Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Olympus Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Toshiaki Ishimaru

Azuma Miyazawa

Yoshiaki Kobayashi

Hiroshi Yamada

Keiji Kunishige

Akira Watanabe

Atsushi Maruyama

Junichi Itoh

Koji Mizobuchi

Shoji Kawamura

Yasunobu Otsuka

Osamu Nonaka

Satoshi Miyazaki

Hideo Miyazawa

Takao Nishida

Takashi Suzuki

Masataka Ide

Moriya Katagiri

Yoichiro Okumura

Minoru Hara

Michio Yoshida

Hisayuki Matsumoto

Tetsuo Miyasaka

Keiichi Tsuchida

Shunji Matsutani

Shigeyuki Komatsu

Satoshi Kawakami

Kazutada Kobayashi

Toshiaki Suzuki

Akito Miyamoto

Namiko Sakabe

A camera capable of white balance correction (WBC) of this invention has an image pickup optical system, an image sensor for receiving light from an object, a three-primary-color (3-color) detection section for detecting 3-color signals based on the image sensor output, a matrix processing section for calculating 2-color difference signals from the 3-color signals, a visible-light brightness detection section for detecting visible-light brightness by the output from the 3-color detection section or by a photometric section, an infrared-light detection section for detecting the lightness of infrared-light, and an artificial-light detection section for calculating the ratio of artificial light and natural-light. A correction range for performing the WBC is obtained based on the ratio of artificial-light and natural-light computed by the artificial-light detection section, and the WBC is performed when the 2-color difference signals are within the correction range.

Camera capable of white balance correction

A shutter abnormality detection apparatus for a camera includes a shutter including leading and trailing curtains which are shutter curtains electrically controlled to run. A curtain run detection unit detects a run state of at least one of the leading and trailing curtains. A curtain run time judgment unit judges a run time of the shutter curtains based on an output from the curtain run detection unit. An abnormality processing unit notifies an abnormality state of the shutter curtains, when it is judged as a result of judgment in the curtain run time judgment unit that the curtain run time is abnormal.

Shutter abnormality detection apparatus for camera

A camera has a finder device. A liquid crystal element is arranged in the finder device and has an image area and at least one of an index area indicating an image range and an index area indicating information relating to photographing. A control circuit switches modes between a first mode in which the image area is set into a light transmitting state and a second mode in which the image area is set into a light shielding state according to a voltage applied to the liquid crystal element. The index areas always provide index display irrespective of application of the voltage to the liquid crystal element.

Display device of an optical apparatus

A display device includes a liquid crystal capable of displaying a central region, a first peripheral region at the periphery of the central region, and a second peripheral region at the periphery of the central region and differing from the first peripheral region. A first electrode is connected to a region including the central region and first peripheral region of the liquid crystal. A second electrode is connected to a region including the central region and second peripheral region of the liquid crystal. The display regions of the liquid crystal are controlled by supplying driving signals to the first electrode and second electrode.

Display device capable of producing a good display state in plural angles of view

A camera comprises a liquid-crystal display device and a liquid-crystal control section. The liquid-crystal display device has a liquid crystal whose transmittance is variable. The liquid-crystal control section, in the photograph enable mode, brings the liquid crystal of the liquid-crystal display device into the light-transmitting state and, in the photograph disable mode, brings the liquid crystal of the liquid-crystal display device into a half light-transmitting state or the no-light-transmitting state.

Camera with the function of changing the transmittance of liquid-crystal

A camera has a liquid-crystal display device including a liquid crystal whose transmittance is variable. A sensing section senses an abnormality in the camera. A liquid-crystal control section, in a release signal wait mode, brings the liquid crystal of the liquid-crystal display device into a light-transmitting state and, when the sensing section has sensed an abnormality in the camera, changes the transmittance of the liquid crystal of the liquid-crystal display device.

This invention is an actuator including a vibration member to which a piezoelectric element is fixed, a plurality of projections arranged at node positions of a tertiary stationary wave on the vibration member, another plurality of projections arranged at node positions of a quintic stationary wave on a vibration member, a rotating member which is in press contact with these projections, and a fixing member for holding the vibration member and pivotally holding the rotating member. A tertiary or quintic stationary wave is selectively excited in the vibration member to rotate the rotating member in one direction or another direction.

Actuator

A camera includes a liquid-crystal display device with a liquid crystal whose transmittance is variable. A liquid-crystal control section, in a release signal waiting mode, brings the liquid crystal of the liquid-crystal display device into the light-transmitting state and, when a release signal is output to turn on an exposure mode, lowers the transmittance of the liquid crystal of the liquid-crystal display device temporarily.

Camera with the function of lowering the transmittance of the

The camera system comprises a camera and an external device. The camera includes a microcomputer, a write control circuit for receiving replacement data from the external device and writing the replacement data into a replacement program memory of the microcomputer, and an interface circuit for controlling a camera element in accordance with the decoded value output from an instruction decoder (ID) of the microcomputer. The external device includes a memory for storing address data to be changed in the microcomputer in the camera and replacement program data, and a transmission circuit for reading out the replacement data from the memory and transmitting the read-out data to the camera.

System operable with a given apparatus and capable of pseudo-rewriting a

An electronic flash illuminates an object. A first photometric unit measures a visible light component of ambient light of the object. A second photometric unit measures an infrared light component of the ambient light of the object. A determining unit determines the ratio between the visible light component measured by the first photometric unit and the infrared light component measured by the second photometric unit. On the basis of the ratio determined by the determining unit, a light emission determining unit determines whether the electronic flash is to be made emit light.

Electronic controlled camera with color correction function

A battery check device for a camera which includes a discharging circuit to which current flows from a battery and a discharging time setting device for setting a discharging time for determining that an internal resistance of the battery has increased due to non-use of the battery so as to temporarily reduce an output voltage of the battery. The discharging time set by the discharging time setting device is longer than a time required to check the residual energy amount of the battery. A determining device determines whether a voltage of the discharging circuit has reached a reference voltage specific to the battery within the discharging time. It is determined that the residual energy amount of the battery is sufficient and that the internal resistance of the battery has merely increased due to non-use of the battery when the determining device determines that the voltage of the discharging circuit has reached the reference voltage specific to the battery within the discharging time but after the time required to check the residual energy amount of the battery. And it is determined that the residual energy amount of the battery is insufficient when the determining device determines that the voltage of the discharging circuit has not reached the reference voltage specific to the battery within the discharging time.

Camera capable of measuring power source voltage

An electrical system apparatus is constructed as follows to easily attain the desired adjustment, repair and change for the version of a stored program on the user side even if a microcomputer containing a rewritable or unrewritable memory is used. That is, the electrical system apparatus includes a one-chip microcomputer containing a memory which is divided into a plurality of blocks and includes one specified block n set in a preset block of the memory for storing a control program for realizing a preset function or specification of the system apparatus, a specified block rewriting program stored in at lest one of the blocks 1 to (n-1) other than the specified block to rewrite the content of the specified block, and a communicating section accessible to the memory and having a serial communicating function, and the rewriting program permits data transmitted from an external device and received by the communicating section to be written into the specified block n.

Electrical system apparatus including one-chip microcomputer

A stroboscopic instrument is constructed of a gate-controlled switching element forming a discharge loop that is connected in series with a discharge lamp and main capacitor for storing charge that causes the discharge lamp to flash. The stroboscopic instrument further comprises: a stroboscopic flashing control circuit for controlling the operation of stroboscopic flashing; a low-voltage power supply that has an output voltage lower than the driving voltages of the stroboscopic flashing control circuit and the gate-controlled switching element; a first constant voltage regulator for stepping up the voltage of the low-voltage power supply up to the driving voltage of the stroboscopic flashing control circuit; and a second constant voltage regulator for stepping up the voltage of the low-voltage power supply or the output voltage of the first constant voltage regulator up to the driving voltage of the gate-controlled switching element.

Stroboscopic instrument having a gate-controlled-switching element and a

An apparatus for recording data to a film, executing: both unchangeable recording such as optical recording, and changeable recording such as magnetic recording for relatively important data, which is required protection from data failure and is permitted to change such as date, date print mode, and trimming direction of printing area, and executing: only magnetic recording for relatively unimportant data, which is allowed some data failure and has few possibility of changing such as aperture value, shutter time value, photometric value, exposure compensation value, and object distance value; wherein the apparatus is housed in a detachable back cover of a camera, and data being transmitted from the main body of the camera to the back cover.

Apparatus for recording information of camera capable of optical data

A microcomputer includes a program memory for storing program data, a program counter for addressing the program memory, an instruction decoder for decoding the program data read out from an address of the program memory addressed by the program counter, an electrically programmable nonvolatile memory for storing address data denoting an address of the program memory where program data to be corrected is stored, and correction program data, a comparator for comparing the output from the program counter with the address data stored in the nonvolatile memory and outputting a coincidence signal when a coincidence is found therebetween, and a program correction circuit for reading out the program data from the nonvolatile memory in response to the coincidence signal, and for supplying the readout data to the instruction decoder in place of the output from the program memory. According to another feature, the microcomputer may comprise a program correction circuit wherein a correction address is supplied to a program counter, and wherein code sections are stored.

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Hino, Japan

Toshiaki Ishimaru