IMAGE PICK-UP APPARATUS AND COMPUTER READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20090147125A1
• Filed: 12/02/2008
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: MURAKI, Jun, Mizuno, Kimiyasu, Dobashi, Koki
• Application Number:
  US12/326,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20090147125A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/345
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 13/00 Viewfinders; Focusing aids for cameras; Means for focusing for cameras; Autofocus systems for cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/673 based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/675 comprising setting of focusing regions

Abstract

A shooting operation using a short exposure time and a shooting operation using a long exposure time are performed in turn repeatedly.

Frame image data “B” obtained by the shooting operation using a long exposure time is displayed and recorded. Frame image data “A” obtained by the shooting operation using a short exposure time is used to evaluate an image, that is, to detect a face area in said image data and/or calculate AF evaluation value.

Claims

1. An image pick-up apparatus comprising:

an image pick-up unit for shooting an object;

a first shooting control unit for controlling the image pick-up unit to shoot the object at least once under a first exposure condition, thereby obtaining first image data;

an image evaluating unit for evaluating an image of the first image data obtained by the first shooting control unit;

a shooting condition adjusting unit for adjusting a shooting condition to be set to the image pick-up unit based on an evaluation result by the image evaluating unit;

a second shooting control unit for controlling the image pick-up unit to shoot the object at least once with the shooting condition adjusted by the shooting condition adjusting unit under a second exposure condition different from the first exposure condition, thereby obtaining second image data;

an image data obtaining unit for performing shooting by the first shooting control unit and shooting by the second shooting control unit in turn repeatedly, thereby obtaining plural pieces of image data; and

a moving image data producing unit for producing moving image data from plural pieces of second image data, wherein the plural pieces of second image data are included in the plural pieces of image data obtained by the image data obtaining unit.

2. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first shooting control unit controls the image pick-up unit to shoot once under the first exposure condition, and the second shooting control unit controls the image pick-up unit to shoot once under the second exposure condition.

3. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pick-up unit includes a focus lens, and the image evaluating unit comprises a calculating unit for calculating AF evaluation value from the first image data obtained by the first shooting control unit, and the shooting condition adjusted by the shooting condition adjusting unit includes a lens position of the focus lens to be moved based on the AF evaluating value calculated by the calculating unit.

4. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a face detecting unit for detecting a face area in the first image data obtained by the first shooting control unit, wherein the calculating unit calculates an AF evaluation value of the face area detected by the face detecting unit.

5. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the face detecting unit detects a face area in the second image data obtained by the second shooting control unit, and the image evaluating unit compares the number of the face areas detected in the first image data with the number of the face areas detected in the second image data, and selects and employs image data in which more face areas have been detected by the face detecting unit out of the first and second image data, wherein the employed image data is used by the image evaluating unit to evaluate an image.

6. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a recording medium for recording image data; and

a recording control unit for associating the moving image data produced by the moving image data producing unit with the image data which has been evaluated by the image evaluating unit, and recording the associated data in the recording medium.

7. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a first display unit for displaying the moving image data produced by the moving image data producing unit and the face area detected by the face detecting unit.

8. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a second display unit for displaying the moving image data produced by the moving image data producing unit and the face area of the image data employed by -the image evaluating unit.

9. The image pick-up apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first exposure condition is an exposure time of a predetermined length and the second exposure condition is an exposure time longer the exposure time of the first exposure condition.

10. A computer readable recording medium to be mounted on an image pick-up apparatus having a built-in computer, the computer readable recording medium storing a computer program when executed to make the computer function as an image pick-up unit comprising:

an image pick-up unit for shooting an object;

a first shooting control unit for controlling the image pick-up unit to shoot the object at least once under a first exposure condition, thereby obtaining first image data;

an image evaluating unit for evaluating an image of the first image data obtained by the first shooting control unit;

a shooting condition adjusting unit for adjusting a shooting condition to be set to the image pick-up unit based on an evaluation result by the image evaluating unit;

a second shooting control unit for controlling the image pick-up unit to shoot the object at least once with the shooting condition adjusted by the shooting condition adjusting unit under a second exposure condition different from the first exposure condition, thereby obtaining second image data;

an image data obtaining unit for performing shooting by the first shooting control unit and shooting by the second shooting control unit in turn repeatedly, thereby obtaining plural pieces of image data; and

a moving image data producing unit for producing moving image data from plural pieces of second image data obtained by the second shooting control unit, wherein the plural pieces of second image data are included in the plural pieces of image data obtained by the image data obtaining unit.