Digital camera with automatic focusing adequate for a still picture and a movie and an automatic focusing method for the same

Abstract

A digital camera including a focus control mechanism for focusing the camera on a subject of the present invention includes a first and a second selector. The first selector selects either one of a first and a second pickup mode assigned to a still picture and a movie, respectively. The second selector selects either one of a first focus range advantageous for normal-range pickup and a second focus range assigned to a subject positioned in a range shorter than the first focus range. A controller causes, in the first pickup mode, the focus control mechanism to operate in the focus range selected by the second selector or causes, in the second pickup mode, the above mechanism to operated in a range including the first focus range without regard to the focus range selected by the second selector.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.