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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a still image recording apparatus that is
convenient for photo studio use.
For photographing at a studio for business and commercial usages, a
large-sized camera (master camera) with 120 or 220 roll films or sheet
films is generally used. At the photo studio, the same image as the image
seen through the finder is reproduced on the finished photo for a still
subject. On the other hand, when photographing a moving subject such as a
person, it is impossible to confirm the image which will be reproduced on
the film at the time of photographing. A plurality of photos are therefore
taken with changing the photographing angles and poses for subsequent
developing. A favorite photo is thereafter selected and enlarged from
among the plurality of photos.
As described above, when photographing a person by the master camera at the
photo studio, it is impossible to remember the image now being
photographed.
Accordingly, the client has to select a favorite photo from among a
plurality of enlarged photos. This presents the problem that the client
must frequently come to the photo studio.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a still
image recording apparatus which contributes greatly towards constructing a
system capable of prompt visual confirmation of the image taken by the
master camera using a silver halide film.
According to one embodiments of the present invention, an image of the
subject to be taken by a master camera using a silver halide film is
picked up by a video camera. The video signal obtained by the video camera
is supplied to a video monitor device through a still image recording
apparatus. When photographing by the master camera, the image to be
displayed on the video monitor device is fixed and the same image is
continuously displayed by the still image recording apparatus.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a video camera is
arranged adjacent to a master camera using a silver halide film to pick up
an image of the same subject as the image photographed by the master
camera. The video signals of a plurality of fields supplied from the video
camera are stored in a memory. The video signals of a predetermined number
of fields corresponding to the memory capacity are stored so that a new
input video signal is stored by erasing the oldest video signal stored in
the memory. The video signal is delayed by predetermined fields from the
oldest video signal stored in the memory and the video signal is read out
to supply the read out signal to a video monitor device. Responsive to an
input of a full-open signal of a shutter in the master camera during a
period after resetting, the storing operation is stopped at a
predetermined timing around the input of the full-open signal, and
specified video signals are read out from the memory other than the video
signal of the field for the full-open signal to send the read out signal
to the video monitor device for displaying a still image.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed
description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are
given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitative of the
present invention, and wherein:
FIG. 1 shows a constructional view representing a photographing system
according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the still image recording apparatus
according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 3 shows signal waveforms for explaining the operation situation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
the drawings.
FIG. 1 represents a system construction of one embodiment of the present
invention. In FIG. 1 a still image recording apparatus a large-sized
camera (master camera) 2, a strobo 3, a colour video camera 4, and a
colour monitor television 5 are shown.
The colour video camera 4, is arranged adjacent to the master camera 2,
picks up a subject image (for example, a person) and supplies the video
signal to the still image recording apparatus 1 through a cable 6. At the
full-open time of the shutter that is responsive to the shutter release of
the master camera 2, a strobo synchronous signal is generated from a
synchro-contact 2a of the master camera 2. Upon receipt of this strobo
synchronous signal through a wire 7, the strobo 3 emits light in
synchronism with the full-open of the master camera 2. The strobo
synchronous signal is also fed to the still image recording apparatus 1.
The still image recording apparatus 1 determines whether the shutter in
the master camera 2 is fully opened on the basis of the strobo synchronous
signal and thereafter performs the following operations. The still image
recording apparatus 1 is provided with a reset switch 1a and is coupled
with the colour monitor television 5 through a cable 8. The colour monitor
television 5 is arranged such that the television display 5a faces towards
the subject (person).
Next, the inside construction of the still image recording apparatus 1 will
be explained with reference FIG. 2. A decoder 11 separates a composite
video signal V supplied from the colour video camera 4 into a luminance
signal (including the synchronous signal) (Y+S), a colour difference
signal (R-Y) and a second colour difference signal (B-Y). A/D converters
12, 13 and 14 convert the separated signals (Y+S), (R-Y) and (B-Y) into
respective digitized signals. The digitized signals are stored in memories
A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2 and C3 which placed in the writing state by
a memory controller 15. In response to an instruction from the memory
controller 15, the digital signals are read out from the memories A1, A2,
A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2 and C3. The digital signals are subjected to D/A
conversion by the D/A converters 16, 17 and 18 to develop the luminance
signal (Y+S)', a first colour difference signal (R-Y)' and a second colour
difference signal (B-Y)'. An encoder 19 encodes the analog signals (Y+S)',
(R-Y)' and (B-Y)' to form a video signal V' the encoder 19 sends the
video signal V' to the colour monitor television 5. The memory controller
15 is supplied with the signals from the decoder 11, and the reset switch
1a and the strobo synchronous signal Xon from the master camera 2.
The operation of this embodiment will be explained by referring to FIGS. 1
and 2 together with FIG. 3 which indicates the signal waveforms.
In FIG. 3, the shutter release is performed at the time of the m-th field
in the composite video signal V. When the shutter of the master camera 2
is fully opened in response to the shutter release, the strobo synchronous
signal Xon is outputted to make the strobo 3 emit. As a result of this
strobo emission operation, the level of the composite video signal V of
the m-th field becomes higher than the level of other fields.
By setting the reset switch 1a, the still image recording apparatus 1 is
placed in a reset state. In response to the input of the composite video
signal V from the colour video camera 4 under the reset state, the memory
A representing the memories A1, A2 and A3, the memory B representing the
memories B1, B2 and B3, and the memory C representing the memories C1, C2
and C3 are write/read-controlled by the memory controller 15.
First, the write-control will be described. According to the control by the
memory controller 15, the video signals of three fields are stored by
storing a new input video signal which erases the oldest video signal
stored in the memories A, B and C. More specifically, the video signal of
the (m-7) th field in the composite video signal is A/D-converted and the
converted signal is stored in the memory B. Similarly, the video signals
of the (m-6)th and (m-5)th fields are A/D-converted and the converted
signals are stored in the memories C and A, respectively. Responsive to
the input of the video signal of the (m-4)th field, the video signal of
the last time (m-7)th field stored in the memory B is erased and the video
signal of the present time (m-4)th field is stored therein. The video
signal of the (m-)th field is likewise stored in the memory C by erasing
the video signal of the (m-6)th field stored therein and the video signal
of the (m-2)th field is stored in the memory A by erasing the video signal
of the (m-5)th field stored therein. This write-control continues until
the shutter release is performed.
Next, the read-control will be described. The video signals delayed by the
two fields from the oldest video signal stored in the memories A, B and C
are first read out. In particular, when the (m-7)th field video signal is
stored in the memory B, the (m-9)th field video signal is read out from
the memory C. When the (m-6)th and (m-5)th field video signals are
respectively stored in the memories C and A, the (m-8)th and the (m-7)th
field video signals are read out from the memories A and B, respectively.
This read-control continues until the shutter release is performed. Thus,
read-out video signal is D/A-converted and encoded by the encoder 19 for
producing a video signal V'. The video signal V' is supplied to the colour
monitor television 5 through the cable 8. Therefore, the posture and
expression of a person being photographed may be checked by looking at
one's figure that is displayed as the moving image on the image display
5a. Thereby, the image display 5a makes checking one's figure similar to
looking in a mirror.
In response to the shutter release at the m-th field in the composite video
signal V and the input of the strobo synchronous signal Xon to the still
image recording apparatus 1, the still image recording apparatus 1 stops
the writing operations into the memories A, B and C from the next field
and read out alternatively and repeatedly the video signals of the (m-1)th
and (m-2)th fields stored in the memories A and B. The video signals of
the (m-1)th and (m-2)th fields are D/A-converted and the converted signals
are encoded. The encoded video signal V' is sent to the colour monitor
television 5 display the still image on the display 5a. This still image
represents the subject just before the shutter release is performed.
Namely, the display 5a provides almost the same still image as the image
that is to be photographed by the master camera 2. As a result, it is
possible to promptly confirm the image being photographed by the master
camera 2.
Thereby, the reading out from the memory C is not carried out since the
m-th field video signal of a high level corresponding to the strobo light
is stored in the memory C.
It is to be noted that although the shutter full-open of the master camera
is detected by the strobo signal of the master camera in the above
embodiment, the shutter full-open may also be detected by a photo
transistor and the like which detects the strobo light.
As particularly described in this embodiment of the present invention, the
subject image may be displayed as the moving image on the video monitor
device before the shutter is released. Thereby, almost the same image that
is to be photographed by the master camera may be displayed as the still
image on the video monitor device after the shutter is released.
Therefore, it is very convenient for prompt confirmation of the
photographing situation and the expression of the subject being
photographed.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be
varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure
from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as
would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included
within the scope of the following claims.
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