Photography – Exposure control circuit – Bracketing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-25
2001-06-12
Perkey, W. B. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Exposure control circuit
Bracketing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246836
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera having an auto-bracketing photo-taking mode, capable of photographing on a plurality of frames of a film continuously with the photo-taking exposure value changed automatically and stepwise.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an auto-bracketing photo-taking mode of photographing on a plurality of frames of a film with the exposure value changed automatically has been used as a method for an automatic exposure control of a camera. According to the auto-bracketing photo-taking mode, in addition to photographs with the correct exposure, photographs intentionally with underexposure and overexposure can be obtained automatically and continuously.
Recently, a film having a magnetic recording part has been available on the market. With a camera having a magnetic recording means for recording information on the magnetic recording part, various kinds of information concerning the photo-taking frames can be recorded on the film. According to the camera of this kind, which has a plurality of selective photo-taking modes capable of recording information selectively from plural kinds of information, or recording plural kinds of information at the same time, in a case where a specific photo-taking mode (the above-mentioned auto-bracketing photo-taking mode) is selected by a mode selecting means, information of commanding printing with the same condition (the same exposure amount and the same color filter are set) at the time of printing can be recorded with respect to each of the magnetic recording parts of a plurality of frames taken continuously according to the specific photo-taking mode by the magnetic recording means. The continuous photo-taking scenes having the information of commanding printing with the same condition are called “series scene”.
That is, the series scene stands for a series of photo-taking scenes to be printed with the same condition for accurately reproducing the exposure state at the time of photographing by prohibiting printing of the photo-taking frames with respective different exposures by an automatic printing photofinishing system. Therefore, information indicative of the series scene is recorded in the magnetic recording part of each photo-taking frame of the film, so that the plurality of frames with that information recorded can be printed with the same printing condition at the time of printing the film so as to obtain photographs as the photographer intended to have. This technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,140, etc.
When the film having frames taken as the series scene as mentioned above is presented to a photofinishing laboratory for having photographs, even in a case where the automatic printing photofinishing system for executing printing exposure control automatically so as to have the correct exposure value for each frame taken ordinarily is used, since the magnetic recording part of the film has the series scene information recorded therein, the automatic printing photofinishing system reads the series scene information and processes the printing with the exposure amount and the color determination condition fixed, with respect to a plurality of continuous frames with the series scene set.
Therefore, by recording information indicative of the series scene in the magnetic recording part of each of a series of photo-taking frames with intentional exposure shift taken with the auto-bracketing photo-taking mode, the film can be printed with the exposure intended by the photographer even in the case of the printing with the automatic printing photofinishing system.
The information recorded on the magnetic recording parts of a plurality of frames taken continuously in the auto-bracketing photo-taking mode as the series scene does not include information indicative of which frame is of the correct exposure, or which frame is of the overexposure or the underexposure, but includes information indicating that each frame is a start frame, an end frame or an intermediate frame of the series scene. For example, in a case where a film in which the auto-bracketing photo-taking was performed in the order of the correct exposure, the underexposure and the overexposure is printed by the automatic printing photofinishing system in the same order, since the start frame of the series scene is taken with the correct exposure, the automatic printing photofinishing system gives the correct exposure value to this frame and prints the frames included in the series scene with the same condition, so that the prints with the exposure shift intended by the photographer can be obtained.
However, there are various kinds of automatic printing photofinishing systems and the order of developing a film varies depending on the kind of the automatic printing photofinishing system. Therefore, in a case where the automatic printing photofinishing system does not print in the same order, that is, in a case where the automatic printing photofinishing system prints in the reverse order, the printing operation is executed from the end frame of the series scene, so that the exposure value is given such that the end frame has the correct exposure, and thus the series of the plurality of frames taken in the auto-bracketing photo-taking is printed with the exposure value different from the value intended by the photographer. In the case of a positive film with a narrow latitude, the exposure value cannot be made drastically different from that intended by the photographer due to the automatic exposure amount adjustment by the automatic printing photofinishing system, so that the above-mentioned phenomenon is not problematic for the photographer. However, in the case of a negative film with a wide latitude, since the exposure value in the printing step poses a great influence on the final printing finish, the abovementioned phenomenon is manifest remarkably.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a camera and a photographing apparatus capable of giving prints with an exposure changed stepwise as intended by a photographer, regardless of the kind of an automatic printing photofinishing system, even in a case where the film used in the auto-bracketing photo-taking mode is a negative film.
To attain the above object, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a camera comprising photo-taking mode setting means for setting one of photo-taking modes of the camera, the photo-taking modes including an auto-bracketing photo-taking mode of photographing on a plurality of frames of a film continuously with a photo-taking exposure value changed automatically and stepwise, and photo-taking control means for, when the auto-bracketing photo-taking mode is set by the photo-taking mode setting means, photographing with a predetermined standard exposure value on both of a start frame and an end frame of a continuous photo-taking in the auto-bracketing photo-taking mode, and photographing with an exposure value different from the predetermined standard exposure value on a frame between the start frame and the end frame, so that the start frame and the end frame of the continuous photo-taking in the auto-bracketing photo-taking mode can be made to be photo-taking frames with the same exposure condition.
The above and further objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4734727 (1988-03-01), Takemae
patent: 4862205 (1989-08-01), Kawamura
patent: 5253009 (1993-10-01), Satou et al.
patent: 5508779 (1996-04-01), Satou et al.
patent: 5543872 (1996-08-01), Goto et al.
Patent Abstracts of Japan No. JP 63 037332 A, published Feb. 18, 1988, vol. 12, No. 245.
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Perkey W. B.
Robin Blecker & Daley
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