1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a finder device. More particularly, the present invention relates to the improvement of a finder device in a digital camera capable of displaying on a display screen both an image being viewed and an image being shot.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cameras are commonly known, which form an optical image of a subject on an image pickup device from light coming from the subject and passing through a photographing optical system, photoelectrically convert the optical image into electric image signals through the image pickup device, and display the resulting image on the screen of an image display device, such as an LCD monitor, based on the electric image signals.
As an example of such a camera displaying a subject image, a camera is known, which is provided with an image pickup device for monitoring the subject field (image pickup device for live-view display) separately from an image pickup device for capturing the subject image. In this type of camera, a half mirror is arranged in a finder optical system to guide a light beam of the subject to the image pickup device for live-view display. In a live view mode that is one of the operation modes of the camera, the image pickup device for live-view display repeats imaging to display a series of live images on the screen of an image display device (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-165730).
A technique is also known which uses another image pickup device, different from an image pickup device for capturing a subject image, to monitor a finder screen (for example, see the U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,022).
It is common practice for conventional single lens reflex cameras (hereinafter simply called “SLR cameras”) to cause a superimpose display for displaying multiple focus points in a viewfinder or to display shooting information in the viewfinder using a display component for finder display.
However, the camera described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-165730 is not to display shooting information and a subject image at a time on the screen of the display device.
On the other hand, when a finder screen is monitored through another image pickup device as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,022, there may be cases where the brightness of the display component for finder display does not fit the brightness of the subject on the finder screen.