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Description  |
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INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
The disclosure of the following priority application is herein incorporated
by reference:
Japanese Patent Application No. 10-65165 filed Mar. 16, 1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic still camera and more
specifically, it relates to the positional arrangement of electric circuit
parts and image display system parts.
2. Description on the Related Art
There are electronic still cameras in the known art that perform
photoelectric conversion of photographic light from a subject by employing
an imaging element and store the subject image as electronic data. A
single lens reflex type electronic still camera is a type of electronic
still camera. As in the case with silver halide type cameras, there is a
need for achieving miniaturization and improvements in the operability and
image quality with respect to such single lens reflex type electronic
still cameras. While a single lens reflex type electronic still camera
shares certain common aspects with a silver halide type camera, its
structure is essentially different since it stores subject images as
electronic data. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of single lens reflex type
electronic still cameras in the known art. It is to be noted that the
left/right direction and the front/rear direction in the figure
respectively represent the left/right direction and the front/rear
direction with respect to the single lens reflex type electronic still
camera.
In the figure, reference number 101 indicates the single lens reflex type
electronic still camera which is provided with a casing 102.
An opening is formed on the left side of a front wall 103 of the casing
102. A cylindrical portion is provided, constituting an integrated unit
with the opening, and a lens 104 is secured within the cylindrical
portion.
An image-capturing element 105 is provided at an approximate center of the
casing 102 in the front/rear direction. The image-capturing element 105,
which extends perpendicular to a plane M1 that includes the lens optical
axis of the lens 104 and the viewfinder optical axis, is positioned to
achieve symmetry in the left/right direction.
A grip unit is formed at the right side of the casing 102 in the left/right
direction. The grip unit 106 is formed with a bend projecting out a
further forward relative to the front wall 103 of the casing 102.
Thus, only the grip unit 106 is provided to the right side relative to the
plane Ml that includes the lens optical axis and the viewfinder optical
axis. As a result, there is no portion on the left side that corresponds
to the grip unit 106 so that the casing 102 forms a rough L shape in the
plan view, which is asymmetrical in the left/right direction.
An image-capturing element board 107, a first electric circuit board 108
and a second electric circuit board 109 are positioned sequentially at the
rear side of the image-capturing element 105.
On the first electric circuit board 108 and the second electric circuit
board 109, an image display drive circuit such as, for instance, an image
display circuit and an inverter circuit, and a recording compression
circuit are mounted.
At the rear side of the second electric circuit board 109, an illuminating
light source 110 is provided at a position that is almost aligned with
that of the image-capturing element 105 in the left/right direction, with
a liquid crystal display unit 111 provided at the rear side of the
illuminating light source 110.
A battery box 112 is provided inside the grip unit 106, with batteries 113
housed inside the battery box 112.
Toward the rear and to the right of the second electric circuit board 109,
a connector 114 for an external recording member is provided along the
left/right direction.
In the single lens reflex type electronic still camera 101 in the known
art, in which the first electric circuit board 108 and the second electric
circuit board 109 are provided at the rear side of the image-capturing
element 105 next to each other extending in the left/right direction, the
entire thickness of the casing 2 is much larger than that in a silver
halide type single lens reflex camera. This results in the single lens
reflex type electronic still camera 101 becoming bulky and difficult to
hand hold, which, in turn, results in a great reduction in operability and
poor ergonomics.
In addition, the single lens reflex type electronic still camera 101, whose
casing 102 forms a rough L shape in the plan view that is asymmetrical in
the left/right direction relative to the plane M that includes the lens
optical axis and the viewfinder optical axis, poses problems in that its
weight balance is different from that of a typical silver halide type
single lens reflex camera in the prior art and that the left side of the
casing 102 is awkward to hold by hand, resulting in a great reduction in
operability and ergonomics.
Furthermore, since the image-capturing element 105 is provided at a
position close to the first electric circuit board 108, the second
electric circuit board 109 and the illuminating light source 110, the
temperature at the image-capturing element 105 is caused to rise by the
heat generated at the first electric circuit board 108 and the second
electric circuit board 109 and the heat generated by the illuminating
light source 110 to lead to a poor S/N ratio at the image-capturing
element 105, which, in turn, results in deterioration in the image
quality. It is to be noted that while it is conceivable to separate the
image-capturing element 105 over a distance from the first electric
circuit board 108 in the front/rear direction to prevent the temperature
at the image-capturing element 105 from rising, this configuration will
increase the entire thickness of the casing 102. Therefore, this solution
is not desirable from the viewpoint of improving the operability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic still camera
which achieves miniaturization through a reduction in the entire thickness
of the casing, achieves operability substantially equal to that of a
silver halide type single lens reflex camera in the prior art with a
similar shape thereto and prevents the image quality from becoming poor by
ensuring that the image-capturing element is not affected by the heat
generated at electric circuit boards.
In order to attain the above object, an electronic still camera according
to the present invention has a casing in which an image-capturing element
is provided. And the casing comprises: a body middle portion in which the
image-capturing element is provided in close proximity to a rear wall of
the body middle portion; a grip unit that is formed continuous to the body
middle portion on one side in a left/right direction and projects out
further forward relative to a front wall of the body middle portion; and
an electrical part housing unit that is formed continuous to the body
middle portion on another side in the left/right direction and has a
housing space. One or more recording compression circuit parts are
provided inside the grip unit; and one or more image display parts are
provided inside the electrical part housing unit.
Another electronic still camera has a casing in which an image-capturing
element is provided. And the casing comprises: a body middle portion in
which the image-capturing element is provided in close proximity to a rear
wall of the body middle portion; a first electrical part housing unit that
is formed continuous to the body middle portion on one side in a
left/right direction and has a housing space; and a second electrical part
housing unit that is formed continuous to the body middle portion on
another side in the left/right direction and has a housing space. One or
more high heat generating electric circuit boards are provided inside the
first electrical part housing unit; and one or more high heat generating
electric circuit boards are provided inside the second electrical part
housing unit.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a cross section illustrating the electronic still camera in an
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a rear view of the electronic still camera with a portion of it
cut away;
FIG. 3 is a rear view of the electronic still camera;
FIG. 4 is a rear view of the electronic still camera adopting another
positional arrangement of the image display unit;
FIG. 5 is a cross section illustrating an electronic still camera in the
prior art;
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the positional arrangement of
various circuit boards in the electronic still camera in another
embodiment; and
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a variation of the embodiment illustrated
in FIG. 6.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The following is an explanation of preferred embodiments of the present
invention given in reference to the drawings.
In reference to FIGS. 1.about.3, a single lens reflex type electronic still
camera is explained as an example of the electronic still camera in an
embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a cross section along line
X--X in FIG. 3. It is to be noted that the left/right direction, the
front/rear direction and the up/down direction indicating in the figures
represent the left/right direction, the front/rear direction and the
up/down direction with respect to the single lens reflex type electronic
still camera.
In the figures, the single lens reflex type electronic still camera 1 in
the embodiment includes a casing 2, an interchangeable lens unit 3 that is
provided at the casing 2. It is to be noted that the single lens reflex
type electronic still camera 1 is internally provided with mechanisms such
as a lens system and a viewfinder device similar to those employed in a
silver halide single lens reflex type camera in the known art.
The casing 2 includes a body middle portion 4, a grip unit 5 which is
formed continuous to the body middle portion 4 to the right in the
left/right direction and an electrical part housing unit 6 which is formed
continuous to the body middle portion 4 to the left in the left/right
direction and is provided with a housing space 6A.
The interchangeable lens unit 3 is constituted of a cylindrical body and a
lens secured to the internal wall surface of the cylindrical body.
A mount portion having an opening is formed at a front wall 7 in the area
that is located at the body middle portion 4, with the interchangeable
lens unit 3 mounted at the mount portion in such a manner that it can be
mounted and dismounted freely.
Inside the casing 2, an image-capturing element 8 constituted of a CCD is
provided at the image forming position of the lens, extending
perpendicular to a plane M that includes the lens optical axis and the
viewfinder optical axis. The image-capturing element 8 is mounted on an
image-capturing element board 9 and is positioned close to a portion of
the rear wall 10 that is located at the body middle portion 4. The
image-capturing element board 9 is mounted at a body mounting portion 2B
via side brackets 2A and 2A. Now, it is understood the any increase in
temperature at the image-capturing element 8 and the image-capturing
element board 9 greatly affects the image quality performance.
In the left side portion of the casing 2, an image display window 11, which
achieves a quadrangular shape viewed from the rear, is formed (see FIG.
3).
At the grip unit 5, which is provided with a bend 12 projecting out further
forward than the portion of the front wall 7 of the casing 2 located at
the body middle portion 4, a slot hole 13 is formed along the up/down
direction in an area of the rear wall 10 at the grip unit 5 (see FIG. 3)
and an open/close lid 14 is rotatably mounted further outward to the right
of the slot hole 13. The open/close lid 14, which is illustrated in FIG. 1
in its open state (indicated by the chain double-dashed line) is formed to
have a length that allows the slot hole 13 to become closed when it is set
in a closed state.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a first guide rail 15A is formed in an area of
the front wall 7 that is located at the electrical part housing unit 6. As
illustrated in FIG. 2, a second guide rail 15B is formed at an upper wall
of the electrical part housing unit 6, whereas a third guide rail 15C is
formed at the lower portion of a side wall of the casing 2 located at the
electrical part housing unit 6. A fourth guide rail 15D is formed at the
upper wall of the grip unit 5. As illustrated in FIG. 1, at the grip unit
5, a fifth guide rail 15F and a sixth guide rail 15G are formed.
At the third guide rail 15C, a first image capturing circuit board 16 is
horizontally inserted and positioned in a state in which it is in close
proximity to the bottom of the casing 2, with a second image capturing
circuit board 17 provided under the first image capturing circuit board
16. Electric circuits for processing image signals from the
image-capturing element 8 such as an A/D circuit are mounted at the first
and second image capturing circuit boards 16 and 17. The first image
capturing circuit board 16 is connected to the second image capturing
circuit board 17 via a first wiring 18A. The first and second image
capturing circuit boards 16 and 17 are housed by utilizing the space
within the casing 2 in the up/down direction. At the first and second
image capturing circuit boards 16 and 17, any temperature increase greatly
affects the image quality performance.
The first image capturing circuit board 16 is connected to the
image-capturing element board 9 via a second wiring 18B.
In this structure, the image-capturing element 8 and the first and second
image capturing circuit boards 16 and 17 are driven only during a
photographing operation and are not driven constantly. For this reason,
while they constitute sources of heat, the quantity of heat generated by
them is not great.
An image display circuit board 19 is inserted at the first guide rail 15A,
the second guide rail 15B and a seventh guide rail 15E provided on the
first image capturing circuit board 16 and is connected. The image display
circuit board 19, which is a low heat generating electric circuit board,
is located to the left of the image-capturing element 8, at a right angle
to the first image capturing circuit board 16 and parallel to the plane M
that includes the lens optical axis and the viewfinder optical axis.
A partitioning plate 20 is provided extending from the rear end of the
image display circuit board 19 to a staged portion 10A of the rear wall 10
(see FIG. 1). By constituting the partitioning plate 20 with a material
having a low thermal conductivity such as plastic, the heat blocking
effect can be enhanced. The partitioning of the internal space of the
casing 2 achieved by the partitioning plate 20 does not have to constitute
a completely sealed structure and some allowance may be made for gaps. In
addition, it is not always necessary to divide the internal space with the
partitioning plate 20, and any structure that prevents convection of air
may be adopted.
At the fifth guide rail 15F, the sixth guide rail 15G and the fourth guide
rail 15D, a first recording compression circuit board 21, provided as a
recording compression circuit part, is inserted. The first recording
compression circuit board 21, which is a low heat generating electric
circuit board, is positioned at a right angle to the first image capturing
circuit board 16 and parallel to the plane M that includes the lens
optical axis and the viewfinder optical axis. To the right of the first
recording compression circuit board 21, a second recording compression
circuit board 22 is provided parallel to the first recording compression
circuit board 21. The first recording compression circuit board 21 is
connected to the second recording compression circuit board 22 via a third
wiring 18C.
By partitioning the internal space of the casing 2 with the image display
circuit board 19, the partitioning plate 20, the first recording
compression circuit board 21 and the first image capturing circuit board
16 in this manner, the internal space of the casing 2 is divided into an
internal space constituted of a middle space 23A, a first side space 23B
and a second side space 23C. The image-capturing element 8 is provided in
the middle space 23A.
The first recording compression circuit board 21, the second recording
compression circuit board 22 and an external recording member connector
24, which are recording compression circuit parts, are provided
sequentially toward the outside in the left/right direction (to the right
in FIG. 1) inside the grip unit 5 of the casing 2. Toward the outside
relative to the external recording member connector 24, a power source
circuit board 25 is provided in close proximity to a side wall of the
casing 2. The power source circuit board 25 which is provided further
toward the outside relative to the second recording compression circuit
board 22 is secured to the grip unit 5 of the casing 2 via a metal plate
heat sink 26, to constitute a high heat generating electric circuit board.
The second recording compression circuit board 22, the external recording
member connector 24 and the power source circuit board 25 are housed in
the second side space 23C.
The first recording compression circuit board 21 with parts mounted on both
surfaces is connected to the first image capturing circuit board 16 via a
wiring 18D. Signals are transmitted and received through the wirings 18C
and 18D. By employing the first recording compression circuit board 21
which allows mounting on both surfaces, the need for providing a clearance
for wiring is eliminated, and partitioning of the internal space of the
casing 2 can be achieved through a simple structure utilizing the first
recording compression circuit board 21.
The external recording member connector 24 is provided parallel to the
plane M that includes the lens optical axis and the viewfinder optical
axis and opens at the slit hole 13 provided in an area of the rear wall 10
located at the grip unit 5.
An external recording member 27 such as a smart medium is inserted at the
external recording member connector 24, and the open/close lid 14 is
closed from the outside of the external recording member 27 in this state.
Since the external recording member connector 24 is provided inside the
grip unit 5 parallel to the plane M that includes the lens optical axis
and the viewfinder optical axis, the slit hole 13 at the grip unit 5 is
held by hand at all times while the single lens reflex type electronic
still camera 1 is engaged in operation so that the risk of inadvertently
removing the external recording member 27 is eliminated with a high degree
of reliability.
The housing space 6A at the electrical part housing unit 6 is partitioned
off by the image display circuit board 19, with the first side space 23B
formed to the left of the image display circuit board 19 and a first
inverter circuit board 28 and a second inverter circuit board 29 provided
in the first side space 23B toward the outside in the left/right direction
relative to the image display circuit board 19 (to the left in FIG. 1). On
the first and second inverter circuit boards 28 and 29, which are circuits
provided to drive the illuminating light source, high heat generating
parts such as transformers stepping up the voltage are mounted and thus,
they constitute high heat generating electric circuit boards. While the
first and second inverter circuit boards 28 and 29 constitute sources of
heat, their location near a side wall of the electrical part housing unit
6 at the casing 2 improves the heat discharge efficiency and facilitates
assembly.
The image display circuit board 19, with parts mounted on both surfaces is
connected to the first image capturing circuit board 16 via a wiring 18E
and is also connected to the first inverter circuit board 28 via a wiring
18F. By utilizing the image display circuit board 19 as a partitioning
plate, the need for providing clearance for wiring is eliminated so that
partitioning of the internal space of the casing 2 can be achieved through
a simple structure. Signals are transmitted and received through the
wirings 18E and 18F. The first inverter circuit board 28 is connected to
the second inverter circuit board 29 via a wiring 18G. With electronic
circuit boards provided at locations corresponding to the individual
functions of the electronic circuit in this manner, the number of wirings
present between the electronic circuit boards can be reduced and separate
tests can be conducted to check the individual functions.
The image display circuit board 19, and the first and second inverter
circuit boards 28 and 29 constitute an image display drive circuit 30.
In addition, an image display unit 31 is provided rearward relative to the
partitioning plate 20 and the housing space 6A inside the casing 2. The
image display unit 31, which is constituted of a liquid crystal display 32
in the known art and an illuminating light source 33, is positioned offset
to the left relative to the image-capturing element 8. The liquid crystal
display 32, which is constituted to form a quadrangular shape viewed from
the rear, lies at a right angle to the lens optical axis L. The
illuminating light source 33, which is constituted to achieve a
cylindrical shape along the up/down direction in FIG. 3, is provided
parallel to the longitudinal side 32A of the quadrangular liquid crystal
display 32 that is the furthest away from the lens optical axis L.
The image display drive circuit 30 and the image display unit 31 constitute
an image display system 34. The image display system 34 is located on the
opposite side of the recording compression circuit system and the power
source circuit board 25 in the left/right direction across the plane M
that includes the lens optical axis and the viewfinder optical axis.
Furthermore, a board 35 having a heat generating element is provided close
to the side wall of the electrical part housing unit 6 at the casing 2,
with the heat generating element mounted toward the side wall of the
casing 2. A heat sink member 36 is mounted at the side wall of the casing
2. Thus, the heat of the board 35 provided with the heat generating
element is discharged through the heat sink member 36 and the like to
achieve efficient heat discharge.
Moreover, the wirings 18A, 18B, 18C, 18D, 18E, 18F, and 18G mentioned
earlier are each constituted of lead wires, flexible board, a board
connector or the like, and through these wirings, the individual electric
circuit boards described above are linked. In addition, the electric
circuit boards are secured to the casing 2.
The right end of the first image capturing circuit board 16 is in contact
with the internal surface of the first recording compression circuit board
21 via a cushion member 37 so that the misalignment of the first image
capturing circuit board 16 and the first recording compression circuit
board 21 in the left/right direction can be absorbed during the assembly
process.
It is to be noted that in FIGS. 1 and 2, the areas indicated with bold
dotted lines are areas where electric circuit boards and the like cannot
be mounted and are utilized as space for mechanisms and optical paths. For
instance, in the space in front of the image-capturing element 8 inside
the casing 2, mechanisms similar to the reflex type viewfinder device
(having a viewfinder function and a photographing function achieved with a
mirror), the shutter and the like in a silver halide type single lens
reflex camera are mounted.
Next, actions in this embodiment are explained.
As described above, within the casing 2, the first recording compression
circuit board 21, the second recording compression circuit board 22 and
the external recording member connector 24 constituting recording
compression circuit parts are provided inside the grip unit 5 and the
image display drive circuit 30 and the image display unit 31 constituted
of the liquid crystal display 32 and the illuminating light source 33 are
provided as the image display parts inside the electrical part housing
unit 6. Consequently, the recording compression circuit parts and the
image display parts are provided separately from each other to the left
and to the right in correspondence to their functions, which eliminates
the necessity for providing electric circuit boards equivalent to the
first electric circuit board 108 and the second electric circuit board 109
illustrated in FIG. 5 at the body middle portion 4 of the casing 2 as in
the prior art. This, in turn, achieves a reduction in the thickness of the
body middle portion 4 of the casing 2 to prevent an increase in the
thickness of the casing 2. In other words, the thickness of the casing 2
is not affected by the presence of the electric circuit boards, as has
been the case in the prior art.
As a result, while the single lens reflex type electronic still camera 1
assumes a structure which enables electrical recording of a subject, a
weight balance to the left and right, which is similar to that in the
silver halide type single lens reflex camera internally provided with a
film feed mechanism and thus having a different internal structure, is
assured. In addition, the grip unit 5 and the electrical part housing unit
6 are utilized as components to be operated by hand to assure a high
degree of operability.
Next, the effect of heat on the image-capturing element 8 is explained.
Since the image-capturing element 8, which is readily affected by heat and
electrical noise, is provided away from the image display parts (the first
and second inverter circuit boards 28 and 29 and the illuminating light
source 33) that generate heat, the image-capturing element 8 is protected
from the heat generated by the image display parts.
In addition, the internal space of the casing 2 is divided into the
internal space constituted of the middle space 23A where the
image-capturing element 8 is provided, the first side space 23B and the
second side state 23C by two low heat generating electric circuit boards
(the image display circuit board 19 and the first recording compression
circuit board 21) whose performance is not greatly affected by heat.
The internal space constituted of the middle space 23A where the
image-capturing element 8 is provided is partitioned to be separate from
the first side space 23B where the high heat generating electric circuit
boards (the first and second inverter circuit boards 28 and 29) are
provided and the second side space 23C where the high heat generating
electric circuit board (the power source circuit board 25) is provided.
Consequently, the heat generated at the high heat generating electric
circuit boards where the temperature increases greatly is prevented by the
two low heat generating electric circuit boards from being readily
transmitted to the internal space constituted of the middle space 23A
where the image-capturing element 8 is provided. Thus, in the internal
space constituted of the middle space 23A where the image-capturing
element 8 is provided, any increase in the temperature of the
image-capturing element caused by the air convection of the heat generated
at the high heat generating electric circuit boards is suppressed.
To explain this point in further detail, the power source circuit board 25,
the first and second inverter circuit boards 28 and 29, the image display
unit 31 and the like operate over a long period of time since they are
used for checking and editing the photographed images. The power source
circuit board 25, the first and second inverter circuit boards 28 and 29,
the image display unit 31 and the like in a high temperature state become
sources of heat and the heat generated by them accounts for a great
portion of the heat generated by the entire apparatus. The heat generated
as these circuit boards are driven induces an increase in the internal
temperature, which, in turn, results in an increase in the temperature of
the image-capturing element 8 to lead to deterioration in the S/N of the
image-capturing element 8 which is a crucial factor in determining the
quality of the image. However, the power source circuit board 25 and the
first and second inverter circuit boards 28 and 29 that constitute sources
of heat in this embodiment, are provided at positions over a distance from
the image-capturing element 8 and the first image-capturing circuit board
16 and in close proximity to the side walls of the casing 2, thereby
achieving a structure which facilitates heat discharge from the power
source circuit board 25 and the first and second inverter circuit boards
28 and 29 to the casing 2. As a result, a positional arrangement is
achieved for the image-capturing element 8 that sets it at the position
least likely to be affected by the heat sources.
In addition, since the image-capturing element 8 is isolated inside from
the high heat generating electric circuit boards (the first and second
inverter circuit boards 28 and 29, and the power source circuit board 25)
by the two low heat generating electric circuit boards (the image display
circuit board 19 and the first recording compression circuit board 21) and
the partitioning plate 20 inside the casing 2, no increase in the
temperature occurs at the image-capturing element 8 due to convection of
the internal air that has been warmed by the heat generated at the high
heat generating electric circuit boards so that the S/N does not
deteriorate greatly due to an increase in the temperature at the
image-capturing element 8. It is to be noted that while it is conceivable
that the use of the image display circuit board 19 to partition the
internal space of the casing 2 may cause the temperature rise to
superimpose noise on the display image, noise is not superimposed on the
image information itself, and this means that as long as the image
information is verified by using another means for display, it can be
confirmed that a high quality image has been obtained. By partitioning the
internal space of the casing 2 using the image display circuit board 19
and the first recording compression circuit board 21 constituted of low
heat generating electric circuit boards, image information in a desirable
state can be recorded, ease of assembly work is achieved and
miniaturization is realized.
Next, actions through the positional arrangement of the illuminating light
source 33 at the image display unit 31 is explained.
Since the illuminating light source 33 at the image display unit 31 is
formed in a cylindrical shape and is provided parallel to the longitudinal
side 32A of the quadrangular liquid crystal display 32 that is the
furthest away from the lens optical axis L, the illuminating light source
33 is separated from the image-capturing element 8 over a distance so that
the temperature at the image-capturing element 8 is prevented from
increasing due to the heat generated at the illuminating light source 33
at the image display unit 31 to achieve a high quality photographic image.
In other words, the illuminating light source 33 constituting the heat
generating portion in the image display unit 31, which is provided
parallel to the longitudinal side 32A of the liquid crystal display 32, is
at the position furthest away from the image-capturing element 8, which
also allows heat to be discharged to the casing 2 from two directions.
This improves the efficiency of heat discharge and also minimizes the
degree to which the image-capturing element 8 is affected by heat. The
heat discharge efficiency is further improved by constituting the casing 2
with a material having high thermal conductivity such as metal, so that
the degree of deterioration of the S/N ratio at the image-capturing
element 8 caused by external noise can be minimized to achieve a stable
high quality image.
The following advantages are achieved through the structure described
above.
Firstly, since the first recording compression circuit board 21, the second
recorded compression circuit board 22 and the external recording member
connector 24 constituting the recording compression circuit parts are
provided inside the grip unit 5 and the image display drive circuit 30 and
the image display unit 31 constituted of the liquid crystal display 32 and
the illuminating light source 33, constituting image display parts, are
provided inside the electrical part housing unit 6 at the casing 2, it is
not necessary to provide electric circuit boards at the body middle
portion 4 of the casing 2 as has been the case in the prior art, to
realize a layout with a thin body middle portion 4 at the casing 2.
Secondly, since the recording compression circuit system is provided at the
grip unit 5 of the casing 2 and the recording compression circuit system
extends parallel to the lens optical axis L, the width of the casing 2 in
the left/right direction | | |
