Patent ID: 7589768
Filing Date: 2009-09-15
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An image-taking apparatus comprising: an image pickup element which photoelectrically converts an image of an object formed by an image-taking optical system including a focusing lens; a signal processing circuit which produces an image signal based on an output signal from the image pickup element and has an electronic zoom function of electrically processing a part of the image signal to produce an enlarged output image; and a focus control circuit which controls a drive of the focusing lens in a first control method based on a contrast component of the output signal from the image pickup element and in a second control method based on a phase difference between two images of the object, wherein the focus control circuit uses both of the first control method and the second control method in a first zoom state including at least a state in which the electronic zoom function is not used, and uses only the second control method in a second zoom state in which the electronic zoom function is used to set a zoom magnification larger than a zoom magnification in the first zoom state.