Camera Adapter with Movable Lens Unit for Short Flange Back Distance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Interchangeable lens cameras face challenges in accommodating lenses with flange back distances shorter than the camera body's unique flange back distance, as existing solutions like intermediate adapters are not applicable and replacing the whole body-side mount is impractical.
Innovation Solution
A camera system with a body-side mount and an adapter that allows lenses with shorter flange back distances to be used by incorporating a second reference plane with a shorter flange back distance, enabling mounting without replacing the entire body-side mount, using a configuration that includes a first reference plane on the body-side mount and a second reference plane on the adapter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If an intermediate adapter is used to adjust the flange back distance for lenses with longer flange back distance, then lenses with longer flange back distance can be used, but lenses with shorter flange back distance cannot be accommodated
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter incorporates a movable lens unit that can shift along the optical axis between a first position and a second position. When the lens unit is at the first position, the adapter accommodates lenses with longer flange back distances. When shifted to the second position, it accommodates lenses with shorter flange back distances. This dynamic adjustment enables the adapter to handle multiple lens types without requiring multiple separate adapters.
Solution Approach 2:
The adapter is designed to perform multiple functions by incorporating a lens unit that can be positioned in different locations. It can adapt both lenses with longer flange back distances and lenses with shorter flange back distances using the same adapter body, making it a universal mounting solution that replaces the need for multiple specialized adapters.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the whole body-side mount is replaced to use lenses with shorter flange back distance, then compatibility with short flange back distance lenses is achieved, but the replacement is difficult and unrealistic
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of replacing the entire body-side mount, the solution segments the mounting system into the existing body-side mount and a separate adapter component. The adapter contains the movable lens unit mechanism and attaches to the existing mount, allowing the complex body-side mount to remain unchanged while adding functionality through the simpler, modular adapter.
Solution Approach 2:
The adapter serves as an intermediary component between the body-side mount and the lens. It introduces the movable lens unit that can adjust flange back distance, mediating between the fixed body-side mount and various lenses with different flange back distances without requiring modification of the camera body itself.
3Device complexity
If a fixed flange back distance is designed into the body-side mount, then the mounting system is simple, but it cannot accommodate lenses with different flange back distances
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter introduces a dynamic element (movable lens unit) into an otherwise static mounting system. The lens unit can be moved between positions to adjust the effective flange back distance, allowing the simple body-side mount to work with lenses of varying flange back distances through the adapter's dynamic adjustment capability.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a camera that includes a body-side mount. The body-side mount includes a first reference plane, has a first flange back distance from the first reference plane to an imaging plane, and allows an adapter to be mounted on the first reference plane. The adapter includes a second reference plane, and has a second flange back distance from the second reference plane to the imaging plane. The second flange back distance is shorter than the first flange back distance.