Interchangeable lens camera, camera body thereof and lens unit

A lens unit including a solid-state image sensor for taking a subject image having passed through an imaging optical system, said lens unit being detachably attached to a camera body of an interchangeable lens camera and comprising:

• a focus-evaluation-value calculator for calculating a focus evaluation value representing sharpness of said subject image;
• a selector for changing a color signal to be inputted into said focus-evaluation-value calculator;
• a memory for storing first information representing spectral characteristics of the color signal which is changeable by said selector;
• a communication section for communicating various signals with said camera body;
• and
• a controller for controlling operations of the respective parts of said lens unit, said controller comparing said first information with second information, which is received from said camera body via said communication section and represents spectral characteristics of auxiliary light to be used for autofocus, and said controller operating said selector on the basis of a result of the comparison such that the color signal having the spectral characteristics identical with said second information is inputted into said focus-evaluation-value calculator.

A camera body of an interchangeable lens camera, to which a lens unit including a solid-state image sensor for taking a subject image having passed through an imaging optical system is detachably attached, said camera body comprising:

• an auxiliary-light emitter for emitting auxiliary light to be used for autofocus;
• a memory for storing information representing spectral characteristics of said auxiliary light;
• a communication section for communicating various signals with said lens unit;
• and
• a controller for controlling operations of the respective parts of said camera body, said controller reading said information from said memory and sending the read information to said lens unit via said communication section.

An interchangeable lens camera in which a lens unit is detachably attached to a camera body, said lens unit including a solid-state image sensor for taking a subject image having passed through an imaging optical system, said interchangeable lens camera comprising:

• A. said camera body including:
• an auxiliary-light emitter capable of emitting plural kinds of auxiliary light to be used for autofocus, said plural kinds of the auxiliary light having different spectral characteristics;
• a first memory for storing first information representing spectral characteristics of said auxiliary light;
• a selector for changing one of said plural kinds of the auxiliary light to be emitted;
• a first communication section for communicating various signals with said lens unit;
• a first controller for controlling operations of the respective parts of said camera body;
• B. said lens unit including:
• a focus-evaluation-value calculator for calculating a focus evaluation value representing sharpness of said subject image;
• a second memory for storing second information representing spectral characteristics of a color signal to be inputted into said focus-evaluation-value calculator;
• a second communication section for communicating the various signals with said camera body via said first communication section;
• and
• a second controller for controlling operations of the respective parts of said lens unit;
• wherein said second controller reads said second information from said second memory and sends the read second information to said first communication section via said second communication section, and said first controller compares said first information, which is stored in said first memory, with said second information, said first controller operating said selector on the basis of a result of the comparison such that the auxiliary light having the spectral characteristics identical with said second information is emitted from said auxiliary-light emitter.

A lens unit including a solid-state image sensor for taking a subject image having passed through an imaging optical system, said lens unit being detachably attached to a camera body of an interchangeable lens camera and comprising:

• a focus-evaluation-value calculator for calculating a focus evaluation value representing sharpness of said subject image;
• a memory for storing information representing spectral characteristics of a color signal to be inputted into said focus-evaluation-value calculator;
• a communication section for communicating various signals with said camera body;
• and
• a controller for controlling operations of the respective parts of said lens unit, said controller reading said information from said memory and sending the read information to said camera body via said communication section.

A camera body of an interchangeable lens camera, to which a lens unit including a solid-state image sensor for taking a subject image having passed through an imaging optical system is detachably attached, said camera body comprising:

• an auxiliary-light emitter capable of emitting plural kinds of auxiliary light to be used for autofocus, said plural kinds of the auxiliary light having different spectral characteristics;
• a memory for storing first information representing spectral characteristics of said auxiliary light;
• a selector for changing one of said plural kinds of the auxiliary light to be emitted;
• a communication section for communicating various signals with said lens unit;
• and
• a controller for controlling operations of the respective parts of said camera body, said controller comparing said first information with second information, which is received from said lens unit via said communication section and represents spectral characteristics of a color signal to be used for calculating a focus evaluation value, and said controller operating said selector on the basis of a result of the comparison such that the auxiliary light having the spectral characteristics identical with said second information is emitted from said auxiliary-light emitter.