memory status of each memory card in use is also displayed and further, when monitoring a video from a slave camera, a size of a display screen can be manually set and in a digital camera system at collaborating work, a first digital camera is provided with camera information about each digital camera, a total memory capacity, a total sum of shot-taken frame numbers, a total remaining memory capacity or a display device indicating a total sum of remaining frame numbers. Camera information is information that is required to be set when instructing a shooting work or a storage work or to specify a second digital camera.

Digital camera and digital camera system

An electronic camera displays recorded information, such as image frames, to permit the selection of items of information to be transferred to external equipment. Each time an item of information is transferred, an informative indication (e.g., an icon) is displayed in association with the transferred item to confirm the transfer and to permit an operator to select items of recorded information that may be erased. If an error occurs during transfer of a series of items, the operator can determine from the display the point at which the error occurred, avoiding the need for transferring items that have already been transferred.

Electronic camera apparatus and method in which data are recorded, transferred, and erased

A digital camera includes: an image sensor that captures an image of a subject and outputs an image signal; and a control device that engages the image sensor to capture an image at an exposure value having been set, makes a decision as to whether or not an overflow or an underflow deviating from a dynamic range of the image sensor manifests, calculates an exposure correction quantity with which the exposure value having been set is to be corrected in order to reduce the overflow or the underflow based upon results of the decision and engages the image sensor to capture a new image at an exposure value having been corrected in correspondence to the exposure correction quantity.

An electronic camera includes an imaging unit for continuously capturing images of a subject to create a plurality of frames of RAW data, an evaluation unit for evaluating quality of the RAW data, and a recording unit for selecting a highly evaluated frame from the RAW data according to a result of the quality evaluation by the evaluation unit, and storing the selected frame of RAW data.

Electronic camera and image processing program

An electronic camera includes a release section which, by receiving user operation, is switched from a standby mode to a preparation mode and instructs an image pickup section to prepare for shooting, and is switched from the preparation mode to a shooting mode and instructs the image pickup section to start shooting. A shooting mode controlling section sets the image pickup section to an appropriate mode for moving image photographing when the release section is in the standby mode, and sets the image pickup section to an appropriate mode for still image photographing when the release section is in the preparation mode and before the release section is switched to the shooting mode. Accordingly, since the image pickup section has already been set to the appropriate mode for still image photographing when the user operates the release section to start shooting, the release time lag can be shortened.

Electronic camera

An object of the invention is to provide an electronic camera that can properly display a moving image usable as a viewfinder. The electronic camera of the invention includes: an image pickup section photographing an object for image generation; a display device displaying the image generated by the image pickup section as a moving image; a buffer section; a recording section; and a display switching section. The buffer section temporarily stores the image generated by the image pickup section and to be displayed as a moving image on the display device. The recording section records the image generated by the image pickup section according to a user's operation. The display switching section switch, at predetermined timing, a first display for display of a moving image on the display device through the buffer section, and a second display for display of a moving image not through the buffer section.

An image compression apparatus and method, and a carrier wave encoded with a computer readable control program having instructions for use by a computer, perform an image compression process. A compression level is determined for use in compressing a picture image to a predetermined target data amount by iteratively compressing a reduced version of the picture image in order to determine the compression level that is to be used to compress the picture image. First, a reduced-size picture image is created from the picture image that is to be compressed. A preliminary compression target data amount is then derived, for example, based on the target data amount, the data amount of the picture image and the data amount of the reduced-size picture image. The reduced-size picture image is then compressed using a compression level. The size of the resulting compressed reduced-size picture image is compared to the preliminary compression target data amount. The compression level is then adjusted (raised or lowered) and compression of the reduced-size picture image is repeated until the resulting compressed reduced-size picture image satisfies the preliminary compression target data amount. The compression level that ultimately is derived, is then used to compress the picture image. The resulting compressed picture image will then satisfy the predetermined target data amount.

Image compression apparatus, method and recording medium storing an image compression program

In an electronic still camera having a charge storage type image-capturing element, electrical charges are stored at the image-capturing element in correspondence to the subject brightness distribution and the stored charges are read out from the image-capturing element as image data and are temporarily stored. Then the image data are compressed and recorded into a recording medium. In an ultra high-speed continuous shooting mode for performing an ultra high-speed continuous photographing operation at 30 frames per second, charge storage at the image-capturing element and read of stored charges at the image-capturing element having undergone a culling process are repeatedly performed and the image data in the preceding frame are compressed while electrical charges are being stored for the next frame.

Electronic still camera having a charge storage element

An electronic camera according to the present invention includes: a recording device that records image data output by an image-capturing element, which captures an image of a subject, into a recording medium; a battery voltage detection device that detects a battery voltage; a check level setting device that sets a battery check level by taking into consideration a quantity of battery power consumption required for recording the image data to the recording medium; and a photographing decision-making device that makes a decision as to whether or not a photographing operation is enabled by comparing the battery voltage value detected by the battery voltage detection device with the check level set by the check level setting device.

Electronic camera with battery capability consideration

Electronic camera and method of operating an electronic camera

A camera CPU internally provided at a digital still camera determines an exposure time based upon an image signal input from a CCD via a control circuit. The camera CPU also implements preliminary photographing which is accompanied by light emission by an electronic flash unit, obtains a light emission quantity at the electronic flash unit for main photographing based upon the results of preliminary photographing and determines the flash time using the light emission quantity. If the flash time is longer than the exposure time, the camera CPU reduces the length of flash time. The camera CPU calculates the quantity of underexposure occurring as a result of the exposure ending before the illumination by the electronic flash unit is completed. An image processing circuit engages in color correction by incorporating the quantity of underexposure that has been calculated in advance when it processes image data obtained through an imaging operation.

Electronic camera using flash for exposure control

A camera includes: a photographing control device that (1) performs flash photographing accompanied by light emission by an electronic flash unit with a shutter speed fixed when results of field brightness measurement performed by a photometering device which measures field brightness indicate a value equal to or lower than a predetermined first reference brightness, (2) performs flash photographing at a first shutter speed when the results of the field brightness measurement indicate a value equal to or lower than the first reference brightness and higher than a second reference brightness which is lower than the first reference brightness and (3) performs flash photographing at a second shutter speed higher than the first shutter speed when the results of the field brightness measurement indicate a value equal to or lower than the second reference brightness.

Camera

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Norikazu Yokonuma