The invention relates to a support assembly for cameras equipped with an objective which is attached to the objective that allows turning the objective and the camera by a degree of 90° around their optical axis so that the support assembly is fixed to a stander in a stable way.

It is often required to adjust the position of cameras fixed on a stander because there are alternating needs to take landscape or portrait type pictures. In many cases it is also required and more frequently preferred if during the change between the landscape and portrait orientations the optical axis remains unchanged.

The document JP2009193067 describes a support assembly which has a receiving ring that encircles the objective of the camera and it is pressed on the objective. The ring has a support rod provided with a standard base by which it can be attached to any stander or head assembly. In this solution for turning the camera (and the objective with it) the ring that surrounds the cylindrical body of the objective has to be loosened first, then following the angular adjustment it has to be tightened again. This operation is connected with an unnecessary time demand and care and it can take away the attention of the photographer from the object of the recording. A further difficulty lies in that most photographers (both professional and amateur ones) carry several objectives to take pictures, and the objectives have different sizes (length and diameter) and weight. In the aforementioned Japanese publication the ring of the support assembly has a predetermined inner diameter and it can be used only in cases when each objective to be used for the camera has the same size. In case of different objective sizes respective different support assemblies are thus required. For the use of lenses having different focal lengths and made by different manufacturers such a separate "support collar" would be required, but in several types of objectives no appropriate outer connection surface is provided to which such a support could be attached. If the different objectives with differing outer diameters would be used with respective replaceable support assemblies, then these all would have to be carried to the place of use which is an uncomfortable task, and therefore several photographers do not change objective even if that was required. A further obstacle against the wider use of such support assemblies lies in that with the permanent development of technology objectives get shorter and there remains insufficient space around the objectives for the placement of such a support assembly.

The most often used solution that enables the turning of the position of the camera is the so called: L-bracket. A state of the art embodiment of such an L-bracket is shown in US 2015/0261074. In this solution the support frame is attached to the bottom of the camera body and the assembly can be attached by means of a quick attachment to a tripod. This solution enables the turning by a degree of 90° following the loosening of a screw, but it can only indirectly ensure that during the change of the position the optical axis does not get shifted. Furthermore, the L-bracket is a complex assembly with great size and weight with an accordingly high price. It has a different design at each manufacturer. The L-bracket provides a solution for the cases when there is insufficient space for the arrangement of a support ring around the objective, but its aforementioned drawbacks cannot be eliminated.

The possibility of turning the position of a camera is not the only demand imposed in modern photography. A usual way of making special pictures (enlarged, macro or trick recordings) lies in that in front of a normal objective an inversely directed second objective is placed, wherein the wanted effect is defined by the properties of the objectives and in given cases the distance between the objectives. For the placement of a second objective and for the adjustment of the distance between the objectives only sophisticated large and heavy solutions have been known so far, and owing to such problems many photographers do not utilize such possibilities in order to spare carrying the required equipment. Even when such a special arrangement is used with two objectives, the possibility of turning the camera with the objectives is also required.

Independent from the problems relating to the holding, turning and attaching a camera and an objective US 4381885 describes a light weight and simply structure that enables the positioning of one or more colour filters in front of the objective, and the structure consists of a ring and a filter holder that receives the ring. The opening of the ring is surrounded by a short, outwardly projecting circular sleeve provided with an outer thread, and by means of this thread the sleeve can be screwed and fitted to the objective by engagement with a fitting internal thread provided in front of the frontal end of the lens of the objective. The ring attached in this way to the objective can be inserted and fixed into one of several axially spaced slots made in the filter holder. The attachment is releasable. The guiding slots in the filter holder or frame are open from one side and respective colour filters or other optical elements can be inserted therein. The number, colour and polarization of such inserted elements are defined by the need of actual use. This filter holding system has been named after its inventor as Cokin filter.

A similar solution is known from the document US 4390242 which can be attached to the front part of the objective. Flere the design of the frame holding the guiding slots is slightly different from the previous solution, but its principle of operation and ways of use are the same.

The basic task of the present invention is to provide a simple, light-weight support assembly that can be quickly attached, which can ensure the change between two mutually normal positions (landscape and portrait) in addition to holding the camera in a stable way, whereas the turning occurs precisely around the optical axis. A further task of the invention is to improve the support assembly in such a way that enables the positioning of a second objective and in given case the adjustment of the distance between the two objectives.

The invention is based on the basic recognition that both the size and weight of the objectives of state-of-the-art cameras have become significantly decreased, and in front of the lens of the objective there is always present a sleeve with inner thread known as "filter thread" (used primarily for the attachment of colour filters), and this sleeve has such a high mechanical stability and loadability that it can be used for holding both the camera and the objective. The universal applicability of this solution is facilitated by the fact that the filter threads of objectives have standard sizes.

Based on this recognition we have also realized that the operation principle of Cokin filters used so far only for holding filters can be utilized also for holding the camera and the objective, if a ring is used which is fixed in a way that allows rotation.

Based on these recognitions the support assembly has to be realized so that it can be attached to the generally used (often standardized) attachment pieces, whereby the fixing to a head support and to a tripod can be solved.

According to the invention a support assembly has been provided for cameras equipped with an objective which is attached to the objective, wherein according to the invention a flat circular ring has been provided with a concentric sleeve extending out from a side of the ring and the sleeve is provided with an outer thread that fits to an internal thread of a ring in front of the lens of the objective made for receiving a filter, the support assembly comprises a central part with a support plate in which a central opening is provided, and the support plate is surrounded and held by a framed body which is open at one side and the opposite side is arced with a diameter fitting to the diameter of the ring, and at least at one side of the support plate inwardly extending ribs are provided that define at least one guiding slot that surrounds said opening from three sides and adapted to receive and hold said ring and at the same time allows turning of the ring around its own centre, and said framed body comprises on at least one of its outer sides a receiving groove or rail for the releasable attachment of the support assembly.

For the variability of the ways of attachment it is preferred if framed body has further closed outer sides provided with additional receiving grooves or rails.

For the optional positioning of filters it is preferred if in the framed body at the other side of the support plate at least one further guiding slot is provided having the same size as said guiding slot and the further guiding slots have respective limiting ribs. For stabilizing the position of the ring and for retaining the ring when inserted into the guiding slot directly adjacent to the support plate in a preferred embodiment at the open upper side of the support plate a slight bulge and/or a bore and a pin fitting into the bore are provided.

In a preferred embodiment the receiving grooves and/or rails are designed to correspond to the standard ARCA ^™ connectors.

For the placement of a second objective respective rings are inserted into both guiding grooves adjacent to the support plate, and the rings can be attached to oppositely directed objectives.

For the adjustment of the distance between the two objectives a second support assembly similar to said support assembly is provided, and both support assemblies are positioned by respective connection means on a common support rail, and the space formed between the two support assemblies is closed by a bellow case, and the distance between the two support assemblies can be adjusted.

The support assembly according to the invention will now be described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof, in which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows the perspective view of an embodiment of the support assembly;

Fig. 2 shows the front view of the support assembly;

Fig. 3 shows the top view of the support assembly;

Fig. 4 shows the perspective view of ring 18;

Fig. 5 shows the perspective view showing the camera, the objective and the support assembly that holds them in case of taking portrait pictures;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 5 by a turned camera for taking landscape pictures; and

Fig. 7 shows the perspective view of two support assemblies and of the bellow case between them.

Figs. 1 to 3 show support assembly 1 according to the invention. The support assembly 1 has a central part formed by support plate 3 with a large circular opening 2 which is surrounded and held by bracket 4 constituting a framed body that is attached thereto at three of its sides from outward direction. The bracket 4 has two oppositely arranged parallel side walls 5, 6 and a transversal wall 7 normal to the side walls 5, 6 and it has ribs 12 normal to said side walls 5, 6 and to the transversal wall 7. Behind a side face of the support plate between the ribs 12 a guiding slot 8 is arranged and behind the other side of the support plate 3 a plurality of further guiding slots 9, 10, 11 are provided, the number of which is e.g. three. The slots between the ribs 12 are open from above i.e. from a direction opposite to the transversal wall 7 and have respective linear sections at the two sides which are parallel with the side walls 5, 6 and a connecting circular arc.

At the outer side of the bracket 4 in the middle of the side walls 5, 6 respective standard rails 13 and 14 e.g. ARCA ^™ rails are provided which make it possible that the support assembly 1 can be attached and fixed to a stander or to a support by means of the widely used ARCA ^™ connections. At the outer part of the transversal wall 7 which extends normal to the side walls 5, 6 a receiving ARCA ^™ type groove 15 is provided which enables fixing of the support assembly 1 to any stander or support that has an ARCA ^™ type connector. In the thin wall of the bracket 4 in the middle of all the three ARCA- connectors, respective threaded bores are provided (of which e.g. threaded bore 16 can be observed in Fig. 3), and these take care for the fixing of the position of the support assembly 1 to the actually used stander.

At the side of the support plate 3 that faces towards the guiding slot 8 at the upper central portion a slightly inclined and outwardly projecting bulge 17 is provided that helps stabilizing the position of a ring 18 (shown as a separate piece in Fig. 4) to be inserted in the guiding slot 8. For keeping the ring 18 in the guiding slot 8 instead of the bulge 17 or in addition to the presence thereof a narrow pin 20 inserted in a bore 19 can also be used.

The ring 18 shown in Fig. 4 can be accurately fitted into the guiding slot 8, thus its diameter is equal to the width a the slot 8 and the diameter of the lower arced section of the slot 8, and it is just as thick as the width of the guiding slot 8. The dimensions of the guiding slot 9 at the other side of the support plate 3 are preferably identical with those of the guiding slot 8 therefore the ring 18 can be inserted in accordance with the user's intentions into any one of the guiding slots 8 and 9.

At the interior of the ring 18 a sleeve 21 extends out slightly in a direction and it is provided with an outer thread. The diameter of the sleeve 21 and the size of the thread thereon fit to a threaded inner bore provided in front of the lens of an objective which has to be held (together with the attached camera) by the support assembly 1 of the present invention. Accordingly, the outer diameter and the thickness of the ring 18 are constant and fitting to the size of the guiding slot 8 independent from the size of the objective to be attached thereto, whereas the size of the inner sleeve 21 should fit to the size of the objective to be attached thereto. This size can be typically: 036-37-39-40.5-41-42-43-43.5-44-46-48-49-52-54-55-58-62-67-7 2-77-82-95-96-105-

112mm.

The ring 18 has to be inserted from the open upper end of the guiding slot 8 till its abutment, and close to this position the presence of the bulge 17 renders the insertion slightly more difficult, and when the ring 18 reaches its abutting position then its top will be just under the bulge 17, and the flexible return thereof will prevent the ring 18 from falling out of the slot 8. The position of the inserted ring is further fixed by the presence of the pin 20 positioned in the bore 19 because the lowest point thereof is just above the upper end of the ring 18 or at a minimum distance therefrom. In this way the position of the ring 18 has been fixed in the guiding slot 8 that in spite of the position fixing the ring 18 can be freely turned.

The objective of a camera is generally provided with a frontal sleeve that has an internal thread provided mainly to enable attachment of a colour filter or another optical element to the objective, and such an attachment possibility has been utilized by the widely known Cokin filters. The design of the guiding slots 8 to 11 and of the support plate 3 is substantially identical with the design used in Cokin filters, but concerning the presence of the bracket 4 and the attachment possibility by using the connection elements thereon constitute substantial differences. The diameter of the opening 2 is sufficiently large and it is greater than the diameter of most types of objectives, and for the attachment to different types of objectives it is sufficient to use a ring 18 of appropriate size that fits to the actually used objective, however, the support assembly 1 itself remains unchanged.

Figs. 5 and 6 show examples for the possible uses of the support assembly 1 according to the invention. Fig. 5 shows a camera 23 that has an objective 22 and the outer thread made on the sleeve 21 of the ring 18 inserted in the support assembly 1 as described before can be screwed into the inner thread present in the forward end section of the objective 22, and this threaded attachment is sufficiently strong for holding the weight of the camera 23.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 5 the receiving groove 15 of the support assembly 1 is at the bottom position and an ARCA ^™ type connection element 24 engages the groove 15, and the element 24 has an inner threaded bolt (not shown in the drawing) which is screwed into the threaded bore 16 of the support assembly 1 to fix the connection element 24 to the support assembly 1. The other side of the connection element 24 has also a standard connection member to enable attachment to any stander or tripod. In this way the camera 23 and its objective 22 will be held in a stable way by the support assembly 1 utilizing the connection provided for the objective 22 by the ring 18, whereas the objective can be freely turned around its own axis, since the ring 18 can also be turned in the support assembly 1. In Fig. 5 the camera 23 is in a position that can be used for making portrait pictures.

In Fig. 5 it can also be observed that at the other side of the support plate 3 in the support assembly, the guiding slots 9, 10 and 11 (shown also in Fig. 3) are now free and they are ready to receive respective colour filters such as useable to the Cokin filters, therefore this possibility is also provided by the support assembly 1. Fig. 6 shows the camera 23 in a position after having been turned by 90° when landscape pictures can be taken. During the turning movement the support assembly 1 will retain its fixed position on the fixed connection element 24, therefore a simple twisting movement is sufficient for the adjustment of these two positions, and during adjustment the position of the axis will remain unchanged.

In the example shown in Fig. 6 the ring 18 was inserted in the guiding slot 8 of the support assembly 1, but in the guiding slot 9 arranged at the opposite side of the support plate 3 a second similar ring was inserted that has a threaded sleeve that faces away from the objective 22 and a second oppositely facing objective 22a is fixed on it. Such optical arrangements are called as "retro" or "inverse" arrangement, and by the appropriate adjustment of the focal distances of the two lenses a very near photography with high magnification will become possible (starting from 1:1 imaging to as high as 10 times magnification).

In Fig. 7 a further preferred use of the support assembly 1 according to the invention has been shown. In this solution two separate support assemblies la and lb are used. In this solution both support assemblies have respective connection surfaces 25a (which are covered in the drawing) that are fitted to a common longitudinal support rail 27 (extending in the direction of the axis of the objectives). The two support assemblies la and lb can be freely moved along the support rail 27 and can be fixed in any position. A bellow case 26 interconnects the two support assemblies la, lb which closes the inner space, but it enables the adjustment of the distance between the assemblies. Such a solution is connected with several preferred optical possibilities, starting from the correction of the perspective till taking macro photography pictures.

In case on the support rail 27 only the support assembly la and the attached camera and objective are used, and the support rail 27 is fixed on a known adjustable ball head placed on a tripod, then the camera can be moved in forward-backward direction along the rail 27 compared to the centre of the ball head. The camera can then be positioned relative to the ball head in such a way that in making so called panoramic pictures that consists of a number of pictures, the nodal point can be safely adjusted that guarantees the accurate fitting of the respective pictures.

The solution according to the invention can be realized in several additional ways in addition to the preferred embodiments shown, for instance only a single ARCA ^™ connection can be sufficient, or the design, attachment and fixing of the ring 18 can be made in different ways than shown as long as it does not limit the free turning.