Real-image finder optical system and apparatus using the same

• US 6,078,411 A
• Filed: 02/25/1999
• Issued: 06/20/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Aoki, Norihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Mack, Ricky
• Application Number:
  US09/257,251
• Time in Patent Office: 481 Days
• Field of Search: 359/631, 359/633, 359/636, 359/637, 348/341, 396/84, 396/378, 396/379, 396/384, 396/386
• US Class Current: 359/631
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 23/14 Viewfinders for photographic apparatus G03B13/02
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 23/145 Zoom viewfinders

Abstract

A real-image finder optical system having an objective optical system, an image-inverting optical system, and an ocular optical system, wherein a power is given to a reflecting surface of the image-inverting optical system that is closer to the observer side than an intermediate image, thereby achieving an increase in the finder magnification. The objective optical system has a plurality of lens units. When zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end is performed, the spacing between the plurality of lens units is changed. The image-inverting optical system has a plurality of reflecting surfaces. Of the reflecting surfaces, at least one reflecting surface closer to the ocular optical system than the object image is formed from a curved reflecting surface that gives a power to a light beam. The image-inverting optical system has a rotationally asymmetric surface that corrects rotationally asymmetric decentration aberrations produced by the curved reflecting surface.

Claims

1. In a real-image finder optical system comprising:

an objective optical system for a finder;

an image-inverting optical system for erecting an object image formed by said objective optical system; and

an ocular optical system;

wherein an optical path for the finder is separate from an optical path for photography;

the improvement wherein said objective optical system has a plurality of lens units, wherein when zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end is performed, a spacing between said plurality of lens units is changed, and

said image-inverting optical system has a plurality of reflecting surfaces, wherein, of said plurality of reflecting surfaces, at least one reflecting surface that is placed closer to said ocular optical system than said object image is formed from a curved reflecting surface having a power, said image-inverting optical system having a rotationally asymmetric surface that corrects rotationally asymmetric decentration aberrations produced by said curved reflecting surface.

3. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1, wherein the following conditions (3-1) and (3-2) are satisfied:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0<

|PXn/PX|<

5 (3-1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0<

|PYn/PY|<

5 (3-2)

where, when a light ray passing through a center of an object point and passing through a center of a stop or aperture of the objective optical system to reach a center of an intermediate image plane and further passing through the ocular optical system to enter a center of a pupil is defined as an axial principal ray, and axes are defined such that an axis defined by a straight line along which the axial principal ray travels until it intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Z-axis, and an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis in a decentration plane of said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Y-axis, and further that an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis and also perpendicularly intersecting said Y-axis is defined as an X-axis, PXn and PYn are powers in X- and Y-axis directions of said reflecting surface having a power near the axial principal ray, and PX and PY are powers in the X- and Y-axis directions of the entire ocular optical system, which are determined such that parallel rays having a small height Δ

relative to the X- and Y-axis directions, respectively, are passed along the axial principal ray from the intermediate image toward an observer side, and a sine of a tilt angle with respect to the axial principal ray of each of said rays when emanating from a surface closest to the observer side is divided by said height Δ

, and resulting values are defined as the powers PX and PY, respectively.

4. A real-image finder optical system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said rotationally asymmetric surface is placed closer to said ocular optical system than said object image.

5. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said rotationally asymmetric surface is formed on a reflecting surface of said image-inverting optical system.

6. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said rotationally asymmetric surface is formed on said curved reflecting surface.

7. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of surfaces each using said rotationally asymmetric surface are placed in said image-inverting optical system.

8. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said image-inverting optical system and said ocular optical system are integrated with each other.

9. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the following conditions (4-1) and (4-2) are satisfied:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0.1<

1/|PX×

d/n|<

1 (4-1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0.1<

1/|PY×

d/n|<

1 (4-2)

where, when a light ray passing through a center of an object point and passing through a center of a stop or aperture of the objective optical system to reach a center of an intermediate image plane and further passing through the ocular optical system to enter a center of a pupil is defined as an axial principal ray, and axes are defined such that an axis defined by a straight line along which the axial principal ray travels until it intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Z-axis, and an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis in a decentration plane of said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Y-axis, and further that an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis and also perpendicularly intersecting said Y-axis is defined as an X-axis, PX and PY are powers in X- and Y-axis directions of the entire ocular optical system, which are determined such that parallel rays having a small height Δ

relative to the X- and Y-axis directions, respectively, are passed along the axial principal ray from the intermediate image toward an observer side, and a sine of a tilt angle with respect to the axial principal ray of each of said rays when emanating from a surface closest to the observer side is divided by said height Δ

, and resulting values are defined as the powers PX and PY, respectively, and where d is a length of the axial principal ray when a part of the image-inverting optical system that is closer to the observer side than the intermediate image is developed, and n is a refractive index of the part of the image-inverting optical system that is closer to the observer side than the intermediate image.

10. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the following conditions (5-1) and (5-2) are satisfied:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0.03<

PX<

0.5 (5-1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0.03<

PY<

0.5 (5-2)

where, when a light ray passing through a center of an object point and passing through a center of a stop or aperture of the objective optical system to reach a center of an intermediate image plane and further passing through the ocular optical system to enter a center of a pupil is defined as an axial principal ray, and axes are defined such that an axis defined by a straight line along which the axial principal ray travels until it intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Z-axis, and an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis in a decentration plane of said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Y-axis, and further that an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis and also perpendicularly intersecting said Y-axis is defined as an X-axis, PX and PY are powers in X- and Y-axis directions of the entire ocular optical system, which are determined such that parallel rays having a small height Δ

relative to the X- and Y-axis directions, respectively, are passed along the axial principal ray from the intermediate image toward an observer side, and a sine of a tilt angle with respect to the axial principal ray of each of said rays when emanating from a surface closest to the observer side is divided by said height Δ

, and resulting values are defined as the powers PX and PY, respectively.

11. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the following condition (1-1) is satisfied:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">|DY|<

0.5 (1-1)

where, when a light ray passing through a center of an object point and passing through a center of a stop or aperture of the objective optical system to reach a center of an intermediate image plane and further passing through the ocular optical system to enter a center of a pupil is defined as an axial principal ray, and axes are defined such that an axis defined by a straight line along which the axial principal ray travels until it intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Z-axis, and an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis in a decentration plane of said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Y-axis, and further that an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis and also perpendicularly intersecting said Y-axis is defined as an X-axis, DY denotes a difference between a value of a tangent in a YZ-plane of a line normal to said rotationally asymmetric surface at a point where a principal ray at a maximum field angle in an X-axis direction intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface and a value of a tangent in the YZ-plane of a line normal to said rotationally asymmetric surface at a point where the axial principal ray intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface in a fixed focal length position of the optical system when the objective optical system is a single focal length optical system and at a wide-angle end when the objective optical system is a zoom lens system.

12. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said rotationally asymmetric surface satisfies either of the following conditions (2-1) and (2-2):

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">|Cxn(R)|<

1 (2-1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">1<

|Cxn(R)|<

10 (2-2)

where, when a light ray passing through a center of an object point and passing through a center of a stop or aperture of the objective optical system to reach a center of an intermediate image plane and further passing through the ocular optical system to enter a center of a pupil is defined as an axial principal ray, and axes are defined such that an axis defined by a straight line along which the axial principal ray travels until it intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Z-axis, and an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis in a decentration plane of said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Y-axis, and further that an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis and also perpendicularly intersecting said Y-axis is defined as an X-axis, Cxn(R) denotes a ratio between a curvature in an X-axis direction of a portion of said rotationally asymmetric surface at which a principal ray at a maximum field angle in a positive direction of the Y-axis impinges on said surface and a curvature in the X-axis direction of a portion of said rotationally asymmetric surface at which a principal ray at a maximum field angle in a negative direction of the Y-axis impinges on the surface in a fixed focal length position of the optical system when the objective optical system is a single focal length optical system and at a wide-angle end when the objective optical system is a zoom lens system.

13. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said objective optical system includes, in order from an object side thereof, a first lens unit of negative power and a second lens unit of positive power, and when zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end is performed, a spacing between said first lens unit and said second lens unit narrows.

14. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 13, wherein said objective optical system satisfies the following condition (6-1):

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">-4.0<

f.sub.1 /f.sub.w <

0 (6-1)

where f₁ is a focal length of the first lens unit, and f_w is a focal length of said objective optical system Ob at the wide-angle end.

15. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said objective optical system includes, in order from an object side thereof, a first lens unit of negative power, a second lens unit of positive power, and a third lens unit of positive power, and when zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end is performed, a spacing between said first lens unit and said second lens unit is narrowed, while a spacing between said second lens unit and said third lens unit is changed.

16. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 15, wherein said objective optical system satisfies the following condition (6-2):

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0<

|dz2/dz1|<

2.0 (6-2)

where dz1 is an amount of change in the spacing between the first lens unit and the second lens unit during zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end, and dz2 is an amount of change in the spacing between the second lens unit and the third lens unit during zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end.

17. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 15, wherein when zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end is performed, said third lens unit moves on an optical axis.

18. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 13, wherein when zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end is performed, said second lens unit moves on an optical axis.

19. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 13, wherein when zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end is performed, said first lens unit moves on an optical axis.

20. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said image-inverting optical system includes two prism members each including a reflecting surface and formed from a medium having a refractive index (n) larger than 1 (n>

1).

21. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 20, wherein an intermediate image produced by said objective optical system is formed between said two prism members.

22. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 21, wherein said rotationally asymmetric surface and said curved reflecting surface are placed in one of said two prism members that is placed closer to an observer'"'"'s eyeball than said object image.

23. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said rotationally asymmetric surface is a rotationally asymmetric surface having only one plane of symmetry.

24. A real-image finder optical system according to claim 23, wherein when an optical axis is defined as a Z-axis, said rotationally asymmetric surface has said only one plane of symmetry along either one of an X-axis and a Y-axis that are perpendicular to the Z-axis.

25. A camera apparatus having said real-image finder optical system of claim 1 or 2, an objective optical system for photography placed in said optical path for photography, and an image pickup device for receiving an object image formed by said objective optical system for photography.

26. An electronic camera apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said image pickup device is an electronic image pickup device.

2. In a real-image finder optical system comprising:

an objective optical system for a finder;

an image-inverting optical system for erecting an object image formed by said objective optical system; and

an ocular optical system;

wherein an optical path for the finder is separate from an optical path for photography;

the improvement wherein said image-inverting optical system has a plurality of reflecting surface, wherein, of said plurality of reflecting surfaces, at least one reflecting surface that is placed closer to said ocular optical system than said object image is formed from a curved reflecting surface having a power, said image-inverting optical system having a rotationally asymmetric surface that corrects rotationally asymmetric decentration aberrations produced by said curved reflecting surface, and

wherein the following conditions (3-1) and (3-2) are satisfied;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0<

|PXn/PX|<

5 (3-1)

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">0<

|PYn/PY|<

5 (3-2)

where, when a light ray passing through a center of an object point and passing through a center of a stop or aperture of the objective optical system to reach a center of an intermediate image plane and further passing through the ocular optical system to enter a center of a pupil is defined as an axial principal ray, and axes are defined such that an axis defined by a straight line along which the axial principal ray travels until it intersects said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Z-axis, and an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis in a decentration plane of said rotationally asymmetric surface is defined as a Y-axis, and further that an axis perpendicularly intersecting said Z-axis and also perpendicularly intersecting said Y-axis is defined as an X-axis, PXn and PYn are powers in X- and Y-axis directions of said reflecting surface having a power near the axial principal ray, and PX and PY are powers in the X- and Y-axis directions of the entire ocular optical system, which are determined such that parallel rays having a small height Δ

relative to the X- and Y-axis directions, respectively, are passed along the axial principal ray from the intermediate image toward an observer side, and a sine of a tilt angle with respect to the axial principal ray of each of said rays when emanating from a surface closest to the observer side is divided by said height Δ

, and resulting values are defined as the powers PX and PY, respectively.