JP4039072B2 - Digital still camera - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a digital still camera having a monitor screen on the back surface of a camera body, and more particularly to a camera provided with a protective cover for protecting the monitor screen.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In some digital still cameras having an image confirmation liquid crystal monitor on the back of the camera, the screen is covered with a transparent acrylic plate in order to prevent the monitor screen from being scratched. The acrylic plate is less likely to be scratched than the monitor screen (liquid crystal screen), and even if it is damaged, only the acrylic plate needs to be replaced, so that the repair cost is lower than when the liquid crystal screen is replaced. However, since the acrylic plate is fixedly attached to the back of the camera, the replacement operation is not always easy.
[0003]
Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, in addition to the acrylic plate, a protective cover is detachably provided. In the figure, the horizontal direction of the paper is the horizontal direction of the camera, 51 is a back cover of the camera body, 52 is a liquid crystal monitor, and 53 is an acrylic plate that covers the screen 52 a of the monitor 52. The acrylic plate 53 is fixedly fitted to the back cover 51. 54 is a transparent protective cover provided so as to further cover the acrylic plate 53, and protrusions 54 a and 54 b respectively engaged with grooves 55 a and 56 a of the back cover 51 are provided on the left and right ends of the protective cover 54. Is provided. The protective cover 54 is formed of an elastic member, and the protrusions 54a and 54b on both sides are engaged with the grooves 55a and 56a by being slightly deformed. At the time of removal, the protective cover 54 is deformed to release the engagement between the protrusions 54a and 54b and the grooves 55a and 56a. According to this, when the protective cover 54 is damaged, it can be easily replaced by the user's own hand.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, as can be seen from FIG. 4, the grooves 55a and 56a with which the projections 54a and 54b of the protective cover 54 are engaged are not formed integrally with the back cover 51, but are formed in the separate members 55 and 56, respectively. The separate members 55 and 56 are attached to the back cover 51 with screws. This is because when the back cover 51 is molded, the grooves 55a and 56a become undercut portions because the mold is pulled out in the vertical direction in the figure. Therefore, it is conceivable to divide the mold so that only the portions of the grooves 55a and 56a in the mold can slide out in the left-right direction of the camera. However, if the mold is divided, the parting line of the mold becomes a problem. That is, a parting line is formed from the grooves 55a and 56a in the direction of removing the slide mold, and this is conspicuous in position, so that the appearance of the camera is deteriorated. Therefore, in the conventional camera, as shown in the drawing, the grooves 55a and 56a must be formed in the separate members 55 and 56. Since the protective cover 54 is provided, the number of manufacturing steps is increased.
[0005]
An object of the present invention is to provide a digital still camera devised so that the appearance is not impaired even if the groove for attaching the protective cover is integrally formed with the back cover.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is applied to a digital still camera in which a finder eyepiece and a monitor screen are provided so as to bulge from the back of the camera body, and a protective cover that covers the monitor screen is detachably provided.
The monitor screen is provided so as to be exposed from the top surface of the bulging portion formed integrally with the camera back cover immediately below the finder eyepiece, and the upper portion of the end surface of the bulging portion is covered by the finder eyepiece. An upper groove that is exposed at the location and recessed below the camera is provided, a lower groove that is exposed at the lower end surface of the bulge and is recessed above the camera is provided, and the protrusions provided above and below the protective cover are formed in the upper and lower grooves. The protective cover is mounted by engaging each of them, thereby solving the above problems.
The invention of claim 2 further includes a protective plate fixed to the back cover so as to cover the monitor screen, and the protective cover is attached so as to cover the monitor screen through the protective plate.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the protective cover is mounted via the groove and the protrusion, a pressing protrusion that contacts the inner surface of the protective cover is provided on a part of the bulging portion .
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment when the present invention is applied to a single-lens reflex digital still camera will be described with reference to FIGS.
1 and 2 are rear views of the digital still camera according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. The camera body is covered with an upper cover 1, a rear cover 2, a bottom cover 3, and a front cover (not shown). The upper cover 1 is provided with operation members OM1, OM2, a release button (not shown) and the like, and an eyepiece 11 of an optical finder. As shown in FIG. 3, the eyepiece 11 is provided so as to bulge backward from the rear surface of the camera body.
[0008]
On the other hand, a liquid crystal monitor 12 is provided on the back side in the camera body. The monitor 12 is used for confirming a photographed image, and is used as a display member for function setting or custom setting. There is also a model that can use the monitor 12 as a finder substitute.
[0009]
A screen (liquid crystal screen) 12 a of the monitor 12 is exposed from a window 2 a formed in the back cover 2. The back cover 2 has a portion directly below the finder eyepiece 11 bulges rearward, and the window 2a is provided on the top surface of the bulged portion 2A. The central axis of the monitor screen 12a substantially coincides with the optical axis of the viewfinder eyepiece 11 when viewed from the camera vertical direction. And the transparent acrylic board (protection board) 13 is arrange | positioned so that the window 2a may be covered, and this acrylic board 13 is engage | inserted and fixed to the fitting part 2b provided in 2 A of bulging parts. Operation members OM11 to OM13 and the like are arranged on the left and right of the bulging portion 2A.
[0010]
The acrylic plate 13 protects the monitor screen 12a, but in this embodiment, a protective cover 14 is detachably attached so as to cover the acrylic plate 13. FIG. 1 shows a state where the protective cover 14 is removed, and FIGS. 2 and 3 show a state where the protective cover 14 is attached. The protective cover 14 is made of an elastic member such as acrylic. The cover 14A covers the window 2a (that is, the monitor screen 12a) through the acrylic plate 13, and the mounting portions 14B and 14C provided above and below the cover 14A. And are integrally molded. By configuring the protective cover 14 with a transparent member, the display on the monitor screen 12a can be confirmed with the protective cover 14 attached. For example, only the part of the protective cover 14 facing the screen 12a may be transparent, and the other part may be made translucent by forming a texture. Further, if it is assumed that the protective cover 14 is attached only when the camera is stored, the transparent member is not necessarily required.
[0011]
Next, the mounting structure of the protective cover 14 will be described.
The upper mounting portion 14B of the protective cover 14 is bent inward as shown in FIG. 3, and a protrusion (hereinafter referred to as an upper protrusion) 14b is formed at the tip thereof. In FIG. 3, only one upper protrusion 14b is shown, but actually two are provided in a direction orthogonal to the paper surface. On the other hand, the lower mounting portion 14C extends in a substantially vertical direction, and one protrusion (hereinafter referred to as a lower protrusion) 14c is formed at the tip.
[0012]
On the other hand, a pair of upper grooves 2b with which the pair of upper protrusions 14b are engaged and a lower groove 2c with which the lower protrusions 14c are engaged are formed on the end surface of the bulging portion 2A of the back cover 2. The upper groove 2b is a groove that is recessed below the camera, and the lower groove 2c is a groove that is recessed above the camera. The location where the upper groove 2b is formed is a position where the upper part is covered with the finder eyepiece 11 as shown in FIG. The lower groove 2c is formed on the lower end surface of the bulging portion 2A.
[0013]
When the protective cover 14 is attached, for example, the upper protrusion 14b may be engaged with the upper groove 2b, and the lower protrusion 14c may be engaged with the lower groove 2c by elastically deforming the lower side of the protective cover 14. Thereby, the protective cover 14 does not come off with some vibration. In addition, pressing protrusions 2d are formed in a plurality of locations on the bulging portion 2A of the back cover 2, and the inner surface of the protective cover 14 is attached so as to abut against these protrusions 2d. Is preventing.
At the time of removal, the protective cover 14 can be easily removed by elastically deforming and releasing the engagement between the projections 14b, 14c and the grooves 2b, 2c.
[0014]
By the way, the back cover 2 is formed by integral molding including the bulging portion 2A provided with the grooves 2b and 2c and the pressing protrusion 2d. At that time, the mold is pulled out in the X direction of FIG. 3, but the grooves 2b and 2c become undercut portions, so that the mold is divided, and the mold portion corresponding to the three grooves is in the Y direction of FIG. Die-cut in a sliding manner. In this case, a parting line of the mold is formed from the grooves 2b and 2c to the slide mold removing direction. However, in this embodiment, the upper groove 2b is located at the position covered by the viewfinder eyepiece 11, so the upper groove 2b The parting line against is inconspicuous. Further, since the lower groove 2c is formed on the lower end surface of the bulging portion 2A, that is, in the vicinity of the bottom surface of the camera and facing obliquely downward, the parting line for the lower groove 2c is not conspicuous. Even if the parting line of the mold is formed in this way, the appearance of the camera is not impaired thereby. Therefore, the back cover 2 including the portions where the grooves 2b and 2c are formed can be integrally formed, and a groove is formed in a separate member. This eliminates the time-consuming work of attaching the separate member.
[0015]
In the present embodiment, since the monitor screen 12a is arranged directly below the viewfinder eyepiece 11, it serves to conceal the parting line as described above, and when looking into the viewfinder, the nose covers the acrylic plate 13 and the protective cover 14. The dirt is suppressed. Further, the operation members OM11 to OM13 are separately arranged on the left and right sides of the bulging portion 12A, thereby improving the space efficiency and reducing the size of the camera body. By disposing it in the upper and lower portions, the degree of freedom in arranging the operation members is further increased.
[0016]
In the above description, the acrylic plate 13 is fixedly provided so as to cover the monitor screen 12a. However, the acrylic plate 13 is not necessarily required if the monitor screen 12a can be confirmed through the protective cover 14. Further, the shape of the protective cover 14 is not limited to the embodiment. Furthermore, although the description has been given with respect to the single-lens reflex type digital still camera, the present invention can be applied to other types of digital still cameras.
[0017]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the upper groove to which the upper protrusion of the protective cover is engaged is provided at a location covered by the viewfinder eyepiece, and the lower groove to which the lower protrusion of the protective cover is engaged is the bulge portion. Since it is provided on the lower end surface, none of the parting lines connected to the upper and lower grooves are conspicuous, and the appearance of the camera is not impaired even when the upper and lower grooves are formed integrally with the split mold. Therefore, the number of manufacturing steps and cost can be reduced as compared with the conventional camera in which the groove portion is formed of a separate member.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a rear view of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which a protective cover is not attached.
FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing a state in which a protective cover is mounted.
3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a protective cover mounting structure of a conventional digital still camera.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper cover 2 Back cover 2A Bulging part 2b Upper groove 2c Lower groove 3 Bottom cover 11 Finder eyepiece part 12 Liquid crystal monitor 12a Monitor screen 13 Acrylic board 14 Protective cover 14b Upper protrusion 14c Lower protrusion OM1, OM2, OM11-OM13 Operation member

Claims (3)

In a digital still camera provided with a viewfinder eyepiece and a monitor screen so as to bulge from the back of the camera body, and further provided with a protective cover that covers the monitor screen in a detachable manner,
The monitor screen is provided so as to be exposed from a top surface of a bulge portion formed integrally with the camera back cover immediately below the finder eyepiece portion, and at the finder eyepiece portion of the end surface of the bulge portion. An upper groove is provided that is exposed at a location where the upper part is covered and is recessed below the camera, and a lower groove that is exposed at the lower end surface of the bulge and is recessed above the camera is provided above and below the protective cover. A digital still camera characterized in that a projection is engaged with each of the upper groove and the lower groove to mount the protective cover.   2. The protective plate according to claim 1, further comprising a protective plate fixed to the back cover so as to cover the monitor screen, wherein the protective cover is attached so as to cover the monitor screen through the protective plate. The digital still camera described. 2. A pressing protrusion that abuts against an inner surface of the protective cover when the protective cover is attached via the groove and the protrusion is provided on a part of the bulging portion. The digital camera according to 1 or 2.

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