Photography – Disposable or recyclable camera
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-03
2002-06-18
Adams, Russell (Department: 2851)
Photography
Disposable or recyclable camera
C396S072000, C396S376000, C396S385000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06408133
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to photographing apparatuses such as lens-fitted film units and photo cameras of simple structures. More particularly, this invention relates to a photographing apparatus provided with a focusing position selecting mechanism which allows the photographer to set selectively two or more focusing points of a taking lens when taking a photo. Further more particularly, this invention relates to a finder mechanism which is suitable for application to products of simple structures provided with photographing functions, for example, such as lens-fitted film units and photo cameras of simple structures.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A lens-fitted film unit, which includes a photographing mechanism containing a taking lens and a shutter with an unexposed film roll previously loaded in the main body in the process of manufacture, is published, for example, in Japanese registered utility model publication No.2,564,847. This lens-fitted film unit is so constituted as to wind up the exposed film into the cartridge each time a picture is taken, and so the user buys the unit and takes the unit itself to a photo developing shop to have it developed after the film roll has been finished. Therefore, the unit has gained wide market acceptance as a convenient and functional photographing product. This lens-fitted film unit generally uses a single lens or two-piece lens structure in order to simplify the structure and bring down the cost of manufacture. This taking lens is fixed to the main body and focused on one particular focusing position. Therefore, the out-of-focus condition must be avoided by making the depth of field of the taking lens greater for objects which are not at the focused distance. However, various kinds of lens-fitted film units have recently been developed in respect to picture sizes and focal lengths of the taking lens, and so multifunctional products are much sought after.
In such diversified lens-fitted film units, it is required to properly set focusing positions in the process of manufacture in case it uses a long-focus taking lens, and so it is necessary to adopt a variety of schemes for the lens-focusing mechanism. For example, in the publication of Japanese laid-open patent publication Hei7-261069, a mechanism furnished with such a focusing mechanism as to focus a taking lens precisely and fix it to the setting position in the process of manufacture of a lens-fitted film unit furnished with a telephotographic lens, is disclosed. However, even in such a lens-fitted film unit, it is not possible to shift the focusing position to a plurality of focusing positions because the lens is fixed to the predetermined position. Taking such situations into consideration, it is preferred that lens-fitted film units and other cameras of simple structures can be applied to a plurality of different photographing situations such as normal photographing, and photographing of distant objects, and that they can take pictures properly focused while using a single taking lens or a two-piece-lens structure. A lens-fitted film unit, which is constituted to be able to take close-up photos in the proximity of within 60 cm with a reflex finder capable of moving in and out to allow the photographer to confirm the field and take photos of himself included in the field, is also suggested in the publication of Japanese laid-open patent publication Hei10-200834. The lens-fitted film unit disclosed in the publication can not be applied to a plurality of situations such as close-up photographing, normal photographing, and photographing of distant objects because the lens-fitted film unit does not have a plurality of focusing positions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide photographing apparatuses such as lens-fitted film units and other cameras of simple structures which can be applied to a plurality of situations such as close-up photographing, normal photographing, and photographing of distant objects, and which have a viewfinder permitting the photographer to observe the photographing field and take photos of himself included in the field at the time of close-up photographing.
In order to solve the previously described problem, the lens-fitted film unit according to this invention includes a photographing mechanism provided in the main body and having a shutter, the body being formed with a film cartridge chamber for storing a cartridge having a rotatable spool shaft retaining one end of a photo film, and a film roll chamber for loading a roll of an unexposed film drawn out from the cartridge in the cartridge chamber; the cartridge and the roll of the unexpected film being loaded during manufacture of the unit respectively in the cartridge chamber and the film roll chamber whereby each time a photo is taken, a spool is rotated to take up the exposed film into the cartridge, a selector member being provided for selectively changing a focusing position of a taking lens between a predetermined normal photographing position and a close-up photographing position. In an alternative structure, a lens-fitted film unit may include a cylindrical lens holding member fixed to a unit body and a lens frame having a taking lens fitted thereto and disposed in the cylindrical lens holding member for rotation and movement along an optical axis, a cam mechanism being located between the cylindrical lens holding member and the lens frame, a selector member provided in the unit body for movement between a predetermined normal photographing position and a close-up photographing position for causing the lens frame to rotate to thereby produce in the lens frame a movement through the action of the cam in the direction of the optical axis. According to a feature of this invention, a photographing viewfinder is provided in the lens-fitted film unit, and the photographing finder may be provided with a reflective mirror which allows to observe a photographing field from the front of the unit when performing close-up photographing.
In the lens-fitted film unit according to this invention, by handling the selector member, the focusing position of the taking lens can be determined at, for example, 4 m position, and 60 cm position. In another mode, the arrangement may be such that the taking lens can be focused at either of the three positions including, for example, the infinitely far position, 4 m position, and 60 cm position. And it is possible to include the photographer himself in the photographing area by observing the photographing field from the front portion of the reflective mirror when selecting the 60 cm position for close-up photographing.
In the lens-fitted film unit of this invention, the selector member may be formed integral therewith a mirror shield, which may be retracted from position in front of the reflective mirror when the selector member is at the close-up position permitting to observe the photographing field by the reflective mirror, and the mirror shield, may be held in a position for shielding the reflective mirror when the selector member is at the normal photographing position making it impossible to observe the photographing field through the mirror. In another mode of this invention, the selector lever may be integrally provided with a close-up field frame which is moved to a position overlapping the photographing field finder when the selector member is in the close-up photographing position for compensating the parallax between the taking lens and the finder field, the close-up field frame being positioned to overlap the front face of the reflective mirror when the selector is at the normal photographing position to indicate at the front of the unit that the unit is in the normal photographing position. In another mode of the present invention, an indicator mark may be provided to interact with the movement of the selector member to be located in front of the reflective mirror when the selector member is in the normal photographing position to indicate at the front of the unit that the unit is in the normal photographin
Kawamura Fuminori
Sakaguchi Masaaki
Sakata Hiroshi
Adams Russell
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Smith Arthur A.
Young & Thompson
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