1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a lens connection module and a connection adapter for the same. In particular, the invention relates to a lens connection module magnetically installed on an image capture device and a connection adapter for the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As digital cameras and mobile phones provide features like immediate image preview and easy exportation to computer-related devices, they have been quickly replacing conventional film cameras and become the mainstream on current camera market. Typically, the zoom adjustment in this type of image capture devices spans at most approximately a range of ten something folds, which supports only image shooting for general views, but not applicable for significant zoom-in or zoom-out landscape photography. To resolve these issues, it is quite often to externally connect a high magnification lens, a micro-lens or a short-range light supplement device to the image capture device. Conventional lens connection modules establish the connection essentially by means of, for example, a threaded connection ring.
In a typical single lens camera, the front end of the lens is internally threaded and, therefore, it is relatively convenient to attach an additional filter, a polarized lens, a connection ring or other peripheral equipments thereto. However, as the advent of digital cameras and mobile phones, differences indeed exist in various product specifications no matter with regards to lens diameter, lens retraction, lens configuration/profile or other aspects, so it is inevitable to be confronted with difficulties in, upon using digital cameras and mobile phones of different specifications, how to, on one hand, make the lens connection module conform to various specifications and, on the other hand, to facilitate simple attachment/detachment with assured joint robustness.
Moreover, in addition to general uses, the short-range photography derives many special applications, including cash money counterfeit, medical cosmetology business, dermatological diagnoses and treatments, criminal identifications and so on. The short-range image capturing processes for these purposes usually require additional light supplement. Especially, in the case where fluorescent light is involved in certain technical fields, it needs to employ, for example, a short-range light supplement device which emits ultra-violet (UV) light or even has a feature allowing quick alternation between UV light emission and visible light emission. Accordingly, this sort of auxiliary devices for light supplement or image capture may require convenient assembly and disassembly operations from time to time. However, the attachment and detachment operations on a connection adapter of a conventional lens need both hands to proceed. That is, with one hand fixedly holding on the lens of the single lens camera, the other hand rotates the filter or other peripheral equipment, which is obviously not handy enough and may take overly long time to complete such relative rotations thus causing inconvenience in user's operation.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a lens connection module which has a fixation mechanism with a reduced volume and also maintains the original appearance and application convenience of the digital camera.