Remote control device for camera

Claim 1

A remote control photographing system comprising, in combination, a photographic camera having a viewfinder optical system including a photographing lens providing an image of a scene at a focusing plane; an image pick up device having an image pick up optical system including a distance adjusting means, for setting the distance of said image pick up optical system, and having an image pick up tube including a photosensitive plane for forming an image of a scene viewed by said image pick up optical system; displacement means operable to displace said image pick up device between a first position, in which the optical axis of said image pick up optical system is aligned with the optical axis of said viewfinder optical system for viewing of the image in the focusing plane of said viewfinder optical system, and a second position in which the optical axis of said image pick up system is out of alignment with that of said viewfinder optical system for direct viewing of a scene by said image pick up optical system; locking means operable to releasably latch said distance adjusting means at the shortest distance setting in which the image in the focusing plane of said viewfinder optical system is focused on the photosensitive plane of said pick up tube with said image pick up device in said first position; release means operable to release said locking means responsive to displacement of said image pick up device to said second position by said displacement means; and a television monitor connected to said image pick up tube and operable to display the image formed on said photosensitive plane, said television monitor including selectively operable operative means controlling said distance adjusting means and said displacement means.