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US 5,335,033 AGranted
Lensless camera viewfinder
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorsPaul L. Ruben, William L. Burnham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorsPaul L. Ruben, William L. Burnham
Estimating the term…
A dual function viewfinder presents to a photographer the frame of a picture being taken by the camera having the viewfinder and enables the photographer to point the camera to the center of the frame. The frame is outlined by the front perimeter of an opening which extends between the rear and the front of the camera. Centered within the opening is a tubular member which blocks a portion of the field of view except when the camera is pointed so that the pupil of the photographer's eye is centered. The line of sight from the pupil to the center of the framed field of view is then along the axis of the tubular member. This condition is indicated by the walls of the member becoming virtually imperceptible to the photographer. No refracting optical elements, such as lenses, are required in the viewfinder; making the viewfinder low in cost and, therefore, especially suitable for single use cameras.
A lensless viewfinder for a camera, having a body and an optical element, for use by a photographer in taking a picture of an object or scene in object space in front of the camera, in a frame, which viewfinder comprises means for presenting to a pupil of an eye of the photographer when the camera is pointed towards said object space a view perimeter of which is the perimeter of the frame of said picture, means for blocking a portion of said view which becomes virtually imperceptible when said camera is pointed to bring the center of said frame along the line of sight between said pupil and the object or scene, and said viewfinder having front and rear windows respectively closer to and further from the object, said front window defining said perimeter of said frame when said pupil is located along said line of sight rearwardly of said rear window along said line of sight at a design position where said blocking means becomes virtually imperceptible.
A lensless viewfinder for a camera, having a body and an optical element for use by a photographer in taking a picture of an object or scene in object space in front of a camera, in a frame, which viewfinder comprises means for presenting to a pupil of an eye of the photographer when the camera is pointed toward said object space a view a perimeter of which is the perimeter of the frame of said picture, means for blocking a portion of said view which becomes virtually imperceptible when the camera is pointed to bring the center of said frame along the line of sight between said pupil and the object or scene, said viewfinder having front and rear windows respectively closer and further from the object or scene, said front window defining said parameter of said frame, and wherein said blocking means comprises a pair of plates of thickness much smaller than the width of said windows and disposed orthogonal to each other within said viewfinder, the intersection of which is along the line coincident with said line of sight, which line is contained within said viewfinder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.