Imaging apparatus

• US 8,218,055 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Naito, Takuro
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Tuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nazrul, Shahbaz
• Application Number:
  US12/790,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20100302410A1
• Time in Patent Office: 774 Days
• Field of Search: 348/208.16, 348/208.12, 348/333.02, 348/231.3, 348/221.1, 348/333.04, 348/208.15, 348/208.99
• US Class Current: 348/333.04
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/18 Signals indicating condition of a camera member or suitability of light indicating depth of field G03B13/30
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 5/00 Adjustment of optical system relative to image or object surface other than for focusing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene

Abstract

An imaging apparatus having a shooting optical system and an image sensor includes an image data producer producing image data; an imaging controller repeatedly outputting one picture unit of image data produced in a predetermined shooting time duration by the image data producer; an image data recorder recording the outputted image data; a position detector detecting a change in position of the imaging apparatus and calculating an amount of displacement of the imaging apparatus from a position at a time point of the imaging apparatus taken as a reference based on the detected change in position; a position recorder recording the amount of displacement and time data related to the amount of displacement; a display section displaying a relationship between a shooting time of each image data of the image data recorder and the amount of displacement recorded by the position recorder, during exposure or at the end of exposure; and an adding processor adding arbitrary image data of the image data recorder and producing an image.

Claims

1. An imaging apparatus, comprising:

a shooting optical system;

an image sensor;

an image data producer which produces image data from an image of a photographic subject formed on the image sensor via the shooting optical system;

an imaging controller which repeatedly outputs one picture unit of image data produced in a predetermined shooting time duration by the image data producer;

an image data recorder which records the image data outputted by the imaging controller;

a position detector which detects a change in position of the imaging apparatus and calculates an amount of displacement of the imaging apparatus from a position at a time point of the imaging apparatus taken as a reference based on the detected change in position;

a position recorder which records the amount of displacement calculated by the position detector and time data related to the amount of displacement;

a display section which displays a relationship between a shooting time of each image data of the image data recorder and the amount of displacement recorded by the position recorder, during exposure or at the end of exposure; and

an adding processor which adds arbitrary image data of the image data recorder and produces an image.

2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a proper exposure time calculator which calculates a proper exposure time based on brightness of the photographic subject, a sensitivity setting of the image sensor, and an aperture value of the shooting optical system,

wherein a change in time of the amount of displacement recorded by the position recorder is displayed on the display section based on the time data recorded by the position recorder in the proper exposure time calculated by the proper exposure time calculator.

3. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined shooting time duration is arbitrarily set and changeable.

4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a selector which selects arbitrary image data on the display section,

wherein the image data selected by the selector is added by the adding processor and an image is produced.

5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a judgment section which judges whether the amount of displacement detected by the position detector is larger than a predetermined threshold value or not in each time period having the predetermined shooting time duration,

wherein the image data of a time period where the amount of displacement is judged to be smaller than the predetermined threshold value by the judgment section is added by the adding processor and an image is produced.

6. The imaging apparatus according to claim 5, comprising:

a threshold value inputting section in which the predetermined threshold value is arbitrarily set and inputted.

7. The imaging apparatus according to claim 5, comprising a function of an automatic extension of an exposure time which calculates a total time of the time period where the amount of displacement is judged to be larger than the predetermined threshold value by the judgment section and extends the exposure time for the total time of the time period to be a proper exposure time.

8. The imaging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein it is arbitrarily selectable whether the exposure time is extended or not in the function of the automatic extension of the exposure time.

9. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an integration value of the amount of displacement calculated by the position detector is calculated per the shooting time duration and image data in the shooting time duration where the integration value is small is preferentially outputted to the adding processor.

10. The imaging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a total time t′

of a time period where the amount of displacement is judged to be larger than the predetermined threshold value by the judgment section and a total time t of a time period where the amount of displacement is judged to be smaller than the predetermined threshold value by the judgment section are calculated, respectively, and then only image data of the time period where the amount of displacement is smaller than the threshold value is multiplied by (t′

+t)/t and outputted to the adding processor.

11. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position recorder records a position of the imaging apparatus before starting shooting and position data before starting shooting is also displayed on the display section.

12. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position detector includes an acceleration sensor which detects position data in a gravity direction and a horizontal direction on a surface perpendicular to a shooting optical axis of the shooting optical system.

13. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position detector includes a calculator of an amount of displacement of a photographic subject which calculates an amount of displacement of a photographic subject included in image data shot per the predetermined shooting time duration from a position of the photographic subject of arbitrary image data taken as a reference per the predetermined shooting time duration, by use of position data in the horizontal direction and the gravity direction on the surface perpendicular to the shooting optical axis of the shooting optical system.

14. The imaging apparatus according to claim 13, wherein image data including the position of the photographic subject taken as the reference is arbitrarily selected.

15. The imaging apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the image data where the amount of displacement of the photographic subject in each of the gravity direction and the horizontal direction is calculated by the calculator of the amount of displacement of the photographic subject is outputted to the adding processor, after the calculated amount of displacement of the photographic subject is corrected.

16. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium for use in an imaging apparatus having a shooting optical system and an image sensor, and for performing:

a step of an image data production which produces image data from an image of a photographic subject formed on the image sensor via the shooting optical system;

a step of an imaging control which repeatedly outputs one picture unit of image data formed in a predetermined shooting time duration by the step of the image data production;

a step of an image data recording which records the image data outputted by the step of the imaging control;

a step of a position detection which detects a change in position of the imaging apparatus and calculates an amount of displacement of the imaging apparatus from a position at a time point of the imaging apparatus taken as a reference based on the detected change in position;

a step of a position recording which records the amount of displacement calculated by the step of the position detection and time data related to the amount of displacement;

a step of a display which displays a relationship between a shooting time of each image data of the step of the image data recording and the amount of displacement recorded by the step of the position recording, during exposure or at the end of exposure; and

a step of an adding processing which adds arbitrary image data of the step of the image data recording and produces an image.