Electronic camera that adjusts a distance from an optical lens to an imaging surface so as to search the focal point

An electronic camera, comprising:

• an imager, having an imaging surface for capturing a scene through an optical lens, which repeatedly outputs a scene image;
• a first area designator which designates on said imaging surface a first area for capturing a specific object that is detected from the scene;
• a second area designator which designates on said imaging surface a second area that is smaller than the first area designated by said first area designator and is for capturing the specific object noticed by said first area designator;
• a range designator which designates a focal point searching range in a manner that is different depending upon a magnitude of a high frequency component contained in a partial image outputted from said imager corresponding to the second area designated by said second area designator;
• a changer which changes a distance from said optical lens to said imaging surface in the focal point searching area designated by said range designator;
• and
• a searcher which executes a process of searching a focal point based on a partial image outputted from said imager corresponding to the first area designated by said first area designator, in parallel with a changing process of said changer.

A computer program embodied in a tangible medium, which is executed by a processor of an electronic camera provided with an imager, having an imaging surface for capturing a scene through an optical lens, which repeatedly outputs a scene image, the computer program, comprising:

• a first area designating instruction to designate on said imaging surface a first area for capturing a specific object that is detected from the scene;
• a second area designating instruction to designate on said imaging surface a second area that is smaller than the first area designated by said first area designating instruction and is for capturing the specific object noticed by said first area designating instruction;
• a range designating instruction to designate a focal point searching range in a manner that is different depending upon a magnitude of a high frequency component contained in a partial image outputted from said imager corresponding to the second area designated by said second area designating instruction;
• a changing instruction to change a distance from said optical lens to said imaging surface in the focal point searching area designated by said range designating instruction;
• and
• a searching instruction to execute a process of searching a focal point based on a partial image outputted from said imager corresponding to the first area designated by said first area designating instruction, in parallel with a changing process based on said changing instruction.

An imaging control method which is executed by an electronic camera provided with an imager, having an imaging surface for capturing a scene through an optical lens, which repeatedly outputs a scene image, the imaging control method, comprising:

• a first area designating step of designating on said imaging surface a first area for capturing a specific object that is detected from the scene;
• a second area designating step of designating on said imaging surface a second area that is smaller than the first area designated by said first area designating step and is for capturing the specific object noticed by said first area designating step;
• a range designating step of designating a focal point searching range in a manner that is different depending upon a magnitude of a high frequency component contained in a partial image outputted from said imager corresponding to the second area designated by said second area designating step;
• a changing step of changing a distance from said optical lens to said imaging surface in the focal point searching area designated by said range designating step;
• and
• a searching step of executing a process of searching a focal point based on a partial image outputted from said imager corresponding to the first area designated by said first area designating step, in parallel with a changing process of said changing step.