Electronic camera and method with fill flash function
First Claim
1. An electronic camera, comprising:
- an electronic image capture device adapted for capturing an image scene;
a scanning aperture shutter located to control light energy received by said electronic image capture device from said image scene;
a photocell adapted for sensing light energy received from said image scene; and
an exposure control system responsive to said photocell and operatively connected to said scanning aperture shutter, wherein said exposure control system is adapted to control said scanning aperture shutter and a flash unit in response to sensed light energy at said photocell to control an amount of fill flash energy received by said electronic image capture system in relation to ambient light energy received by said electronic image capture system during image capture.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and camera for electronic image capture provide an electronic image capture device, a scanning aperture shutter located to control light energy received by the image capture device, a flash unit oriented to illuminate an image scene, a photocell unit adapted for sensing visible spectrum energy and infrared spectrum energy received from the image scene, and an exposure control system responsive to the photocell unit and operatively connected to the scanning aperture shutter and the flash unit. The exposure control system is adapted to control an amount of fill flash energy received from the image scene in relation to visible ambient light energy received from the image scene during image capture by illuminating the flash unit once a predetermined amount of ambient visible spectrum energy is sensed by the photocell unit and by extinguishing the flash unit once a predetermined amount of infrared energy is sensed by the photocell unit.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. An electronic camera, comprising:
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an electronic image capture device adapted for capturing an image scene;
a scanning aperture shutter located to control light energy received by said electronic image capture device from said image scene;
a photocell adapted for sensing light energy received from said image scene; and
an exposure control system responsive to said photocell and operatively connected to said scanning aperture shutter, wherein said exposure control system is adapted to control said scanning aperture shutter and a flash unit in response to sensed light energy at said photocell to control an amount of fill flash energy received by said electronic image capture system in relation to ambient light energy received by said electronic image capture system during image capture. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An electronic camera, comprising:
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an electronic image capture device adapted for capturing an image scene;
a scanning aperture shutter located to control light energy received by said image capture device;
a flash unit oriented to illuminate said image scene;
a photocell unit adapted for sensing visible spectrum energy and infrared spectrum energy received from said image scene; and
an exposure control system responsive to said photocell unit and operatively connected to said scanning aperture shutter and said flash unit, wherein said exposure control system is adapted to control an amount of fill flash energy received from said image scene in relation to visible ambient light energy received from said image scene during image capture by illuminating said flash unit once a predetermined amount of ambient visible spectrum energy is sensed by said photocell unit and by extinguishing said flash unit once a predetermined amount of infrared energy is sensed by said photocell unit. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. The camera of claim 11, wherein said flash unit is a quenchable strobe light.
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12. A method for electronic image capture using a fill flash function, comprising the steps of:
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using a scanning aperture shutter to control light energy received by an electronic image capture device;
sensing visible ambient light energy and infrared energy received from an image scene; and
controlling said scanning aperture shutter and a flash unit during image capture in response to said sensing to cause a predetermined ratio of fill flash light energy to ambient light energy to be received by said electronic image capture device including illuminating said flash unit once a predetermined amount of ambient light energy is sensed during image capture. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification