Digital camera with changeable operation sequence

Abstract

A battery property judging circuit measures a voltage of battery before and while a zoom motor is operated respectively. A type of the battery is determined by a voltage change of the battery. A CPU selects either one of a normal operation sequence or a power-saving operation sequence in accordance with the type of battery upon carrying out an operation mode. In the normal operation sequence, whose operation mode is zooming or focusing, the zoom motor and an AF motor are simultaneously driven so as to perform zooming and focusing, whereas in the power-saving operation sequence, zooming first, then focusing is performed.

Description

[0001] This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 146,916 filed May 17, 2002. The entire disclosure of the prior application, application Ser. No. 10 / 146,916, is considered part of the disclosure of the accompanying continuation application and is hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a digital camera of which operation sequence is changed in accordance with a property of battery. [0004] 2. Description of the Prior Arts [0005] A digital camera is provided with an imaging device (for example a CCD image sensor), an A / D converter, an image processing circuit, an image memory, a diaphragm mechanism, a shutter mechanism, and so forth. The imaging device converts an optical image to an image signal. The A / D converter converts the image signal to a digital image signal. The image processing circuit carries out gradation correction, color correction, contour enhancement, sharpness process...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018] According to the digital camera of the present invention, the power-saving operation sequence or the normal operation sequence is selected in accordance with a property of battery, so that it is possible to carry out the operation mode selected by a user. Since the selectable operation mode is not limited in accordance with a property of the battery, the digital camera can be easily handled. Moreover, utilizing the battery can be realized in case of a battery with small power supply, as the power-saving operation sequence is performed.

Problems solved by technology

Particularly the electric viewfinder and the flash device have large power consumption.

When the battery is consumed while using the digital camera, the digital camera stops operating in the middle of operation.

However, all measures mentioned above limit selectable operation modes in accordance with a type of a battery or a remaining amount of a battery.

It is not possible, for example, to select the display mode and the flash taking in case of small capacity of power supply.

This may cause a user to find it hard to use the digital camera.

Images