Technical field

The present invention lies in the field of cameras, camera units, control units for camera units and methods for operating cameras and camera units units.

[Background, prior art

High- performance photographic cameras as used in the field of professional/ commercial photography are often realized in a modular way and include, in an operable configuration, a camera unit (often referred to as "camera body") , a separate and exchangeable lens, and a separate and exchangeable image recording unit (frequently referred to as "back") which may be designed for "analogue" image recording on film or "digital" image recording via a semiconductor- based sensor chip. Such modular cameras are used in fields such as professional fashion and portrait photography, architecture photography, landscape photography, industrial/ product photography, document reproduction, or photogrammetry. Both the lens an image recording unit are selected and mounted to the camera unit in accordance with the user's individual preferences and/ or the specific applications.

While some of those cameras may be used as handheld devices, e.g. for fashion shots, they are often and typically used in combination with a tripod or other fixtures, support frames or the like. Especially in a photo studio and in many special applications, cameras may be arranged at locations and/ or in environments where direct physical access for controlling and operating the camera is inconvenient, if not impossible, for example in a height of some meters under the sealing of a photo studio.

Summary of disclosure

5 As a consequence of typical application conditions, a need exists for cameras and camera units that may, fully or partly, be remotely controlled. To meet this need, remote control solutions are available for some cameras. Such remote control solutions, however, rely on specific remote controller hardware equipment and/ or dedicated remote controller software running on a computer device, such i o as a Personal Computer ( PC) .

It is an object of the present invention to provide camera units with improved remote control capabilities as well as corresponding favorable methods for operating a camera unit via remote control. Those objects are achieved by the subject of the independent claims. Some exemplary and favorable embodiments 1 5 are defined by the dependent claims, the description and the figures.

According to an aspect, the present disclosure is directed towards a camera unit. The camera unit is exemplarily assumed to be realized as a compact device with a housing that carries its components. A corresponding camera unit may include a lens interface for exchangeable mounting a lens and exchangeable mounting an 20 image recording unit. The term "exchangeable" indicates that lenses and image recording units may be mounted and dismounted without causing damage to the camera unit, the lens, or the image recording unit. The lens interface may be designed in various ways and may be realized, e.g., as female threaded socket or as manufacturer-specific bayonet socket as widely known in the art. Alternatively, the lens interface may include a multi- purpose interface and an exchangeable lens adapter for mounting a variety of lenses, e.g. lenses from a variety of manufacturers and/ or belonging to a variety of different modular families. In such an embodiment, the lens adapter is specific for the type of lens and may accordingly be provided in a variety of specific variants.

Similarly, the image recording unit interface may be designed for mounting a specific type of image recording unit, such as image recording units of a specific manufacturer. Alternatively, the image recording unit interface may be designed as combination of a multi- purpose interface and an exchangeable image recording unit adapter for coupling different types of image recording units.

Image recording units that may be mounted to the camera unit may be designed as "analogue backs" for image recording on film or may be designed as "digital backs", comprising a semiconductor- based image sensor chip, image storage memory and peripheral electronic components and potentially a dedicated user interface for controlling operation of the image recording unit. In a typical design, the camera unit is designed for use with professional medium format image recording units, having a typical image size of e.g., 4.5 cm X 6 cm for both digital and analogue backs and 6 cm X 6 cm for analogue backs. The image recording unit may in particular be a professional digital medium format back, as available, among others, from Victor Hasselblad AB, Gothenburg, Sweden, or Phase One A/ S, Frederiksberg, Denmark. The camera unit may further include an electronically controlled shutter. A shutter may typically be arranged between the lens interface and the image recording unit interface. Opening and the closing of the shutter controls exposure of a film or sensor chip of the image recording unit. Such a shutter may be designed according to a variety of generally known designs. In the following, it is exemplarily considered as Focal Plane Shutter ( PS) that may be electronically controlled to open for exposure times from, e.g. 1 / 2000 sec or shorter up to a substantially infinite exposure time. Operation of the shutter is generally controlled by a shutter control unit of the camera unit.

In an exemplary embodiment, the camera unit may further be designed for controlling an alternative or additional shutter that is not structurally arranged within a housing of the camera unit, but is operatively coupled to and at least partly controlled by a shutter control unit of the camera unit. Such a shutter may, e.g., be a diaphragm shutter that is structurally integrated in a lens. In such embodiments, a shutter communication interface is present for providing control information to and optionally receiving feedback information from the shutter. Depending on the type of shutter and the available control options, the camera unit and in particular its shutter control unit may provide pure synchronization signals to the shutter for shutter release purposes, or may also control setting of shutter parameters, in particular the shutter speed. In case of a shutter being structurally integrated into a lens, the shutter communication interface may be part of a lens communication interface for controlling further lens settings as will be discussed below, or may be a separate, e.g. wired interface, such as a wired shutter synchronization link. In some embodiments, a shutter, e.g. a focal plane shutter, may be arranged inside a housing of the camera unit as described before and the shutter control unit may be designed to additionally control a structurally external shutter, e.g. a diaphragm shutter of a lens. For such an embodiment, the diaphragm shutter may be used for exposure control if a lens with diaphragm shutter is mounted to the camera unit, while the focal plane shutter may be used if a lens without integrated shutter is used. Alternatively, the lens shutter may be permanently opened and the focal plane shutter is used for exposure control.

The camera unit may further include a local user interface, the local user interface being configured to provide operation information to a user and to receive control commands from the user. The local user interface generally includes a local display and one or more local control elements. In the following, the local display is assumed to be realized as graphical black-and-white liquid crystal display ( LCD) . However, the local display may additionally or alternatively include other types of indicators and/ or display elements, such as a multi-colored LCD, light emitting diodes ( LEDs) , or the like. The local user interface further includes one or more manually operated control element( s) . For illustrative purposes, the local user interface is in the following considered to include a number of, e.g.. five binary push buttons and a multi-functional turnwheel that additionally serves as further pushbutton.

The local user interface is used for controlling general operation of the camera unit and potentially further components, such as a lens and/ or image recording unit that is mounted and/ or operatively coupled to the camera unit. Exemplary specific operation information and control commands will be discussed further below.

In an exemplary embodiment that is assumed in the following, the local display of the local user interface is designed and used for displaying camera status und 5 control information ( such as exposure time or lens aperture) , but is not used for displaying images that are recorded by a digital image recording unit.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the camera unit may further include a bidirectional communication interface, a remote user interface generator and a remote command receiver. i o The bidirectional communication interface is in the following assumed to be a wired or wireless LAN interface in accordance with the Ethernet standard. Other protocols and/ or technologies, such as Bluetooth, may be used additionally or alternatively.

The remote user interface generator is configured to generate a user interface 1 5 representation in form of data, and to transmit the user interface representation, via the bidirectional communication interface, to a remote client device for displaying a remote user interface on the remote client device. The remote user interface typically includes a remote display and one or more remote control elements.

20 The remote command receiver is configured to receive, via the bidirectional communication interface, a control command from the remote client device. Upon reception, the remotely generated control command is processed and executed by the camera unit, for example by a central control unit of the camera unit. Control commands may be inputted into the remote client device via the remote control elements of the remote user interface. In an embodiment, the 5 remote control elements are physical control elements, such as keyboard keys. In typical embodiments, however, the remote control elements are, at least partly, "virtual" control elements that are provided on a graphical user interface ( GU I) . Remote control elements that provided via a GU I are in the following also referred to as "GU I control elements". i o The remote client device may be realized by any remote device that is capable to communicate with the camera unit and to handle the data generated by the remote interface generator. Typical devices that are suited for use as remote client devices and are exemplarily assumed in the following are general- purpose ( stationary) Personal Computers ( PCs) or Workstations, laptop or tablet

1 5 computers or smart phones. For displaying the remote user interface and generally handling the data representing the remote user interface, the remote client device favorably runs a corresponding software application as will be further discussed below.

Designing a camera unit in this ways may be used to provide, alone or in 20 combination, a number of advantages, some of which are discussed in the following. Because the user interface representation is generated on the camera unit, the remote user interface that is provided on the remote client device - for example in the form of a Graphical User Interface ( GU I) as will be discussed further below - allows the remote user interface to be provided largely independent of the specific 5 architecture and structure of the remote client device, resulting in the option for using different types of devices alternatively or in parallel with at least substantially identical appearance and offering the same remote control capabilities for all of the devices. For example, a camera unit that is mounted under the ceiling of a photo studio and connected to the studio LAN via the i o remote communication interface may be controlled via a PC or workstation in the studio or a neighboring room, and/ or via a smart phone that is carried by a photographer or assistant.

Also because the user interface representation is generated on the camera unit in accordance with its configuration and capabilities, it can be ensured that the

1 5 remote user interface reflects the configuration and capabilities of the camera unit, without requiring any setting or modification on the remote client device. If, for example, a number of cameras with different capabilities and/ or configurations are present in a photo studio, each of them can be remotely controlled by the same or different remote client devices, with the remote client device( s) always

20 providing the remote user interface fitting to the controlled camera. Furthermore, if the capabilities and/ or the configuration of a specific camera unit is changed, e.g., by a firmware or hardware update of the camera unit or by coupling accessories, a modified remote user interface is automatically available on the remote client device( s) , too. In some embodiments, the remote user interface generator includes an embedded web server, the web server being configured to generate the user interface representation as web page for displaying on the remote client device. In such an embodiment, the remote client device runs an ordinary web browser as 5 widely known and the remote user interface is displayed via the web browser.

Since web browsers are available for and typically present on devices that may be used as remote client devices, the remote user interface may be provided on any of such devices without requiring any hardware modification or dedicated software installation. i o In some embodiments, the remote user interface generator includes a display bitmap generator, the display bitmap generator being configured to dynamically generate a bit- mapped display graphic, the display graphic comprising operation information to be displayed on the remote client device. Favorably, the software application running on the remote client device, e.g. a web browser, only displays

1 5 the received image as remote display without doing any interpretation or modification of the received graphic data. For this type of embodiment, the operation information that shall be displayed is not transmitted to the remote client device as such, but in form of its graphical representation or image that shall be shown to the user. For displaying, for example, a shutter speed setting of

20 1 / 1 25 sec, a graphic image showing "1 / 1 25 sec" in whatever desired font and layout may be transmitted rather than the numeric value. This type of embodiment has the particular advantage that the appearance of an image that is shown on the remote client device, i.e., the remote display, is independent from the hardware and software configuration of this particular device. To illustrate the opposite, it is known that identical web pages may be displayed in a often slightly but still recognizably different way by different web browsers.

Dynamic generation of the bit- mapped display graphic ensures that the remote display always shows the correct information. Generating or updating of the graphic may be carried out in a substantially continuous way or triggered by a change of the displayed information.

In some embodiments, the display graphic mirrors an image shown on a local display of the local user interface. For those embodiments, the image that is shown by the remote display is identical to the image that is shown by the local display. In alternative embodiments, however, the display graphic may not directly mirror the local graphic but may, e.g. arrange the information in a different way, e.g. to meet restrictions of the remote client device or to only present selected information as compared to the local display, or vice versa. In further embodiments, a number of alternative layouts of the display graphic may be available and selectable.

In some embodiments, the camera unit is configured to generate and transmit the display graphic to the remote client device substantially in real time and/ or with negligible latency. This type of embodiment enables the display graphic to be synchronous with the local display. In this context, the phrase "real time" means that means that any delay that may be present between the generation of an indication that shall be provided and the information being actually displayed on the remote display is negligible from a practical point of view and preferably not recognizable. In addition to the performance of elements such as the bidirectional communication interface and the network that couples the camera unit and the remote client device, it is important to limit the amount of data that is communicated in real time. In an exemplary embodiment, the size of the bit- 5 mapped display graphic is about 1 kilobyte ( 1 KB) or even less.

In some embodiments, the camera unit is configured to receive and process a control command from the remote client device substantially in real time and/ or with negligible latency. This type of embodiment enables real-time controlling operation of the camera unit via the remote client device. In this context, the i o phrase "real-time" means that any delay that may be present between a control command being provided via the remote client device and its processing or execution by the camera unit is negligible from a practical point of view and preferably not recognizable. This requirement is met by latencies or delays in the millisecond ( ms) - range. In particular, values of typically, e.g., 4 ... 5 ms and worst-

1 5 case delays about 20 ms may be acceptable. While substantially delay-free control is of obvious interest - and in some cases essential - for controlling shutter release, it is of general interest for convenience reasons for generally all kinds of control commands.

In some embodiments, the remote user interface is configured to receive a set of 20 control commands corresponding to a set of control commands that may also be entered via the local user interface. For this type of embodiment, for example all control commands that may be entered via the local user interface may alternatively be entered via the remote user interface, thus offering full control capabilities both locally and remotely. In alternative embodiments, only a subset of functions is available via the remote client device. The configuration may, e.g., be such that the shutter speed and/ or the lens aperture may be changed both via the local user interface or the remote client device, while the steps in which those 5 values may be changed (e.g. in full, half, quarter, ... Exposure Values ( EVs) ) is available only via the local user interface. In another example, the configuration may be such that releasing the shutter is the only command that is available via the remote client device. Defining a set or subset of functions that shall be available may be readily defined by the camera unit firmware or may be user- i o settable. I n further embodiments, some control commands may exclusively be available via the remote user interface.

I n some embodiments, the remote user interface generator is configured to generate a graphical user interface for displaying on the remote client device, the graphical user interface comprising a graphical representation of at least one

1 5 remote control element. The Graphical User Interface ( GU I) represents one or more remote control elements, typically as pictograms. The graphical representation may substantially mirror the appearance of physical control elements of the local user interface. This is favorable, e.g., for pushbuttons where a pictogram may have the same shape, show the same symbols etc. like a

20 corresponding physical control element of the local user interface. For other control elements, such as a rotational knob, turnwheel or setting ring, a different layout may be favorable. A physical turnwheel or a setting ring of the local user interface may, e.g., correspond to a set of two GU I pushbuttons showing opposing arrows, corresponding to the two rotational directions of the turnwheel or setting ring, by four GU I pushbuttons for additionally enabling coarse and fine control, or the like.

In some embodiments with a GU I, the camera unit stores a design of the at least one remote control element as one or more bit- mapped control element 5 graphic( s) . In a similar way as discussed before in context of the display graphics and the remote display, this type of embodiment ensures that the appearance of the GU I control elements is independent from the specific remote client device. Since the GU I is typically fully or largely static, it is generally sufficient to transmit it to the remote client device upon initialization or upon changes as will be discussed i o further below. In a practical embodiment, a single control element graphic may be provided that stores the design of all remote control elements as so called "sprites" which are independently arranged on the GU I as desired.

In some embodiments, the camera unit is configured to adaptively generate the user interface representation and/ or provide remote control capabilities in

1 5 dependence of a lens that is mounted to the lens interface and/ or an image recording unit that is mounted to the image recording unit interface. For example, some lenses may be designed for setting some or all of focus, aperture and potentially focal length by exclusively mechanically means via corresponding setting rings on the lens, while other lenses are designed for automated setting of

20 those values either by actuators that are integrated into the lens or via a mechanical (typical rotational) control interface for setting via an external actuator. As far as the image recording unit is concerned, parameters such as the speed/ sensor sensitivity, image resolution and image format may or may not be available for remote setting. For this type of embodiment, the camera unit is equipped with a corresponding lens communication interface and/ or image recording unit communication interface. Selecting of a specific lens or image recording unit may be carried out automatically or manually via user selection. 5 This type of embodiment allows to provide, in addition to the camera unit as such, remote control functionality for mounted lenses and/ or image recording units to the extent that remote control of those functions is available and supported by the camera module. The same principle may be applied to further components that may be mounted or generally operatively coupled to the camera module, such as i o a motorized tilting/ shifting units that may be arranged between camera unit and either of lens and/ or image recording units for perspective correction or control purposes.

In some embodiments, the camera unit is configured to determine a duration for which a remote control element on the remote user interface is actuated and to

1 5 control operation of the camera unit in accordance with the duration. This type of embodiment allows to limit the number of separate control elements, e.g. pushbuttons, that need to be provided for a given set of commands. In particular embodiments, the camera module is also configured to determine a duration for which a local control element of the local user interface is actuated and to control

20 operation of the camera unit in accordance with the duration in the same way.

Thereby, the same user behavior can be achieved for both the local and the remote user interface. Further in a particular embodiment, two different durations are distinguished, namely a "short" and a "long" activation, with the switching threshold, being, e.g., 1 sec or 2 sec. In some embodiments, the camera unit is configured to receive, from the remote user interface, information indicating a user actuating a control element on the remote user interface, and is further configured to adaptively react on the received information in dependence of an operational state of the camera unit. 5 For this embodiment, no actual commands that shall be executed by the camera unit - such as, e.g., releasing the shutter or changing the shutter speed - are transmitted from the remote client device to the camera unit, but solely the information that some remote control element is or has been actuated by the user, leaving the interpretation and processing of this information with the camera unit. i o In this way, it can be ensured that a reaction of the camera unit on actuating a remote control element is the same as actuating a corresponding local control element.

In some embodiments, the camera unit is configured to receive and process control commands both from the local user interface and the remote user

1 5 interface in parallel. In this context "in parallel" refers to a quasi-simultaneous reception and processing, e.g. on a "first come, first served" basis. A command that is received via either of a local control or remote control element is processed in the same way, independent of its origin. This type of embodiment enables both local and remote control of the camera, without requiring the switching to a

20 dedicate "remote control mode". This is favorable, e.g., in situations where a user frequently changes location between a location directly at the camera and a remote lactation, and/ or if one operator is directly with the camera and a second operator is remote, with both of them collaborating in controlling operation of the camera unit. The number of remote client device with corresponding remote user interfaces may be limited to one or may be larger, with, e.g. three, four or five remote client devices, which may be partly stationary and partly mobile. A dedicated "remote control mode", however, may be available alternatively or additionally.

According to a further aspect, the present invention is directed towards a method of operating a camera unit. The camera unit may exemplarily be a camera unit in particular a camera unit as described before. The method may include:

generating, on the camera unit, a user interface representation in form of data ; transmitting the user interface representation, via a bidirectional communication interface of the camera unit, to a remote client device; displaying on the remote client device a remote user interface, the remote user interface being defined by the user interface representation ;

receiving, via the bidirectional communication interface, a control command from the remote client device;

controlling operation of the camera unit in accordance with the received control command.

According to a still further aspect, the present disclosure is directed towards a camera arrangement. Such a camera arrangement may include:

a camera unit as discussed before and further below in the context of exemplary embodiments, and a remote client device, the remote client device being configured to operatively couple with the camera unit, to receive the user interface representation from the camera unit and display the corresponding remote user interface, to a receive control commands and transmit the control command to the camera unit.

In variants, the camera arrangement may include a number of camera units and/ or a number of remote client devices. In some embodiments, the remote client device is configured for running a web browser application for displaying the remote user interface.

In this document, some aspects and embodiments are disclosed and discussed mainly in context of a camera unit, while other aspects and embodiments are disclosed and discussed mainly in context of a method for operating a camera unit. It is to be understood however, that disclosed specific embodiments of camera units also disclose corresponding methods for operating a camera unit while disclosed exemplary methods for operating a camera unit also disclose camera units that may be used for carrying out the method.

According to a still further aspect, the present disclosure is directed towards a camera control unit. The camera control unit may include a shutter control unit for controlling operation of an electronically controlled shutter. The camera control unit may further include a local user interface, the local user interface being configured to provide operation information to a user and to receive control commands from the user. The camera control unit may further include a bidirectional communication interface, a remote user interface generator and a remote command receiver. The remote user interface generator may be configured to generate a user interface representation in form of data, and to transmit the user interface representation, via the bidirectional communication 5 interface, to a remote client device for displaying a remote user interface on the remote client device. The remote command receiver may be configured to receive, via the bidirectional communication interface, control commands from the remote client device.

A camera unit as discussed before and further below may include a camera i o control unit according to this aspect of the present disclosure. Therefore, embodiments of a camera unit in accordance with the present document discloses simultaneously discloses a corresponding embodiment of a camera control unit.

According to a still further aspect, the present disclosure is directed towards a camera device, the camera device including a camera control unit according to the 1 5 present disclosure. Such a camera device may or may not include one or more of an electronically controlled shutter, and further may or may not include a lens and/ or an image recording unit or corresponding interfaces.

[Exemplary embodiments

In the following, exemplary embodiments in accordance with the present 20 disclosure are discussed in more detail with reference to the figures. It is to be understood that in this description terms such as "left, right", "top", bottom" etc. refer to positions and directions of the figures in the context of which they are used and are provided for the sake of concise presentation and to improve the reader's understanding. They do not imply any further limitation with 5 respect to the disclosure.

Figure 1 shows an exemplary camera unit with mounted lens, image recording unit and view finder.

Figure 2 shows a backside view of an exemplary camera unit.

Figure 3 shows major functional units of an exemplary camera unit in a schematic i o functional view.

Figure 4a, 4b illustrate an exemplary remote user interface.

Figure 5a, 5 b illustrate exemplary combinations of one or more camera unit with one or more remote client device.

Reference is first made to Figure 1 . Figure 1 shows an exemplary camera unit 1 00 1 5 in accordance with the present disclosure. For illustrative purposes, the camera unit 1 00 is shown with mounted lens 200 and image recording unit 300 , thus forming an operable photographic camera. The camera design as shown in Figure 1 as well as Figure 2 ( discussed further below) , is generally known from applicant's commercially available camera units. The internal design of a camera 20 unit in accordance with the present disclosure, however, is different. In particular, the below-discussed remote control capabilities are not present in the known camera units. The exemplary camera unit 1 00 includes a housing 1 01 that is typically formed from metal and a hand grip 1 02 that may, e.g. be made from metal, wood, plastics, or a combination thereof. The camera unit 1 00 comprises an optional tripod mounting thread 1 05 , with one or more further tripod mounting thread( s) ( not visible) being arranged on other sides of the housing 1 01 . At the top side of the housing 1 01 , an optional multi- purpose adaptor socket 1 07 of the type generally used, e.g., for mounting flash lights, is arranged.

The shown lens 200 is mounted to the camera unit 1 00 via a lens adapter 1 90 that couples to a multi- purpose interface ( not visible) that as part of the camera housing 1 01 . The lens adapter 1 90 is exemplarily considered as including a female bayonet that corresponds to a bayonet of the lens 200. While a variety of lenses may be used, the exemplary lens 200 origins from a professional modular Single Lens Reflex ( SLR) system.

I n this exemplary embodiment, the camera unit 1 00 does not include a built- in viewfinder but is shown with an optical external viewfinder 900 mounted on a corresponding dedicated socket of housing the 1 01 . Alternatively or in addition to external viewfinders of various designs, a Life View ( LV) image recorded by a sensor chip of the image recording unit 300 may be used for viewfinding and focusing purposes. I n further variants, a focusing screen may temporarily mounted instead of the image recording unit 300 and/ or camera unit 1 00 may include an integrated viewfinder, such as a reflex viewfinder. Reference is in the following additionally made to Figure 2 , showing a backside view of the camera unit 1 00. A shutter which is exemplarily shown as focal plane shutter ( PS) 1 30 is arranged between the lens interface and the image recording unit interface 1 95. The image recording unit interface includes a recess 1 95c which is sized to snugly and removable receive an image recording unit adapter ( not shown) . The image recording unit interface 1 95 further includes turntable locking handles 1 95a and counter fixture elements 1 95 b for locking the image recording unit adapter in place. The lens interface may be designed according to the same principle.

Energy is provided to the camera unit 1 00 by exchangeable mounted rechargeable battery/ power pack 1 40. The camera unit 1 00 , however, may also be powered via an external power supply. Above the battery/ power pack 1 40 , a number of electrical connectors is arranged for diverse synchronization, power supply and remote control purposes. In particular, the connector 1 28 serves for providing synchronization signals to digital image recording units. Optionally, flashlight synchronization connector 1 28 may be used for this purpose, too.

The local user interface of the camera unit 1 00 includes a local display 1 20 which is exemplarily realized as 1 02 X 64 pixel graphic black-and-white LCD, a number of pushbuttons 1 22a, 1 22 b, 1 22c, 1 22d, 1 22e, and a turnwheel 1 24 with a further integrated pushbutton. It is to be understood that this specific technical realization is purely exemplary and that a variety of alternative approaches and designs is available. Operation of the local user interface is discussed further below. On the right side of the housing 1 01 , further connectors are arranged that are not visible in Rgure 2. In particular, an network connector in form of an Ethernet connector is present that is used as bidirectional communication interface for remote control purposes in the context of the present disclosure. Further 5 interfaces, such as a Universal Serial Bus ( USB) connector may also be present.

The camera unit is optionally designed to receive firmware updates via one or more of its communication interfaces.

In the following, addition reference is made to Rgure 3 , showing major functional units of the camera unit 1 00 and their main interrelation in a schematic view. The i o arrows linking the single functional units in Rgure 3 indicate the main direction of information flow between the functional units, as far as relevant in context of the present disclosure. This, however, does neither exclude the presence of further connections between functional units nor the presence of informational flow, for example for feedback and confirmation purposes, in the opposite direction .

1 5 Furthermore, the functional units do not imply a certain hardware structure. Some functional units may, fully or partly, share a common hardware structure, e.g. in the form of micro controllers, while a single functional unit may be realized by a number of distinct hardware components. Furthermore, the connecting arrows do not imply a directly corresponding physical wiring. In an exemplary

20 embodiment, different structurally units of the camera unit 1 00 may be coupled by a common bus for signal transmission and/ or power distribution purposes. It is further to be understood that the structure a shown in Rgure 3 is exemplary. The camera unit 1 00 includes a central control unit 1 50 which controls operation of the camera unit 1 00 as a whole and coordinates operation of the other functional units. Central control unit 1 50 may, e.g., be realized by a micro controller and potential peripheral components. In a typical embodiment, the central control unit 1 50 stores a camera firmware that is realized as executable program code.

The central control unit 1 50 is operatively coupled to the local display 1 20 to provide operation information and is further coupled to the pushbuttons 1 22a, 1 22b, 1 22c, 1 22d, 1 22e, 1 22e and turnwheel 1 24, from where it receives user input that is subsequently processed. The central control unit 1 50 further includes a shutter control unit ( not separately shown) that controls operation , in particular cocking and release, of focal plane shutter 1 30 via actuators of the focal plane shutter 1 30. Furthermore, an optional lens communication interface 1 90' is provided that may be present for information exchange with a lens 200 via the lens interface, in particular for setting the focus and/ or the aperture, provided that that the lens 200 is designed to allow remote control of those settings and the camera unit 1 00 supports the remote setting of those values. It is to be noted that the setup shown in Rgure 3 is not restricted to the specific exemplary type of shutter design and shutter arrangement within the camera unit. The shutter may, e.g. also be structurally external and arranged in a lens. In such an embodiment, shutter control signals and in particular shutter release commands may be transmitted to the shutter, e.g. via the lens communication interface 1 90'. Remote control of the camera unit 1 00 is enabled, in combination, via the remote user interface generator 1 52 , a remote command receiver that is exemplary assumed to be integral with the central control unit 1 50 , and the bidirectional communication interface 1 56.

5 The central control unit 1 50 , the local user interface with the local display 1 20 and the local control elements in form of pushbuttons 1 22a, 1 22 b, 1 22c, 1 22d, 1 22e, 1 22e and turnwheel 1 24, the remote interface generator 1 52 and the bidirectional communication interface 1 56 , in combination, establish a camera control unit. i o The remote user interface generator 1 52 exemplarily includes an embedded web server that is designed the generate the user interface representation as a web page. Via the bidirectional communication interface 1 56, and a communication network, realized, e.g., as Local Area Network ( LAN) 400 based on the Ethernet standard, the web page is transmitted to a remote client device 500. The remote

1 5 user interface generator 1 52 generates the user interface representation in form of dynamic HTM L, using JavaScript code and CSS ( Cascading Style Sheets) Further techniques as known in the art may be used additionally or alternatively..

Via the communication network 400 , the bidirectional communication interface 1 56 further receives control commands from the remote client device 500 that is 20 processed by a remote command receiver of the central control unit 1 50. As will be discussed in more detail below, the central control unit 1 50 is configured to react on control commands that are provided via the local user interface in the same way as on control commands that are provided via the user interface.

As far as controlling operation of the camera unit 1 00 is concerned, reference is first made to local control via the local user interface with the local display 1 20 and local control elements, 1 22a .. 1 22e, and turnwheel 1 24. It is to be understood, however, that controlling operation of the camera unit 1 00 is discussed here only by way of examples and as far as required in context of the present disclosure. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the specific way of controlling operation of the camera unit 1 00 is highly dependent on an overall operational concept and is therefore exemplary.

The central control unit 1 50 provides for a set of different screens to be presented via the local display 1 20 , each screen being associated with corresponding functionality and operational state of the camera unit 1 00 and being used for providing a set of specific control commands.

The set of screens may be cycled through via the "arrow" pushbuttons 1 22c, 1 22d. The set of screens may include, e.g. an "EXPOSU RE" screen for setting the exposure ( i.e. shutter speed and/ or lens aperture) , a "STEPS" screen for setting the step size in which shutter speed and/ or aperture may be changed, a "FOCUS CONTROL" screen for controlling the focus setting of the lens 200, and the like. For each screen, the relevant data are shown on the local display 1 20. Settings may be changed and - in case of numeric values - increased and decreased by actuating the turnwheel 1 24. Where more than one value can be set or modified on the same screen, a value can selected for setting or modification, indicated by inversion, highlighting or the like on the local display 1 20. Selection is performed by pushing the turnwheel 1 24.

Operation of the pushbuttons, 1 22a, 1 22 b, 1 22e is exemplarily independent from the currently active screen. Pushbutton 1 22a serves for switching on/ off the illumination of the display 1 20, while actuation of pushbutton 1 22 b switches, by providing a corresponding command to the lens 200 via the lens communication connector 1 90', the aperture of the lens 200 between "fully open" and "closed to the set aperture value". This function, however, may or may not be available for a given lens 200. Pushbutton 1 22e serves as shutter release for the focal plane shutter 1 30 as well as for manually opening and closing the shutter for long time exposure.

Further user input may exemplarily be provided by pressing or actuating a pushbutton for an extended time period of, e.g., 2 sec or longer. For example, a long press on turnwheel 1 24 may activate/ deactivate a key- lock, a long push on "left arrow" pushbutton 1 22c may rotate the information presentation on the local display 1 20 by 90° or 1 80°, and a long push on pushbutton 1 22 b may manually toggle the focal plane shutter 1 30 via the opened and closed state.

In the following, controlling and operating the camera unit 1 00 via a remote user interface is explained with additional reference to Figures 4a, 4b. Figure 4a shows the web page as generated by the remote user interface generator 1 52, when displayed by the remote client device 500. The remote client device 500 may, e.g. be a standard PC or workstation, a laptop or tablet computer or a smart phone. The remote user interface includes a GU I and is provided via a standard web browser window. The GU I shows a bit- mapped display graphic 620 as remote display. The remote display fully mirrors the content of the local display 1 20 and is updated in a quasi-continuous way, e.g. every 500 msec. Whenever the content of the local display 1 20 is modified by the central control unit 1 50 , the bit- mapped display graphic 620 is accordingly updated and shown on the remote client device 500. For each of the physical pushbuttons 1 22a, 1 22 b, 1 22c, 1 22d, 1 22e, a corresponding remote control element is provided in form of a GU I pushbutton 622a, 622 b, 622c, 622d, 622e. The functionality of the physical turnwheel 1 24 is provided by GU I pushbuttons 624a, 624b, corresponding turning turnwheel 1 24 left or right respectively, and a further GU I pushbutton 624c, corresponding to pushing the turnwheel 1 24.

For providing input via the GU I , the GU I control elements may be actuated in various ways in dependence of the specific design and capabilities of the remote client device 500 and its software. Actuating of a GU I control element may, e.g., be done via finger-touching the corresponding GU I control element on a touch screen of the remote client device 500, or by activation via mouse, trackball, or the like. Furthermore, a mapping may be provided to keys of a keyboard of the remote client device 500 for using the keys as alternative remote control elements. When a GU I control element, and in particular a GU I pushbutton, is actuated, only information concerning the actuation as such - including the duration - is transmitted back to the camera unit, leaving the interpretation in dependence on the currently active screen and the operational state of the camera unit 1 00, to the camera unit 1 00 and in particular the central control unit 1 50.

The single elements of the GU I, in particular the GU I control elements, are transmitted from the camera unit 1 00 to the remote client device 500 as bitmapped control element graphics upon establishing connection and favorably when elements of the GU I shall be hidden or marked as inactive, as discussed further below. Continuous or quasi-continuous transmission of the GU I is generally possible but not required.

Figure 4b shows the bit- mapped display graphic 620 , corresponding to the content shown by the local display 1 20 , exemplarily for an "EXPOSU RE' screen that is used for exposure control. The bit- mapped display graphic 620 is generated by a display bitmap generator of the remote user interface generator 1 52. The value 620a indicates a current shutter speed setting of 1 / 1 000 sec. This value is displayed inversed, thus indicating that it is selected for modification by turning turnwheel 1 24 or - equivalently - actuating the GU I pushbuttons 624a, 624b, respectively. By pressing turnwheel 1 24 or - equivalently - actuating GU I pushbutton 624c, the selection may be changed to the aperture setting 620b, exemplarily showing a current aperture setting of 1 :2.8 f. By a further press on turnwheel 1 24 or - equivalently - a further operation of GU I pushbutton 624c, the settings of shutter speed and aperture may be togged between "unchained" or "chained". I n the unchained mode, modifying either of the settings does not influence the other setting, resulting in the image exposure being changed in accordance with the modification. In the "chained" mode, any modification of shutter speed or aperture setting is automatically compensated for by a corresponding modification of the other value in the counter-direction, resulting in the effective image exposure remaining unchanged. In the example shown in Figure 4b, the camera unit 1 00 is in the "unchained" mode. In the "chained mode", the corresponding symbol 620c is shown as inverted.

It should be noted that not all settings may be available in a specific configuration of camera unit 1 00 and lens 200. While the shutter speed setting acts on the shutter 1 30 which is part of the camera unit 1 00 and therefore generally available, both lens aperture setting and toggling between "chained" and "unchained" require the lens to be designed for remote aperture control via a camera unit and further the camera unit 1 00 to support the remote setting, i.e. provide corresponding control commands via the lens communication interface 1 90'.

The GU I as shown in Fgure 4a further includes a number of GU I arrow pushbuttons 625a as well as GU I pushbuttons 625b, 625 c which are provided for focus setting via the GU I with the "FOCUS CONTROL" screen being active. Like aperture setting, this function is available only if remote focus setting is available for the used lens 200 and supported by the camera unit 1 00. Otherwise, the corresponding GU I elements 625a, 625 b, 62c are favorably hidden ( i.e., invisible) or optically marked as inactive, e.g., by showing them in a different color, such as light grey. The set of GUI arrow pushbuttons includes two sets of three GUI pushbuttons each, in combination referred to as ref .625a and labeled "< < < ", "< < ", " < " and ">", ">>", ">>>" for decreasing or increasing the focus setting, respectively. The "<<<" and ">>>" GUI pushbuttons are provided for coarse focus control. Given a rotational angle a of the movable focus-control elements in the lens 200 for changing the focus setting between hyper focal distance as closest distance setting and the far point distance as farest distance setting (often infinity, "∞"), each operation of GU I pushbutton "< < < ", "> > > " changes the focus setting by, e.g., 10% of the total range, resulting in a turning angle of ⁽ Sc/ 10. Similarly, each operation of GUI pushbutton "<<", ">>" changes the focus setting by, e.g. 1%. Via the GUI pushbuttons label "<<<", ">>>", or "<<", ">>", the full focus setting range of the lens 200 can accordingly be run through in e.g., 10 or 100 steps, respectively, independent of the design of the specific lens. For very fine focus control, the GUI pushbuttons labeled "<", ">" are provided for changing by a single index value, i.e., the smallest incremental amount by which the focus setting may be altered. Optional additional GUI pushbuttons 625b, 625c are present for directly setting the focal length to the hyper focal distance or the far point distance, respectively.

When the "FOCUS CONTROL" screen is active, focus setting is alternatively available via the local user interface. In this case, the focus setting may be increased and decreased, respectively, by turning turnwheel 124, while the integrated pushbutton 124 is used for selecting coarse (corresponding to "< < < ", ">>>"), fine (corresponding to "<<", ">>") and super-fine (corresponding to "< ", "> ") control as well as directly setting the closest distance or the hyper focal distance, respectively.

In the following, reference is additionally made to Figures 5a, 5 b. Figure 5a exemplarily and schematically shows an exemplary arrangement of a camera unit 5 1 00 as discussed before, with attached lens 200 and digital image recording unit 300 in operative coupling with two remote client devices 500a, 500 b. A setup according Figure 5a may, e.g., be present in a photo studio.

The lens 200 and the camera unit 1 00 are exemplarily considered to enable remote setting of the focus and/ or the lens aperture via the lens communication i o link 41 0. In other similar configurations, however, no remote setting of lens parameters may be available.

The image recording unit 300 is considered as digital image recording unit ( digital back) , in particular a professional medium format digital back. The image recording unit 300 receives synchronization signals from the camera unit 1 00 via 1 5 a wired synchronization link 420.

Via the LAN 400, the camera unit 400 couples to two remote client devices 500a, 500b. While a variety of remote client devices may be used as discussed before, the remote client device 500a is here assumed to be as high performance PC or workstation, while the remote client device 500 b is assumed to be a mobile 20 device, such as a smart phone or a tablet computer. On both of the remote client devices 500a, 500 b, a remote user interface is available, such as the GU I- based remote user interface as illustrated in Figures 4a, 4b. Operation of the camera unit 1 00 and the remote controllable function of the lens 200 may accordingly be carried out locally directly at the camera, or remotely via either of the remote client devices 500, 500 b.

5 The image recording unit 300 is further coupled with the remote client device 500a via a separate image communication link 430 that is not used for transmitting control commands, but for recorded images and/ or Life View. On a display or monitor of the remote client device 500a, those images may be displayed via software and in one or more windows different from the GU I. The i o image communication link 430 may, e.g., be an analogue video signal link, an USB connection or a WI- FI connection that may, e.g. couple to the LAN 400 and/ or a separate network of sufficient performance for image data transmission.

Figure 5 b shows a further exemplary setup. In this configuration, a number of four cameras is present. For clarity reasons, only the camera units 400a, 400 b,

1 5 400c, 400d are shown, while a corresponding number of lenses and image recording units is also present in a typical setup. Via the LAN 400 , all of the camera units 400a ... 400d are coupled to a common remote client device 500. On the remote client device 500, a separate browser window with a corresponding GU I may be present for each of the camera units 400a .. 4d, or

20 they may be present in different tabs of a common browser window. Naturally, further remote client devices may also be present in the setup of Fig. 5 b. Due to the use of a web-server for providing the remote user interface and the use of a standard web browser for displaying and operating the remote user interface, both the setups of Figure 5a and Figure 5 b as well as any further desired setup of one or more camera unit in combination with one or more remote client device may be realized without requiring any modification of the camera unit( s) or the remote client device( s) .

Reference signs

100, 100a, 100b, 100c, 100d camera unit

101 housing

102 hand grip

105 tripod thread

107 accessory adapter

120 local display

122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e pushbuttons

128 synchronization port

128 flashlight synchronization port

140 124 turnwheel with pushbutton

130 focal plane shutter

140 battery / power pack

150 central control unit

152 remote user interface generator

156 bidirectional communication interface

190 lens adapter

190' lens communication interface

195 image recording unit interface

195a locking handle

195b counter fixture element

195c recess

200 lens image recording unit

network/ LAN

lens communication link synchronization link

image communication link

, 500a, 500b remote client device

display graphic

a, 620b, 620c elements of remote display graphica, 622b, 622c, 622d, 622e, GUI pushbuttons

a, 624b, 624c, 625a, 625b,

c

a, 624bb, 624c GUI pushbutton

view finder