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US 5,315,339 AGranted
Auto focus camera having plural focussing modes
AssigneeMinolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMasataka Hamada, Kenji Ishibashi, Hiroshi Ueda, Hiroshi Otsuka, Yoshihiro Hara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An auto focus camera includes a focus detecting circuit, a lens driving circuit for driving a taking lens to an in-focus position based on a focus detection result, a starting signal outputting circuit for outputting a starting signal which starts a focusing operation, an operating member to be operated by a user after the starting signal is outputted, and a controlling circuit for controlling the lens driving circuit so as to drive the taking lens in manners different between before and after an operation of the operation member.
Claims18
An auto focus camera comprising:
- focus adjusting means for detecting a focus condition and driving a taking lens to an in-focus position based on a focus detection result, wherein said focus adjusting means has a continuous mode in which focus detection and lens driving are continuously repeated and a one-shot mode in which lens driving is stopped after an in-focus condition is once obtained;
- starting signal producing means for producing a starting signal which starts a focus adjusting operation;
- an operating member to be operated by a user after the starting signal is produced;
- switching means for selectively switching between the continuous focusing mode and the one-shot focusing mode;
- and
- controlling means for controlling said focus adjusting means to change a manner of lens driving in response to an operation of said operating member, wherein the changing of the lens driving manner is different from the focussing mode switching carried out by said switching means.
3 more elements
An auto focus camera comprising:
- focus detecting means for detecting a focus condition;
- lens driving means for driving a taking lens to an in-focus position based on a focus detection result;
- starting signal outputting means for outputting a starting signal which starts a focusing operation, said focusing operation including focus detection and lens driving;
- first controlling means for controlling said focus detecting means and lens driving means so as to repeat the focus operation continuously after the starting signal is outputted;
- and
- second controlling means for controlling said driving means so as to drive the taking lens at a faster speed in a focusing operation which is performed for the first time after the starting signal is outputted and to drive the lens at a slower speed in a focusing operation which is performed after the first-time focusing operation.
3 more elements
An auto focus camera comprising:
- focus adjusting means for detecting a focus condition and driving a taking lens to an in-focus position based on a focus detection result, wherein said focus adjusting means has a continuous mode in which focus detection and lens driving are continuously repeated and a one-shot mode in which lens driving is stopped after an in-focus condition is once obtained;
- starting signal producing means for producing a starting signal which starts a focus adjusting operation;
- an operating member to be operated by a user after the starting signal is produced;
- first controlling means for controlling said focus adjusting means to preform a focus adjusting operation in the continuous mode before the operation of said operating member;
- and
- second controlling means for controlling said focus adjusting means to perform the focus adjusting operation selectively in either the continuous mode or the one-shot mode after the operation of said operating member.
3 more elements
An auto focus camera comprising:
- focus adjusting means for detecting a focus condition and driving a taking lens to an in-focus position based on a focus detection result, wherein said focus adjusting means has a first mode and a second mode in which at least one of the focus detection and the lens driving is performed differently in the two modes;
- starting signal producing means for producing a starting signal which starts a focus adjusting operation;
- an operating member that is operated by a user after the starting signal is produced;
- first controlling means for controlling said focus adjusting means to preform a focus adjusting operation in the first mode before the operation of said operating member;
- and
- second controlling means for controlling said focus adjusting means to perform the focus adjusting operation selectively in either the first mode or the second mode after the operation of said operating member.
3 more elements
An auto focus camera comprising:
- focus adjusting means for detecting a focus condition and driving a taking lens to an in-focus position based on a focus detection result;
- starting signal producing means for producing a starting signal which starts a focus adjusting operation;
- an operating member to be operated by a user after the starting signal is produced;
- assisting means for assisting the focus detection of said focus adjusting means;
- and
- controlling means for controlling said assisting means, wherein said controlling means changes control of said assisting means in response to an operation of said operating member.
3 more elements
An auto focus camera comprising:
- focus adjusting means for detecting a focus condition and driving a taking lens to an in-focus position based on a focus detection result;
- starting signal producing means for producing a starting signal which starts a focus adjusting operation;
- an operating member to be operated by a user after the starting signal is produced;
- controlling means for controlling said focus adjusting means to repeat the focus adjusting operation continuously after the starting signal is produced;
- calculating means for calculating a velocity of an image, formed by the taking lens, along the optical axis of the taking lens based on a plurality of sets of focus condition data;
- means for determining whether the position of the image is moving along the optical axis by comparing the calculated velocity of the image with a predetermined level;
- and
- changing means for changing the predetermined level in response to the operation of said operating member.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.