Patent ID: 6879345
Filing Date: 2005-04-12
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A camera device for performing a shooting operation by converting image light into an electrical signal using an image pickup device, the camera device comprising: means for setting detection frames based on a division of an imaging surface of the image pickup device into a plurality of portions; means for detecting the brightness levell with every set detection frame; means for calculating the ratio between the brightness level detected from the detection frame having the lowest detected brightness level and the average value of the brightness levels detected from the detection frames other than the detection frame having the lowest brightness level; wherein, when the ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, a determination is made that it is a backlighted state, so that a correcting operation is performed; exposure correcting means for performing an exposure correction operation using a peak value of an integration signal of the brightness level detected from the detection frame having the highest detected brightness level, wherein the correcting operation which is carried out when the determination is made that it is a backlighted state is performed by limiting a high-brightness component of the detected brightness level; and wherein a weighting operation is carried out between the brightness levels detected from the center detection frame and the detection frames in the vicinity of the center detection frame of the imaging surface of the image pickup device and the brightness levels detected from the other detection frames, and wherein, when the detection frame having the highest detected brightness level is located at the center and the vicinity of the center of the imaging surface of the image pickup device, the correcting operation which is carried out when the determination is made that it is a backlighted state is performed to a lesser degree by reducing the limiting operation of the high-brightness component of the detected brightness level.