Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Hoya Corporation

Pentax Corporation

Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd.

Asahi Kogaku Kogyo K.k.

Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Yutaka Ohsawa

Satoshi Takami

Kosei Kosako

Toshiaki Yamada

Masahiro Nakajima

Shigeru Iwamoto

Toshimasa Yamanaka

Tadahisa Ohkura

Isamu Hashimoto

Shinichiro Sanada

Teruhiko Naruo

Hirotaka Ueno

Masahiro Kawasaki

Shinichi Kakiuchi

Hiroshi Kase

Akira Karasawa

Masato Yamamoto

Kiyoshi Kawano

Toshiyuki Kitazawa

Hiroyuki Takahashi

Takuya Hasegawa

Fuminori Ueno

Mikio Ogi

Akihisa Mori

Masahiko Kurosaki

Yutaka Waki

Yoshihisa Kuwana

A diaphragm control apparatus is provided with a controller. When a photographing lens is attached to a camera body and a power switch is turned from ON to OFF, a drive motor first moves a diaphragm device to a minimum aperture, and thereafter the drive motor is switched from power ON to OFF. Thus, any damage to the inside of camera body due to sunlight entering into the opening of the diaphragm device can be prevented, and also the structure of camera body can be simplified by reducing the number of parts.

Diaphragm control apparatus of interchangeable lens camera

A sequential shooting controller includes both high and low load drive modes, and first and second power-voltage detectors. The high/low load drive modes drive a device under high/low loads. The first power-voltage detector detects a power-voltage by connecting a load. The second power-voltage detector detects the voltage across the device. The first power-voltage detector is actuated at the beginning of sequential shooting before a first image capturing operation starts. The high load image capturing operation starts when the voltage detected by the first power-voltage detector is higher than a first threshold. The low load image capturing operation starts when the voltage detected by the first power-voltage detector is lower than the first threshold. The second power-voltage detector is driven during a high load image capturing operation. The second power-voltage detector is disabled during a low load image capturing operation.

Sequential shooting controller

A diaphragm control apparatus is provided in a camera body, in which a controller drives a stepping motor to move the slider away from an origin position, thereafter drives the stepping motor in the opposite direction toward the origin position, and thereafter detects the slider position after holding the stepping motor for a first waiting time upon a distance from the slider to the origin position becoming less than slider-moving distance for one step of the stepping motor. The controller causes the stepping motor to enter a free state upon a lapse of the first waiting time and detects the slider position upon a lapse of a second waiting time to set an initial excitation pattern from a difference between the slider position detected during the first waiting time and the slider position detected in the free state thereof and from the moving distance of the slider.

A diaphragm control apparatus in a camera body includes a stepping motor; a lead screw thereof, wherein a slider is driven by the lead screw; a position detector; and a controller. When driving the stepping motor by a predetermined number of steps in a direction to move the slider away from an origin position, the controller detects the slider position before driving the stepping motor stepwise as the origin position via the position detector, and thereafter detects a stepping position of the slider to compare the stepping position with the origin position each time the stepping motor is driven by one step, and counts the number of steps based from the moment at which the stepping position of the slider exceeds a predetermined position in the direction to move the slider away from the origin position against the biasing force of the resilient biaser.

A diaphragm control apparatus in a camera body includes a stepping motor, a lead screw thereof, wherein a slider is driven by the lead screw, a position detector, and a controller. When the stepping motor is in a free state, the slider allows a diaphragm operatively-associated rod to move to an initial position. The controller detects the slider origin position when the stepping motor is in the free state and drives the stepping motor stepwise to move the slider away from the origin position against a biasing force of a resilient biaser, and drives the stepping motor stepwise to move the slider toward the origin position while detecting the slider position; and sets an initial excitation pattern of the stepping motor upon a distance from the detected slider position to the origin position becoming less than a slider moving distance for one step of the stepping motor.

A battery check device for a portable electronic apparatus, such as a digital camera, for example, can selectively use a plurality of types of batteries. The battery check device comprises a battery determining processor that determines a type of battery, when the battery is mounted in the portable electronic apparatus. A battery check processor is provided for checking the residual battery power in accordance with the determined battery type for the mounted battery. An indicating processor indicates the plurality of types of batteries that can be mounted in the portable electronic apparatus. The indicating processor further indicates the determined battery type.

Battery check device

A digital camera includes an image pickup device which converts incident light of an object image into an electrical signal during an exposure operation; a processor which captures the electrical signal, and thereafter generates a digital image from the electrical signal; a battery checking device which performs a battery check process for determining whether a battery voltage of the digital camera is lower than a predetermined voltage level; a controller which forcibly terminates the exposure operation when the battery checking device determines that the battery voltage drops below the predetermined voltage level during the exposure operation, and subsequently makes the processor start capturing the electrical signal in order to generate a backup digital image; and a warning device which warns a user that the exposure operation is forcibly terminated due to a shortage of the battery voltage and that the backup digital image is underexposed, in the case where the exposure is forcibly terminated.

Digital camera with a battery checking device

A camera system includes a camera body including a photometering device and an external operating device, and a photographing lens which is detachably attached to the camera body, the photographing lens including an aperture setting device for selecting an auto aperture setting and at least one fixed aperture setting. A full-aperture photometering operation is performed when the aperture setting device is positioned at the auto aperture setting, and a stop-down photometering operation is performed in response to an operation of the external operating device when the aperture setting device is positioned at the fixed aperture setting.

Camera system with a photometering device and an external operating device

A flash case, in which a flash is provided, is automatically moved to an up position, when a user selects a flash mode in a state where the flash case is at a down position, when a user begins to forcibly raise the flash case by hand in a state where the flash case is at the down position, or when the flash case is at the down position in a state where a photometric operation starts in an auto-flash mode. The flash case is automatically moved to the down position, when an external force is added to the flash case at the up position.

Flash control mechanism

A remote control auto-focus camera system includes a camera body; a transmitter provided separately from the camera body, wherein the transmitter transmits a remote control signal; a focusing device, a photometering device and an exposure device, provided in the camera body; a photographing operation member, provided on the camera body, which is adapted to operate both the photometering device and the focusing device upon a first operation thereof and to operate the exposure device upon a second operation thereof; and a controller adapted to operate the photometering device and the exposure device in this order without operating the focusing device upon receipt of the remote control signal transmitted.

Remote control, auto-focus camera system

A data-imprinting camera includes a winding mechanism for manually winding a film loaded in a camera body, a data imprinting device for imprinting patterns of data onto the film, the data imprinting device having a plurality of light emitting elements arranged such that light dots formed on the film are aligned in the direction perpendicular to the winding direction of the film, and a controlling device for controlling the emissions of the light emitting elements in synchronism with the winding of the film by the winding mechanism, the controlling device including a function to detect condition of the data imprinting and a function to repeat the data imprinting in one picture frame of the film when the detected result is faulty.

Data-imprinting camera

A roll-film camera for receiving a roll-film is disclosed which includes: a pair of spool compartments, each of which the roll-film can be placed in; a reversible film winding mechanism which rotates a spool placed in one of the pair of spool compartments in which the roll-film is not placed to wind a film of the roll-film onto the spool when the roll-film is placed in the other of the pair of spool compartments, wherein a film winding direction of the reversible film winding mechanism can be reversed depending on which one of the first and second spool compartments the roll film is loaded into; a photographic-data imprinting device for imprinting photographic data on the film; and a controller for controlling the photographic-data imprinting device to imprint the photographic data on the film in different arrangements depending on the winding direction of the film.

Roll-film camera

A setting apparatus for a camera includes a first switch having a plurality of stop positions; a second switch; and a shutter speed setting device which can select a desired shutter speed from a plurality of shutter speeds set at predetermined steps in accordance with the stop positions of the first switch. The shutter speed setting device can modify the shutter speed (which has been selected via the stop positions of the first switch) by a step smaller than the predetermined steps via the operation of the second switch.

Setting apparatus for camera

A camera having a cocking mechanism for a shutter and/or mirror, and a lithium battery supplying power to the cocking mechanism. The cocking operating of the mechanism is controlled to be executed intermittently if the cocking operation is not completed within a first predetermined time interval due to low power of the lithium battery.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yutaka Ohsawa