Camera objective adjustable for flash and non-flash photography

Claim 1

In a camera objective, elongated lens barrel means, focus ring means coaxially surrounding said lens barrel means and rotatable with respect thereto for focusing the objective, diaphragm ring means coaxially surrounding said lens barrel means and rotatable with respect thereto for setting a diaphragm to determine the size of the exposure aperture, intermediate ring means coaxially surrounding said lens barrel means and being rotatable with respect thereto, said intermediate ring means being situated between said focus ring means and said diaphragm ring means, said diaphragm ring means and intermediate ring means forming a pair of ring means one of which is axially movable along the lens barrel means with respect to the other between a flash position for making an exposure with flash illumination and a non-flash position for making an exposure without flash illumination, said focus ring means and intermediate ring means having exterior surfaces situated adjacent each other and one of the latter surfaces carrying a scale of film speeds while the other carries an index to be aligned with a graduation of the latter scale, for selectively positioning said intermediate ring means with respect to said focus ring means at an angular position in accordance with film speed, first adjustable transmission means interconnecting said focus ring means and intermediate ring means for providing for angular adjustment of said intermediate ring means with respect to said focus ring means according to film speed while transmitting rotary movement of said focus ring means to said intermediate ring means with the latter retained in its angularly adjusted position with respect to said focus ring means, said intermediate ring means and diaphragm ring means having a pair of exterior surfaces adjoining each other when said pair of means are in their flash position, and one of the latter surfaces carrying a scale of flash guide numbers while the other of the latter surfaces carries an index to be aligned with said scale of flash guide number for angularly adjusting said pair of ring means one with respect to the other according to a selected flash guide number, second adjustable transmission means interconnecting said intermediate ring means and diaphragm ring means for providing for angular adjustment of the latter two ring means one with respect to the other according to a selected flash guide number when said pair of ring means are in their flash position while transmitting rotary movement of said intermediate ring means to said diaphragm ring means when said pair of ring means are in their flash position, so that when said pair of ring means are in their flash position rotary movement of said focus ring means will be transmitted through said intermediate ring means to said diaphragm ring means for automatically setting the camera diaphragm in accordance with the film speed setting of said intermediate ring means and flash guide number setting of said diaphragm ring means, said second adjustable transmission means being operatively connected with said pair of ring means for transmitting rotary movement from said intermediate ring means to said diaphragm ring means only when said pair of ring means are in their flash position, so that when said pair of ring means are in their non-flash position said diaphragm ring means is freely rotatable with respect to said intermediate ring means, and releasable holding means coacting with said diaphragm ring means for releasably holding the latter in a selected diaphragm-setting position only when said pair of ring means is in its non-flash position, and said diaphragm ring means is freely rotatable with respect to said lens barrel means to turn together with said intermediate ring means by the action of said second transmission means when said pair of ring means are in their flash position.