Photography – With object illumination for exposure
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-10
2003-09-02
Adams, Russell (Department: 2851)
Photography
With object illumination for exposure
C396S164000, C396S174000, C396S176000, C396S544000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06614999
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an external flash device for a camera, in particular, to an external flash device which is mounted for use on a mounting seat of a camera provided with an internal flash device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, photographing using an electric flash device has a drawback that it gives an unnatural picture without shadows because the electric flash device mounted on a camera illuminates the subject from a position in front of it.
Conventionally, for resolving the above problem, a bounce lighting using a so-called two-lamp flash is known as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 58-113919, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 59-47440, and so forth, in which a two-lamp flash device is used, that is, a main luminescent unit having a larger light amount illuminates a ceiling, the reflected light from which mainly illuminates a subject from above, while the other sub-luminescent unit having a smaller light amount directly illuminates the subject.
When this method is used, the bounce light makes natural shadows in the lower area and the direct illumination light from the sub-luminescent unit adequately illuminates the shadow area where gradation is lost. Therefore, the method is effective especially for portrait photographing because natural shadows are made and catchlights are made in the eyes of a person by the direct illumination.
There is another conventional problem that, when a close-up photographing is carried out with a flash device mounted on a camera, the subject is illuminated by an insufficient amount of light and the lighting causes an uneven illumination because of a parallax between a photographing lens and a light emitting window of the flash device.
Conventionally, methods for resolving such problems described above are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. Sho 57-122423, and Hei 9-15689 which was previously filed by the inventor of the present invention, and so forth.
However, providing two luminescent units for a flash device, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 58-113919, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 59-47440, and so forth, has a problem that the flash device becomes large and expensive.
Moreover, since it is not that a natural lighting is obtained by simply illuminating the subject with a bounce light and a direct light from in front of the subject, an additional change is added to reduce the direct front illumination relatively to the bounce light as shown in, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 59-47440 in which the direct front illumination is effectively reduced by delaying the start of the emission.
The flash device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 57-122423 is a flash device which automatically adjusts the luminescent unit thereof to the optical axis according to a shooting distance, but it has a problem that it requires the camera and the photographing lens having a distance measuring function, and therefore the method is not useable for a camera which does not have the function.
Furthermore, in a case of the close-up photographing at an extremely short distance, if a subject is illuminated by the light from the flash device without dimming, a problem frequently occurs that too large an F-value (too small aperture stop), which is not provided for the photographing lens, is required for the lens to obtain an appropriate exposure.
On the other hand, in a flash device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 9-15689, since a method is provided to dim the light from the flash device for the close-up photographing, the problem, that too large an F-value is required which is not available with the photographing lens, does not occur.
However, the flash device disclosed in the patent laid-open is only realized by a flash device whose luminescent unit can rotate horizontally around its leg part inserted and fixed in the camera, and it has such problems that its mechanism is complicated requiring many parts and that the operation is not simple because it accommodates a folded dimming plate (diffusion plate).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to carry out a two-lamp-lighting photographing easily and reliably, in which the light from an external flash device is used as a main light source and the light from an internal flash device of a camera is used as a supplementary light source.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a dimming plate for dimming the light from the internal flash device of the camera is disposed on the external flash device which is mounted for use on the mounting seat of the camera. The light from the internal flash device of the camera is dimmed by covering a luminescent unit of the internal flash device of the camera with the dimming plate of the external flash device in order to perform two-lamp-lighting photographing. This enables simple, reliable two-lamp-lighting photographing in which the light emission from the external flash device is a main light source and the light emission from the internal flash device of the camera is a supplementary light source. Further, the external flash device can be provided at inexpensive price because only incorporating the dimming plate therein realizes the two-lamp-lighting photographing without disposing a special supplementary luminescent unit on the external flash device.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the external flash device has a mounting unit to be mounted on the mounting seat of a camera provided with an internal flash device, a body unit connected with the mounting unit, a luminescent unit connected with the body unit and a dimming plate which is disposed on the body unit and can dim the light of the internal flash device. Then, a two-lamp-lighting photographing is carried out in a state where the light emitted from the internal flash device of the camera is dimmed by covering the luminescent unit of the internal flash device of the camera with the dimming plate disposed on the body unit of the external flash device. This enables easy, reliable two-lamp-lighting photographing where the light emission from the external flash device is used as a main light source and the light emission from the internal flash device of the camera as a supplementary light source. Further, the external flash device can be provided at an inexpensive price because only incorporating the dimming plate in the body unit of the external flash device realizes the two-lamp-lighting photographing.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the internal flash device of the camera is disposed so as to be able to pop up and the external flash device is mounted on the mounting seat of the camera. The body unit is disposed so as not to get in contact with the internal flash device when the internal flash device pops up from the camera. The internal flash device of the camera is popped up for use, for example, from the top of the camera when the internal flash device is ready to emit light.
The popped-up internal flash device is surely prevented from hitting the external flash device since the body unit of the external flash device is disposed so as not to get in contact with the internal flash device when the internal flash device is ready to emit light.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the dimming plate of the external flash device is disposed at a position changeable relative to the body unit. For example, the dimming plate is pivotally disposed relative to the body unit so that its position is readily and reliably changeable. In this way, the dimming plate can be disposed at a proper predetermined position easily and reliably.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, a supporting member is disposed on the body unit of the external flash device
Chen Zhaoxiang
Hagiuda Nobuyoshi
Matsui Hideki
Adams Russell
Nikon Corporation
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Sever Andrew
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