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Electronic camera

a technology of electronic cameras and cameras, applied in the field of electronic cameras, can solve the problems of low stability of focusing operation, confusion of users, and eye focusing, and achieve the effect of focusing on a person

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-08-17
NIKON CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] The present invention is made to solve any one of the above problems in the related art. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera which prevents a user from being confused. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera which can stably focus on a person as a subject by recognizing his / her face.
[0018] According to the electronic camera of the above first aspect, it is desirable that it further include a display section which displays a subject image obtained before shooting, and that during the face detection by the face detecting section, the amount of shooting information for display on the display section is reduced compared with while the face detection is not performed.

Problems solved by technology

However, it is conceivable that such problems that the face is not detectable or detection accuracy is low may occur depending on a shooting situation or shooting environment, which may lead to confusing a user.
However, the electronic camera in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-215403 has a difficulty in focusing on the eyes of the subject when the subject closes his or her eyes or wears glasses, and the focusing operation thereof is low in stability.

Method used

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first embodiment

Configuration of First Embodiment

[0048] First, the configuration of an electronic camera 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0049]FIG. 1 is an external view of the electronic camera 1 according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, the electronic camera 1 includes a release button 101, a cruciform key 102, a monitor 103, a decision button 104, a mode select dial 105, a zoom button, 106, a menu button 107, a play button 108, a closeup shooting button 109, and an optical viewfinder 110.

[0050] The release button 101 is a button capable of detecting two-stage operations: a half-press stage and a full-press stage. The release button 101 is manipulated by a user when the user instructs the start of shooting. The cruciform key 102 is manipulated by the user to move a cursor or the like on the monitor 103. The decision button 104 is a button manipulated by the user when the user selects and decides an item with the cruciform key 102 or the like. The...

second embodiment

Description of Second Embodiment

[0088]FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an overview of an electronic camera of a second embodiment. The electronic camera of the second embodiment includes a shooting lens 11, lens driving mechanisms 12, an image pickup device 13, an analog signal processing section 14, an A / D conversion section 15, an image processing section 16, a compression / decompression section 17, a memory 18, a card I / F 19, a monitor I / F 20 and a liquid crystal display 21, a manipulation section 22, a CPU 23, and a bus 24. Incidentally, the image processing section 16, the compression / decompression section 17, the memory 18, the card I / F 19, the monitor I / F 20, and the CPU 23 are connected respectively via the bus 24.

[0089] The shooting lens 11 is composed of a group of plural lenses including a focusing lens for adjusting the focusing position. The position of this shooing lens 11 in an optical axis direction is adjusted by the lens driving mechanisms 12.

[0090] The image pi...

third embodiment

Description of Third Embodiment

[0122]FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing an overview of an electronic camera of a third embodiment. In the description of the following embodiments, the same numerals and symbols are used to designate components common to the second embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

[0123] The third embodiment is a modified example of the second embodiment, and its configuration differs from that of the second embodiment in that an attitude sensor 26 is connected to the CPU 23. The attitude sensor 26 detects a shooting attitude in which the electronic camera is held in a normal position, an upper right vertical position shooting attitude in which the right side of the electronic camera is located at an upper position, an upper light vertical shooting attitude in which the left side of the electronic camera is located at an upper position, and an inverted position shooting attitude in which the electronic camera is inverted. When the focusing positi...

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PUM

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Abstract

An electronic camera includes a face detecting section, a setting section, and a controlling section. The face detecting section detects a face of a subject. The setting section sets a scene shooting mode to adjust a shooting condition to an optimum shooting condition in accordance with each pre-assumed shooting scene. The controlling section controls the face detection of the face detecting section only when the setting section has set a scene shooting mode for shooting a scene including a person.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 2005-037675 and 2005-038424, both filed on Feb. 15, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to an electronic camera which captures an image of a subject, and particularly relates to an electronic camera which can detecting a characteristic portion of a subject, for example, a face. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] There has been proposed a camera which, in order to focus on a face of a subject when the subject is a person, detects the face portion of the person in a field captured by the camera and autofocuses on the detected face area. [0006] However, it is conceivable that such problems that the face is not detectable or detection accuracy is low may occur depending on a shooting situation...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): G03B3/10
CPCG03B3/10G03B17/20H04N5/232H04N5/23212H04N5/23219H04N2101/00H04N23/673H04N23/61H04N23/611H04N23/632H04N23/635
Inventor KAWAHARA, TAKUMIMOTOKI, YASUYUKIOHMURA, AKIRA
Owner NIKON CORP
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