Nikon Corporation

Ryo Uehara

Koichiro Kawamura

Akira Ohmura

Satoshi Ejima

In a digital still camera, when the reproducing mode is selected, an indication to the effect that the operation is in standby for reproduction is displayed on an indicating device, and if the command dial is not operated until 16 seconds elapses after the indication has been started, the supply of source voltage to the various parts of the camera is stopped, to achieve a reduction in power consumption. If the command dial is operated within 16 seconds, image signals are output to an external monitor and also an indication to the effect that reproduction is in progress is displayed on the indicating device. If the command dial has been operated within three minutes after reproduction of a given photographic frame has been started, reproduction of the following frame is performed, but if the command dial has not been operated until the three minutes have elapsed, the indication to the effect that the operation is in standby for reproduction is displayed again. If the sensitivity changeover switch and the command dial are operated together during reproduction or standby for reproduction, the photographic frame to be reproduced is determined in correspondence to the quantity and direction of the rotation of the command dial and the frame number of the frame thus determined is displayed on the indicating device.

Digital still camera

A digital camera has a mounting part to mount a shooting lens or other optical equipment, and includes a mode switch that changes between a mode that shoots using the shooting lens and a mode that shoots using the other equipment. The camera includes an information interface that communicates with the shooting lens or with the other equipment, and receives information from the shooting lens or from the other equipment corresponding to the set mode. A camera controller controls the camera to change a type of information received through the interface from the shooting lens or from the other equipment based upon the set mode. When changed to the mode that shoots using the other equipment, the interface receives information corresponding to a color temperature or a brightness of a light source of the other equipment, and the controller controls the camera shooting state based upon that received information.

Digital camera and recording medium

Electronic still camera capable of switching between photographing and reproduction with a common operating member

A still camera (electronic still camera, silver halide still camera, etc.) is provided that performs microphotography without blurring caused by inherent camera vibrations. The still camera includes a front curtain drive assembly that starts a front curtain of the mechanical shutter assembly substantially simultaneously with the driving of a quick-return mirror. A time-monitoring device monitors the passage of time until vibrations caused by the quick-return mirror moving to a position outside of the optical axis position are eliminated. The time-monitoring device can further monitor the time until vibrations caused by driving the front curtain are eliminated. When the time-monitoring device determines that the time required to eliminate the vibrations has elapsed, an exposure time control device starts the electronic shutter assembly.

Still camera and method for using same

A camera which sets an aperture value of an internal aperture in accordance with the open aperture value of a photographic lens aperture of an installed photographic lens. A reduction optical system reduces an optical image formed by the photographic lens when the photographic lens is installed on the camera, the optical image being reduced by a reduction ratio. An internal aperture of the camera has a settable aperture value. A control unit receives the open aperture value of the photographic lens aperture when the photographic lens is installed on the camera, conveys the open aperture value in accordance with the reduction ratio of the reduction optical system, and sets an aperture value of the internal aperture in a range having a lower limit of approximately the converted open aperture value. Additionally, the control unit can set the aperture value of the internal aperture to produce the correct exposure time in accordance with an exposure time of an image pickup element and the converted open aperture value, where the exposure time is set by the photographer. Moreover, the aperture value of the internal aperture can be set by the photographer, and the control unit can then set the exposure time of an image pickup element in accordance with the set exposure time and the converted open aperture value.

Camera which sets an internal aperture value in accordance with a

An electronic still camera indicates the available capacity of a recording medium and the number of frames remaining that may be photographed, as well as warning by stages in at least two forms, based on the available capacity of the recording medium. The electronic still camera includes a photo lens, mirror, CCD, signal executing circuit, A/D converter, buffer memory, compression circuit, CPU, memory card, and indicator device. A CPU reads in the gross capacity and the written-on portion from a memory card and calculates the available capacity. When the available capacity becomes small, the indicator device that indicates the available capacity or the number of frames remaining that can be photographed begins to flash the display slowly on and off. When the available capacity grows even smaller and is almost gone, the display flashes rapidly on and off. In this way, the photographer can easily detect how many more frames he or she may photograph on the memory card.

Electronic still camera with capacity warning indicator and method

A camera having improved positioning of a variable aperture. A picture taking lens forms an image of a subject on an image forming plane. A picture taking optical system has a picture taking optical path which extends from the image forming plane to an image recording medium. The picture taking optical system receives the image formed on the image forming plane and projects the image to the image recording medium. A variable aperture is positioned in the picture taking optical path between the image forming plane and the image recording medium, and regulates light passing through the picture taking optical system without regulating light passing through a viewfinder optical system. Before an individual photograph is taken, the variable aperture is set to an aperture size which is approximately midway between the maximum aperture size and the minimum aperture size. However, when the camera is in a continuous shooting mode, a variable aperture control device sets the variable aperture to a first aperture size before a first photograph is taken and then, after the first photograph is taken, drives the variable aperture directly to a new aperture size corresponding to the next photograph. The camera also controls the camera shutter to be released after a specific, constant time from the pressing of the release button.

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Yokohama, Japan

Ryo Uehara