Patent ID: 9596400
Date: 2017-03-14
CPC Classifications: H04N

Claim:
1. An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image pickup unit configured to pick up images of a multistage exposure image group by periodically changing an exposure time period; a motion detecting unit configured to detect an amount of motion of said image pickup unit during each exposure time period; an evaluation value acquisition unit configured to acquire a focus evaluation value from each of images output from said image pickup unit; a driving unit configured to drive a focus lens in a direction of an optical axis; and a control unit configured to control a focus state of an object whose image is to be picked up, by causing said driving unit to, in a first case, move the focus lens according to the focus evaluation value acquired from one of the images which is the shortest in exposure time period among the multistage exposure image group, and by causing said driving unit to, in a second case, move the focus lens according to the focus evaluation value acquired from another of the images, which is longer in exposure time period than the one of the images, among the multistage exposure image group and for which the detected amount of motion is smaller than a reference value.