Image pickup apparatus and method for controlling the same

• US 7,978,229 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2008
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Takahashi, Koji, Kyuma, Kenji, Kondo, Kenichi, Hirose, Hisataka, Shimizu, Hiroyuki, Sugimori, Masami
• Primary Examiner(s): Misleh; Justin P
• Application Number:
  US12/125,659
• Publication Number:
  US 20080297613A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,146 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• 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

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus including a photoelectric conversion element, first, a shutter speed for still-image pickup is set. Next, an image-pickup frame rate is set on the basis of the shutter speed for still-image pickup. Then, an operation of the photoelectric conversion element is controlled such that picked-up images are output at the set image-pickup frame rate. When the image-pickup frame rate that is set is higher than a moving-image-reproducing frame rate, a frame for use in a moving-image reproduction is generated from a plurality of frames of the picked-up images and reproduction is performed at the moving-image-reproduction frame rate.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus that outputs picked-up images on a frame-by-frame basis from an image pickup element having a plurality of pixels, the image pickup apparatus comprising:

a shutter-speed setting unit configured to set a shutter speed for still-image pickup;

a frame-rate setting unit configured to set an image-pickup frame rate based on the shutter speed set by the shutter-speed setting unit;

a control unit configured to control an operation of the image pickup element such that the picked-up images are output at the image-pickup frame rate; and

a moving-image reproducing unit configured to perform moving-image reproduction by using the picked-up images,

wherein, when the image-pickup frame rate set by the frame-rate setting unit is higher than a moving-image-reproduction frame rate, the moving-image reproducing unit generates a frame for use in the moving-image reproduction from a plurality of frames of the picked-up images and performs reproduction at the moving-image-reproduction frame rate.

2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frame-rate setting unit sets the reciprocal of the shutter speed as the image-pickup frame rate.

3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, when the reciprocal of the shutter speed exceeds an upper limit of a range of frame rates at which the picked-up images can be read from the image pickup element, the frame-rate setting unit sets the upper limit as the image-pickup frame rate.

4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shutter-speed setting unit sets the shutter speed according to automatic exposure control or user setting.

5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recording unit configured to record the pick-up images on a recording medium in the form of RAW data.

6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of pixels is provided with a color filter, and the RAW data is picked-up image data obtained before color interpolation is performed on signals output from the respective pixels.

7. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving-image reproducing unit generates a frame for use in the moving-image reproduction by averaging pixel values of a plurality of consecutive frames of the picked-up images and performs reproduction at the moving-image-reproduction frame rate by using a plurality of generated frames.

8. A method for controlling an image pickup apparatus that uses an image pickup element to output picked-up images on a frame-by-frame basis, the method comprising:

setting a shutter speed for still-image pickup;

setting an image-pickup frame rate based on the shutter speed;

controlling an operation of the image pickup element such that the picked-up images are output at the image-pickup frame rate; and

performing moving-image reproduction by using the picked-up images,

wherein, in performing moving-image reproduction, when the image-pickup frame rate is higher than a moving-image-reproduction frame rate, a frame for use in the moving-image reproduction is generated from a plurality of frames of the picked-up images and reproduction is performed at the moving-image-reproduction frame rate.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein a frame for use in the moving-image reproduction is generated by averaging pixel values of a plurality of consecutive frames of the picked-up images, and

wherein reproduction is performed at the moving-image-reproduction frame rate by using a plurality of generated frames.