Patent ID: 8070292

Claim:
A viewfinder system for a movie camera, in which there runs a viewfinder beam path that is diverted from a recording beam path for film exposure, said camera having an eyepiece, an eye closure, a shutter for masking out stray light penetrating into the camera via the viewfinder system, and a control device that triggers the shutter and is connected to a sensor, said system further comprising a sensor device for contactless detection of an eye or head, located at the eye closure of the viewfinder system, of a person viewing the picture to be recorded through the eyepiece, wherein the sensor device comprises at least one transmitter that outputs signals, directed into the eye closure, with wavelengths that lie outside the wavelength of visible light, and at least one receiver that is tuned to the signals output by the transmitter, receives the signals reflected by the eye or head, and outputs sensor signals to the control device as a function of the signal reception.