JP4337756B2 - Imaging apparatus and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention shows the angle of view and framing of a moving image that has changed in still image shooting when moving image shooting is resumed after shooting a still image while shooting a moving image with an imaging device such as a digital camera. The present invention relates to a shooting technique that can match the angle of view at the time of moving image shooting before shooting.

  2. Description of the Related Art Some imaging devices such as a digital camera have a moving image shooting function in addition to a normal still image shooting function, and further have a voice recording function for simultaneously recording a still image, a moving image, and sound.

  Such a digital camera usually has a still image shooting mode for taking a still image and a moving image shooting mode for moving image shooting as shooting modes, and the mode is changed by a user operation such as a key operation.

Also, in digital cameras, there are cases where it is desired to take a still image during moving image shooting. However, as a conventional technique, a moving image frame is captured at a moving image frame shooting period according to a still image shooting operation during moving image shooting, and buffer memory is used. While recording the next moving image frame while recording the next moving image frame, that is, a technique for capturing and recording a still image, that is, performing moving image shooting processing and still image shooting processing in parallel (for example, patents) Reference 1).
In addition, when there is a still image shooting operation during movie shooting, the movie frame shooting and storage operation is temporarily interrupted, and during that time a still image is shot and recorded, and then the movie frame shooting and recording is resumed. In other words, by separately generating and storing a frame for interpolation corresponding to a moving image frame of an interruption period that could not be recorded during still image shooting, by displaying the interpolation frame during the interruption period when reproducing a moving image As a result, there is one that enables still image shooting during moving image shooting (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-55617 JP 2001-111934 A

  However, when taking a still image during moving image shooting, it is often desirable to change the angle of view or framing of the still image. In such cases, the angle of view and framing of the movie obtained by the movie shooting process that was executed before still image shooting and the angle of view and framing at the time of movie shooting resumed after still image shooting are often different. Because it is difficult for the user to change the angle of view and framing of the camera and to reproduce the angle of view and framing during movie shooting that was performed before shooting a still image, the angle of view and framing of the recorded movie will not match. There has been a problem that when moving images are played, there is a sense of incongruity between the moving image before shooting the still image and the moving image immediately after shooting the still image. Such problems cannot be solved by the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 described above.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and after taking a still image while shooting a moving image, the moving image changed at the time of shooting the still image when moving the movie is resumed. The purpose is to match the angle of view and framing.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the invention according to claim 1,
Photographing means for photographing moving images and still images;
Display means for displaying a moving image photographed by the photographing means as a through image;
A shooting mode for switching between a moving image shooting mode for recording moving image data representing a moving image shot by the shooting means and a still image shooting mode for recording still image data expressing a still image shot by the shooting means. Switching means;
A first holding means for holding the angle-of-view information immediately before this when the shooting mode switching means switches from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode;
A second holding unit that holds moving image data representing a moving image shot by the shooting unit immediately before the switching from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit; ,
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means, the angle of view of the shooting means becomes the angle of view indicated by the angle of view information held by the first holding means. And an angle of view control means for controlling the angle of view of the photographing means,
Generating means for generating a framing moving image based on the moving image data held by the second holding means when the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means;
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit, a first framing moving image generated by the generating unit is displayed on the through image displayed on the display unit. Display control means,
An imaging apparatus characterized by comprising:
Thus, the user can confirm by moving the imaging device so that the shooting angle is substantially the same as that of the frame immediately before the stop of moving image shooting, and can start moving image shooting at the same shooting angle as that of the frame immediately before the stop of moving image shooting. In other words, by superimposing and displaying the framing image on the through image, it is easy to match the shooting angle to the shooting angle immediately before the stop of moving image shooting, so that more accurate angle setting is possible, and smooth moving image continuation is possible.

In the invention according to claim 2,
Half-press operation for focusing and the photographing means
A shutter key for receiving a full-press operation for recording still image data representing a still image photographed by:
Second display control means for erasing the moving image generated by the generation means displayed on the display means when a half-press operation is performed on the shutter key;
An imaging apparatus according to claim 1 is provided.

In the invention according to claim 3,
After being switched from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit, the image was shot by the shooting unit before being switched from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit. Record moving image data representing moving images
An imaging apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 is provided.
As a result, the movie immediately before the movie shooting is stopped is recorded while the movie shooting is stopped and the still image is shot. Since they match, there is no sense of incongruity during playback.

In the invention according to claim 4,
Comprising recording means for recording sound when a moving image is photographed by the photographing means;
The recording unit continues the recording operation even after the shooting mode switching unit switches from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode.
The imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is provided.
As a result, the input voice can be recorded while the moving image shooting is stopped and the still image is shot, so there is no interruption in the sound and there is no sense of incompatibility during playback.

In the invention according to claim 5,
The generation unit generates a translucent image generated from the moving image data held by the second holding unit as the framing moving image.
The imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is provided.
As a result, since the semi-transparent image of the image immediately before the stop of moving image shooting can be superimposed and displayed on the through image, the imaging device can be used to substantially match the current through image with the semi-transparent image that is easy to align. If it is moved, it matches the shooting angle immediately before the movie shooting is stopped, so that a more accurate angle setting is possible and smooth movie continuation is possible.

In the invention according to claim 6,
The generating unit generates a contour image generated based on contour data extracted from the moving image data held by the second holding unit as the framing moving image.
The imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is provided.
As a result, the contour of the image immediately before the stop of moving image shooting can be superimposed and displayed on the through image. Therefore, if the imaging device is moved so that the outer shape of the current through image substantially matches the contour image, the shooting angle immediately before the stop of moving image shooting is obtained. This makes it possible to set a more accurate angle, and smooth video continuation is possible.

In the invention according to claim 7,
The generation unit generates a silhouette image having the same color inside from the moving image data held by the second holding unit, and generates the generated silhouette image as the framing moving image.
The imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is provided.
As a result, the silhouette image immediately before the stop of moving image shooting can be displayed on the through image. Therefore, if the image pickup device is moved so that the shape of the current through image substantially coincides with the easily viewable silhouette image, the shooting immediately before the stop of moving image shooting is performed. Since it matches the angle, more accurate angle setting is possible, and smooth video continuation is possible.

In the invention according to claim 8,
Recording means for photographing a moving image and a still image, display means for displaying the moving image photographed by the photographing means as a through image, and moving image data representing the moving image photographed by the photographing means are recorded. A computer comprising: a movie shooting mode; and a shooting mode switching unit that switches between a still image shooting mode for recording still image data representing a still image shot by the shooting unit;
A first holding means for holding the angle-of-view information immediately before this time when the moving image shooting mode is switched to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means;
A second holding unit for holding moving image data representing a moving image shot by the shooting unit immediately before the switching from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit;
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means, the angle of view of the shooting means becomes the angle of view indicated by the angle of view information held by the first holding means. Angle of view control means for controlling the angle of view of the photographing means,
Generating means for generating a framing moving image based on the moving image data held by the second holding means when the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means;
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit, a first framing moving image generated by the generating unit is displayed on the through image displayed on the display unit. Display control means,
Provide a program that functions as
As a result, the user can confirm by moving the imaging device so that the shooting angle is substantially the same as that of the frame immediately before the stop of moving image shooting, and start shooting of the moving image at substantially the same angle of view shooting angle as that of the frame immediately before the stop of moving image shooting. That is, the angle of view can be automatically matched, and the framing can be easily matched just before moving image shooting is stopped.

  According to the present invention, when moving image shooting is temporarily stopped for still image shooting, the angle of view information at that time is stored, and the angle of view information recorded after the still image shooting is ended is used. Therefore, the user can automatically return to the original angle of view and angle, so that the user can move the image pickup device so that the shooting angle is almost the same as the frame immediately before the movie shooting stop. Video shooting can be started at approximately the same shooting angle. In other words, by superimposing and displaying the framing image on the through image, it is easy to match the shooting angle to the shooting angle immediately before the stop of moving image shooting, so that more accurate angle setting is possible, and smooth moving image continuation is possible.

(Summary of Invention)
In the present invention, when video shooting is paused for still image shooting, the immediately previous shot image (image data) is held (stored), and the original angle of view is automatically obtained after the still image shooting is completed. After returning to, framing assistance is performed by superimposing a framing image (hereinafter referred to as a framing image) on a through image displayed during moving image shooting based on the stored image data.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the external configuration of a digital camera, and here, mainly the configuration of the front and top surfaces is shown.
The digital camera 100 has a photographing lens 2, a microphone unit 5, and a strobe light emitting unit 6 disposed on the front surface of a substantially rectangular thin plate-shaped metal exterior body, and a power key 7 and a mode switching key on the right side (for the user) of the upper surface. 8 and a shutter key 9 are arranged.

The photographic lens 2 has a zoom function and an AF function for steplessly changing the focal length, and is retracted into the body when the power is turned off and during reproduction in the basic mode. The microphone unit 5 inputs sound during photographing and converts it into an electrical signal (analog sound signal).
The power key 7 is a key that is operated every time the power is turned on / off, and the mode switching key 8 is a button for switching between the moving image shooting mode and the still image shooting mode with one touch, and when the mode switching key 8 is pressed during moving image shooting. The still image shooting mode is set. When the mode switching key 8 is pressed during still image shooting, the moving image shooting mode is set. The shutter key 9 is photographing instruction means for instructing photographing timing in the photographing mode.

  Although not shown here, a mode switch for selecting various processing modes, a menu key, a cross key, a speaker, a strobe charge lamp, an image display unit, and the like are arranged on the back of the digital camera 100. Further, on the bottom surface, a memory card slot for attaching / detaching a memory card used as a recording medium, a serial interface connector for connecting to an external personal computer, etc., for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector is provided. It shall be.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the circuit configuration of the digital camera. The digital camera 100 has a zoom function and an autofocus (AF) function, and includes a lens block 10 for realizing the functions.
The lens block 10 includes a retractable lens group 11 including a zoom lens and a focus lens that are arranged so as to be movable in the optical axis direction, and position detection sensors 12 and 13 for the zoom position and the focus position in the lens group 11. A zoom motor 14 for moving the zoom lens, a focus motor 15 for moving the focus lens, an aperture actuator 16 for opening and closing an aperture (not shown), and a shutter actuator 17 for opening and closing a mechanical shutter are provided. Further, the motors and actuators 14 to 17 are respectively provided with zoom (ZOOM), focus (Focus), aperture (Iris), and shutter (Shutter) drivers 21 to 24 provided in the motor driver block 20. Driven by. In each embodiment of the present invention, the zoom motor 14 and the zoom driver 21, and the focus motor 15 and the focus driver 22 correspond to the lens driving means of the present invention.

  The position detection sensors 12 and 13 and the drivers 21 to 24 of the motor driver block 20 operate in accordance with a control signal from the lens control block 55, and control information such as sensor output and motor rotation speed through the lens control block 55. Part (CPU / ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)) 50.

  The digital camera 100 is mainly composed of a CCD 31 that is an image pickup device arranged behind the photographing optical axis of the lens group 11, a CDS (Correlated Double Sampling) / AD block 32, and a TG (Timing Generator) 33. A CCD imaging system block 30 is provided. When the digital camera is set to the recording mode, the CCD 31 photoelectrically converts the optical image of the subject formed by the lens group 11 and scan-driven by the TG 33 to output a photoelectric conversion output for one screen at a certain period. To do. The CDS / AD block 32 performs noise removal and conversion into a digital signal by performing correlated double sampling on an analog output signal that has been gain-adjusted appropriately for each RGB color component after being output from the CCD 31. Output to 40. The CCD is a kind of imaging device and may be another device such as a CMOS.

As shown in FIG. 3, the audio system block 35 includes a microphone (MIC) 36 that inputs audio and converts it into an analog audio signal, and an A / A that converts the analog audio signal into a digital audio signal and sends it to the control unit 50. An audio input system including a D converter (ADC) 37 and the like, a D / A converter (DAC) 38 that converts a digital audio signal into an analog audio signal, and an analog audio signal received from the control unit 50 are converted into audio. And a sound output system including a speaker 38 and the like which reproduces, amplifies and outputs to the outside.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sound recording and shooting operation are performed in parallel, and the recording operation is continued even if the movie shooting mode is paused and switched to the still image shooting mode. Will continue after is resumed. The voice signal sent to the control unit 50 via the microphone 36 and the A / D converter 37 is input to the work memory 60, and the compressed video file is compressed after being subjected to voice compression processing during recording. At the same time, a moving image file (moving image data + audio data) is recorded and stored in a recording medium (for example, an SD card) that is detachably attached to the image recording unit 80.

  The color process circuit 40 performs color process processing for performing pixel interpolation processing on the input image pickup signal, generates a digital luminance signal (Y) and color difference signals (Cb, Cr), and is a control means of the present invention. To the control unit 50 that controls the entire digital camera 100.

In the still image shooting mode, the JPEG / MPEG unit 45 applies ADCT (Adaptive Discrete Cosine Transform), Huffman coding, which is an entropy coding method, etc. The data is compressed by the process. The obtained code data is read out from the JPEG / MPEG circuit 27 as a data file of one image and recorded and stored in the SD card of the image recording unit 80.
In the moving image shooting mode, a series of moving image data captured in the work memory 60 is compressed by the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) method or the like during recording. The obtained code data is read out from the JPEG / MPEG circuit 27 as a data file of one image and recorded and stored in the SD card of the image recording unit 80.

The JPEG / MPEG unit 45 supports a plurality of compression ratios, and the mode corresponding to the compression ratio is a mode corresponding to a high resolution (generally called high precision, fine, normal, etc.) with a low compression ratio. And a low-resolution (commonly called economy) mode with a high compression ratio.
It also supports high to low pixel counts. For example, there are pixel sizes called SXGA (1600 × 1200), XGA (1024 × 786), SVGA (800 × 600), VGA (640 × 480) and the like.

  The control unit 50 is actually a microprocessor including an internal memory such as a RAM or a flash memory, various arithmetic processing circuits, a data input / output interface, and the like, and a digital signal (image signal) sent to the control unit 50 Is temporarily stored in a work memory 60 such as a DRAM and sent to the image display unit 70. Then, along with the compression processing of the luminance and color difference signals for one frame and the writing of all the compressed data to the recording medium (for example, SD card) of the image recording unit 80, the control unit 50 passes the path from the CCD 31 to the work memory 60. Start again.

  Further, the control unit 50 controls the motor described above with respect to the lens control block 55 based on various lens operation control programs stored in a rewritable memory such as a flash memory, an operation signal from the key block 90, and the like. Drive signals to be sent to the various drivers 21 to 24 of the driver block 20 are generated, thereby controlling the position control of the zoom lens and the focus lens, the aperture opening degree, and the mechanical opening / closing operation. At that time, the position information of the zoom lens and the focus lens detected by the position detection sensors 12 and 13 for the zoom position and the focus position is sequentially input to the control unit 50 via the lens control block 55.

  The image display unit 70 includes a video encoder, a VRAM controller, a VRAM, a liquid crystal monitor, and a driving circuit thereof. The image display unit 70 generates a video signal based on the transmitted digital signal by the video encoder, and displays a display image based on the video signal, that is, captured by the CCD 31. The through image of the subject, menu data, etc. are displayed on the liquid crystal monitor.

The image display unit 70 functions as a monitor display unit (electronic finder), and performs display based on the video signal from the video encoder, so that the image based on the image information captured from the VRAM controller at that time is displayed. Will be displayed in real time.
In this way, when the shutter key 9 is operated in a so-called through image display state in which the image at that time is displayed in real time on the image display unit 70, a trigger signal is generated.

In response to this trigger signal, the control unit 50 immediately follows the path from the CCD 31 to the work memory 60 after the DMA transfer of the luminance and color difference signals for one screen captured from the CCD 31 to the work memory 60 is completed. Stop and transition to record save state.
Specifically, the image recording unit 80 includes a card interface and various nonvolatile memory cards (for example, SD cards) that are connected to the control unit 50 via the card interface and are detachably attached to the camera body. The The image data recorded in the image recording unit 80 is read to the control unit 50 in the reproduction mode, decompressed by the JPEG / MPEG unit 45, sent to the image display unit 70, and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor.

  The key block 90 receives various keys such as the power key 7, the mode switching key 8, the shutter key 9, the menu key, and the zoom key, and inputs thereof, and sends a corresponding operation signal to the control unit 50. / ASIC (not shown). The sub CPU / ASIC sends a state signal (hereinafter, key information) indicating the state of the mode switching button to the control unit 50 as necessary.

  Further, the digital camera 100 may be provided with a contour extraction unit 46 that extracts the contour of an image. The contour extracting unit 46 extracts the contour of the image and outputs the contour data, and a device that extracts the contour by a known method can be appropriately applied.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the transition of audio data and image data by the simultaneous operation of recording and recording. The audio data converted into the digital audio signal by the audio system block 35 is compressed by the audio compression processing unit 48 and continuously recorded from the start to the end of moving image shooting (that is, recorded on the SD card of the image recording unit 80). The

  On the other hand, the digital image data generated by obtaining the CCD imaging system block 30 and the color process circuit 40 is compressed by the JPEG / MPEG unit 45 and continuously recorded in the moving image shooting mode, but the mode switching key 8 is pressed. When the still image shooting mode is set, only the still image after the shutter key 9 is fully pressed is captured and recorded as a still image file different from the moving image. Further, during the still image shooting mode, the image data captured immediately before the mode switching key 8 is pressed is repeatedly used as moving image data and recorded as moving image data (this is the same as the previous data. With less memory capacity). Next, when the mode switching key 8 is pressed again, moving image shooting is started and recording of a new moving image signal is started. The audio data is recorded (recorded) in association with recorded moving image data in time series.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a moving image file and a still image file recorded in the image recording unit 80. The moving image file 140 includes a header portion 141 that includes information such as the file size, the number of frames, and the audio data size, a data portion 142 that includes actual audio and image data, and an index portion 143 that facilitates random access. The data unit 142 captures only sound during the still image shooting mode. For moving images, moving image data captured immediately before the mode switch key 8 is depressed is repeatedly recorded. In addition, still image data captured during this time is recorded as a still image file 145.

  FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams of the work memory area use state in the shooting mode according to the present embodiment, FIG. 5A shows the state of the work area 60 waiting for shooting, and FIG. 5B shows the work area during movie shooting. FIG. 5C shows the state of the work area 60 during moving image / still image switching, and FIG. 5D shows the state of the work area 60 during still image shooting.

  Here, “waiting for shooting” refers to a through display state immediately after the digital camera 100 is activated. During standby for shooting, the work area 60 has an audio buffer 61 and a through display as shown in FIG. The buffer 62 is secured, the audio buffer 61 stores audio data captured during standby for shooting, and the through display buffer 62 stores subject image data captured during standby for shooting.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, a moving image buffer 63 is further secured in the work area 60 during moving image shooting, and audio data captured during moving image shooting is stored in the audio buffer 61, and a through display is provided. The subject buffer 62 stores subject image data captured during moving image shooting, and the moving image buffer 63 stores moving image data captured during moving image shooting.

  Further, during moving image / still image switching, as shown in FIG. 5C, in addition to the audio buffer 61 and the through display buffer 62, a through image save area 66 is secured. Audio data captured during the still image switching is stored, subject image data captured during the moving image / still image switching is stored in the through display buffer 62, and the final through image frame (mode) is stored in the through image save area 66. A through image frame immediately before the operation of the switching key 8) is recorded.

During still image shooting, as shown in FIG. 5D, in addition to the audio buffer 61 and the through display buffer 62, the still image buffer 63 and the through image save area 66 are secured in the work area 60. The audio buffer 61 stores audio data captured during still image shooting, the through display buffer 62 stores image data captured during still image shooting, and the still image buffer 64 stores still image shooting. The captured still image data is stored, and the final through image frame is stored in the through image save area 66.
Since the through display continues in any series of operations, the through display buffer 62 is always used.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the switching operation between the moving image shooting mode and the still image shooting mode in the present embodiment. The following processing will be basically explained by an example in which the control unit 50 executes in accordance with a program fixedly stored in a program storage memory such as a flash memory in advance, but it is not necessary to store all functions in the program memory. Alternatively, a part or all of the information may be received via a network. Hereinafter, description will be given based on FIGS.
In the present embodiment, the shutter key 9 operates by a two-stage stroke operation. As a basic operation, in the moving image shooting mode, the first-stage stroke operation, that is, the moving image is generated when the shutter key 9 is “half-pressed”. It is assumed that shooting is started, and moving image shooting is ended in the second stroke operation after that, that is, when the shutter key 9 is fully pressed.
In the still image shooting mode, the AF operation is executed with the shutter key 9 in the “half-pressed” state to lock the in-focus state and the exposure state, and then the second stage stroke operation, that is, the shutter key 9 “all” It is assumed that shooting is performed in the focused state and the exposed state locked in the “push” state. In the following description, a semi-transparent image is used as the framing image, but the framing image is not limited to this. For example, it may be the outline of a moving image displayed as a through image immediately before the mode switch key 8 is pressed, or It may be a silhouette image of a video.

  In FIG. 6, when the moving image shooting mode is selected, recording is started via the audio system block 35, and moving image data is taken in via the CCD imaging system block 30 and the color process circuit 40, and the image display unit 70. A through image is displayed, and moving image shooting is started by half-pressing the shutter key 9, and moving image data and recording data of the subject image are recorded in the image recording unit 80 (step V0).

  When the control unit 50 acquires key information (that is, a status signal from the key block 90) during the moving image shooting in step V0 (step V1), the control unit 50 examines the key information, and if the key information indicates the operation state of the zoom key, the step is performed. The process proceeds to V3, and if it means that the mode switch key 8 is depressed, the process proceeds to Step V4, and if it means that the shutter key 9 is fully depressed, the process proceeds to Step V15 (Step V2).

  When the zoom key is operated, the control unit 50 performs zoom lens control. That is, the zoom lens control signal is generated from the zoom lens position information from the zoom position detection sensor 12 and the zoom lens movement information corresponding to the operation of the zoom key, and is sent to the zoom motor driver 21 via the lens control block 55, and is sent to the zoom motor. 14 is driven to move the zoom lens to the wide side or the telephoto side, and the process returns to Step V1 (Step V3).

  When the mode switching key 8 is pressed, the control unit 50 stops moving image shooting (that is, recording of moving image data and recording data in the moving image recording unit 80), and zoom position information acquired from the zoom position detection sensor 12 immediately before that. Is stored (temporarily stored) in the RAM, and the process proceeds to Step V5 (Step V4).

  After the operation of the mode switching key 8, the control unit 50 waits for further key information acquisition. When the key information is acquired (step V5), the key information is checked. If the key information indicates the operation state of the zoom key, the control unit 50 proceeds to step V7. The process proceeds to step V8 if it means that the mode switch key 8 is depressed, and proceeds to step V14 if it means that the shutter key 9 is half-pressed (step V6).

  When the zoom key is operated, the control unit 50 performs zoom lens control similar to step V3, drives the zoom motor 14 to move the zoom lens to the wide side or the telephoto side, and returns to step V5 (step V7). .

  When the mode switching key 8 is pressed, the zoom position information held in the RAM in step V4 is extracted, a zoom lens control signal is generated based on the zoom position information, and the zoom motor driver is passed through the lens control block 55. 21, the zoom motor 14 is driven to move the zoom lens to the wide side or the telephoto side, and the position of the zoom lens is returned to the position immediately before the stop of moving image shooting in step V4 (step V8). Translucent images 72 and 74 are generated by further thinning out pixels from the image data held in the RAM in V4 (step V9).

  The control unit 50 further waits for acquisition of key information. When the key information is acquired (step V10), the key information is checked. If the key information indicates the operation state of the zoom key, the process proceeds to step V12 and the mode switching key 8 is depressed. Is returned to Step V5, and when it is meant that the shutter key 9 is half-pressed, the process proceeds to Step V13 (Step V11).

  When the zoom key is operated, the control unit 50 performs zoom lens control similar to step V3, drives the zoom motor 14 to move the zoom lens to the wide side or the telephoto side, and returns to step V9 (step V12). .

  When the shutter key 9 is pressed halfway, moving image shooting is started, a transparent image is displayed on the moving image through image, T4 framing assistance is performed (see steps T1 to T7 in FIG. 7), and moving image shooting is completed. The process returns to step V1 (step V13).

  If the shutter key 9 is half-pressed in step V6, the still image shooting process or the like (see step U1 to step U7 in FIG. 8) is started and the process returns to step V5 (step V14).

  Further, when the shutter key 9 is fully pressed during the moving image shooting in step V0, the moving image shooting is ended, and the moving image file and the recorded data recorded in the moving image shooting mode as shown in the example of FIG. Is recorded again in the image recording unit 80 (step V15).

Through the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, when moving image shooting is paused for still image shooting, through image data is stored in the RAM together with the zoom position information immediately before that, and is stored when still image shooting is completed. By retrieving the zoom position information that has been stored and returning the position of the zoom lens to the position immediately before the stop of the moving image shooting in step V4, the angle of view immediately before the stop of the moving image shooting is reproduced, and the through image data stored in the half is restored. Since a translucent image is generated and the translucent image is superimposed and displayed during through display after resuming moving image shooting, the digital camera 100 is moved and checked so that the shooting angle is substantially the same as the frame immediately before the moving image shooting is stopped. Movie shooting can be started at approximately the same shooting angle as the frame immediately before shooting is stopped, and a semi-transparent image is superimposed on the through image. Ri so easy to match the shooting angle to the shooting angle just before stop video recording enables more accurate angle setting, it is possible to smooth the video continues.
That is, the angle of view (for example, the diagonal angle of view) is determined by the focal length of the photographic lens and the screen size, but since the screen size is constant, the focal length of the photographic lens that changes following the zoom position is the zoom position information. You can know based on. Therefore, the zoom position information can be held in a memory such as a RAM immediately before moving image shooting is stopped as the angle of view information, and can be taken out after moving image shooting is resumed and used to return the angle of view.

  The image stored for the translucent image in step V4 is not limited to a through image, and may be image data taken into the work memory 60 via the imaging system 30 and the color process circuit 40.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the moving image shooting processing operation in step V13 of FIG.
When the shutter key 9 is half-pressed in step V11 of FIG. 6, the control unit 50 thins out the moving image data generated by obtaining the CCD imaging system block 30 and the color process circuit 40 as shown in FIG. Then, through display is performed on the monitor screen of the image display unit 70 (step T1).

  Next, the control unit 50 sends the translucent image data generated in step V9 in the flowchart of FIG. 6 to the image display unit 70 so as to be superimposed on the through image (see FIG. 9) (step T2).

  The control unit 50 checks the key information from the key block 90, and if key information indicating that the shutter key 9 is half-pressed is received, the process proceeds to step T4, and if there is a key operation other than half-pressing the shutter key 9. Returns to step T1 (step T3).

  When the shutter key 9 is pressed halfway, the transmission of the translucent image data generated in step V9 to the image display unit 70 is stopped, and the display of the translucent image on the monitor screen is erased (step T4).

  Next, the control unit 50 checks the key information from the key block 90. If key information indicating that the shutter key 9 is fully pressed is received, the control unit 50 proceeds to step T6, and any key operation other than half-pressing the shutter key 9 is performed. If there is, or if the key is not operated even after a predetermined time has elapsed, the process returns to step V1 in FIG. 6 (step T5).

  When the shutter key 9 is pressed halfway, recording is performed via the audio system block 35, and moving image shooting is performed by capturing image data via the CCD imaging system block 30 and the color process circuit 40 (step T6). The audio data is compressed by the audio compression processing unit 48, and the moving image data is compressed by the JPEG / MPEG unit 45, and the compressed audio data and moving image data are associated with each other and recorded on the SD card of the image recording unit 80. The process returns to T1 (step T7).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the still image shooting processing operation in step V14 of FIG.
When the key information in V6 in FIG. 6 means that the shutter key 9 is half-pressed, the moving image data generated immediately before the shutter key 9 is half-pressed is held in the work memory 60, and the image recording unit 80 stores the predetermined time interval. The process of recording repeatedly on the SD card is started. This repetitive processing is performed in parallel with still image shooting until it is determined in step V6 in FIG. 6 that the mode switching key 8 has been pressed (step U1).

  The control unit 50 performs autofocus (AF) processing and auto iris (AE) processing at a focal length corresponding to the zoom position selected at that time (step U2), and the CCD image pickup system block 30 and the color process circuit 40. The generated image data is thinned out and displayed through on the monitor screen of the image display unit 70 (step U3), and it is checked whether or not the shutter key 9 is fully pressed, and the shutter key 9 is fully pressed. If YES in step U5, the flow advances to step U5. Otherwise, the flow returns to step U3 to repeat the operation of displaying a through image (step U4).

  When the shutter key 9 is fully pressed, still image shooting processing, that is, image data generated by obtaining the CCD imaging system block 30 and the color process circuit 40 immediately before the shutter key 9 is fully pressed is taken into the work memory 60. At the same time, it is sent to the image display unit 70 to display a still image (step U5). When the still image shooting process is completed, the process proceeds to step U7 (step U6).

  Next, the image data (still image data) for one frame stored in the work memory 60 is compressed by the JPEG / MPEG unit 45, and the compressed still image data is recorded on the SD card of the image recording unit 80. Then, the process returns to step V5 in FIG. 6 (step U7).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a semi-transparent image superimposed and displayed on a through image at the time of restarting moving image shooting. Solid line images 71 and 73 are through images of moving images captured after restart of moving image shooting. The broken line images 72 and 74 indicate the semi-transparent images of the through images (one frame) of the moving image displayed immediately before the stop of moving image shooting by the previous mode switching operation.
In the example of FIG. 9, the moving images 71 and 73 and the semi-transparent images 72 and 74 show two people who are dancing.

<Modification 1>
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a modification of the moving image shooting processing operation in step V13 of FIG. 6, and the operations after step T1 and step T3 are the same as the operations after step T1 and step T3 in the flowchart of FIG.
In the description of the flowchart of FIG. 6, a semi-transparent image is generated in step V9, and the semi-transparent image is displayed on the moving image through image in step V13 (= steps T1 to T7 in FIG. 7) to assist framing. However, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10, in step T2-1 “the contour extracting unit 46 extracts the contour data of the image from the image data held in the RAM in step V4 of FIG. 6”, and in step T2. 2 may be “sent to the image display unit 70 and superimposed with the moving image through image 81 to display the contour 82 (see FIG. 11)”.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the contour superimposed on the through image at the time of the resumed moving image shooting. Reference numeral 81 is a through image of the moving image (butterfly) captured this time, and reference numeral 82 is the previous time. This is the outline of the butterfly image that was retained when the shooting mode was switched from movie shooting to still image shooting, and the outline of the wing part was extracted and displayed.
In this way, even if the outline is superimposed on the through image, the current shooting angle can be easily matched with the shooting angle immediately before the stop of moving image shooting, so that a more accurate angle setting can be made and smooth moving image continuation is possible.

<Modification 2>
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a modification of the moving image shooting processing operation in step V13 of FIG. 6, and the operations after step T1 and step T3 are the same as the operations after step T1 and step T3 in the flowchart of FIG.
In the description of the flowchart of FIG. 6, a semi-transparent image is generated in step V9, and the semi-transparent image is displayed on the moving image through image in step V13 (= steps T1 to T7 in FIG. 7) to assist framing. However, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 12, in step T2-1, “framing data is extracted from the image data stored in the RAM in step V4 of FIG. "In step T2-2," generate silhouette data with the same outline filled in with the same color ", and in step T2-3," send to the image display unit 70 and superimpose the moving image through image 91 on the silhouette image. " May be displayed (see FIG. 13).

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a silhouette image superimposed and displayed on a through image at the time of restarted moving image shooting. Reference numeral 91 is a through image of a moving image (butterfly) currently captured, and reference numeral 92 is This is a silhouette image of the butterfly image that was retained when the shooting mode was switched from the previous movie shooting to the still image shooting, and the silhouette of the wing part is displayed.
In this way, even if the silhouette image is superimposed on the through image, the current shooting angle can be easily adjusted to the shooting angle immediately before the movie shooting is stopped, so that more accurate angle setting is possible, and smooth movie continuation is possible. .

  In the above embodiment, when the shooting mode is switched from movie shooting to still image shooting, the image data of the movie immediately before the switching is retained, and the shooting mode is switched from still image shooting to movie shooting by switching the shooting mode again. The translucent image, contour, or silhouette image is generated from the stored image data and displayed on the through image so that the optical axis of the camera does not shift during switching. In other words, it is desirable to continue shooting with the camera held at the same position, but the framing can be adjusted according to the translucent image, contour, or silhouette image displayed in the through image. Take a still image while recording a moving subject like butterflies 81 and 91 shown in Fig. 13 or a child. When you want to shoot a movie, you can start shooting a movie when the subject is in a posture that is almost the same as a framing image such as a translucent image, contour, or silhouette image. Can also be produced on the composition.

  In the above embodiment, in the moving image shooting mode, the moving image shooting is started when the shutter key 9 is “half-pressed” and the moving image shooting is ended when the shutter key 9 is “fully pressed”. Is provided with a video recording start / end button so that video recording starts when the video recording start / end button is pressed in video recording mode, and video recording ends when the video recording start / end button is pressed again. Good.

  In the above embodiment, the digital camera 100 is provided with a dedicated button (mode switching key 8) for mode switching. However, the dedicated button may not be provided and may be used as another key. Further, the mode may be switched by using remote photographing instruction means such as an infrared remote controller.

  In the above embodiment, the mode switching operation is performed when returning from still image shooting to moving image shooting. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the number of still images may be set in advance so that the set number of still images can be set, and the shooting can be returned to moving image shooting.

  In each of the above explanations, a digital camera is taken as an example, but the present invention is also applicable to a camera-equipped mobile phone. However, when using a camera-equipped mobile phone with a one-stroke shutter operation, the “half-press of the shutter key 9” operation and the “full-press of the shutter key” operation in FIGS. Shall.

  As mentioned above, although several Example of this invention was described, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to said each Example, A various deformation | transformation implementation is possible. For example, the term imaging device can be applied to a digital camera, a camera-equipped mobile phone, and an information device having an imaging unit.

It is a figure which shows an example of an external appearance structure of a digital camera. It is a block diagram which shows one Example of the circuit structure of a digital camera. It is explanatory drawing of the transition of the audio | voice data and image data by the parallel operation of recording and recording. It is a schematic diagram of the moving image file and still image file which are recorded on an image recording part. It is explanatory drawing of the area | region use state of a work memory. It is a flowchart which shows switching operation | movement of a moving image shooting mode and a still image shooting mode. It is a flowchart which shows the moving image shooting processing operation in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the still image shooting operation | movement in FIG. It is a figure which shows one Example of the translucent image superimposed and displayed on the through image at the time of the video recording restarted. It is a flowchart which shows the modification of the moving image shooting processing operation at the time of switching between moving image shooting mode and still image shooting mode. It is a figure which shows one Example of the outline superimposed and displayed on the through image at the time of the video recording restarted. It is a flowchart which shows the modification of the moving image shooting processing operation at the time of switching between moving image shooting mode and still image shooting mode. It is a figure which shows one Example of the silhouette image superimposed and displayed on the through image at the time of the video recording restarted.

Explanation of symbols

8 Mode switching button (mode switching means)
12 Zoom position detection sensor (view angle reproduction means)
14 Zoom motor (view angle reproduction means)
21 Zoom motor driver (view angle reproduction means)
46 contour extraction unit 50 control unit (mode switching unit, field angle reproduction unit, framing image generation unit, correlation degree calculation unit, display control unit)
55 Lens control block (field angle reproduction means)
70 Image display section (display section)
72, 74 Translucent image (framing image)
75 Correlation information 80 Image recording unit (recording memory)
100 Digital camera (imaging device)

Claims (8)

Photographing means for photographing moving images and still images;
Display means for displaying a moving image photographed by the photographing means as a through image;
A shooting mode for switching between a moving image shooting mode for recording moving image data representing a moving image shot by the shooting means and a still image shooting mode for recording still image data expressing a still image shot by the shooting means. Switching means;
A first holding means for holding the angle-of-view information immediately before this when the shooting mode switching means switches from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode;
A second holding unit that holds moving image data representing a moving image shot by the shooting unit immediately before the switching from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit; ,
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means, the angle of view of the shooting means becomes the angle of view indicated by the angle of view information held by the first holding means. And an angle of view control means for controlling the angle of view of the photographing means,
Generating means for generating a framing moving image based on the moving image data held by the second holding means when the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means;
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit, a first framing moving image generated by the generating unit is displayed on the through image displayed on the display unit. Display control means,
An imaging apparatus comprising: A shutter key that accepts a half-press operation for focusing and a full-press operation for recording still image data representing a still image captured by the imaging means;
Second display control means for erasing the moving image generated by the generation means displayed on the display means when a half-press operation is performed on the shutter key;
The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: After being switched from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit, the image was shot by the shooting unit before being switched from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit. Record moving image data representing moving images
The photographing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that Comprising recording means for recording sound when a moving image is photographed by the photographing means;
The recording unit continues the recording operation even after the shooting mode switching unit switches from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode.
The photographing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The generation unit generates a translucent image generated from the moving image data held by the second holding unit as the framing moving image.
The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographing apparatus is characterized in that: The generating unit generates a contour image generated based on contour data extracted from the moving image data held by the second holding unit as the framing moving image.
The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographing apparatus is characterized in that: The generation unit generates a silhouette image having the same color inside from the moving image data held by the second holding unit, and generates the generated silhouette image as the framing moving image.
The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographing apparatus is characterized in that: Recording means for photographing a moving image and a still image, display means for displaying the moving image photographed by the photographing means as a through image, and moving image data representing the moving image photographed by the photographing means are recorded. A computer comprising: a movie shooting mode; and a shooting mode switching unit that switches between a still image shooting mode for recording still image data representing a still image shot by the shooting unit;
A first holding means for holding the angle-of-view information immediately before this time when the moving image shooting mode is switched to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means;
A second holding unit for holding moving image data representing a moving image shot by the shooting unit immediately before the switching from the moving image shooting mode to the still image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit;
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means, the angle of view of the shooting means becomes the angle of view indicated by the angle of view information held by the first holding means. Angle of view control means for controlling the angle of view of the photographing means,
Generating means for generating a framing moving image based on the moving image data held by the second holding means when the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching means;
When the still image shooting mode is switched to the moving image shooting mode by the shooting mode switching unit, a first framing moving image generated by the generating unit is displayed on the through image displayed on the display unit. Display control means,
Program to function as.

Images