Patent ID: 8780262
Filing Date: 2014-07-15
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An image pickup apparatus that includes an image pickup section for picking up object light and outputting an image signal, comprising: a first brightness detection unit configured to detect an entire-screen brightness frequency distribution based on the image signal; a second brightness detection unit configured to divide the image signal into a plurality of small areas and detect a brightness of each of the small areas; a calculation unit configured to calculate an exposure value based on the entire-screen brightness frequency distribution and the brightness of each of the small areas; and a control unit configured to perform exposure control of the image pickup section based on the exposure value calculated by said calculation unit, wherein said calculation unit calculates at least two different exposure values including a first exposure value for a low exposure image signal and a second exposure value for a high exposure image signal which is associated with a larger exposure amount compared to the first exposure value.