JPH0342749B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

(Technical Field) The present invention relates to an electronic camera having means for changing the driving method of an image sensor. (Background Art) Electronic cameras are promising cameras that can replace silver-halide cameras, but their fundamental problem is firstly that of power consumption.
In other words, when shooting still images intermittently,
Power consumption is not a big problem, but especially for cameras that are connected or equipped with electronic monitors,
The problem of power consumption is extremely important because continuous monitoring or playback cannot be performed unless the photographing system or playback system is continuously driven. Second, there are performance problems such as the resolution of electronic monitors. If the resolution of the electronic monitor is low, false resolution etc. will occur if the same signal processing method is used during monitoring as during recording or reproducing. Furthermore, if the monitor does not have the capability commensurate with the imaging or recording capability, for example, the imaging signal or recording signal is a color signal but the monitor is a monochrome one,
Alternatively, if the reproduction band of the monitor is not as wide as the imaging or recording band, the circuit configuration should be adapted to the characteristics of the monitor, which is important from the standpoint of reducing power consumption and improving image quality. The third problem is the relationship between the resolution of the monitor and the drive method of the image sensor.If the method drives the image sensor in the same mode during monitoring as during recording or playback, high performance is required of the monitor device. However, if the resolution in the vertical direction is made to match that of the image sensor, the cost will increase. The fourth problem is that when an electronic camera uses an image sensor whose drive method can be changed, the sensitivity of the image sensor changes due to the change in the drive method, and the level of the signal output from the image sensor changes. It happened to me once. When an image corresponding to a signal output from such an image sensor is displayed on, for example, a monitor device, the sensitivity of the image sensor changes due to the change in the drive method.
Since the level of the signal output from the image sensor changes, the brightness of the image displayed on the monitor device changes, making it impossible to display a stable image. In addition, when the sensitivity of the image sensor changes due to the change in the drive method as described above, and the level of the signal output from the image sensor changes, the signal output from the image sensor is amplified by an amplifier etc. and corrected. However, in this case, the provision of such an amplifier not only complicates the configuration and increases costs, but also causes problems such as deterioration of the signal-to-noise ratio and conspicuous generation of noise components. be. By the way, in conventional electronic cameras, no particular consideration was given to these problems. (Purpose) This invention aims to solve the fourth problem among the above-mentioned problems, and solves the problem of lowering the sensitivity of an image sensor due to a change in the driving method, level changes and noise components in the signal output from the image sensor. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera equipped with a means for preventing the occurrence of. (Explanation based on Examples) Hereinafter, the means taken in this invention to achieve the above object will be exemplified and explained with reference to the illustrated embodiments. The following description describes the overall configuration of an embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention, the driving method of the image sensor in the monitor mode, the means for adding signal charges in the horizontal shift register in one embodiment of the present invention, and the embodiment of the present invention. This is done in the order of the power supply system and signal processing circuit that are applied. (Overall configuration of an embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention) (Figure 1) Figure 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention. The light passes through the imaging optical system 2 and the shutter/aperture mechanism 3 and is received on the surface of the imaging sensor 4. The image sensor 4 can be composed of a two-dimensional or one-dimensional solid-state image sensor such as a CCD or an image pickup tube.
Here, it is assumed that it is a two-dimensional CCD. Reference numeral 5 denotes an automatic focus adjustment (AF)/zoom drive control device, which controls the focusing device, focal length, etc. of the imaging optical system 2. 6 is a shutter/aperture drive control device for automatic exposure control (AE), and drives and controls the shutter/aperture mechanism 3. The configurations and functions of these individual elements or devices are well known, so detailed explanations thereof will be omitted. Reference numerals 7A and 7B are drive control circuits for the image sensor 4, which control the impedance, pulse level, rise time and fall time, and the like. Of these, 7A is a drive control circuit for the monitor mode, which will be described later, and 7B is a drive control circuit for the imaging mode, which will be described later.By switching the selector S1, the clock pulses generated by the clock generator 8 are adjusted according to each of the above modes. is supplied to either side. The mode of control of the image sensor 4 by the drive control circuits 7A and 7B will be described later with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. Although the drive control circuits 7A and 7B are illustrated as separate blocks to make the explanation easier to understand, they share some of their constituent elements.
Alternatively, all of the constituent elements can be made common by mechanically or electronically variably controlling the circuit constants. , 21B. Note that the above-mentioned imaging mode refers to a recording mode described later, an external recording mode, an external monitor mode when an external monitor with high resolution is used, or another mode in which the imaging sensor is driven for the purpose of imaging. The output of the image sensor 4 is sent to an image signal processing circuit 9
It is input to A and 9B. Of these, the processing circuits 9A and 9B are configured to be suitable for processing the output of the image sensor 4 in the monitor mode and the image capture mode, respectively. The output of the processing circuit 9A is connected to the terminal a of the selector S3, and the output of the processing circuit 9B is input to the recording signal processing circuit 10 and connected to the b terminal of the selector S2.
The recording signal processing circuit 10 converts the output of the imaging signal processing circuit 9B into a signal suitable for recording, and the output is recorded on a magnetic disk 18, which is a recording medium, by a recording head 16 via a recording amplifier 14. Although FIG. 1 shows a magnetic disk, the recording medium in the present invention may be a magnetic tape, or a recording medium using a recording method such as optical recording, optical/magnetic recording, or magnetic bubble recording. The recording head 16 also serves as a reproducing head 17, which will be described later.
It may also be used for both. The magnetic disk 18 is driven and controlled by a motor servo device 19. Signals recorded or previously recorded on the magnetic disk 18 are read out by the reproduction head 17, passed through the reproduction amplifier 15, and inputted to the reproduction signal processing circuit 21A or 21B according to the setting of the selector S4. The processing circuits 21A and 21B are respectively configured to be suitable for supplying reproduction signals to the monitor 24 and an external monitor (not shown), and their respective outputs are connected to the b terminal of the selector S3 and the selector S.
Connected to the a terminal of 2. The monitor 24 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), an electrochrominance display (ECD), or a cathode ray display,
The drive is controlled by a monitor drive device 25. 26
is an external video output terminal connected to the common terminal of the selector S2, and the power supply source 27 is connected to the connection line L.
Power is supplied to each of the above-mentioned circuits or devices via L1 to L14. (Driving method of the image sensor in the monitor mode according to the embodiment of the present invention) (Figs. 1 to 3) This invention is particularly useful when the pixel configuration of the electronic monitor built into the electronic camera is different from that of the image sensor. This relates to the case where the number of scanning lines is less than the number of vertical pixels of the image sensor, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. In addition, a decrease in sensitivity due to this is prevented. First, the electronic camera shown in FIG.
The monitor mode, recording mode, monitor playback mode, external monitor mode, external recording mode, and external playback mode are selected by the following settings of 1 to S4, respectively. (1) In monitor mode, S1 is connected to the a terminal, and S3 is connected to the a terminal. (2) In recording mode, S1 is connected to the b terminal and S3 is connected to the b terminal.
Connected to the terminal. (3) In monitor playback mode, S4 is connected to terminal a,
3 is connected to the b terminal. (4) In external monitor mode and external recording mode,
S2 is connected to the b terminal. (5) In external playback mode, S4 is connected to the b terminal, S2
is connected to the a terminal. In addition, in each external mode, external video output terminal 2
Each signal is supplied to an external device via 6. In the above, the selectors S1 to S4 that act as mode changeover switches can be configured to be linked to the release or configured as a dial switch, and in the recording mode, the selector S3 can be connected to the a terminal as necessary. Good too. Regarding the circuit switching shown in FIG. 1, various other modes are possible. Furthermore, as will be described later, in accordance with the above settings of the selectors S1 to S4, unnecessary parts (circuits or devices) in the electronic camera shown in FIG. It is possible to cut off the supply or reduce the power supply. Here, the scanning and signal readout operations of the image sensor 4 when the drive control circuit 7A or 7B is switched will be described in detail. The electronic monitor 24 built into the electronic camera has n vertical display numbers and m horizontal display numbers as shown in FIG. 2, and the image sensor 4 has l display numbers as shown in FIG. Assume that it has vertical pixels and k columns of vertical registers 29. Here, we will take an interline CCD as an example of the image sensor 4 (the same applies to other solid-state optical sensors or image pickup tubes), and in general, in image sensors, due to the necessity of interlaced scanning, the sensor drive is also as shown in Fig. 3. After reading out the pixels marked with ○ in one field, the pixels marked with × are read out in one field, so l/2 lines are output in each field, and l lines are output in 1 frame of 2 fields. Become. Or recently, in order to reduce "afterimages", in a certain field, the signal charges of the pixels marked with ○ and the pixels marked with x, which are arranged vertically in the same figure, are added in the vertical shift register 29 and output as 1/2 lines. A method has also been proposed in which, in the next field, the signal charges of two pixels arranged above and below that are shifted by one pixel are added together and outputted as 1/2 lines to obtain an interlaced signal output. However, in any method, the number n of vertical displays on the electronic monitor 24 that should display the output of this sensor 4
is less than l (for example, but not limited to, l = 490 and n = 245), the resolution of the monitor is inferior, so the number of scanning lines of the image sensor 4 must be changed. is possible. In this embodiment, the image sensor 4 is driven with fewer scanning lines in the monitor mode than in the imaging mode. Next, as a means for achieving this, first of all, non-interlaced driving can be considered. This is ○ in Figure 3.
Output is performed only from pixels marked with a mark or only from pixels marked with an x mark. According to this driving method, the effective storage time in the sensor is approximately halved, resulting in a decrease in effective sensitivity, but the flickering (vertical slight movement) of the image on the monitor disappears. Even if non-interlaced driving is performed in the monitor mode using the built-in monitor 24, it goes without saying that the image sensor 4 will be interlaced driven as usual in the recording mode or the external monitor mode using a monitor with high vertical resolution. . However, simply driving the image sensor 4 with fewer scanning lines in monitor mode than in image capture mode will reduce the sensitivity as described above, so to prevent this, it is necessary to drive the image sensor 4 in monitor mode. The drive may be switched to add the signal charges. One means for this purpose is non-interlaced driving in which signal charges are added in the vertical register 29 as described above, but the pixel pairs to be added are not changed for each field. This eliminates image flickering and decrease in sensitivity. Further, as another means of adding signal charges, it is also possible to add vertical charges by 2, 3, etc. when moving the signal charges to the horizontal register 30 in FIG. 3. Further, by reducing the reset pulse drive frequency of the output amplifier of the image sensor 4, signal charges can be added at the output stage, and an increase in sensitivity can be expected. Furthermore, in a device having a plurality of horizontal shift registers, by changing the driving method, it is possible to integrate the addition into one horizontal shift register and increase the sensitivity. The last mentioned means will be explained in detail below. (Means for adding signal charges in a horizontal register in an embodiment of the present invention) (Figs. 4 to 6) Hereinafter, with reference to Figs. 4 to 6, signals by a horizontal shift register in an embodiment of the present invention The addition means will be explained. In the following description, first, the driving means of the image sensor in the imaging mode (for example, the recording mode) will be described, and then the mode of switching the driving means in the monitor mode will be described. It is assumed that the former processes color signals, and the latter processes black and white signals. FIG. 4 shows a general configuration of an image pickup sensor in an embodiment for this purpose. This sensor is a frame transfer type solid-state image pickup device, and 4A indicates its image pickup section and 4B indicates its memory section.
A color stripe filter for color separation is attached to the front surface of the imaging section 4A. 31-3
3 is a horizontal shift register corresponding to B, G, and R signals, respectively; 41 to 43 are B, G, and R signals, respectively;
This is a charge/voltage conversion amplifier for R signals. In other words, three horizontal shift registers (31 to 33) are provided as transfer paths for reading, depending on the type of color signal to be obtained, and charges corresponding to each color are distributed to dedicated horizontal shift registers 31 to 33, respectively. It is configured so that it can be input and read out. Therefore, each color signal is sent to each horizontal register 31 to 33.
sampled substantially at the amplifier 41
.about.43, each color signal is separated and output. Next, FIG. 5 shows the electrode configuration of the main part of the image sensor shown in FIG.
The parts up to are shown. Although not shown in FIG. 4, the bottom end of the image sensor of this embodiment, that is, the horizontal shift register 3
A charge clear drain CD is provided via a charge clear gate CL adjacent to the lower side of the charge clear drain CD, and a power supply level is connected to the drain CD. Furthermore, between the memory section 4B and the three horizontal shift registers 31 to 33, information on the three colors included in the last one horizontal line of the memory section 4B is stored in each of the three horizontal shift registers 31 to 33. A separation input section 34 is provided for performing parallel-to-serial conversion of charges, so to speak, for distributing and inputting charges. In the figure, the hatched area indicates the channel stop, and the dotted area indicates the electrode. 31E to 33E are the transfer electrodes of the horizontal shift registers 31 to 33, 34E is the separation input section 34, and 4BE is the transfer electrode of 4B of the memory section. . Note that although this example is configured to transfer by one-phase drive, it is also possible to perform multi-phase drive of two or more phases. In the figure, a unit cell is composed of a set of parts indicated by A, B, C, and D in order from the bottom, and A to D.
If the potential of each part of is expressed as P(A) to P(D), a virtual electrode (Virtual Phase) is formed by ion implantation etc. so that P(A)>P(B). , the potential level is fixed. Furthermore, the potentials of the parts C and D under each transfer electrode are always set so that P(C)>P(D), and when a low level potential is applied to each electrode, P(A)>P( B)＞P(C)P(D)
When a high-level potential is applied, P(C)>P(D)>P(A)>P(B). In FIG. 5, the symbol φ indicates a clock pulse applied to each electrode, and φ ₁ to _{φ 3} are applied to the electrodes 31E to 33E.
φ _T is the clock pulse applied to the electrode 34E, φ _S is the clock pulse applied to the electrode 4BE, and φ _CL is the clock pulse applied to the clear gate electrode, and FIGS. 6A and 6B show the clock timing in vertical transfer and horizontal transfer, respectively. ing. These clock pulses are in record mode or in external record or external monitor mode. Note that φI in FIG. 6 is a clock pulse for the imaging section 4A. To explain the operation of the image sensor 4 having the electrode configuration shown in FIG. 5, as shown in FIG. synchronously, period t ₁
During ~ _t2 , clock pulses φI, φS, φT, φ3,
By supplying clock pulses synchronized with each other and having substantially the same phase as φ2, φ1, and _φCL , at least the same number as the number of vertical pixels of the imaging section 4A, the charges remaining in the memory section 4B are discarded to the drain CD, and The charges in the imaging section 4A are transferred to the memory section 4B and stored therein. After time _t3 , the accumulated charge information in the last row of the memory section 4B is shifted one line at a time by the clock pulse φS, and the clock pulses φT, φ3, φ2, φ1 are supplied as shown in the figure, thereby providing three lines of information in the horizontal direction. The information is distributed and input into each of the horizontal shift registers 31 to 33 every three pixels, and the information in each register is sequentially read out after time _t4 . Here, in particular, the operation between times _t3 and _t4 , that is, the information of the last one line of the memory section 4B is transmitted to the three horizontal shift registers 31 to 34 through the separate input section 34.
33 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 5 and FIGS. 6A and 6B. For simplicity, in Figure 5,
Although only the movement of charge information in the three columns of the memory section 4B indicated by , and will be explained, it is naturally assumed that similar operations are similarly caused in each column of each of the other sets (three columns and one set). It is something that exists. First, at time _t3 , when the clock pulse φT goes high, one of the last lines of the memory section 4B
The charges accumulated in portions 16, 117, and 118 are transferred to portions 111 and 11 in the separation input section 34, respectively.
4,115, and then when this clock pulse φT goes low, these 111,
The charges transferred to portions 114 and 115 further move to portions 110, 113, and 106, respectively. Then, when clock pulses φ3, φ2, and φ1 are applied in order with a slight delay after clock pulse φT,
The charge that was on the 106 part of the separate input section 34, that is, the charge that was initially on the 118 column in the column indicated by I in the memory section 4B.
The charge accumulated in the horizontal register 33 is
The data is transferred through the portions 05 and 104, the portions 103 and 102 of the horizontal register 32, and the portion 101 of the horizontal register 31 to the portion 100 of the horizontal register 31, where it is accumulated. Next, when clock pulse φT is applied again,
The charges that were present at portions 111 and 114 of the separation input section 34 move to portions 108 and 106 through portions 109 and 112, respectively. Then, when the clock pulses φ ₃ and φ ₂ are sequentially applied with a slight delay after the clock pulse φT, the charge that was in the portion 106 of the separation input section 34, that is, the charge that was initially applied to the memory section 4
The charges accumulated in the section 117 of the column B move through the sections 105, 104 and 103 to the section 102 of the horizontal register 32, where they are accumulated. Next, when the clock pulse φT is applied again and again, the electric charge on the portion 108 of the separation input section 34 moves through the portion 107 to the portion 106. Then, when the clock pulse φ3 is applied with a slight delay after the clock pulse φT, the charge present at the section 106 of the separation input section 34, that is, the charge that was initially accumulated at the section 116 of the column shown in the memory section 4B. is moved through the section 105 to the section 104 of the horizontal register 33, where it is accumulated. As described above, the charges accumulated in the last line of the memory section 4B are distributed to the dedicated horizontal shift registers 31 to 33 for each group of columns through the separation input section 34, respectively. is input. Therefore, for example, if you use an R, G, B stripe filter, the column group is B,
When pasting them so that the column group corresponds to G and the column group corresponds to R, B is placed in the horizontal register 31, G is placed in the horizontal register 32, and G is placed in the horizontal register 33.
A charge corresponding to R is accumulated in . After that, after time _t4 , each horizontal register 31, 3
2 and 33 are respectively read out (OUT ₁ to OUT ₃ in FIG. 6B). Then, when the reading of charges for one horizontal line of the memory section 4B through the horizontal registers 31 to 33 is completed, , as shown in FIG. 6B, the memory section 4B
A clock pulse φS is applied to the clock pulse φS, and the accumulated charges in each horizontal line are moved vertically by one horizontal line, so that new charges are taken into the last line, and then from the above-mentioned time t ₃ to By performing the operation during _t4 , this new accumulated charge for one line is distributed and input to the horizontal registers 31-33. By repeating the above operations, the accumulated charges in all lines of the memory section 4B can be read out separately for each color of R, G, and B. The above operation is the imaging mode (e.g. recording mode)
In one embodiment of the present invention, as described above, in the monitor mode, signal charges are added and integrated into one horizontal shift register 33 in order to increase sensitivity. To this end, clock pulses φ2 and φ1 of FIGS. 6A and 6B are not activated, but only clock pulse φ3 is activated. Then,
118, 11 in the last line of memory section 4B
The operation in which the charges accumulated in the portions 7 and 116 are moved to the portions 105 and 104 of the horizontal shift register 33 is the same as described above, but since the horizontal shift registers 32 and 31 never go to high level, , charges are not transferred to these registers but are summed and integrated in the horizontal shift register 33. Of course, in this case, no color signal is output, but since it is assumed that the monitor (24 in FIG. 1) is a monochrome monitor, the monitor function is not affected. In addition, in the above-mentioned imaging mode (for example, recording mode), in order to prevent charge from mixing between the registers when horizontally transferring the input charges in the horizontal shift registers 31 to 33, each register 31 to 33 must be Alternatively, the charge may be moved from the portion corresponding to A to the portion corresponding to C of each register in the chronological order of registers 33→32→31 in the register corresponding to C in the chronological order. The movement of charge from the portion to the portion corresponding to A may be controlled so as to be performed in the reverse temporal order to that described above. As described above, when driving the image sensor (4 in Figure 1) with fewer scanning lines in the monitor mode than in the imaging mode, by adding the signal charge as described above, the decrease in resolution can be effectively compensated for. This can be used to increase sensor sensitivity, and the effect of improving monitor (finder) performance can be achieved.
Needless to say, in this case, the control constants of the shutter/aperture drive control device 6 for automatic exposure control are made different from those during photographing in response to the increase in sensor sensitivity. To explain an experimental example in which the above-mentioned signal addition means is applied, for example, three horizontal registers of 780 × 490,
Frame transfer CCD is used as an image sensor,
In an example where a signal from an imaging system using a striped color filter is output to a 260 x 245 black and white liquid crystal display, the sensitivity can be increased to about 6 times that of shooting, and only one horizontal register is driven. This makes it possible to reduce the overall power consumption to about 1/2. (Power supply system and signal processing circuit applied to embodiments of this invention) (Fig. 1) In implementing this invention, unnecessary parts of the electronic camera shown in Fig. 1 will be adjusted for each mode. By cutting off the power supply to the electronic camera or reducing the power supply as described below, it is possible to reduce the power consumption, which is an important issue mentioned above, in electronic cameras. In the following description, connection lines L1 to L14 indicate the parts to which power is supplied for each mode, and power supply is cut off or the power supply is reduced to other parts. (1) Monitor mode: L1 to L4, L7, L14 (2) Record mode: L1 to L3, L5, L6, L8
~L10 (3) Monitor playback mode: L10, L11, L1
3, L14 (4) External monitor mode and external recording mode: L1
~L3, L5, L6 (5) External playback mode: L10~L12 Note that in the recording mode, if necessary, power may be supplied via L13 and L14 in addition to the above to operate the monitor 24. In addition, as mentioned above, in order to cut off the power supply to unnecessary parts or reduce the supplied power for each mode, the above (1)
The rated voltage or current is supplied only to the connection wires listed in ~ (5), and the power supply via other connection wires is cut off or the supplied power is reduced, and selector S1
It is possible to configure the power supply to be automatically controlled in accordance with the operations in ~S4. As a modification of the above power supply system, a microprocessor is provided at the part 27 in Fig. 1, L1 to L14 are used as signal lines between the microprocessor and each part of the device, and power is supplied through separate connection lines. The power supply may be cut off or the power supply may be reduced in each part of the device. Furthermore, in carrying out the present invention, in addition to each of the above-mentioned means, corresponding to a predetermined mode,
It is possible to change the circuit configuration of the drive control circuit, the imaging signal processing circuit, the reproduction signal processing circuit, etc., or to change the circuit constants. For example, in the monitor mode, the drive control circuit 7A supplies clock pulses suitable for the monitor mode, and the imaging signal processing circuit 9A is configured to be suitable for processing the output of the image sensor 4 in the same mode, or these circuits Among them, those with a common circuit configuration are changed in circuit constants to be suitable for the same mode. In addition, in an imaging mode such as a recording mode, the drive control circuit 7B and the imaging signal processing circuit 9B are similarly switched, or if these circuits have a common circuit configuration, the circuit constants are changed to suit the imaging mode. do.
Furthermore, in the monitor playback mode, the circuit is similarly switched to the playback signal processing circuit 21A, or if the playback signal processing circuits have a common circuit configuration, the circuit constants are changed to suit the monitor playback mode. The circuit constants in each of the above modes can be automatically changed and controlled by mechanical or electronic means in conjunction with the selection of each mode, and the drive control circuit, imaging signal processing Even if a part of the circuit configuration, such as a circuit or a reproduction signal processing circuit, is common and the rest is provided separately according to each mode, it is possible to switch the remaining circuit in the same way as described above. . (Effects) As described above, according to the present invention, the image sensor is driven by a driving method that adds and outputs pixel signals formed in a predetermined pixel among a plurality of pixels provided on the imaging surface of the image sensor. When driving, the light amount adjustment mechanism is configured to set the amount of light of the subject image formed on the imaging surface in accordance with the driving method of the image sensor, so there is no need to configure a special amplifier etc. It is possible to reduce costs by eliminating the need for the image sensor, and also to prevent a decrease in sensitivity due to a change in the driving method of the image sensor, and to prevent level changes and noise components from occurring in the signal output from the image sensor.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the pixel configuration of the electronic monitor in the electronic camera of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the driving mode of the image sensor. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an image sensor in an embodiment in which signal charges are added by a horizontal shift register in the electronic camera shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is an explanation showing details of the electrode configuration of the image sensor shown in FIG. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams of clock timings in vertical transfer and horizontal transfer of the image sensor shown in FIG. 4, respectively. Explanation of the symbols, 1... Subject, 2... Imaging optical system, 3... Shutter/aperture mechanism, 4... CCD which is an image sensor, 5... Automatic focus adjustment/zoom drive control device, 6... Shutter/ Aperture control device, 7
A, 7B... Image sensor drive control circuit, 8... Clock generator, 9A, 9B... Imaging signal processing circuit, 18... Magnetic disk as recording medium, 19
...Motor servo device, 21A, 21B...Reproduction signal processing circuit, 24...Electronic monitor, 25...Monitor drive device, 26...External video output terminal, 2
7... Power supply source, 31 to 33... Horizontal shift register, 34... Separation input section, S1 to S
4...Selector.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1 A first output mode in which a first image signal is output and a second output mode in which a second image signal different from the first image signal is output; an instruction means for instructing one of the two output modes, and a plurality of pixels on an imaging surface for forming a subject image, and when the first output mode is instructed by the instruction means, By outputting a plurality of pixel signals respectively formed in a plurality of pixels on the imaging surface according to the subject image formed on the imaging surface, the first
When an image signal is generated and a second output mode is instructed, the second image signal can be generated by adding and outputting pixel signals formed at a predetermined pixel among the plurality of pixels. , said first
an image sensor capable of generating either an image signal or a second image signal; a light amount adjustment mechanism that adjusts the amount of light of a subject image formed on an imaging surface of the image sensor; means for controlling the setting of a light amount of a subject image, the light amount adjusting mechanism performing different controls depending on whether a first output mode is instructed by the instruction means or a second output mode is instructed by the instruction means. An electronic camera characterized by comprising a light amount adjustment control means.