Imaging device, focusing method and program
AssigneeCasio Computer Co., Ltd.
InventorYoshiyuki KATO
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image processing circuit/CPU performs AF processing in response to a halfway shutter operation and upon confirmation of a shooting shutter instruction causes a light emitting unit in a flash circuit to emit light, and decides an amount of light to be emitted at a shooting time based on a brightness component of an output signal of an imaging element, whereby a subject distance is calculated from the amount of light emitted at shooting time, and wherein, when the in-focus decision in the AF processing is negative, an optical lens is moved by a lens drive circuit to a position corresponding to the subject distance which has been acquired based on the amount of light emitted at the shooting time, and a shooting operation is then performed.
Claims12
An imaging device having a moving unit which moves an optical system and a decision unit which decides a position to which the optical system is to be moved by the moving unit so that a subject is brought into focus, comprising:
- a light emitting unit;
- a light control unit which determines a proper amount of light at a shooting time to be emitted by the light emitting unit based on a brightness of the subject when the light emitting unit is caused to make a preliminary light emission;
- a distance acquisition unit which acquires a subject distance to the subject corresponding to the brightness of the subject when the preliminary light emission is made by the light emitting unit to allow the light control unit to determine the proper amount of light;
- and
- a nullifying unit which, when a relationship between the position decided by the decision unit and the position acquired by the distance acquisition unit meets a predetermined condition, nullifies the decision by the decision unit.
A focusing method for use with an imaging device having an autofocus function which decides a position to which an optical system is to be moved so that a subject is brought into focus and a light control function which determines a proper light emission time at a shooting time of a light emission unit based on a brightness of the subject when a preliminary light emission is made and then causes the light emission unit to emit light at the shooting time only for the proper light emission time, the focusing method comprising:
- deciding whether a relationship between a subject distance corresponding to the position to which the optical system is to be moved decided by the autofocus function and a subject distance corresponding to the brightness of the subject when the light emission unit is caused by the light control function to make the preliminary light emission meets a predetermined condition;
- and
- nullifying the position to which the optical system is to be moved decided by the autofocus function when the predetermined condition is met.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a program stored thereon for controlling an imaging device having an autofocus function which decides a position to which an optical system is to be moved so that a subject is brought into focus and a light control function which determines a proper light emission time at a shooting time of a light emission unit based on a brightness of the subject when a preliminary light emission is made and then causes the light emission unit to emit light at the shooting time only for the proper light emission time, the program controlling the imaging device to perform functions commprising:
- deciding whether a relationship between a subject distance corresponding to the position to which the optical system is to be moved decided by the autofocus function and a subject distance corresponding to a brightness of the subject when the light emission unit is caused by the light control function to make the preliminary light emission meets a predetermined condition;
- and
- nullifying, the position to which the optical system is to be moved decided by the autofocus function when the predetermined condition is met.
An imaging device having a moving unit for moving an optical system and a decision unit for deciding a position to which the optical system is to be moved by the moving unit so that a subject is brought into focus, comprising:
- a light emitting unit;
- a light control unit which determines a proper amount of light at a shooting time to be emitted by the light emitting unit based on a brightness of the subject when the light emitting unit is caused to make a preliminary light emission;
- a distance acquisition unit which acquires a subject distance to the subject corresponding to the brightness of the subject when the preliminary light emission is made by the light emitting unit;
- a measurement unit which measures the brightness of the subject under a shooting standby condition;
- and
- a control unit which, when the brightness of the subject measured by the measurement unit is lower than a predetermined value, controls the moving unit so that the optical system is moved to a position corresponding to the subject distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit without depending on the decision unit.
A focusing method for use with an imaging device having an autofocus function which decides a position to which an optical system is to be moved so that a subject is brought into focus and a light control function which determines a proper light emission time at a shooting time of a light emission unit based on a brightness of the subject when a preliminary light emission is made and then causes the light emission unit to emit light at the shooting time only for the proper light emission time, the focusing method comprising:
- measuring the brightness of the subject under a shooting standby condition;
- deciding whether the measured brightness of the subject is lower than a predetermined value;
- and
- moving the optical system at the shooting time to a position corresponding to a subject distance corresponding to the brightness of the subject when the light emission unit is caused to make the preliminary light emission without depending on the autofocus function when it is decided that the measured brightness of the subject is lower than the predetermined value.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a program stored thereon for controlling an imaging device having an autofocus function which decides a position to which an optical system is to be moved so that a subject is brought into focus and a light control function which determines a proper light emission time at a shooting time of a light emission unit based on a brightness of the subject when a preliminary light emission is made and then causes the light emission unit to emit light at the shooting time only for the proper light emission time, the program controlling the imaging device to perform functions comprising:
- measuring the brightness of the subject under a shooting standby condition;
- and
- moving the optical system at the shooting time to a position corresponding to a subject distance corresponding to the brightness of the subject when the light emission unit is caused to make the preliminary light emission without depending on the autofocus function when the brightness of the subject is measured to be lower than a predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.