Patent Application
20160097965
The present invention relates to a rear lens cap for a camera lens, and more particularly, to a stand style rear lens cap for a detachable lens of a camera.
The rear lens cap has been a big headache for the user in the process of replacing a conventional camera lens. In order to protect the rear piece of the lens from being exposed to scratching and dusts, the lens detached during the replacement operation must be firstly covered by the rear lens cap that has been previously removed and then a lens to be installed is removed; and meanwhile, the rear lens cap that has been unscrewed must be placed at an appropriate place (to prevent exposure to dusts or failure to find the rear lens cap after a while) before putting the lens on the camera body.
In the aforesaid process of replacing the camera lens, putting on and unscrewing the lens cap both require the use of both hands: the lens body is held by one hand while the lens cover is screwed by the other hand. This causes the camera body hung on the user's body to swing, and in such situations, it is very likely that the camera body is damaged due to accidental collision with the lens held by the hand or with other things.
Moreover, the photosensitive elements and the rear piece of the replaced lens, which are the most important elements for the modern digital cameras, are both exposed to the outside in the process of replacing the lens. The longer the time taken to replace the lens is, the higher the possibility that the photosensitive elements and the lens are stained by dusts will be and, also, the probability of missing capture of an important picture will be. Therefore, the inconveniences in replacing the lens is one of the important reasons that many consumers do not like to use cameras with replaceable lenses.
Accordingly, how to provide a stand style rear lens cover to shorten the time necessary for replacing a detachable lens of a camera and to improve the safety in replacing the detachable lens is currently one of the important problems to be overcome.
In order to solve the problem that the conventional rear lens cap causes problems when the lens is replaced, the stand style rear lens cap of the present invention includes the rear lens cap and the stand that supports the lens body integrated together so that it can be joined with the lens through a very simple mechanism. Then, by appropriately setting the size of the stand that supports the lens body, the lens together with the stand can be placed to the bottom of a partition in a camera backpack so as to be fixed there. Meanwhile, by means of the supporting force that sticks the stand to the bottom, the user can intuitively remove the lens from or put the lens back to the stand directly and quickly with a single hand while the camera body is held stably by the other hand so that the new lens can be installed at the quickest speed after the original lens is detached. Thereby, the operation of replacing the lens that has been troublesome can become easy, quick and safe.
Even when being used in other places than in the camera backpack, the stand style rear lens cap of the present invention can make the operation of replacing the lens quicker and more convenient than the conventional way of replacing the rear piece of the lens. The main reason is that, it is unnecessary to hold the lens with one hand and unscrew or screw the rear lens cap with the other hand and to find a place for placing the rear lens cap or retrieve it from the place; and instead, the user can remove and put back the lens directly without having to move. Therefore, the stand style rear lens cap of the present invention can be used to completely replace the conventional rear lens cap.
The detailed technology and preferred embodiments implemented for the subject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanying the appended drawings for people skilled in this field to well appreciate the features of the claimed invention.
In the following descriptions, the present invention will be explained with reference to various exemplary embodiments. Nevertheless, these embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention to any specific example, environment, application, or particular implementation described herein. Therefore, descriptions of these example embodiments are only provided for purpose of illustration rather than to limit the present invention.
As shown in
As shown in
Referring back to
It shall be appreciated that wherever the stand body 1 is used, in a backpack or in other places such as in a moisture buster cabinet or on a desktop etc., the bottom of the stand body 1 will necessarily make close touch with a plane to make the other end of the central opening 3 closed, so the other end of the central opening 3 of the stand body 1 being closed (i.e., the central opening 3 is in the form of a recessed portion) or being open both fall within the scope of implementations of the stand body 1.
The engaging mechanisms between the stand body 1 and the detachable lens 8 and implementations thereof will be described as follows.
The first implementation (Mechanism 1):
As shown in
The way to achieve this: by making a first diameter 13 of the central opening 3 slightly larger than an outer diameter 14 of the rear-end projection 5, the detachable lens 8 can engage with the stand body 1 loosely (not tightly) without any resistance. This way allows the detachable lens 8 to be removed and placed back the most quickly.
Applicability: at this point, the stand body 1 may be viewed as a table for temporarily storing the detachable lens 8 which has been detached, so the user can place this kind of stand body 1 in one of partitions of the backpack for purpose of quickly replacing the detachable lens 8.
Advantages: it is very easy to place the detachable lens 8 that has been detached into the stand body 1, and the time taken to replace the detachable lens 8 is the shortest.
Disadvantages: there is no real engagement between the detachable lens 8 and the stand body 1, so turn-over of the detachable lens 8 might be caused in case that a swing of backpack exceeding a certain level takes place. However, the turn-over will not cause damage to the detachable lens 8 in a backpack but only add to the risk of staining the rear lens due to exposure to the outside.
The second implementation (Mechanism 2):
As shown in
The way to achieve this: one way is to dispose an elastic material 15 on the inner wall of the central opening 3 and to make the diameter 13 of the central opening 3 slightly smaller than the outer diameter 14 of the rear-end projection 5. Then when the detachable lens 8 engages with the stand body 1, the rear-end projection 5 will compress the elastic material 15 (e.g., rubber, foam or the like) disposed on the inner wall of the central opening 3 so that the detachable lens 8 is fixed to the stand body 1 tightly and securely without any swing.
As shown in
It shall be noted that, because the outer diameter 14 of the rear-end projection 5 of the detachable lens 8 varies with the manufacturers, the inner wall and the elastic material 15 can be fabricated correspondingly to make the diameter 13 of the central opening 5 of the stand body 1 slightly smaller than the outer diameter 14 of the rear-end projection 5 of the detachable lens 8 of the corresponding manufacturer.
Of course, another way as shown in
Applicability: this is more applicable to detachable lenses 8 that is more lightweight and shorter, and it is less likely to cause loose of the stand body 1 due to swing; and for detachable lenses 8 that are heavier and longer, the engagement mechanism 3 described below is more applicable.
Advantages: it also allows for removing and placing back the detachable lens 8 quickly and easily, and the detachable lens 8 will not swing after being placed back. The detachable lens 8 will not disengage from the stand body 1 under normal conditions unless it is deliberately swung violently, e.g., when used in a backpack.
Disadvantages: as compared with the engagement mechanism 1 through which the detachable lens 8 can be removed and placed back the most easily, a pressing action is additionally needed in the process of placing back the detachable lens 8 and the frictional force generated partially due to compression of the inner wall must be overcome when the detachable lens 8 is to be removed. However, the detachable lens 8 can still be replaced very quickly and easily. Of course, it is still possible that the detachable lens 8 becomes loose in case of a violent swing.
The third implementation (Mechanism 3, Mode a):
As shown in
Mode a: as shown in
Applicability: because the size of the rear lens interface and the thread structure vary with different manufacturers, it is only applicable to specific lenses of manufacturers conforming to this thread and size specification.
Advantages: as being locked by the thread, the detachable lens 8 can be fixed to and engage with the stand body 1 absolutely even in case of a violent swing or when a backpack carrying a too heavy and too long detachable lens 8 drops out, so this mode is applicable to various conditions.
Disadvantages: as compared with the engagement mechanism 1 through which the detachable lens 8 can be removed and placed back the most easily, a screwing or unscrewing action is additionally needed when placing back or removing the detachable lens 8, respectively, and the detachable lens 8 can be placed in only when the lens body is aligned at a proper angle. It shall be noted that, these additional actions have little influence on the overall operations.
The fourth implementation (Mechanism 3, Mode b):
Mode b: a conventional rear lens cap 17 from a manufacturer is obtained and directly used to engage with the central opening 3 of the stand body 1. That is, as shown in
This mode makes it easier to place the detachable lens 8 into the conventional rear lens cover 17 to engage therewith, and the horizontal plane 2 of the stand body 1 can be inclined slightly from a periphery of the central opening 3 towards the four edges to form an inclined portion 35.
Applicability: because even for cameras of the same specifications (e.g., 135 cameras), the outer diameter and the depth of the conventional rear lens cap 17 may also vary with different manufacturers, it is impossible for the stand body 1 having an invariable central opening 3 to accommodate different rear lens caps. Therefore, the central opening 3 of the stand body 1 can only be used with a conventional rear lens cap 17 of a specific size of different manufacturers and directly bonded to the conventional rear lens cap 17.
Advantages: like the mode a described above, locking with the thread allows the detachable lens 8 to be fixed to and engage with the stand body 1 absolutely even in case of a violent swing or when a backpack carrying a too heavy and too long detachable lens 8 drops out, so this mode is applicable to various conditions.
Disadvantages: like the mode a described above, as compared with the engagement mechanism 1 through which the detachable lens 8 can be removed and placed back the most easily, a screwing or unscrewing action is additionally needed when placing back or removing the detachable lens 8, respectively, and the detachable lens 8 can be placed in only when the lens body is aligned at a proper angle.
Other examples in use are described as follows:
1. Taking a camera backpack for the most commonly used 135 system SLRs as an example, the maximum lens body diameter of the detachable lens 8 commonly used is generally about 80 mm or slightly greater, so the length of the fixed first width 9 of the partition in the backpack is mostly about 80˜90 mm, and the length of the first side 11 of the stand body 1 is also desirably determined to be the same length as that of the fixed first width 9 or slightly greater so that compressible foam plates can be inserted to abut against an inner wall of the backpack to exactly fix the lens.
The length of the second side 12 of the stand body 1 (i.e., corresponding to the length of the adjustable second width 10 of the backpack) is desirably close to the minimum lens body diameter of commonly used detachable lenses 8. Then, no matter whether the detachable lens 8 to be placed has a large or a small diameter, an adjustable partitioning plate 24 of the camera backpack can always be moved to the optimal position so that the stand body 1 can be kept stationary during the operation, thus making full use of the space in the backpack. For example, the smallest diameter of the lens body the commonly used 135 cameras is on the order of 60 mm and close to 70 mm, so the integer of 70 mm may be selected as the length of this side.
For camera backpacks of other camera systems (e.g., micro 4/3 camera systems), the principle is also the same as long as the specifications and the sizes are modified correspondingly.
2. There are various kinds of camera backpacks in the market, and even for a same kind of camera backpacks, it is still possible that the length of the fixed width side of the partitions of some of the backpacks is significantly different from the common standard length. To ensure that the stand body 1 can be placed in and be fixed to abut against the inner wall of the partition, as shown in
3. For some detachable lenses 8 having a long lens body, the length thereof may exceed the depth of the partition of the backpack, so the user often has to place the lens in a horizontal direction by removing some of the adjustable partitioning plates 24 of the camera backpack. In this case, there may be two ways to use the stand style rear lens cap of the present invention.
Mode a: the stand body 1 needs to be rotated in the vertical direction when the detachable lens 8 that is placed horizontally is removed, so corners of the stand body 1 are modified into an arc shape to facilitate this operation, as shown in
Mode b: the detachable lens 8 is designed to be removed and placed through a flip-up opening. As shown in
When operating, as shown in
As shown in
In the aforesaid embodiment of the stand body 1 where the detachable lens 8 is detached or fixed from the lateral side, it is impossible for the rear-end projection 5 of the detachable lens 8 and the inner wall of the central opening 3 to engage with each other by means of threads, so an elastic material 15 having an inner diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the rear-end projection 5 is adopted to assist in fixing the lens through compression and friction. Similar to what described previously in the second implementation (Mechanism 2): the elastic material 15 may be formed with a plurality of grooves 34 or nicks as shown in
Preferably, the flip-up stand body is made of a hard expanded foam because the slight expansion and contraction property of the hard expanded foam can allow the end of the lens to be inserted through the lateral opening of the stand body 1 that has a size smaller than the outer diameter 14 of the rear-end projection 5 of the lens.
4. Because the body portion of the stand body 1 often has to be carried in the backpack and shall be fixed to keep stationary at the bottom of the backpack, it is preferably made of a lightweight and rigid material, e.g., Styrofoam, a hard expanded material, a lightweight wood material or a hollow hard plastic injection molded.
5. The embodiments discussed above are the simplest designs that can be achieved by the present invention, and there are also other alternative designs that can achieve the same effect. As shown in
The above disclosure is related to the detailed technical contents and inventive features thereof. People skilled in this field may proceed with a variety of modifications and replacements based on the disclosures and suggestions of the invention as described without departing from the characteristics thereof. Nevertheless, although such modifications and replacements are not fully disclosed in the above descriptions, they have substantially been covered in the following claims as appended.
