Lensless viewfinder and lensless viewfinder camera

摘要

A viewfinder, particularly useful in a camera, is lensless but which provides a useful reticle to aid the user to properly frame the desired scene. A camera body includes a viewfinder front wall opening. Surrounding the front wall opening, on its interior surface is a concave mirror with its focus on a reticle. The reticle on an internal surface of the camera body is located at the interior face of the eyepiece opening region of the viewfinder. Incoming light at the front opening illuminates the reticle and its image is reflected by the concave mirror surface to the user's eye. In one embodiment, the front opening of the camera is a single opening larger than the rear or eyepiece opening, and in another embodiment, the front opening constitutes a series of small holes in the front wall of the camera with the surface between the holes reflectorized and acting as the concave mirror. In another embodiment also adapted particularly for zoom lens cameras, a reticle mask is included within the camera body and is adjustable with the zoom position of the taking lens to change the size of the reticle. This feature includes a pair of movable L-shaped masks, each including an L-shaped reticle and which combine to produce a variable size rectangular reticle.