Photography inventions 09/09

20090238548 - Method and apparatus for elliciting attention for photography: A method for the challenging problem of eliciting the attention of dynamic subjects such as small children for the purposes of photography is disclosed herein. Specifically, we disclose an inexpensive, quickly deployable, and flexible device that can be used with a wide variety of recording devices available on the market.... Agent: Scot Smith

20090238549 - Autofocus system: Pattern data for specifying a face image of a person is registered in a pattern data storage unit 32 of a tracking device 16. When a face recognition auto-tracking mode is selected, a face image coinciding with the registered pattern data is detected, and an AF area is set to... Agent: Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch

20090238550 - Autofocus system: When it is detected that a tracking target disappears in an image range in the course of tracking the tracking target, which is a registration pattern selected as a target to be tracked from among registration patterns, an autofocus is disabled. Thereafter, the autofocus is kept being disabled even if... Agent: Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch

20090238551 - Focus detection apparatus and focus detection method: This invention includes accumulation units (102a, 102b) which accumulate signals obtained by sensing units (111a, 111b), an area determination unit (103, 100) which sets the size of an area of a sensing unit to be segmented into a plurality of areas on the basis of the information of a lens... Agent: Cowan Liebowitz & Latman P.C. John J Torrente

20090238552 - Image capturing lens system: Disclosed is an image capturing lens system. The image capturing lens system includes an image capturing lens group having a plurality of lenses and a phase mask located in the image capturing lens group. The phase mask may satisfy phase mask functions that are defined with respect to x and... Agent: Mcneely Bodendorf LLP

20090238553 - Interchangeable lens type camera system and camera body: An interchangeable lens type camera system includes a camera body and an interchangeable lens mountable to the camera body. An error detector detects whether a communication error occurs between a communication unit of the camera body and a communication unit of the interchangeable lens. A display unit displays a first... Agent: Panasonic Patent Center

20090238554 - Shutter device and image pickup apparatus including the same: A shutter device includes first and second shutter blades, a shutter base plate rotatably supporting the first and second shutter blades, a partition plate arranged between the first and second shutter blades supported by the shutter base plate, and a cover plate fixed to the shutter base plate while the... Agent: Canon U.s.a. Inc. Intellectual Property Division

20090238555 - Protecting assembly for a camera: A protecting assembly (20) for a camera used in a portable electronic device (10) is provided. The protecting assembly (20) includes a positioning member (14) fixed to a body section (11) of the electronic device (10) and a protecting member (16). The protecting member (16) is mounted on the positioning... Agent: PCe Industry, Inc. Att. Steven Reiss

20090232483 - Image blur correction apparatus: In an image blur correction apparatus, rotation of a correction lens about an optical axis is regulated without special mechanism or drive unit. When displacing a third lens unit in a pitch and yaw directions, forces Bp, By driving a shift base are generated in the respective directions by Lorentz... Agent: Canon U.s.a. Inc. Intellectual Property Division

20090232484 - Lens barrel and image pickup apparatus: A lens barrel having an increased strength against external impact. The lens barrel is configured to move in an optical axis direction. A photographic lens unit moves in the optical axis direction. A cylindrical unit is engaged with the photographic lens unit, and has an outer periphery formed thereon with... Agent: Rossi, Kimms & Mcdowell LLP.

20090232485 - Lens barrel: A lens barrel includes a driven ring, a follower provided on the driven ring, a rotational transfer ring including a circumferential groove having no axial-direction component and a rotational transfer groove including an axial-direction component, a guide ring, and a cam groove formed on the guide ring for guiding the... Agent: Greenblum & Bernstein, P.L.C

20090232486 - Image capturing apparatus: In the image capturing apparatus which images a micro plate 10 in which a liquid sample is contained as a screening object, an imaging unit 3 having a first optical axis A1 and an illumination unit 4 having a second optical axis A2 are housed in a positional relation therebetween... Agent: Pearne & Gordon LLP

20090232487 - Actuator and blade drive device for camera: An electromagnetic actuator includes: a coil for excitation; a stator excited with different magnetic poles by energization of the coil; a rotor magnetized with the different magnetic poles in accordance with a circumferential direction, and rotated by a magnetic force generating between the rotor and the stator; and an outputting... Agent: Kratz, Quintos & Hanson, LLP

20090232490 - Coil bobbin, actuator, and blade drive device for camera: A coil bobbin includes: a body portion around which a coil is wound and having a cylindrical shape; a pair of flange portions formed at both ends of the body portion respectively; and terminal portions which are formed in the pair of flange portions, respectively, the terminal portions being around... Agent: Kratz, Quintos & Hanson, LLP

20090232488 - Shutter activation system: A shutter includes at least one shutter blade, a magnet moveably connected to the at least one shutter blade, and a solenoid defining a gap between a first pole and a second pole. The solenoid is configured to controllably draw the magnet into the gap in a first state and... Agent: Stephen B. Salai, Esq. Harter Secrest & Emery LLP

20090232489 - Shutter activation system: A method of controlling a plurality of shutter blades includes providing a shutter assembly including a solenoid having a first magnetic pole, a second magnetic pole, and a gap between the first and second poles. The shutter assembly also includes a permanent magnet moveable within the gap in a path... Agent: Stephen B. Salai, Esq. Harter Secrest & Emery LLP

20090232491 - Light quantity adjusting apparatus, image pickup apparatus and optical apparatus: At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a light quantity adjusting apparatus that can include a first blade member configured to be driven by a drive source, such as a motor, and a second blade member whose movement is configured to be related to the movement of the first... Agent: Canon U.s.a. Inc. Intellectual Property Division

20090226157 - Drive device: A drive device is provided having a movable part, a fixed part, and a drive part. The fixed part is provided within a movement range of the movable part. The drive part drives the movable part in a first direction so as to strike said fixed part. The drive part... Agent: Greenblum & Bernstein, P.L.C

20090226158 - Measurement device and method, imaging device, and program: A measurement device has a light source, an imaging device, and a distance measuring section The distance measuring section obtains a distance between the imaging device and a person based on a presence of occurrence of a red-eye effect at an eye of the person in an image in which... Agent: Osha Liang L.L.P.

20090226159 - Rear-focus optical system, imaging apparatus and method for focusing the same: Providing a compact rear-focus optical system having excellent optical performance, an imaging apparatus, and a method for focusing the rear-focus optical system. The system includes, in order from an object, a first lens group G1 having positive refractive power, an aperture stop S, and a second lens group G2. At... Agent: Miles & Stockbridge PC

20090226160 - Apparatus for capturing images, method of controlling exposure in the apparatus, and computer readable recording medium storing program: A method of controlling exposure under low brightness conditions, comprising calculating an automatic exposure time such that an exposure time is substantially in inverse proportion to the brightness of a subject; when the automatic exposure time is smaller than a first exposure time value, setting a control exposure time as... Agent: Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Attn: Patent Docket Dept.

20090220224 - Optical system, finder optical system, relay type finder optical system, eyepiece optical system, and single-lens reflex camera: The invention concerns an optical system adapted to split an optical path from a taking optical system into a finder optical system, which has a camera-shake correction function best suited for the finder optical system, and so on. This optical system comprises a taking optical system and a finder optical... Agent: John C. Altmiller, Esq. Kenyon & Kenyon

20090220225 - Camera support and respective camera assembly: A camera support comprises a baseplate on which first and second engaging means are formed for releasably engaging first and second portions of a camera body displaced along the baseplate in an engaging direction. The first engaging means defines an abutment position for the first portion of the camera body,... Agent: Thomson Licensing LLC