Camera having focus detection device
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAkira Yamada, Yoshiaki Irie, Akihiko Nagano
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A focus adjusting apparatus which includes a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene. The apparatus includes a selection circuit and a focus adjustment circuit. The selection circuit simultaneously selects, among the N regions, an arbitrary number of regions, the arbitrary number being less than N, and the selection circuit setting, among the N regions which are all selectable, a first number and a second number, different from the first number, of regions as regions simultaneously selected. The focus adjustment circuit performs focus adjustment on the basis of the focus states independently detected in the regions set by the selection circuit.
Claims30
A focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) a selection circuit for simultaneously selecting, among the N regions, an arbitrary number of regions, the arbitrary number being less than N, and said selection circuit setting, among the N regions which are all selectable, a first number and a second number, different from the first number, of regions as regions simultaneously selected;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of the focus states independently detected in the regions set by said selection circuit.
A focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) a selection circuit for simultaneously selecting, among the N regions, a number, which is less than N, of arbitrary regions, said selection circuit setting, among the N regions which are all selectable, a first number and a second number, different from the first number, of regions as regions simultaneously selected;
- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of the focus states independently detected in the regions set by said selection circuit.
A camera having a focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, and having a photographing processing apparatus for performing a photographing operation in a plurality of photographing modes, said camera comprising:
- (a) a region designating circuit having a plurality of selection modes including at least a first mode for selecting, among the N regions which are all selectable, a first plurality of regions and a second mode for selecting, among the N regions which are all selectable, a second plurality of regions, larger in number than the first plurality of regions, said region designating circuit designating a predetermined selection mode in correspondence with the photographing mode;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of focus states independently detected in the plurality of regions in the mode designated by said region designating circuit.
A camera having a focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, and having a photographing processing apparatus for performing a photographing operation in a plurality of photographing modes, said camera comprising:
- (a) a region selection circuit having a plurality of modes including at least a first mode for selecting one or a plurality of arbitrary regions from the N regions and a second mode for at least selecting a region in a selection pattern different from the first mode, said region selection circuit selecting a predetermined mode in correspondence with the photographing mode;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of a focus state detected in the mode selected by said region selection circuit.
A camera having a focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detecting device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, said camera comprising:
- (a) a region selection circuit having a first mode for selecting one of an arbitrary region among the N regions, which are all selectable, and a second mode for selecting a pattern of a region, which is different at least from the pattern in the first mode, from among the N regions, which are all selectable, said region selection circuit selecting a predetermined mode in accordance with a focal length of a photographing lens;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of a focus state detected in the region in the mode selected by said region selection circuit.
A camera having a focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, and a photographing processing apparatus for performing a photographing operation in a plurality of photographing modes, said camera comprising:
- (a) a region designating circuit having a first mode for selecting first plural regions among the N regions, which are all selectable, and a second mode for selecting second plural regions, larger in number than the first plural regions, among the N regions, which are all selectable, said region designating circuit designating a predetermined selection mode in accordance with a lens characteristic of a photographing lens;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of a focus state independently detected in the plurality of regions in the mode designated by said region designating circuit.
An automatic focusing camera which comprises focus detection means having at least three focus detection points in a finder field, said camera comprising:
- (a) focus detection point zone selection means for selecting one of a first focus detection point zone consisting of all the focus detection points, a second focus detection point zone consisting of at least two focus detection points selected from all the focus detection points, and a third focus detection point zone consisting of one of all the focus detection points;
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- (b) focus adjustment means for performing focus adjustment on the basis of one or a plurality of focus states detected at one or a plurality of focus detection points in the focus detection point zone selected by said focus detection point zone selection means.
An automatic focusing camera which comprises focus detection means having at least four focus detection points in a finder field, said camera comprising:
- (a) focus detection point zone selection means for selecting one of a first focus detection point zone consisting of all the focus detection points, a second focus detection point zone consisting of at least two focus detection points selected from all the focus detection points, and a third focus detection point zone having a different number of focus detection points from the number of focus detection points of the second focus detection point zone;
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- (b) focus adjustment means for performing focus adjustment on the basis of one or a plurality of focus states detected at one or a plurality of focus detection points in the focus detection point zone selected by said focus detection point zone selection means.
An automatic focusing camera which comprises focus detection means having at least three focus detection points in a finder field, said camera comprising:
- (a) zone mode setting means for setting one of a first focus detection point zone mode having a plurality of focus detection point zones each consisting of at least two focus detection points selected from all the focus detection points, and a second focus detection point zone mode having focus detection point zones each consisting of a different number of focus detection points from the number of focus detection points of the focus detection point zone of the first focus detection point zone mode;
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- (b) focus adjustment means for performing focus adjustment on the basis of focus detection information obtained at each of the focus detection points of the set focus detection point zone.
A camera having a focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, and having a photographing processing apparatus for performing a photographing operation in a plurality of photographing modes, said camera comprising:
- (a) a region selection circuit having a first mode for selecting at least one of an arbitrary region among the N regions, which are all selectable, and a second mode for selecting a pattern of a region, which is different at least from a pattern under the first mode among the N regions, which are all selectable, said region selection circuit selecting a predetermined mode in accordance with a photographing mode;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of a focus state detected in the region in the mode selected by said region selection circuit.
A camera having a focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, said camera comprising:
- (a) a region selection circuit having a first mode for selecting at least one of an arbitrary region among the N regions, which are all selectable, and a second mode for selecting a pattern of a region which is different from a selection pattern under the first mode among the N regions, which are all selectable;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of a focus state detected in the region in the mode selected by said region selection circuit.
A camera having a focus adjusting apparatus which comprises a focus detection device for independently detecting focus states of N different regions in a scene, said camera comprising:
- (a) a selection circuit for simultaneously selecting, among the N regions, an arbitrary number of arbitrary regions;
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- (b) a focus adjustment circuit for performing focus adjustment on the basis of a focus state detected in the region selected by said selecting circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.