The present document is based on Japanese Priority Document JP2003-432261, filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Dec. 26, 2003, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera equipped with a grip belt.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cameras such as, for example, video cameras are well known. Such a video camera is provided with a camera body formed in a flat rectangular shape of a length from front to back and height from top to bottom greater than the thickness from left to right, a photographing optical system provided so as to be exposed from the upper part of a front surface of the camera body, photographing operation members provided at the upper front part of the right side surface of the camera body, and a grip belt provided at the right side surface of the camera body. The ends of this kind of grip belt are connected to locations at the front part and rear part of the side surface of the camera body. The palm of the right hand is then made to face the side surface of the camera body. The four fingers with the exception of the thumb are then inserted into a space formed between the grip belt and the side surface of the camera body with the back of the right hand facing the inside of the grip belt so that, for example, the thumb is positioned at the lower part or the rear part of the camera body. The fingers with the exception of the thumb are then positioned at the upper part or front part of the camera body. This means that photographing operation members can then be operated while the camera body is gripped using the thumb and the other fingers (for example, refer to patent document 1).
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-53987
With cameras of the related art, however, the fingertips are not always positioned at appropriate locations for gripping the camera when the hand is inserted between the camera body side surface and the grip belt. This is disadvantageous with regard to gripping the camera body securely. And, the fingers are not always positioned at locations where it is easy to operate the photographing operation members, so this is also disadvantageous with regard to operation. Further, because the hand is inserted between the camera body side surface and the grip belt, the inserted hand becomes restrained by the camera body side surface and the grip belt. More specifically, the palm of the hand is always restrained at the side surface of the camera body and there is no longer any degree of freedom for the palm of the hand, which puts a limit on improvements to handling and manageability. The present invention sets out to resolve this situation. The present invention provides a camera where it is easy for a user to grip a camera body, it is easy for the user to operate, and it is advantageous for improving handling and manageability.
In order to bring about the aforementioned advantages, a camera according to the present invention includes: a camera body formed in a flat rectangular shape of a length from front to back and a height from top to bottom greater than a thickness from left to right; a photographing optical system provided so as to be exposed from the upper part of a front surface of the camera body; a photographing operation member provided at the upper front part of the right side surface of the camera body; and a grip belt provided at the right side surface of the camera body. The grip belt has a first belt attached to the lower part of the front part of the camera body so as to be hung down from the lower part with a belt connecting link being attached to the lower end of the belt, and a second belt connected to the belt connecting link. The second belt has a hand insertion section of a size that allows insertion of four fingers of the right hand with the exception of the thumb and the palm portion of the hand corresponding to the four fingers. The hand insertion section is provided by an inside belt section positioned at the right side surface of the camera body and an outside belt section positioned to the outside of the inside belt section. One end of the inside belt section in the longitudinal direction is connected to the belt connecting link and the other end in the longitudinal direction is attached to the rear part of the right side surface of the camera body. The hand insertion section therefore takes on a long shape in a direction from the front to the rear of the camera body on the right side surface of the camera body due to the inside belt section, and it is tilted so that the rear end of the hand insertion section is positioned above the front end of the hand insertion section. The four fingers of the right hand with the exception of the thumb and the palm part of the hand corresponding to the four fingers are then inserted through the hand insertion section so that the tip of the thumb comes into contact with the rear surface of the camera, and the camera is held with at least the tips of the middle finger and third finger coming into contact with the front surface of the camera body. It is then possible to operate photographing operation members using the index finger.
As a result, according to the present invention, the hand is inserted into a hand insertion section where a substantial range of freedom of movement with respect to the right side surface of the camera body, is ensured by the first belt. This differs from the related art in that a substantial degree of freedom for the palm of the hand can be ensured. It is also easy for the fingertips to reach appropriate locations for gripping the camera body which enables the camera body to be securely held. The fingers also can easily reach locations where it is easy to operate the photographing operation members, which is advantageous in operating photographing operation members provided at the upper part of the front part of the right side surface of the camera body. This means that there is no restriction of the hand due to the camera body side surface as in the related art, a substantial degree of freedom can be ensured for the palm of the hand, and it is advantageous for improving handling and manageability.
The advantages of making the camera body easy to grip, making operation straightforward, and improving handling and manageability is achieved by providing a hand insertion section of a size capable of enabling four fingers and the palm corresponding to the four fingers to be inserted through at a grip belt.
The following is a description with reference to the drawings of a first embodiment of the present invention. In this specification, left and right of the camera is taken to be the left and right of the camera as viewed from the rear.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
A backlight button 28 is provided on an upper side and a start/stop button 30 is provided on a lower side at a location positioned on the opposite side to the hinge 2502 of the inner surface 2506, and, more specifically, at a location positioned on the opposite side to the hinge 2502 in a direction from the front to the rear of the case. The backlight button 28 is for turning the backlight of the display 26 on and off, and the start/stop button 30 starts and stops recording of moving images in the same way as the start/stop button 18. The backlight button 28 and the start/stop button 30 are provided located at a position on the opposite side to the hinge 2502 of the inner surface 2506 of the display unit 24. If the screen surface of the display unit 24 is then facing the user side when taking high-angle or low-angle pictures as shown in
A grip belt 40 is provided at the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10, as shown in
The second belt 44 is provided so as to be joined to the belt connecting link 4202. As shown in
As a result of connecting both ends in the longitudinal direction of the inside belt section 4402 to the belt connecting link 4202 and the engaging/disengaging mechanism 46 in this manner, the hand insertion section 48 takes on a long shape in a direction from the front to the rear of the camera body 10 at the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10 and the rear end of the hand insertion section 48 is inclined so as to be positioned higher than the front end of the hand insertion section 48. More specifically, looking from the side of the camera body 10, the front part in the longitudinal direction of the hand insertion section 48 is positioned below the camera body 10, a middle section in the longitudinal direction of the hand insertion section 48 is positioned in the vicinity of the lower surface of the camera body 10, and the rear part of the hand insertion section 48 is positioned to the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10. Further, the hand insertion section 48 is such that the front end of the hand insertion section 48 is capable of moving in a vertical direction and in a direction away from the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10 by taking a location at the rear end attached to the engaging/disengaging mechanism 46 as a fulcrum, and therefore a degree of freedom can be ensured. Moreover, the front end of the hand insertion section 48 is connected to the lower end of the first belt 42. The front end of the hand insertion section 48 is therefore capable of moving within a range corresponding to the range of movement of the first belt 42 by taking the mounting section 1014 as a fulcrum, and therefore a larger degree of freedom can therefore be ensured for the hand insertion section 48. A back hand pad 50 is attached at the outside belt section 4404. The back hand pad 50 is made, for example, from a flexible material such as artificial leather, thick cloth, flexible synthetic resin, or flexible rubber, etc. In this embodiment, a pad 52 is attached to the back hand pad 50. The pad 52 makes contact with the palm of the hand when the four fingers of the right hand except for the thumb and the part of the palm corresponding to the four fingers are inserted in the hand insertion section 48 and covers the inside belt section 4402. The pad 52 is made, for example, from a flexible material such as artificial leather, thick cloth, flexible synthetic resin, or flexible rubber, etc. As described above, by attaching the back hand pad 50 to the outside belt section 4404 and providing the pad 52 continuing on from the pad 50 at the inside belt section 4402, it is possible for the user to find out instantly whether the palm of his/her hand has passed through the hand insertion section 48. It is therefore possible to hold the camera 10 by inserting the four fingers with the exception of the thumb and the part of the palm corresponding to these four fingers through the hand insertion section 48 so that the end of the thumb comes into contact with the rear surface of the camera body 10 and at least the tip of the middle finger and the tip of the third finger come into contact with the front surface of the camera body 10. It is then possible to operate the zoom lever 20 and the shutter button 22 using the index finger.
Giving a detailed description of the second belt 44 as shown in
Next, a description is given of the results of the operation. In this embodiment, as shown in
In this case, in a difference from the related art, rather than a hand being inserted between the side surface of the camera body 10 and the grip belt, a hand is passed through the hand insertion section 48 capable of freely moving with respect to the right side surface 1012 of the camera body. And, also, the front end of the insertion section 48 is connected to the lower end of the first belt 42 at a distance below the lower part of the front end of the camera body 10, so that a greater range of freedom of movement with respect to the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10 is ensured. The hand inserted into the hand insertion section 48 therefore is not restrained by the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10 and the grip belt 40, a large degree of freedom for the palm of the hand can be ensured, and it is easy for the fingers to reach appropriate locations because the camera body 10 is held in the fingertips. This is advantageous for the camera body 10 to be securely gripped. The fingers easily reach locations where it is easy to operate photographing operation members such as the zoom lever 20 and the shutter button 22, etc.; and there also is the advantage of operating the photographing operation member provided at the upper part of the front part of the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10. Further, in a difference with the related art, rather than inserting the hand between the side surface of the camera body 10 and the grip belt 40, the hand is inserted into the hand insertion section 48, ensuring a substantial degree of freedom of movement with respect to the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10. It is therefore possible to ensure a substantial degree of freedom for the hand without the hand being restricted by the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10 as in the related art so that handling and manageability can be improved.
In this embodiment, the rear end of the inside belt section 4402 is attached in a detachable manner to the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10. It is therefore possible to use the grip belt 40 as a strap belt by removing the rear end portion of the inside belt section 4402 from the right side surface 1012 of the camera body 10. In other words, as shown in
In this embodiment, a description is given for the case where the grip belt 40 is constructed from the first belt 42 and the second belt 44 separate from the first belt 42. However, it is also possible for the grip belt 40 to be configured from a single belt depending on the handling condition of the belt and/or the structure of the belt connecting link 4202. The present invention can then naturally be applied to a configuration where the grip belt 40 is a single belt. In this case, the belt portion corresponding to this embodiment will correspond to the first belt 42 and the second belt 44 respectively. Moreover, this embodiment shows an example where the camera is a video camera, but the present invention also may be applied naturally to various cameras such as digital cameras, television cameras or film-type cameras.
Finally, the embodiments and examples described above are only examples of the present invention. It should be noted that the present invention is not restricted only to such embodiments and examples, and various modifications, combinations and sub-combinations in accordance with its design or the like may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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P2003-432261 | Dec 2003 | JP | national |