Abstract: A lens-fitted film unit is preloaded with photographic film, and has an eight-toothed driven sprocket wheel in mesh with perforations on the film. When the photographic film is fed by one frame, the sprocket is caused to make one rotation. A shutter mechanism is cocked responsive to rotation of the sprocket. During assembly of the film unit, the shutter mechanism is cocked. The photographic film is loaded while the shutter mechanism remains cocked. In a preferred embodiment, the sprocket is set in a predetermined rotated position which is two teeth short of the position at the end of one winding up of the film. This brings the shutter mechanism into an incompletely cocked state. The photographic film is loaded while the shutter mechanism remains in the incompletely cocked state. In the film unit, a film passageway is provided behind the main body, for passage of the film. A shiftable engaging portion projects into the film passageway in retractable fashion.

Abstract: A lens-fitted photographic film unit has a picture frame size changing mechanism for changing the size of picture frames between a full size and a panoramic size. The picture frame size changing mechanism includes upper and lower exposure aperture masking plates which are pivotally mounted in a light-shielding box in front of an exposure aperture. The masking plates are interconnected to each other through one-side contact and urged by a tension spring toward a full size position. The upper masking plate is connected to an operation knob through a crank lever and a switching lever. When the knob is operated to select the panoramic size, the switching lever is moved over a necessary amount for moving the masking plates in a panoramic size position to mask the exposure aperture. After the masking plates are stopped in the panoramic size position by stoppers, the over-stroke of the switching lever is absorbed by resilient bending of the crank lever.

Abstract: A telephotographic optical system is incorporated into a mechanism unit with an exposure mechanism, and the mechanism unit is removably attached to a main body having a cassette chamber and a film roll chamber as an integral body. The telephotographic optical system is constituted by a telephotographic taking lens, and a pair of mirrors attached to an exposure chamber so as to conduct light entering through the taking lens along a Z-shaped light path toward an exposure aperture. A lens aperture changing mechanism is also incorporated in the mechanism unit. A switching member of the lens aperture changing mechanism is disposed on an upper wall portion of the film unit. An aperture-stop member having at least a lens aperture is moved by the switching member so as to place the lens aperture in the exposure light path.

Abstract: A lens-fitted photo film unit has photo film pre-contained in a photo film containing section (14, 70). An exposure is taken on the photo film via a photographic light path (20). An electronic flash device (16) is secured in front of the photo film containing section. The electronic flash device includes a circuit board (27, 69) having a flash circuit, a flash-emitting section, and a charge switch for charging the flash circuit. The charge switch includes two contact points (32a, 32b, 69a, 69b) and a movable switch segment (33, 68a) for contact with the contact point to switch on charging of the flash circuit. A front cover (18, 60, 91) is secured to cover a front of the circuit board. The switch segment is depressible for coming in contact with the contact point. An operable lever (12, 63, 94) is associated with the front cover in rotatable fashion between an erected position and a folded position relative to the front cover.

Abstract: A lens-fitted film unit is preloaded with photographic film, and has an eight-toothed driven sprocket wheel in mesh with perforations on the film. When the photographic film is fed by one frame, the sprocket is caused to make one rotation. A shutter mechanism is cocked responsive to rotation of the sprocket. During assembly of the film unit, the shutter mechanism is cocked. The photographic film is loaded while the shutter mechanism remains cocked. In a preferred embodiment, the sprocket is set in a predetermined rotated position which is two teeth short of the position at the end of one winding up of the film. This brings the shutter mechanism into an incompletely cocked state. The photographic film is loaded while the shutter mechanism remains in the incompletely cocked state. In the film unit, a film passageway is provided behind the main body, for passage of the film. A shiftable engaging portion projects into the film passageway in retractable fashion.

Abstract: A lens-fitted photographic film unit is pre-loaded with unexposed photographic film, which is contained in a main body of the unit. A rear cover is secured to the main body to cover the rear of the film. An exposure aperture is formed in the main body in front of the film, and exposes the film so as to create an imaging frame, in a wide-vision aspect ratio in which a 35 mm full size is narrowed down widthwise. A single taking lens element focuses an image on the film, and has a focal length from 25 mm to 35 mm, a transverse chromatic aberration of at most 65 .mu., and a distortion of at most 0.9%. The aspect ratio of the imaging frame is 16/9. At least one train of ridges is formed on longer sides of the exposure aperture and is adapted to form marginal images outside the imaging frame by casting patterned shadows on the film.

Abstract: A lens-fitted photographic film unit has telephotographic and wide angle lenses to perform telephotography and wide-angle photography simultaneously, and a viewfinder to observe the taking field at least for telephotography. A telephotographic lens is arranged in front of a single shutter blade, behind which a wide-angle lens is arranged. The telephotographic lens is disposed on the side of a film supply chamber while the wide angle lens is disposed on the side of a film take-up chamber. The viewfinder is disposed directly over the telephotographic lens to compensate parallax. The front window of the viewfinder is provided with a translucent film whose middle portion is clear. The entire frame formed by the front window is the visual field frame for standard photography and the frame formed by the clear portion is the visual field frame for telephotography.

Abstract: A lens-fitted photographic film package, some of whose parts are designed to be directly reused. A projection is formed integrally with a molded resin part of the package body which is to be reused. The projection is brought into contact with another part of the film package and elastically deformed by that part when assembled into the package body. If the molded resin part is in normal condition suitable for reuse, the projection elastically recovers its initial shape when the parts are disassembled. Whether the predetermined parts of the package body can be directly reused or not is determined by detecting heat distortion of the projection. A referential projection, which is never distorted and so maintains its initial shape, is formed beside the elastically deformed projection.

Abstract: An underwater housing has a housing body of which a bottom is open and a lid is fitted to the bottom opening in watertight fashion. A manually operable dial is rotatably mounted on an upper side of the housing body in such a manner that a portion of the manually operable dial projects from a rear side of the housing body. A driving gear is formed on a lower side of the manually operable dial, and is in mesh with a driven gear. Within the housing body, a coupling gear is formed coaxially on the driven gear. When the manually operable dial is rotated in a first direction, the coupling gear is rotated in a second direction, and causes a wind-up dial of a camera to rotate in turn in the first direction, that is, in the same direction as the manually operable dial. The manually operable dial is prevented from rotating in the second direction by a reverse-rotation-preventing member.

Abstract: A film initial-advance apparatus advances, after a film cassette is loaded, a film leader portion protruding from the film cassette toward a film take-up spool. A drive lever moves as the film take-up spool rotates. The drive lever causes a film threading member to reciprocally and intermittently move along a film passageway. The film threading member engages with a perforation of the film leader portion to intermittently advance the film leader portion. When the film leader portion is fully captured by the film take-up spool, the drive lever is pushed outside in the axial direction of the film take-up spool by the side edge of the film leader portion, thereby disengaging the drive lever from the film take-up spool. The film threading member rotates while moving in the radial direction, having a large radius of rotation of the claw over the range wherein it engages a perforation of the film leader portion and a smaller radius elsewhere.

Abstract: A film initial-advance apparatus advances, after a film cassette is loaded, a film leader portion protruding from the film cassette toward a film take-up spool. A drive lever moves as the film take-up spool rotates. The drive lever causes a film threading member to reciprocally and intermittently move along a film passageway. The film threading member engages with a perforation of the film leader portion to intermittently advance the film leader portion. When the film leader portion is fully captured by the film take-up spool, the drive lever is pushed outside in the axial direction of the film take-up spool by the side edge of the film leader portion, thereby disengaging the drive lever from the film take-up spool. The film threading member rotates while moving in the radial direction, having a large radius of rotation of the claw over the range wherein it engages a perforation of the film leader portion and a smaller radius elsewhere.

Abstract: A camera adapted to be loaded with a 35 mm film cassette having a cylindrical body and a tongue portion for defining a film exit slit through which the leader of the film projects, the tongue portion extending substantially tangentially from the side wall of the body. The camera has an openable backlid member and a film chamber member defining a cassette receiving chamber. The cassette receiving chamber is exposed when the backlid member is opened, and comprises a cylindrical portion and a slot portion which substantially conform with the cylindrical body and the tongue portion in shape. Thus the cassette receiving chamber determines the position and orientation of the film cassette when it is inserted thereinto and holds it in place. A guide member extends from the film chamber member to define between the inner surface of the backlid member and itself a film guiding slit aligned with said slot and extending beyond the film aperture of the camera body.

Abstract: A film cartridge includes a first container for accommodating unexposed roll film and a second container for taking up exposed roll film, the first and second containers being separably connected with each other. A stationary holding member for holding the second container is mounted on the inner surface of the back lid of a photographic camera. A movable holding member for holding the first container is mounted on the inner surface of the back lid and moved from a first position near the stationary holding member to a second position apart therefrom when the back lid is closed. The film cartridge is held by the movable and stationary holdings members with the first container held by the movable holding member and the second container held by the stationary holding member. The first and second containers can be automatically separated and respectively inserted into the film cavity and the film take-up cavity by closing the back lid.

Abstract: Conventionally, color films must be used with the light source or illumination for which it was designed, such as for natural daylight, fluorescent-light or tungsten-light or, if used with another light source, a suitable conversion filter must be placed over the camera lens. However, an improvement in the emulsion of the film provide an improved type of film with which good printed images are available through a mere correction during printing of the film. The present invention provides a method and a device for detecting and recording the type of illumination through detection of their spectral properties and detection of existence of a flickering noise due to an alternating voltage of the commercial power supply, and a system for an automatic film development.

Abstract: In a photographic camera provided with a built-in strobo flash light device, the distance from the strobo flash tube to the optical axis of the taking lens of the camera is selected within the range of 4.5cm to 6.5cm. In order to prevent the red eye effect in color photography, the guide number of the strobo flash tube is selected within the range determined with respect to the distance from the strobo flash tube to the optical axis of the taking lens in accordance with the following formula; ##EQU1## WHERE GN is the guide number of the strobo flash tube and d is the distance from the flash tube to the optical axis of the taking lens.

Abstract: A film magazine comprised of a cylindrical portion and a pair of end covers is provided with film speed indicating code means. The cylindrical portion of the film magazine is made of metal sheet applied with an insulating coating layer. The surface of the cylindrical portion is selectively provided with non-coated sections for indicating the film speed of the film loaded therein in accordance with a binary code system. The code which indicates the film speed is sensed by a small number of sensing contacts provided in the camera body. The non-coated sections for indicating the film speed are located in the inaccessible area of the film magazine so that the coding sections may not be damaged.