Lens hood

Abstract

To provide a compact, highly portable, easily detachable, and high-quality lens hood. [Solution] A lens hood that can be attached to and detached from a lens barrel, wherein the lens hood is composed of a hood body, a hood cover, a locking lever, an operating member, and a biasing member, wherein the hood body, which can be attached to the lens barrel via a bayonet mechanism, has a groove into which the shaft of the locking lever fits, the hood cover, which is attached to the hood body via a bayonet mechanism, has a through hole into which the operating member is inserted, the locking lever has a shaft that fixes its circumferential position by engaging with the groove, and a locking portion that restricts the rotation of the lens hood relative to the lens barrel by engaging with the lens barrel, and the biasing member engages with the hood body, biases the locking lever, and the locking relationship between the lens hood and the lens barrel can be released by operating the operating member.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a lens hood attachable to and detachable from a lens barrel. [Background Art]

[0002] Conventionally, many lens hoods mounted on interchangeable lenses are known to be provided with a lock mechanism in order to prevent accidental dropping off and suppress rattling caused by wear of the mounting portion resulting from repeated attachment and detachment.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a lens hood in which an operation portion is configured separately from a lock lever, thereby eliminating discomfort during operation and attempting to improve quality.

[0004] Patent Document 2 discloses a lens hood that is reduced in size by eliminating the wall on the inner diameter side of the lock lever that constitutes the lock mechanism. [Prior Art Documents] [Patent Documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 7118418 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-109944 [Summary of the Invention] [Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

[0006] However, the lens hood described in Patent Document 1 has a problem in portability because the structure tends to increase the size of the lens hood.

[0007] Next, the lens hood described in Patent Document 2 has a problem that it is not preferable in terms of quality because eliminating the wall on the inner diameter side of the lock lever increases the gap and exposes the internal structure.

[0008] Furthermore, the lens hoods described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have a configuration that includes a locking lever. The locking lever is fixed so as to be rotatable around its shaft by being sandwiched between the hood body or hood cover, which has a hole that fits into the shaft of the locking lever. Since both ends of the shaft of the locking lever are supported by the hood body and the hood cover respectively, the hood cover needs to be fixed to the hood body. However, if the two are fixed by screw fastening, space is required for this, which hinders the miniaturization of the hood. In addition, from the standpoint of quality and design, it is desirable that screws that are exposed on the exterior be evenly distributed or hidden so that they are not exposed at all, but this is often not possible due to the mechanism, or it would lead to an increase in size.

[0009] This invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and aims to provide a lens hood that is small, highly portable, easily detachable, and of high quality. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The invention, which is a means for solving the above problems, is a lens hood that can be attached to and detached from a lens barrel, wherein the lens hood is composed of a hood body, a hood cover, a locking lever, an operating member, and a biasing member, wherein the hood body, which can be attached to and detached from the lens barrel via a bayonet mechanism, has a groove into which the shaft portion of the locking lever fits, the hood cover, which is attached to the hood body via a bayonet mechanism, has a through hole into which the operating member is inserted, the locking lever has a shaft portion that fixes its circumferential position by engaging with the groove portion and a locking portion that restricts the rotation of the lens hood relative to the lens barrel by engaging with the lens barrel, and the biasing member engages with the hood body, biases the locking lever, and the locking relationship between the lens hood and the lens barrel can be released by operating the operating member. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a lens hood that is compact, highly portable, easily detachable, and of high quality. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1] A perspective view showing a lens hood according to an embodiment of the present invention, disassembled into a hood body, a hood cover, and an operating member. [Figure 2] Cross-sectional view of a lens hood according to an embodiment of the present invention [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the attached drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

[0014] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a lens hood 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention, disassembled along the optical axis of a lens barrel (not shown). Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the lens hood 1 of Figure 1 in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis, including the lock lever 13. In this embodiment, if the lens hood 1 is in the state shown in Figure 1, a lens barrel (not shown) will be attached to the right side of the lens hood 1. Furthermore, based on the optical element arranged inside the lens barrel (not shown) to which the lens hood 1 is attached, the direction along the optical axis of the optical element is defined as the optical axis direction, the direction along the outer circumference of the optical element is defined as the circumferential direction, and the radial direction of the optical element is defined as the radial direction. Specifically, in Figure 1, the optical axis direction is the left-right direction on the plane of the paper, the circumferential direction is the circumference relative to the optical axis, and the radial direction is the up-down direction on the plane of the paper. In Figure 2, the optical axis direction is the front-back direction on the plane of the paper, the circumferential direction is the direction along the arc of the hood body 10 and hood cover 11 in the figure, and the radial direction is the up-down direction on the plane of the paper.

[0015] The lens barrel (not shown) is mounted to the imaging device and can be either replaceable or fixed. It contains optical elements (not shown) inside, and the object-side portion has a bayonet claw that engages with a bayonet claw located inside the lens hood 1 for attaching the lens hood 1.

[0016] The configuration of the lens hood 1 according to the embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The lens hood 1 includes a hood main body 10, a hood cover 11, a biasing member 12, a lock lever 13, an operating member 14, and a pin 15.

[0017] The hood main body 10 is attachable to the object-side distal end of an unshown lens barrel, and a bayonet pawl that engages with a bayonet pawl provided on the outer periphery of the distal end of the lens barrel described above is formed on the inner periphery of the hood main body 10 on the lens barrel side. Accordingly, the lens hood 1 of the present application is coupled to the lens barrel by a bayonet mechanism.

[0018] On the other hand, a groove portion 101 that is a concave portion is partially provided on the outer periphery of the hood main body 10 on the lens barrel side, and a bayonet pawl for engaging with the hood cover 11 is formed on the remaining outer periphery. Further, a receiving portion 102 having a receiving shape with which the biasing member 12 abuts is formed.

[0019] The groove portion 101 is formed with a concave portion such that the shaft portion 131 of the lock lever 13 is fitted thereinto, and the position of the lock lever 13 in the circumferential direction is fixed by the fitting.

[0020] The hood cover 11 has a through hole 111, and a bayonet pawl that engages with the bayonet pawl on the outer periphery of the hood main body 10 is formed on the inner periphery thereof. The hood cover 11 is attached to the outer periphery of the hood main body 10 by a bayonet mechanism so as to cover the groove portion 101 into which the biasing member 12 and the lock lever 13 are fitted.

[0021] In addition, in the lens hood 1 of the embodiment of the present application, when attaching the hood cover 11 to the hood main body 10, in addition to the bayonet mechanism, the pin 15 is inserted as a rotation stopper. In the embodiment of the present application, the pin 15 is used for the rotation stopper because it provides good disassembly property during repair and readjustment, but adhesion, screwing or the like can also be used as long as it functions as a rotation stopper.

[0022] The biasing member 12 employs a torsion spring in the embodiment of the present application. One end of the spring abuts against a receiving portion 102 of the hood body 10, and the other end abuts against a lock lever 13. A shaft portion 131 of the lock lever 13, which will be described later, is inserted through the coil portion (circular portion) of the torsion spring.

[0023] The lock lever 13 has a shaft portion 131 formed at the center thereof, and has a shape in which arms extend from the shaft portion 131 to both sides. A claw portion 132 that engages with a rib provided on a lens barrel (not shown) is formed on the optical axis side of one arm end portion. The lens hood 1 is locked to the lens barrel by the claw portion 132 engaging with the rib. The claw portion 132 corresponds to the locking portion. Further, at the other arm end portion, an abutting portion with the biasing member 12 is provided on the optical axis side, and an abutting portion with the operating member 14 is provided on the side opposite to the optical axis, respectively.

[0024] The operating member 14 is fitted into a through hole 111 of the hood cover 11 from the inner diameter side of the hood cover 11. When a user desires to remove the lens hood 1 from the lens barrel, the user can release the coupling between the lens hood 1 and the lens barrel by pushing the operating member 14 toward the optical axis. Specifically, when the user pushes the operating member 14 toward the optical axis, the arm end portion of the lock lever 13 that abuts against the operating member 14 is also pushed toward the optical axis. Since the lock lever 13 moves like a seesaw around the shaft portion 131, the claw portion 132 located at the other end moves toward the side opposite to the optical axis. As a result, the engagement between the claw portion 132 and the rib of the lens barrel is released. That is, the lens hood 1 can be removed after the engagement between the lens hood 1 and the lens barrel is released.

[0025] After the hood cover 11 is mounted to the hood body 10 via a bayonet mechanism, the pin 15 is inserted through the hood cover 11 and inserted into the hood body 10, and functions as a rotation stopper.

[0026] Next, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the lens hood 1 from a plane perpendicular to the optical axis, through which the lock lever 13 passes, and is an enlarged view of the area around the lock lever 13 as seen from the lens barrel side. In this embodiment, the lens hood 1 consists of a hood cover 11 and a hood body 10 which are connected by a bayonet mechanism. Therefore, in order to attach the hood cover 11 to the hood body 10, the lock lever 13 needs to be held in place relative to the hood body 10 without the hood cover 11.

[0027] Let me explain in detail. As mentioned above, the lock lever 13 is restricted from moving in the circumferential and optical axis directions by engaging with the groove 101 provided in the hood body 10. Next, regarding the radial direction of the lock lever 13, it can be seen from Figure 1 that one end of the biasing member 12 through which the shaft portion 131 is inserted is in contact with the hood body 10 located radially outward. Specifically, since the biasing member 12 is a torsion spring, it biases the receiving portion 102 of the hood body 10 that it contacts. On the other hand, as a reaction, the coil portion of the torsion spring biases the lock lever 13 radially toward the hood body 10 via the shaft portion 131 through which it is inserted. As a result, the lock lever 13 is held in place relative to the hood body 10 even without the hood cover 11. Furthermore, the biasing relationship of each part as described above requires that the receiving portion 102 that the biasing member 12 contacts in the circumferential direction be located between the contact point between the hood body 10 and the lock lever 13 near the shaft portion 131 and the claw portion 132.

[0028] From the above, it is possible to rotate and mount the hood cover 11, with the operating member 14 fitted into the through hole 111, so that the bayonet claws formed on the outer circumference of the lens barrel side of the hood body 10 and the bayonet claws formed on the inner circumference of the hood cover 11 are bayonet-connected. When this mounting is completed, one end of the lock lever 13 is tucked inside the operating member 14, that is, the positional relationship shown in Figure 2.

[0029] Furthermore, as mentioned above, one end of the lock lever 13, which is recessed inside the operating member 14, is in contact with the biasing member 12 on the optical axis side. Since the biasing member 12 in this embodiment is a torsion spring, one end of the lock lever 13 is biased toward the opposite side of the optical axis, i.e., toward the operating member 14. Consequently, the claw portion 132 located at the other end is biased toward the optical axis, i.e., toward the lens barrel (not shown).

[0030] Conventional lens hoods with locking mechanisms typically feature a seesaw-like locking lever with a locking claw and an operating part at both ends. However, the operating part tilts and sinks down around the pivot point of the locking lever, which has the problem of creating an awkward feel when operating it.

[0031] On the other hand, in the lens hood 1 of this invention, the operating member 14 and the lock lever 13 only come into contact with each other and are independent of each other. Therefore, the operating member 14 moves radially along the through hole 111, and the end of the lock lever 13 that comes into contact with the operating member 14 moves up and down around the shaft portion 131. Consequently, there is no sense of discomfort when operating the operating member 14.

[0032] Furthermore, the lens hood 1 of this invention is connected to and disconnected from the lens barrel via a bayonet mechanism. In addition, the hood body 10 and the hood cover 11 are also attached via a bayonet mechanism. As a result, compared to lens hoods using screw fastening, it is possible to suppress the exposure of fastening members and internal structures to the exterior. Accordingly, the lens hood 1 of this invention realizes a high-quality and compact lens hood 1 with a locking button. [Explanation of symbols]

[0033] 1. Lens hood 10 Hood body 101 Groove 102 Receiving part 11 Food cover 111 Through hole 12. Biasing member 13. Locking lever 131 Shaft 132 Nail area 14 Operating Member 15 pins

Claims

1. In a lens hood that is attached to and detached from the lens barrel, The aforementioned lens hood consists of a hood body, a hood cover, a locking lever, an operating member, and a biasing member. The lens hood body, which is detachable from the lens barrel via a bayonet mechanism, The lock lever has a groove into which the shaft portion fits, The hood cover, which is attached to the hood body via a bayonet mechanism, It has a through hole into which the operating member is inserted, The aforementioned lock lever is A shaft portion that fixes its position in the circumferential direction by fitting into the groove portion, The lens hood has a locking portion that engages with the lens barrel to restrict the rotation of the lens barrel, The biasing member is It engages with the hood body and biases the lock lever, A lens hood characterized in that the locking relationship between the lens hood and the lens barrel can be released by operating the aforementioned operating member.

2. The lens hood according to claim 1, characterized in that the biasing direction of the lock lever by the biasing member is toward the hood body side.

3. The lens hood according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the shaft portion extends in the direction of the optical axis of the lens barrel.

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