Photography – With exposure objective focusing means – focusing aid – or... – Plural focusing or rangefinding areas
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-18
2003-09-02
Adams, Russell (Department: 2851)
Photography
With exposure objective focusing means, focusing aid, or...
Plural focusing or rangefinding areas
C396S077000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06614998
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an automatic focusing camera and a shooting method, and more particularly to an automatic focusing camera and a shooting method in which a plurality of subjects are focused for the shot.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 6-313839 discloses a camera that provides multiple small focusing areas and determines the best point where there is a main subject to focus on the main subject. Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 6-289279 discloses a camera that determines a line of sight of a user and provides a focusing area on the line of sight.
However, the camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 6-313839 does not always focus on a subject the user intends.
It is difficult for the camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 6-289279 to determine the line of sight when the user wears glasses, and the camera does not focus on an intended subject.
In these types of cameras, the subject distances the cameras determine are often different from the user-intended subject distances. This easily happens when the user-intended subject is small and a large subject is positioned before or after the subject, for example, when the user intends to focus on a person with a mountain for the background.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic focusing camera and a shooting method that can focus on a subject a user intends even if there are subjects with different subject distances.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is directed to an automatic focusing camera, comprising: a determining device that determines a plurality of positions of one of a focus lens and an imaging surface for focusing on a plurality of subjects in a subject image; a focus adjusting device that sequentially moves the one of the focus lens and the imaging surface to each of the positions determined by the determining device; and a shooting device that performs shootings when the one of the focus lens and the imaging surface is at each of the positions.
According to the present invention, the automatic focusing camera comprises the determining device that determines the positions of the focus lens or the imaging surface for focusing on the subjects in the subject image, the focus adjusting device that sequentially moves the focus lens or the imaging surface to the positions determined by the determining device, and the shooting device that performs the shootings when the focus lens or the imaging surface is at the positions. Therefore, the user can focus the camera on the intended subjects even if there are subjects with different subject distances.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is directed to an automatic focusing camera, comprising: a determining device that determines a plurality of positions of one of a focus lens and an imaging surface for focusing on a plurality of subjects in a subject image; a focus adjusting device that moves the one of the focus lens and the imaging surface to a position that is substantially halfway between both ends of the positions determined by the determining device; an aperture adjusting device that adjusts an aperture so that the subjects are within a depth of field when the subjects are imaged with the one of the focus lens and the imaging surface moved by the focus adjusting device; and a shooting device that performs a shooting with the one of the focus lens and the imaging surface moved by the focus adjusting device and the aperture adjusted by the aperture adjusting device.
According to the present invention, the automatic focusing camera comprises the determining device that determines the positions of the focus lens or the imaging surface for focusing on the subjects in the subject image, the focus adjusting device that moves the focus lens or the imaging surface to the position that is substantially halfway between both ends of the positions determined by the determining device, the aperture adjusting device that adjusts the aperture so that the subjects are within the depth of field when the subjects are imaged with the focus lens or the imaging surface moved by the focus adjusting device, and the shooting device that performs the shooting with the focus lens or the imaging surface moved by the focus adjusting device and the aperture adjusted by the aperture adjusting device. Therefore, the user can focus the camera on the intended subject even if there are subjects with different subject distances.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4829331 (1989-05-01), Aihara
patent: 4933700 (1990-06-01), Ikeda et al.
patent: 5313245 (1994-05-01), Konishi
patent: 6430368 (2002-08-01), Hata
patent: 6289279 (1994-10-01), None
patent: 6313839 (1994-11-01), None
Misawa Atsushi
Senba Takehiko
Yamazaki Akihisa
Adams Russell
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Smith Arthur A
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