Portable image pick-up apparatus and method of controlling operation thereof
AssigneeFuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
InventorYouichi Sawachi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
If a digital still camera is set for a manual focus adjustment and the luminance of a subject has a value less than a predetermined threshold value, the amplification factor of an amplifier circuit is set to a display amplification factor higher than that of the ordinary amplification factor. A video signal that has been amplified at this high amplification factor is applied to a liquid crystal display unit of the camera. A bright image of the subject is thus displayed on the display unit. Since the image of the subject is made easier to see owing to the increased brightness thereof, manual focusing is easy even when photography is performed at dark location.
Claims7
A portable image pick-up apparatus comprising:
- an image sensing device for sensing the image of a subject and outputting a video signal representing the image of the subject;
- a focusing setting unit for setting autofocus and manual focus selectively;
- a signal amplifier circuit for amplifying the video signal output from said image sensing device;
- an amplification-factor changeover unit, responsive to setting of manual focus by said focusing setting unit, for changing over an amplification factor of said signal amplifier circuit from a predetermined initial amplification factor to a first display amplification factor that is greater than the initial amplification factor;
- a display unit for displaying the image of the subject represented by the video signal amplified by said signal amplifier circuit;
- a trigger signal generating circuit for generating a trigger signal in response to a record command applied thereto;
- and
- a recording control unit, responsive to the trigger signal generated by said trigger signal generating circuit, for recording the video signal, which is output from said image sensing device, on a recording medium.
A method of controlling operation of a portable image pick-up apparatus having an image sensing device for sensing the image of a subject and outputting a video signal representing the image of the subject, and a signal amplifier circuit for amplifying the video signal output from the image sensing device, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a focusing setting unit for setting autofocus and manual focus selectively;
- changing over an amplification factor of the signal amplifier circuit from a predetermined initial amplification factor to a first display amplification factor that is greater than the initial amplification factor in response to setting of manual focus by the focusing setting unit;
- displaying the image of the subject represented by the video signal amplified by the signal amplifier circuit;
- and
- recording the video signal, which is output from the image sensing device, on a recording medium in response to a trigger signal generated by application of a record command.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.