JP2013016928A - Photographing device, photographic condition control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent failures in photographing caused by using a photographic condition that was set manually at previous photographing, without forcing a user to do a complicated operation at next photographing, even in the case that photographic environment at the previous photographing is different from that at the next photographing.SOLUTION: At the power-on of a photographic mode, when it is determined that the possibility that a photographic target at previous photographing is different from that at next photographing is high (SB5:NO, SB7:NO), a photographic condition that was set manually and stored is invalidated, and a photographic condition to be used at next photographing is set to an initial state (SB2). In addition, when it is determined that the possibility that the photographic target at the previous photographing and that at the next photographing are the same as each other is high (SB3:NO, SB7:YES), the photographic condition that was set manually and stored is validated, and the photographic condition is set as the photographic condition to be used at the next photographing (SB9).

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus capable of setting arbitrary photographing conditions during photographing.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a digital camera which is a kind of photographing apparatus can generally set a photographing condition at the time of photographing manually according to user's preference or necessity. Here, the manual setting is an operation in which the user changes one or a plurality of setting values of a plurality of condition items constituting the photographing condition to a value different from a predetermined initial value. The condition items that can be set are, for example, ISO sensitivity, exposure value (EV) shift amount, and use of a strobe.

  In addition, once set manually, the shooting conditions are maintained unless the power is turned off, and if the digital camera has a so-called last memory function, the power is turned off and then turned on again. Even if it is, it is retained.

  Therefore, when the shooting conditions are set manually, the user must reset the shooting conditions when the shooting environment (shooting target and shooting scene) is the same at the previous shooting and the next shooting. The next shooting can be performed immediately. However, if the shooting environment is different between the previous shooting and the next shooting, the user resets the shooting conditions according to the new shooting environment or the initial setting before the shooting conditions are changed by manual setting. If it does not return to the value, the next shooting will fail.

  As a technique for solving this problem, for example, in Patent Document 1 below, in a digital camera having a last memory function, whether a shooting condition is set to a predetermined initial value or a previous setting value when the power is turned on is previously determined. Techniques that allow selection are described. That is, a technique is described that enables the last memory function to be set on / off. More specifically, a technique is described in which the last memory function can be individually set on / off for a plurality of setting items that can be set as shooting conditions.

JP 2000-299814 A

  However, in the above technique, when the subject is different between the previous shooting and the next shooting, in order to perform shooting under appropriate shooting conditions, the user sets the last memory function on / off in advance. There is a need to. Therefore, it is only necessary to know in advance whether or not the subject is the same at the previous shooting immediately before the power-off operation and the next shooting immediately after the power-on operation, but this is uncertain. There was a problem that in some cases it could not be handled.

  Further, even when it is known in advance whether or not the subject is the same at the next shooting immediately after the power is turned on, when the user turns off the power, for example, the user can There is a problem that the memory function must be turned on / off one by one, and the operation prior to the next shooting must be complicated.

  Further, while the user is shooting without turning off the power, if the subject is different from the previous shooting, the user still needs to reset the shooting conditions or return to the initial value. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and even if the shooting environment is different between the previous shooting and the next shooting, the user is forced to perform complicated operations at the next shooting. Provided is an imaging apparatus, an imaging condition control method, and a program used for realizing the imaging apparatus that can prevent an imaging failure caused by using manually set imaging conditions at the time of the previous shooting without any trouble. For the purpose.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the present invention, an image pickup means, a storage means for storing a shooting condition set by a user as a shooting condition used at the time of shooting by the imaging means, and a storage means stored in the storage means. The shooting environment and the next shooting at the previous shooting at a specific acquisition timing from the previous shooting using the shooting conditions used until the next shooting immediately after the previous shooting is instructed by the user An acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a shooting environment serving as a determination criterion for difference between the shooting environment and a shooting condition stored in the storage unit based on information indicating the shooting environment acquired by the acquisition unit. An imaging condition control means for determining whether to be invalid or valid is provided.

  According to the present invention, even if the shooting environment is different between the previous shooting and the next shooting, the shooting conditions manually set at the previous shooting can be set without any complicated operation at the next shooting. It is possible to prevent shooting failures due to use.

1 is a block diagram of a digital camera according to the present invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the storage area of a program memory | storage part, and stored data. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement in imaging | photography mode. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement in the imaging | photography mode immediately after power-on. It is the figure which showed an example of the information used as a judgment standard when the photography scene which can be selected in the best shot photography mode, and each photography scene is selected.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present embodiment relates to a digital camera having a last memory function described in the background art while allowing a user to manually set shooting conditions at the time of shooting as required and necessary.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an electrical configuration of a digital camera 1 which is a kind of photographing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the digital camera 1 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2 that controls the entire apparatus. The CPU 2 includes a built-in clock 2a having a calendar function for obtaining the current date and time.

  The CPU 2 includes an optical lens device 3, an image sensor 4, an image memory 5, a liquid crystal monitor 6, an image processing unit 7, an image recording unit 8, a program storage unit 9, a key input unit 10, a GPS unit 11, and an orientation detection unit 12. Is connected.

  The optical lens device 3 includes a photographic lens including a zoom lens and a focus lens that collects an optical image of a subject, an actuator that drives the photographic lens, and the like. The taking lens is a retractable type, and a zoom lens or the like is held inside a lens barrel that expands and contracts in multiple stages. Although not shown, the optical lens device 3 includes a diaphragm.

  The image sensor 4 is a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Meta 10xide Semiconductor) for digitizing and capturing the optical image collected by the optical lens device 3.

  The image memory 5 is constituted by an SDRAM (Synchronous dynamic random-access memory) or the like, and is a memory for temporarily storing mainly images captured by the image sensor 4, that is, data of images captured by the image sensor 4.

  The key input unit 10 includes a power key, a shutter key, an operation mode setting key used for setting a shooting mode and a playback mode as basic operation modes, a cursor key used for various setting operations by a user, And a plurality of operation keys such as a determination key. The operation state of each operation key in the key input unit 10 is monitored at any time by the CPU 2.

  The shutter key has a so-called half shutter function that allows a two-stage operation of a half-pressed position for a user to make a shooting advance notice and a full-pressed position for instructing shooting.

  The cursor key and the enter key are also used for selecting a shooting mode prepared as a lower mode of the shooting mode in the digital camera 1. The digital camera 1 has four types of shooting modes, ie, a manual shooting mode, an auto shooting mode, a program auto shooting mode, and a best shot shooting mode, as lower shooting modes.

  Here, the auto shooting mode is applicable to all shooting scenes in which shooting conditions related to exposure such as shutter speed and aperture are automatically set to the optimal settings according to the subject and surrounding conditions. This is a basic shooting mode and a basic shooting mode.

  Program auto shooting mode is a shooting mode that automatically sets shooting conditions related to exposure such as shutter speed and aperture to optimal settings according to specific shooting scenes such as sports, portraits, and landscapes. is there.

  In the best shot shooting mode (simple manual shooting mode), ISO sensitivity and exposure value (EV) shift are set in addition to setting of shooting conditions related to exposure such as shutter speed and aperture, as in auto shooting mode and programmed auto shooting mode. This is a shooting mode in which other shooting conditions such as amount, white balance (type of light source), focus control content, and the like are set to values determined according to a specific shooting scene selected by the user.

  The image processing unit 7 is configured by a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or the like, and converts image data supplied through the CPU 2 into RGB data for each pixel after being temporarily stored in the image memory 5. Further, the image processing unit 7 converts the RGB data into YUV data including a luminance (Y) component and a color difference (UV) component. The converted YUV data is supplied to the liquid crystal monitor 6 in the photographing standby state in the photographing mode, and is displayed as a live view image (through image) on the screen of the liquid crystal monitor 6.

  The image processing unit 7 compresses the image data converted into YUV data by the JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) method at the time of shooting when the shutter key is pressed in the shooting mode. The compressed image data is added by the CPU 2 with multiple types of attached information including the camera model name, shooting date and time, and subject distance, and recorded as a still image file compliant with standards such as Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format). Stored in unit 8.

  The image recording unit 8 includes various memory cards that are detachable from the digital camera 1 and built-in flash memory built in the digital camera 1, for example.

  Further, the image processing unit 7 expands the compressed image data read from the image recording unit 8 by the CPU 2 when the playback mode is set in the digital camera 1. The decompressed image data (YUV data) is supplied to the liquid crystal monitor 6 via the CPU 2 and displayed as a reproduced image on the liquid crystal monitor 6.

  The GPS unit 11 performs positioning (measurement of the current position) using a known global positioning system (GPS). In other words, the GPS unit 11 receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites, thereby calculating position information (latitude and longitude) indicating the current position on the earth, that is, the reception position of the radio waves, and CPU 2 as position data. To supply.

  The azimuth detecting unit 12 is mainly composed of a biaxial or triaxial geomagnetic sensor that detects geomagnetism, acquires information indicating the photographing direction based on the biaxial or triaxial geomagnetic component, and supplies the information to the CPU 2 as direction data. The information indicating the shooting direction acquired by the azimuth detecting unit 12 is specifically information indicating the angle of the shooting direction when true north is set to 0 °.

  The program storage unit 9 is composed of a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory in which stored data can be rewritten as needed. As shown in FIG. 2, the program storage unit 9 has a program storage area 9a and other data storage areas 9b.

  The program storage area 9a stores a control program for causing the CPU 2 to perform various controls during shooting, for example, AF (autofocus) control, AE (automatic exposure) control, AWB (auto white balance) control, and the like. . The program storage area 9a also stores data used for each control described above, for example, program AE data constituting a program diagram used for AE control.

  The data storage area 9b mainly stores setting data, shooting condition data, and shooting environment data. Here, the setting data is data that defines the basic operation content of the digital camera 1, and is data that indicates on / off states of various functions of the digital camera 1, for example.

  The shooting condition data and the shooting environment data are data stored as necessary. The shooting condition data is shooting conditions used at the time of the previous shooting and corresponds to data indicating shooting conditions manually set by the user in the manual shooting mode or a shooting scene selected by the user in the best shot shooting mode. It is data indicating a photographing condition table. Note that shooting conditions that can be set manually in the manual shooting mode include a plurality of condition items such as ISO sensitivity, exposure value (EV), and use of color filters such as red and blue.

  The shooting environment data is a plurality of data indicating the shooting environment at the time when the power is turned off with the shooting mode set. In the present embodiment, the plurality of data indicating the shooting environment are specifically time data acquired by the built-in clock 2a, position data acquired by the GPS unit 11, and direction data acquired by the direction detection unit 12. is there.

  Next, an operation according to the present invention of the digital camera 1 having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 3 shows a part of processing executed by the CPU 2 when the photographing mode is set as the operation mode in the digital camera 1 and the above-described manual photographing mode or best shot photographing mode is set as the specific photographing mode. It is the flowchart which showed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the shooting mode is set, the CPU 2 sequentially detects the operation state of each operation key in the key input unit 10, thereby determining whether there is a manual shooting condition setting request from the user ( In the case of the manual shooting mode), whether or not there is a request for selecting a shooting scene from the user (in the case of the best shot shooting mode), and whether or not the power is turned off is confirmed (steps SA1 and SA3).

  When there is a manual shooting condition setting request or shooting scene selection request (step SA1: YES), the CPU 2 changes the shooting conditions used at the time of shooting in response to a user request (step SA2). More specifically, in the case of the manual shooting mode, in the process of step SA2, the CPU 2 displays a plurality of shooting conditions according to the user's key operation in a state where a predetermined setting screen is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 6. The setting value of one or more condition items is changed. The plurality of condition items constituting the photographing condition are ISO sensitivity, exposure value (EV), and the like. In the best shot shooting mode, if a desired shooting scene is manually selected from a plurality of shooting scene images displayed simultaneously or alternatively by a user key operation, it corresponds to the selected shooting scene. The shooting conditions are set manually.

  Note that the setting value before the change at the time of the processing in step SA2 is a predetermined initial value or a setting value set (changed) in step SA2 before that. In the process of step SA2, the CPU 2 stores the changed shooting condition in the internal memory, and uses it for AE control and the like during subsequent shooting.

  On the other hand, when the power is turned off at any time during the operation in the photographing mode (step SA3: YES), the CPU 2 first stores the photographing lens in the camera body (step SA4). If the current shooting conditions are not manually set by the user (step SA5: NO), the CPU 2 immediately turns off the power (step SA8) and ends all the processes.

  On the other hand, when the photographing condition when the power is turned off is manually set by the user (step SA5: YES), the CPU 2 executes the following processing. First, the CPU 2 stores shooting condition data indicating the current shooting conditions in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9 (step SA6).

  Next, the CPU 2 stores the current shooting environment information (step SA7). That is, the CPU 2 acquires time data from the built-in clock 2a, acquires position data from the GPS unit 11, acquires direction data from the direction detection unit 12, and uses the acquired time data, position data, and direction data as shooting environment data. Is stored in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9. Thereafter, the power is turned off (step SA8), and all processing is completed.

  On the other hand, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a part of processing executed by the CPU 2 when the power key is turned on by the user in a state in which the digital camera 1 is set to the shooting mode by the mode switching key.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the CPU 2 starts processing when the power is turned on, the CPU 2 does not store the manually set shooting conditions, that is, in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9 in the previous shooting. If the shooting condition data indicating the used shooting condition is not stored (step SB1: NO), the shooting condition is immediately set to the initial state (step SB2). That is, the setting values of all the condition items constituting the photographing conditions are set to predetermined initial values. In the process of step SB2, the CPU 2 stores the set shooting condition in the internal memory as a shooting condition used at the time of shooting. Also, instead of setting the shooting conditions to the initial values, for example, by setting the shooting mode to the auto shooting mode or programmed auto shooting mode, the optimum shooting conditions are set automatically during shooting. May be.

  Then, the CPU 2 starts displaying a live view image (step SB10). That is, the process shifts to another process in the shooting mode.

  On the other hand, if the manually set shooting conditions are stored (step SB1: YES), the CPU 2 performs processing to be described later.

  First, the CPU 2 uses the current time indicated by the built-in clock 2a and the time indicated by the time data stored as the shooting environment data in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9 after the previous power-off. It is confirmed whether or not more than minutes have passed (step SB3).

  Here, when two minutes or more have not passed since the last power-off (step SB3: NO), that is, the elapsed time since the last power-off is very short, and the photographing environment is the same as the last photographing. If the CPU 2 can determine that there is a high possibility, the CPU 2 performs the following processing with the stored shooting conditions as valid.

  That is, the CPU 2 immediately reads out the shooting condition data stored when the power was turned off last time from the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9 (step SB8), and sets the same shooting conditions as the previous time as the shooting conditions used at the time of shooting. Set (step SB9). Note that the shooting conditions set in step SB9 are also stored in the internal memory of the CPU 2. Thereafter, the CPU 2 starts displaying a live view image (step SB10). That is, the process shifts to another process in the shooting mode.

  On the other hand, when the power is turned on, if more than 2 minutes have passed since the last time the power was turned off (step SB3: YES), that is, the elapsed time since the last time the power was turned off is long, so If it can be determined that there is a high possibility that they are different, the CPU 2 performs the following processing.

  First, the CPU 2 acquires the current position by the GPS unit 11 (step SB4). After that, the CPU 2 refers to the position data stored as the shooting environment data in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9, so that the current position is within 100 m from the previous power-off point. It is confirmed whether or not (step SB5).

  Here, if the current position is a point within 100 m from the previous power-off time (step SB5: YES), the CPU 2 continues to acquire the current shooting direction by the direction detection unit 12 (step SB6). After that, the CPU 2 refers to the direction data stored as the shooting environment data in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9, so that the current shooting direction is ± 10 degrees from the shooting direction when the power is turned off last time. It is confirmed whether or not it is included in the angle range (step SB7).

  If the current shooting direction is included in an angle range of ± 10 degrees from the shooting direction when the power is turned off last time (step SB7: YES), the CPU 2 sets the same shooting conditions as the previous shooting conditions. Is set (step SB9).

  In other words, even if the elapsed time since the last power-off was long, the change in shooting location and shooting direction since the last power-off was below the standard, and the shooting environment may be the same as the previous shooting If it can be determined that the image capturing rate is high, the CPU 2 validates the stored image capturing conditions, and sets the same image capturing conditions as previously set as the image capturing conditions used during image capturing. Thereafter, the display of the live view image is started (step SB10).

  On the other hand, unlike the above case, when the current position is not within 100 m from the previous power-off (step SB5: NO), and the current shooting direction is an angle range of ± 10 degrees from the shooting direction when the previous power-off. If not included (step SB7: NO), the CPU 2 sets the photographing condition to the initial state (step SB2).

  In other words, if the change in the shooting location or shooting direction since the last time the power was turned off is large enough to exceed the reference, and it can be determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting environment is different from the previous shooting, the CPU 2 The shooting conditions that have been set manually are invalidated, and the basic shooting conditions are set as shooting conditions used during shooting. Then, the CPU 2 starts displaying a live view image (step SB10).

  Here, the processing of the CPU 2 when the power is turned on with the shooting mode set has been described. However, in the digital camera 1, the CPU 2 executes the process shown in FIG. 4 even when the operation mode is switched to the shooting mode after the power is turned on in the state where the playback mode is set. .

  As described above, in the digital camera 1 of the present embodiment, when the power is turned on in the shooting mode, if it can be determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting environment is the same as the previous shooting, Use the manually set shooting conditions for the next shooting. Conversely, when the camera is turned on in shooting mode and it can be determined that the shooting environment is likely to be different from the previous shooting, the shooting conditions set manually at the previous shooting are invalidated and At the time of shooting, basic shooting conditions (before manual setting), auto shooting mode, or program auto shooting mode are used.

  Therefore, after the user has manually set the shooting conditions and performed the previous shooting, the shooting environment has changed when the camera is turned off and then turned on again for the next shooting. However, the user can manually set the shooting conditions without having to perform complicated operations such as resetting the shooting conditions themselves, returning to the initial state, or setting the auto shooting mode or programmed auto shooting mode. This makes it possible to prevent shooting failures caused by doing so.

  The effect is that the operation mode when the power is turned off and then turned on again is the playback mode. After the user turns on the power again, the operation mode is switched to the shooting mode and The same applies when shooting.

  Here, in the present embodiment, when the power is turned on in the shooting mode, when the elapsed time from the time when the power is turned off last time in the shooting mode is not longer than a predetermined time (2 minutes), Unconditionally, the shooting conditions set manually at the previous shooting are used at the next shooting.

  However, when implementing the present invention, when the power is turned on in the shooting mode, the power is always turned on in the shooting mode without checking the elapsed time since the last time the power was turned off in the shooting mode. Based on the comparison result of the position data and / or direction data and the position data and / or direction data at the time when the power was previously turned off in the shooting mode, the shooting conditions set manually at the previous shooting are made valid, A configuration may be adopted in which it is used as it is, or it is invalidated, and it is determined whether the imaging condition is set to the basic initial state (returned).

  That is, when the processing of step SB3 shown in FIG. 4 is abolished and the manually set photographing conditions are stored in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9 (step SB1: YES), the processing immediately after step SB4 is performed. It is good also as a structure which performs a process. However, if the information used for determining whether to enable or disable the shooting conditions set manually at the time of the previous shooting is set as a plurality as in the present invention, by increasing the number, The determination can be made more accurately.

  In this embodiment, the shooting environment when the power is turned on in the shooting mode is compared with the shooting environment when the power is turned off the previous time in the shooting mode. It is configured to determine whether the imaging condition is valid or invalid.

  However, the comparison target of the shooting environment when the power is turned on in the shooting mode does not have to be the shooting environment at the time when the power was turned off last time in the shooting mode. It can be an environment. In that case, every time shooting is performed using manually set shooting conditions, new shooting environment data is acquired, and only the latest shooting environment data is stored in the data storage area 9b of the program storage unit 9. do it.

  In this embodiment, the shooting environment when the power is turned on in the shooting mode is compared with the shooting environment when the power is turned off the last time in the shooting mode, but the shooting environment when the power is turned on in the shooting mode is compared. The shooting environment may be a shooting environment at the time when the first shooting is performed after the power is turned on.

  Here, the shooting environment when the first shooting is performed after the power is turned on is, for example, a shooting environment when the shutter key is half-pressed. In that case, when the shutter key is half-pressed, the CPU 2 may perform the processing of steps SB3 to SB9 or the processing of steps SB4 to SB9 shown in FIG.

  In addition, the comparison of the shooting environment at the time when the first shooting is performed after the power is turned on is not the shooting environment at the time when the previous power was turned off in the shooting mode, as described above. It may be a shooting environment at the time of shooting immediately before being turned off.

  Further, in the present embodiment, time information acquired by the built-in clock 2a as information indicating the shooting environment when the power was previously turned off in the shooting mode and the shooting environment when the power was turned on in the shooting mode, The case where the position information (latitude and longitude) acquired by the GPS unit 11 and the shooting direction information acquired by the direction detection unit 12 is used has been described.

  However, only one of time information, position information, and shooting direction information may be used as information indicating the shooting environment, or information indicating one or more shooting environments arbitrarily selected by the user. You may make it use. In addition to time information, position information, and shooting direction information, other information such as a vertical imaging angle (elevation angle or depression angle) may be used as information indicating the shooting environment. In addition, when using the imaging angle of the up-down direction as information which shows an imaging environment, what is necessary is just to provide an inclination sensor etc. in the digital camera 1 separately.

  Also, in this embodiment, when the power is turned on in the shooting mode or when the operation mode is switched to the shooting mode after the power is turned on, the manually set shooting conditions are canceled as necessary. It was set as the structure to do. However, the timing for releasing the manually set shooting conditions as needed may be a specific timing prior to the next shooting immediately after shooting using the manually set shooting conditions.

  Therefore, the time when the manually set shooting conditions are canceled as necessary may be, for example, during a plurality of times of shooting without turning off the power. In that case, the one shooting environment to be compared may be set as the shooting environment for the previous shooting, and the other shooting environment may be set as the shooting environment for the next shooting. Note that the shooting environment at the time of the next shooting is, for example, the shooting environment when the shutter key is half-pressed as described above.

  Furthermore, when the manually set shooting conditions are canceled as necessary, for example, after the last shooting using the manually set shooting conditions, until the next shooting immediately after that is performed. It may be an arbitrary point in time. In the case where the time when the manually set photographing condition is canceled as necessary is the above arbitrary time point, the following configuration can be adopted.

  That is, in the implementation of the present invention, for example, one of the above-described shooting environments to be compared is set as a shooting environment at the time of the previous shooting, and the other shooting environment is set at regular intervals until the next shooting is performed. It is possible to adopt a configuration that releases the manually set shooting conditions as necessary when it is determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting environment is different from the previous shooting time at any given time. it can. Furthermore, the above arbitrary time point may not be limited until the next shooting is performed. In this way, if the shooting environment has not changed at the next shooting, shooting can be performed using the shooting conditions set manually at the previous shooting, and if the shooting environment changes immediately after that, The shooting conditions set manually are canceled, and it becomes possible to prevent shooting failures caused by using the shooting conditions set manually during the next shooting.

  In the above description, the case where time information, position information, shooting direction information, and the like are used as information indicating the shooting environment has been described. However, in implementing the present invention, information indicating the content of the subject can be used as information indicating the shooting environment, for example. Here, the content of the subject is information relating to a portion that is actually recorded as a captured image in the shooting environment.

  As information indicating the content of the subject, for example, the subject distance at the time of shooting can be used. That is, one subject distance to be compared is set as the subject distance at the previous shooting, and the other subject distance is set as the subject distance at the next shooting. In that case, when the difference in subject distance between the two becomes larger than a predetermined reference, the manually set photographing condition may be invalidated.

  Note that the subject distance is a subject distance calculated from the lens position adjustment position or the like at the time when focusing is performed by AF control, for example. Also, when the difference in subject distance between the two is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference, for example, the subject distance at the time of the previous shooting is within the distance range secured by macro shooting and at the time of the next shooting This is a case where the subject distance is within the far-side shooting range including infinity.

  Further, as information indicating the content of the subject, for example, the brightness of the subject at the time of shooting can be used. In other words, the brightness of one subject to be compared is the brightness of the subject at the time of the previous shooting, and the brightness of the other subject is displayed as the brightness of the subject at the time of the next shooting or as a live view image in the shooting standby state. The brightness of the subject in question. In that case, when the difference in the brightness of the subject between the two becomes larger than a predetermined reference, the manually set photographing condition may be invalidated.

  Furthermore, as information indicating the content of the subject, for example, color information such as the number of colors of the subject within the angle of view at the time of shooting and the ratio of a specific color within the angle of view can be used. Specifically, the color information of one subject to be compared is the color information acquired from the photographed image recorded in the previous photographing, and the color information of the other subject is the color information of the subject at the next photographing, Alternatively, the color information of the subject displayed as a live view image in the shooting standby state is used. In that case, when the difference in the color information of the subject between the two becomes larger than a predetermined reference, the manually set photographing condition may be invalidated.

  In the above description, the shooting conditions that are invalidated as needed at a specific timing prior to shooting such as when the power is turned on in the shooting mode are the shooting conditions manually set by the user, that is, the user's preference or The case where the setting values of one or more condition items are set by changing them to values different from the initial values as necessary has been described in detail.

  However, as briefly described in the above description, the shooting condition that is invalidated as necessary at a specific timing prior to shooting may be set by the user intentionally based on his / her own intention. However, the shooting conditions indirectly set by setting the best shot shooting mode as the shooting mode, that is, the shooting conditions corresponding to the specific shooting scene selected by the user may be used. In this case, when invalidating the set shooting conditions, the shooting mode may be automatically switched to the auto shooting mode or the program auto shooting mode.

  As described above, when the shooting condition that is invalidated as necessary at a specific timing prior to shooting is set when using the best shot shooting mode, the user selects and shoots an arbitrary shooting scene. Even if the shooting environment is different during the next shooting, the shooting conditions that were set manually can be changed without performing complicated operations such as switching the shooting mode to the auto shooting mode or program auto shooting mode. It is possible to prevent shooting failures due to use.

  In addition, when shooting conditions that are invalidated as necessary at a specific timing prior to shooting are set when using the best shot shooting mode, information used as information indicating the shooting environment is as follows: It may be. That is, information used as information indicating the shooting environment is determined in advance according to shooting scenes that can be selected in the best shot shooting mode, and information indicating the shooting environment used as a criterion is changed according to the shooting scene. It doesn't matter.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of shooting scenes that can be selected in the best shot shooting mode and information used as information indicating a shooting environment when each shooting scene is selected.

  Of the shooting scenes shown in the figure, “Flower Up” is selected when shooting a flower up, and the shooting conditions set when this scene is selected are the focus, metering method, It is saturation. The setting contents of each condition item are “macro” for focus, “multi” for photometry, and “high” for saturation. For the information indicating the shooting environment when “flower up” is selected, a shooting angle (up and down imaging angle) can be used. That is, when the flower is photographed up, the photographing angle often becomes an oblique angle. In this case, the set shooting condition may be invalidated when the shooting angle at a specific timing prior to shooting is not a depression angle.

  Of the shooting scenes shown in the figure, “sunset” is selected when shooting the sunset. The shooting conditions set when this scene is selected include focus, filter, metering method, White balance and saturation. For the information indicating the shooting environment when “Sunset” is selected, the time and the shooting direction (the angle of the shooting direction when true north is 0 °) can be used. That is, when shooting the sunset, the time is in the evening time zone and the shooting direction is west. In this case, the set photographing condition may be invalidated when the time at a specific timing prior to photographing is not the evening time zone and the photographing direction is not west.

  Also, among the shooting scenes shown in the figure, “night view” is selected when shooting a night view, and shooting conditions set when this scene is selected include focus, sensitivity, metering method, White balance. The time and the current position can be used as information indicating the shooting environment when “night view” is selected. That is, when shooting a night view, the time is in the night time zone. In this case, if the time at a specific timing prior to shooting is not a night time zone at the current shooting location, the set shooting conditions may be invalidated.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention and its modification were demonstrated, these embodiment can be suitably changed if it is in the range with which the effect of this invention is acquired, and embodiment after change is also claimed. It is included in the scope of the invention described in the scope of the invention and the invention equivalent to the invention. The invention described in the claims of the present application will be added below.
[Claim 1]
Imaging means, storage means for storing photographing conditions set by a user as photographing conditions used at the time of photographing by the imaging means, and previous photographing using the photographing conditions stored in the storage means , At the specific acquisition timing until the next shooting immediately after the previous shooting is instructed by the user, it becomes a judgment criterion for the difference between the shooting environment at the previous shooting and the shooting environment at the next shooting An acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a shooting environment, and a shooting that determines whether the shooting conditions stored in the storage unit are invalid or valid based on the information indicating the shooting environment acquired by the acquisition unit An imaging apparatus comprising: a condition control unit.
[Claim 2]
2. The information acquisition unit according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information indicating the shooting environment with a timing of a power-on operation, a shooting mode setting operation, or a shutter half-press operation by a user as the specific acquisition timing. The imaging device described.
[Claim 3]
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit repeatedly acquires information indicating the imaging environment with the specific acquisition timing as a specific timing before the next imaging is performed.
[Claim 4]
4. The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit holds the photographing condition even after the power is turned off.
[Claim 5]
A second acquisition of information indicating the shooting environment at a specific acquisition timing from the previous shooting in which the shooting condition stored in the storage unit is used until the power is turned off immediately after the previous shooting. The acquisition condition control means, the imaging condition control means, based on a comparison result between information indicating the imaging environment acquired by the acquisition means and information indicating the imaging environment acquired by the second acquisition means, The photographing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein it is determined whether to invalidate or validate the photographing condition stored in the storage means.
[Claim 6]
The second acquisition unit is configured to acquire information indicating the shooting environment by using a power-off operation, a shooting mode release operation, or a previous shooting timing by the user as the specific acquisition timing. The imaging device according to claim 5.
[Claim 7]
The shooting conditions set by the user and stored in the storage unit are shooting conditions that are assumed to be used in a specific shooting scene, and information indicating a shooting environment that the acquisition unit acquires at a specific acquisition timing. 2. An acquisition information control means for controlling the information to predetermined information corresponding to a shooting scene premised on the use of the shooting conditions stored in the storage means. 4. The photographing apparatus according to any one of 4.
[Claim 8]
The acquisition means acquires a plurality of predetermined information or one or a plurality of information arbitrarily selected by a user as information indicating the photographing environment. The imaging device according to claim 1.
[Claim 9]
The information indicating the shooting environment acquired by the acquisition unit includes time information, current position information, subject distance, and / or information on the content of the image acquired by the imaging unit. The photographing apparatus according to any one of 8 to 8.
[Claim 10]
The process of storing the shooting conditions set by the user as shooting conditions used at the time of shooting, and the next shooting immediately after the previous shooting from the previous shooting using the stored shooting conditions is specified by the user A step of acquiring information indicating a shooting environment serving as a judgment criterion for a difference between a shooting environment at the time of the previous shooting and a shooting environment at the time of the next shooting at a specific acquisition timing until When it can be determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting target at the previous shooting and the shooting target at the next shooting are different based on the information shown, the stored shooting conditions are invalidated and acquired by the acquisition unit When it is determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting target at the previous shooting and the shooting target at the next shooting are the same based on the specific information, the step of validating the stored shooting conditions Capturing condition control method, which comprises a.
[Claim 11]
Processing for storing in the storage means the shooting conditions set by the user as shooting conditions used during shooting for recording the image acquired by the imaging means as a shot image in the computer, and the storage means At the specific acquisition timing between the previous shooting when the shooting conditions were used and the next shooting immediately after the previous shooting was instructed by the user, the shooting environment at the previous shooting and the next shooting Based on the processing to acquire information indicating the shooting environment that is the judgment criterion for the difference between the shooting environment and the acquired information on the shooting environment, the shooting target at the previous shooting and the shooting target at the next shooting may be different. If it can be determined that the image quality is high, the shooting conditions stored in the storage unit are invalidated and the previous shooting is performed based on the specific information acquired by the acquisition unit. When it is determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting target at the time and the shooting target at the next shooting are the same, a process of validating the shooting conditions stored in the storage means is executed. Program.

1 Digital camera 2 CPU
2a Built-in clock 3 Optical lens device 4 Image sensor 5 Image memory 6 Liquid crystal monitor 7 Image processing unit 8 Image recording unit 9 Program storage unit 9a Program storage region 9b Data storage region 10 Key input unit 11 GPS unit 12 Direction detection unit

Claims (11)

Imaging means;
Storage means for storing shooting conditions set by the user as shooting conditions used during shooting by the imaging means;
At a specific acquisition timing from the previous shooting in which the shooting conditions stored in the storage unit are used until the next shooting immediately after the previous shooting is instructed by the user, An acquisition means for acquiring information indicating a shooting environment serving as a judgment criterion for a difference between the shooting environment and a shooting environment at the next shooting;
An imaging condition control unit that determines whether to invalidate or validate the imaging condition stored in the storage unit based on information indicating the imaging environment acquired by the acquisition unit. Shooting device.   2. The information acquisition unit according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information indicating the shooting environment with a timing of a power-on operation, a shooting mode setting operation, or a shutter half-press operation by a user as the specific acquisition timing. The imaging device described.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit repeatedly acquires information indicating the imaging environment with the specific acquisition timing as a specific timing before the next imaging is performed.   4. The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit holds the photographing condition even after the power is turned off. A second acquisition of information indicating the shooting environment at a specific acquisition timing from the previous shooting in which the shooting condition stored in the storage unit is used until the power is turned off immediately after the previous shooting. The acquisition means of
The imaging condition control unit is stored in the storage unit based on a comparison result between information indicating the imaging environment acquired by the acquisition unit and information indicating the imaging environment acquired by the second acquisition unit. 5. The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photographing condition is determined to be invalid or valid.   The second acquisition unit is configured to acquire information indicating the shooting environment by using a power-off operation, a shooting mode release operation, or a previous shooting timing by the user as the specific acquisition timing. The imaging device according to claim 5. The shooting conditions set by the user and stored in the storage means are shooting conditions that are assumed to be used in a specific shooting scene.
Acquisition in which the information indicating the shooting environment acquired by the acquisition unit at a specific acquisition timing is controlled to information predetermined in accordance with a shooting scene premised on the use of the shooting conditions stored in the storage unit The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an information control unit.   The acquisition means acquires a plurality of predetermined information or one or a plurality of information arbitrarily selected by a user as information indicating the photographing environment. The imaging device according to claim 1.   The information indicating the shooting environment acquired by the acquisition unit includes time information, current position information, subject distance, and / or information on the content of the image acquired by the imaging unit. The photographing apparatus according to any one of 8 to 8. A step of storing shooting conditions set by the user as shooting conditions used at the time of shooting;
The shooting environment and the next shooting at the previous shooting at a specific acquisition timing between the previous shooting using the stored shooting conditions and the next shooting immediately after the previous shooting is instructed by the user. A step of acquiring information indicating a shooting environment that is a judgment criterion of difference with the shooting environment at the time;
When it can be determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting target at the previous shooting and the shooting target at the next shooting are different based on the information indicating the shooting environment, the stored shooting condition is invalidated and the acquisition means If it can be determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting target at the previous shooting and the shooting target at the next shooting are likely to be the same based on the specific information acquired by the step, the step of validating the stored shooting conditions; An imaging condition control method comprising: On the computer,
A process of storing the shooting conditions set by the user in the storage unit as shooting conditions used at the time of shooting for recording an image acquired by the imaging unit as a shot image;
At a specific acquisition timing from the previous shooting in which the shooting conditions stored in the storage unit are used until the next shooting immediately after the previous shooting is instructed by the user, A process of acquiring information indicating a shooting environment that is a determination criterion for a difference between the shooting environment and the shooting environment at the next shooting;
When it can be determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting target at the previous shooting and the shooting target at the next shooting are likely to be different based on the acquired information indicating the shooting environment, the shooting conditions stored in the storage unit are determined. When it is determined that there is a high possibility that the shooting target at the previous shooting and the shooting target at the next shooting are highly likely to be the same based on the specific information acquired by the acquisition unit, the storage unit And a process for enabling the photographing conditions stored in the program.

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