Camera apparatus

Claim 1

Photographic apparatus for photographing jewelry displays or the like, comprising in combination: a light-tight rigid enclosure means; openable access means for permitting access to the interior of said enclosure; means secured to a first wall of said enclosure for receiving a photosensitive plate to be exposed by said apparatus, said plate thereby defining the imaging plane of said apparatus; lens means positioned within said enclosure at a plane parallel to said imaging plane, said lens means being carrIed by a lenscarrying plate which divides said enclosure and is permanently fixed with respect to said imaging plane and the lateral walls of said enclosure, whereby said lens means is at a fixed spacing with respect to said imaging plane; an object-receiving tray disposed in vertically spaced relationship from said lens means, and on the side thereof opposite said imaging plane, for receiving objects thereon to be photographed; means for moving said object-receiving tray toward or away from the fixed plane of said lens means to bring said object to a desired object distance from the said lens; an internal wall of said enclosure carrying operator viewable indicia indicative of the field of focus in which an object on said tray should be positioned, whereby the spacing of said object with respect to said lens means may be effected by adjusting the position of said tray while observing the vertical positioning of said object as measured by said indicia; indicia being provided on the surface of said tray indicating the periphery of the field of focus at a given vertical position of said tray, thereby enabling accurate centering of said object on said tray during photographing of said object; at least one electronic flash exposure light means, disposed between said lens and object, for illuminating said object to be photographed; and the space between said lens means and object-receiving tray being laterally bound by the rigid walls of said enclosure, whereby said space is variable solely in consequence of movement of said object-receiving tray, whereby the lighting characteristics of said space are substantially uniform for all positions of said object-receiving tray.